Biography
Ourageous and poetic since 1983
Posten on: 2006-07-15 18:25:32
The Red Hot Chili Peppers is a Californian rock band that has combined aspects of funk and hip-hop with rock and roll, pioneering funk metal. One critic has summarized their lyrics as "sex, good times, rock and roll and more sex" with some truth, though some of their biggest hits, such as Under The Bridge, have been considerably more introspective. Perhaps the most distinctive feature of their sound is the bass playing of Flea, whose flashy, slap-heavy playing not only provides a groove but is also the source of many musical flourishes. They are also well known for playing bare chested; in fact Flea often goes one step further and performs naked on stage.Red Hot Chili Peppers' label were originally signed to an EMI subsidiary known as EMI Manhattan. Epic Records offered the band a contract where each member would be paid a million dollars, but only if Epic would release them from their contract with EMI Manhattan by paying them off. Epic and EMI Manhattan hit a wall in negotiations, the deal fell through and the Red Hot Chili Peppers signed with Warner Brothers Records. Their breakthrough record Blood Sugar Sex Magik as well as all subsequent records were released on Warner Brothers Records and were produced by Rick Rubin.Their earlier work was a fusion of funk and punk rock with a party attitude. After the sobering death of guitarist Hillel Slovak, the Red Hot Chili Peppers would also lose Jack Irons, which would lead to the addition of current members, John Frusciante and Chad Smith. It was after the death of Hillel that the band had their most success.It wasn't until 1983, with Flea back on board and a new name - the Red Hot Chili Peppers - that the band began making serious inroads into the music industry. Despite the absence of Irons and Slovak (who were under contractual obligations to What Is This?), the new group, consisting of Flea, Kiedis, Jack Sherma, and Cliff Martinez, managed to release a self-titled debut. Soon Irons and Slovak would return, and the Chili Pepper's set about the ultimately successful task of achieving recognition for their energetic live show.In 1985 the band released their second album Freaky Styley, produced by George Clinton. Although the album failed to achieve high sales with the album, it was a critically step in the development of the still young Red Hot Chili Peppers. It wasn't until their third album that the band returned to it's Anthem roots and presented its original lineup. The Uplift Mofo Party Plan was released in 1987 to better-than-expected record sales and featured one of the band's most legendary songs, "Party on Your Pussy".Tragedy struck the band shortly after the release of their next album, the Abbey Road EP when guitarist Hillel Slovak died of an accidental heroin overdose in 1988. Dumbstruck and depressed, the band was on the verge of falling apart after Irons left to come to terms with what had happened. To replace the two departed members of their band, the remaining Chili Peppers recruited drummer Chad Smith and fan John Frusciante on guitars.Mother's Milk was released in 1989 and it seemed as though the band would finally climb the music ladder. Building upon the success of their Slovak tribute " Knock Me Down" and the Stevie Wonder cover "Higher Ground", the band achieved modest MTV exposure and were set form something bigger. Hard times fell once again, however, as the band found its way into trouble. Kiedis was convicted of indecent exposure and sexual battery in 1989 and the band greater even larger problems during the taping of a MTV special. Flea and Smith had an altercation with a female audience member and were promptly charged and found guilty of numerous, moderately serious battery charges.It was with the release of the Red Hot Chili Pepper's next album, BloodSugarSexMagik that the band slowly began to turn things around. The release was both a critical and commercial success, selling more than three million copies and featuring the hit singles "'Under The Bridge" and "Give It Away". Critics differed, however, on just what message the album held. While some felt that it was a mark in the career of the Chili Peppers, others "raged at what they saw as the band's innate sexism". If anything, the album announced to the world that the Red Hot Chili Pepper's had arrived. A headlining act followed on Lollapalooza, and record sales remained strong.In May 1992 Frusciante left the band and was ultimately replaced ex-Jane's Addiction guitarist Dave Navarro. The Chili Pepper's remained fairly silent until 1995 when the monster animated film Beavis And Butt-Head Do America was released to theatres. "Love Rollercoaster", a Chili Pepper's track featured on the movie's soundtrack reached the charts and brought the band back into the public eye.The Red Hot Chili Pepper's endless member-shuffle continued in 1998 as the newest member Navarro left and was replaced by ex-member John Frusciante. fter a lay-off of four years, the Peppers' much-delayed follow-up to BSSM was released in 1995, One Hot Minute. While the album was a sizeable hit, it failed to match the success and musical focus of its predecessor, as it became apparent during the album's ensuing tour that Navarro wasn't fitting in as well as originally hoped, and left the band in early 1998.After Frusciante had left the group, he released a pair of obscure solo releases, 1995's Niandra Ladies and Usually Just a T-Shirt and 1997's Smile From the Streets You Hold, yet rumors circulated that the guitarist was homeless, penniless, and sickly with a death-defying drug habit. After checking himself into rehab and putting his demons behind him, Frusciante emerged once again re-focused and re-energized, and promptly accepted an invitation to rejoin the Peppers once more. The group's reunion album, 1999's Californication, proved to be another monster success, reconfirming the Chili Peppers as one of alternative rock's top bands. The band put in a quick guest appearance on Fishbone's Psychotic Friends Nuttwerx before hitting the road to support the album. The following months found the band getting involved in bizarre situations and controversies. First, their refusal to play songs from One Hot Minute during the tour was an unpopular decision with some fans and a sore spot for Dave Navarro. Next, they reignited a personal feud between Kiedis and Mr. Bungle singer Mike Patton by refusing to play a series of European concerts with Bungle. Patton responded with a "tribute" show for the Peppers, where Bungle mocked their stage moves, faked shooting up heroin, and imitated Kiedis's comments about Patton. They also played the ill-fated Woodstock '99 festival, where their headlining performance was met with piles of burning rubble and a full-scale riot. Tours with the Foo Fighters and Pearl Jam brought them into the next year without problems, but they stepped off the road after a planned stop in Israel was haulted due to security worries. They returned to the studio in November of 2001 and by the summer of 2002 they had a new album ready to drop, By the Way.In the Summer of 2004 the band embarked on a tour of Europe, playing in stadium sized venues, their first tour of playing venues of this magnitude. New songs were revealed at these shows to the delight of fans, these songs were "Leverage of Space", "Rolling Sly Stone" and "Mini-Epic". The shows played at Hyde Park in London were recorded and compiled to form the band's only live album to date Live in Hyde Park. The album was released very quickly after these shows and included two of the new songs "Leverage of Space" and "Rolling Sly Stone". The songs included on the album draw heavily from the albums Californication and By the Way with no material included from before Blood Sugar Sex Magik.
Posted in: Biography | Red Hot Chili Peppers | 0 Comments
The Legacy Of Syd Barrett
Posten on: 2006-07-13 08:55:54
Syd Barrett, the founder of Pink Floyd who died on Friday aged 60, provided one of rock music's most enduring and confounding legends; some critics thought him a modern-day Rimbaud, others dismissed him as a deranged under-achiever.Decades after he left the group and brought the curtain down on a short-lived solo career with a shambolic performance on a Cambridge stage, myths about rock's most famous recluse continued to flourish. So-called "Syd sightings" were regularly reported in the music press and occasional snatched photos were subjected to detailed scrutiny.Barrett, whose entire recorded output amounted to little more than three albums, had severed his links with the music industry by 1974 and steadfastly resisted all attempts to entice him back. Widely believed to have suffered psychosis, excacerbated by prolific use of hallucinogenic drugs in the 1960s, he retreated to the cellar of his childhood home in Cambridge where he shunned all contact with the outside world.The Barrett legend was fired by half-truths and apocrypha which blended in a spiral of exaggeration until his name became synonymous with drug-induced madness. Fanzines acclaimed his work, and Pink Floyd's own 1975 tribute Shine On You Crazy Diamond fanned the flames still further. Barrett became the most celebrated acid casualty in rock.What is beyond dispute is that Barrett's influence on the early Pink Floyd after their formation in 1965 was immeasurable. He was their singer, lead guitarist and principal songwriter, composing 10 of the 11 songs on their 1967 debut album The Piper at the Gates of Dawn, which cemented the group's reputation as the darlings of London's psychedelic scene. He composed the group's two early hit singles Arnold Layne and See Emily Play; he also gave the group its name.Roger Keith Barrett was born in Cambridge on January 6 1946, the fourth of five children of Dr Arthur Max Barrett and his wife Winifred. His musical nature was encouraged from an early age. Inspired by the skiffle craze of the mid-1950s, he took up the ukulele and by the age of 14 had graduated to the guitar, playing with several local groups before gaining a place at London's Camberwell Art College in 1964 to study Fine Art.It was during this period that Barrett formed Pink Floyd with his former schoolmate Roger Waters, who was studying Architecture with the organist Rick Wright and the drummer Nick Mason. The group's name was an amalgamation of two bluesmen Barrett admired - Pink Anderson and Floyd Council, although he told interviewers that the name was transmitted to him by a flying saucer.Initially little more than a hobby, Pink Floyd metamorphosed from a run-of-the mill blues band playing the usual round of pubs, parties and polytechnics to a burgeoning psychedelic outfit. The change was chiefly inspired by their leader's discovery of LSD, which had become front-page news in Britain as a result of teenagers using morning glory seeds, which contain small quantities of the drug. LSD's hallucinogenic properties now provided Barrett with much of his inspiration, and the group was slowly developing a sound of its own.The Floyd's debut at London's Marquee Club in February 1966, in which the group played layer upon layer of howling feedback, was well received. Signed by the management team of Peter Jenner and Andrew King, the Floyd became the house band at the UFO club in Tottenham Court Road, where their crazed performances and primitive light show became the focus of the underground.But the pivotal figure was Barrett, who seemed to spend most performances with his back to the audience detuning his guitar, or sitting cross-legged at the edge of the stage while his bandmates struggled to accompany him. When Jenner urged the band to drop their R&B repertoire in favour of more original material, Barrett wrote the bizarre Arnold Layne, based on a transvestite from the group's Cambridge days."Both my mother and Syd's had students as lodgers because there was a girl's college up the road," recalled Waters, "so there were constantly great lines of bras and knickers on our washing lines. Arnold, or whoever he was, took bits and pieces off the washing lines."Despite being banned from Radio London, the Floyd's debut disc breached the top 20. "Arnold Layne just happens to dig dressing up in women's clothing," protested Syd. "A lot of people do, so let's face up to reality." The avant-garde poet-musician Pete Brown hailed Arnold Layne as "the first truly English song about English life with a tremendous lyric. It certainly unlocked doors and made things possible that up to that point no one thought were."Instant stardom brought accompanying pressures. On the night of their Top Of The Pops debut, the Floyd sped down the motorway for a gig in Salisbury. The next day they flew to Belfast while the next week saw them performing at Bishop's Stortford, Bath, Newcastle and Brighton. Acclaimed London appearances at the 24-hour Technical Dream event and Games For May concert on the South Bank followed, and the Barrett-penned See Emily Play was a massive hit.Yet by the summer of 1967 Barrett's friends and associates noticed a change. His LSD consumption was now fearsome and his behaviour became erratic. Sometimes he would strum the same note throughout a performance, or fail to turn up altogether."If Syd was innovative at anything it was getting completely and totally out of it," said The Who's Pete Townshend. "Syd was able to get away with it because he could count on most of the audience being totally out of their brains as well."With Emily riding high in the charts, the Floyd cut their debut album The Piper At The Gates of Dawn. Almost entirely written by Barrett, tracks such as The Gnome, The Scarecrow and Matilda Mother and their hypnotic lyrics indicated a yearning for childhood; others such as Astronomy Domine and Interstellar Overdrive were far-out space songs.Although the album was well received, a series of walkouts and temperamental fits, coupled with the fact that the Floyd's third single Apples and Oranges failed to make an impact on the charts, served to hasten Barrett's departure. Following a disastrous tour of America, by which time Barrett's on-stage demeanour bordered on the catatonic, plans were made to replace him with an old Cambridge friend, Dave Gilmour. The Floyd briefly struggled on as a five-piece, before Barrett's break with the band became final.The Floyd's former leader launched his solo career with The Madcap Laughs, a bizarre album described by Melody Maker as "the mayhem and the madness of the Barrett mind unleashed". There was controversy over some tracks that included studio conversations indicating Barrett's confused mental state.Gilmour, who co-produced, said: "We didn't want to appear cruel, but there is one bit I wish I hadn't done in retrospect." Gilmour again took the producer's chair for the album's follow-up, Barrett, which, although it contained beautiful songs, such as Dominoes and Wined and Dined, proved to be Barrett's last (though unreleased material was later collected and issued by record companies).During the making of the album Barrett made a live appearance at London's Olympia - his first since leaving the Floyd. Accompanied by Gilmour and the drummer Jerry Shirley, he tore through four numbers at breakneck speed before abruptly ending proceedings with a mumbled "Thank you and goodnight". His abrupt exit took his bandmates by surprise.By 1972, as Pink Floyd continued to cement their reputation as one of the world's premier rock bands, their erstwhile leader was back in Cambridge, living in the cellar of his mother's home. Barrett, who told a reporter who tracked him down that he was "full of dust and guitars", made a final attempt at a comeback - a project that was curtailed when his ramshackle band Stars played a disastrous one-off gig at Cambridge Corn Exchange.Ironically, during this period of inactivity, Barrett's personal income began to grow, along with his waistline. Fat royalty cheques from various Floyd compilation albums enabled him to stay at swish London hotels, where he spent his time watching television. When Barrett unexpectedly turned up during the recording of Wish You Were Here - a belated tribute - in 1975, his shaven-headed, bloated appearance meant that his former bandmates failed to recognise him.All attempts to coax Barrett back into the studio failed and by 1982 he was back in Cambridge, where he received occasional visits from the curious. In a rare interview (with two French journalists who called on the pretence of returning some laundry), Barrett - who by now had reverted to the name of Roger - insisted: "I'm trying to get back to London but there's a train strike at the moment." In 1992 Atlantic Records offered Barrett $500,000 for new material; the offer went unheeded. He apparently spent his time painting and writing; in 2002 his sister, who had kept an eye on him since their mother's death in 1991, gave him a stereo, but he expressed little interest in Echoes, a compilation of Pink Floyd's recordings.He had written nearly a fifth of the tracks on it, though he had worked with the group for less than a 30th of its existence. He deigned to watch an BBC Omnibus documentary about himself, but found it "a bit noisy".He was unmarried.
Posted in: Biography | Syd Barrett | 0 Comments
Paul Weller's Revival Of Mod Groups
Posten on: 2006-07-11 07:53:29
Paul Weller formed The Jam with drummer Rick Buckler, bassist Bruce Foxton, and guitarist Steve Brookes while they were still in school in 1975; Brookes quickly left the band and they remained a trio for the rest of their career. For the next year, the band played gigs around London, building a local following. In February 1977, the group signed a record contract with Polydor records; two months later, they released their debut single, "In the City," which reached the U.K. Top 40. The following month, the group released their debut album, also called In the City. Recorded in just 11 days, the album featured a combinations of R&B covers and Weller originals, all of which sounded a bit like faster, more ragged versions of the Who's early records. Their second single, "All Around the World," nearly broke into the British Top Ten and the group embarked on a successful British tour. During the summer of 1977, they recorded their second album, This Is the Modern World, which was released toward the end of the year. "The Modern World" made it into the Top 40 in November, just as the Jam were beginning their first American tour. Although it was brief, the tour was not successful, leaving bitter memories of the U.S. in the minds of the band.This Is the Modern World peaked in the British charts at number 22, yet it received criticism for repeating the sound of the debut. The band began a headlining tour of the U.K., yet it was derailed shortly after it started when the group got into a nasty fight with a bunch of rugby players in a Leeds hotel. Weller broke several bones and was charged with assault, although the Leeds Crown Court would eventually acquit him. The Jam departed for another American tour in March of 1978 and it was yet another unsuccessful tour, as they opened for Blue yster Cult. It did nothing to win new American fans, yet their star continued to rise in Britain. Bands copying the group's mod look and sound popped up across Britain and the Jam itself performed at the Reading Festival in August. All Mod Cons, released late in 1979, marked a turning point in the Jam's career, illustrating that Weller's songwriting was becoming more melodic, complex, and lyrically incisive, resembling Ray Davies more than Pete Townshend. Even as their sound became more pop-oriented, the group lost none of their tightly controlled energy. All Mod Cons was a major success, peaking at number six on the U.K. charts, even if it didn't make a dent in the U.S. Every one of the band's singles were now charting in the Top 20, with the driving "Eton Rifles" becoming their first Top Ten in November 1979, charting at number three.Setting Sons, released at the end of 1979, climbed to number four in the U.K. and marked their first charting album in the U.S., hitting number 137 in spring of 1980. At that time, the Jam had become full-fledged rock stars in Britain, with their new "Going Underground" single entering the charts at number one. During the summer, the band recorded their fifth album, with the "Taxman"-inspired "Start" released as a teaser single in August; "Start" became their second straight number one. Its accompanying album, the ambitious Sound Affects, hit number two in the U.K. at the end of the year; it was also the band's high-water mark in the U.S., peaking at number 72. "That's Entertainment," one of the standout tracks from Sound Affects, charted at number 21 in the U.K. charts as an import single, confirming the band's enormous popularity.Although the Jam was at the height of its popularity, Weller was becoming frustrated with the trio's sound and made the decision to disband the group. On the heels of the number two hit "The Bitterest Pill," the Jam announced their breakup in October of 1982. The band played a farewell tour in the fall and their final single, "Beat Surrender," entered the charts at number one. Dig the New Breed, a compilation of live tracks, charted at number two in December of 1982. All 16 of the group's singles were re-released by Polydor in the U.K. at the beginning of 1983; all of them recharted simultaneously. Bruce Foxton released a solo album, Touch Sensitive, and Rick Buckler played with the Time UK; neither of the efforts were as noteworthy as the Jam biography the two wrote in the early '90s, which contained many vicious attacks on Weller.Immediately after the breakup of the Jam, Weller formed the Style Council with Mick Talbot, a member of the Jam-inspired mod revival band the Merton Parkas. After a handful of initial hits, the Style Council proved to be a disappointment and Weller fell out of favor, both critically and commercially. At the end of the decade he disbanded the group and went solo in the early '90s; his solo albums were both artistic and popular successes, returning him to the spotlight in the U.K. The legacy of the Jam is apparent in nearly every British guitar pop band of the '80s and '90s, from the Smiths to Blur and Oasis. More than any other group, the Jam kept the tradition of three-minute, hook-driven British guitar pop alive through the '70s and '80s, providing a blueprint for generations of bands to come.
Posted in: Biography | Jam | 0 Comments
Groundbreaking new sounds
Posten on: 2006-07-03 21:36:13
Oldfield's most famous work is Tubular Bells, an instrumental composition recorded in 1972 and launched on May 25, 1973 as the inaugural album of Richard Branson's Virgin Records label. The album was groundbreaking, as Oldfield played more than twenty different instruments in the multi-layered recording, and its style progressed continuously, covering many diverse musical genres. The album quickly reached the top 10 in UK album sales and stayed on the chart for 247 weeks. In the US, it got attention chiefly by appearing on the soundtrack to The Exorcist. In autumn 1974, the follow-up LP, Hergest Ridge, was No 1 in the UK for three weeks and was then dethroned by Tubular Bells.Like Tubular Bells, Hergest Ridge took the form of a two-movement instrumental piece, this time evoking scenes from Oldfield's Herefordshire country retreat. This was followed in 1975 with the pioneering world music piece Ommadawn, and 1978's Incantations which introduced more diverse choral performances from Sally Oldfield, Maddy Prior and the Queen's College Girls Choir.Around the time of Incantations, Oldfield underwent a controversial self-assertiveness therapy course known as Exegesis; no doubt as a result of this, the formerly reclusive musician staged a major European tour to promote the album, chronicled in his live album Exposed, much of which was recorded at the National Exhibition Centre near Birmingham, the first ever concert at that venue.The early 1980s saw Oldfield make a transition to 'mainstream' popular music, beginning with the inclusion of shorter instrumental tracks and contemporary cover versions on Platinum and QE2 (the latter named after the ship). Soon afterwards he turned his attention to songwriting, with a string of collaborations featuring various lead vocalists alongside Oldfield's trademark searing guitar solos. The best known of these is 'Moonlight Shadow', his 1983 hit with Maggie Reilly which took John Lennon's death as one of its themes. This hit has been covered by various other artists, including Aselin Debison (Canadian folk singer) and DJ Mystic (electronic/techno). In 2002 it was a huge hit in central Europe for the German dance act Groove Coverage.Oldfield later turned to film and video, writing the score for Roland Joffé's acclaimed film The Killing Fields and producing substantial video footage for his album Islands. This was however a time of much friction with his record label, Virgin Records reportedly insisting that any future instrumental album should be billed as Tubular Bells 2. Oldfield's rebellious response was Amarok, an hour-long work featuring rapidly changing themes (supposedly devised to make cutting a single from the album impossible), unpredictable bursts of noise, and a very cleverly-hidden Morse code insult directed at Richard Branson. Although regarded by many fans as his greatest work, it was not a commercial success. His parting shot from the Virgin label was Heaven's Open, which continued the veiled attacks on Branson but was notable for being the first time Oldfield had contributed all the lead vocals himself. Some say this was due to his anxiety to quit Virgin as soon as possible (he had previously stated that his voice did not belong on his recordings). His relationship with Richard Branson was never good, even in the beginning.On the Warner label Oldfield continued to embrace new musical styles, with Tubular Bells II (a re-interpretation of Tubular Bells, the album that originally shot him to fame), which was premiered at a live concert at Edinburgh Castle, The Songs of Distant Earth (the latter based on Arthur C. Clarke's novel of the same name) exhibiting a softer 'New Age' sound, and Tubular Bells III (also premiered at a concert, this time in Horse Guards Parade, London), drawing from the dance music scene at his new home on the island of Ibiza.Most recently he has added to his repertoire the Music VR project, combining his music with a virtual reality-based computer game. His first work on this project is Tres Lunas launched in 2002, a virtual game where the player can interact with a whole world full of new music specially composed for this occasion. This project appeared as a double CD, one with some part of the music, and the other with the game.In 2003 he released Tubular Bells 2003, a re-recording of the original Tubular Bells, on CD and DVD-audio. This was done to fix many imperfections in the original that existed due to limitations of the recording technologies of the time and limitations in time that he could spend in the recording studio. This celebrated the 30th anniversary of Tubular Bells, and the fact that Oldfield had recently celebrated his 50th birthday.On 12 April, 2004 Oldfield launched his next virtual reality project called Maestro which contains music from the Tubular Bells 2003 album and also some new chillout melodies.
Posted in: Biography | Mike Oldfield | 0 Comments
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