Bob Dylan themed Amnesty International charity album has tracklist announced

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Over eighty artists have been pulled together to feature on an expansive compilation album featuring covers of Bob Dylan songs.

‘Chimes of Freedom: The Songs of Bob Dylan Honouring Amnesty International’ is a four disc set comprising covers of Bob Dylan songs from a far-reaching and varied selection of artists.  Seventy of the tracks featured appear exclusively on this release.

The track listing is as follows:

CD1
Raphael Saadiq ‘Leopard-Skin Pill-Box Hat’
Patti Smith ‘Drifter’s Escape’
Rise Against ‘Ballad of Hollis Brown’
Tom Morello The Nightwatchman ‘Blind Willie McTell’
Pete Townshend ‘Corrina, Corrina’
Bettye LaVette ‘Most of the Time’
Charlie Winston ‘This Wheel’s On Fire’
Diana Krall ‘Simple Twist of Fate’
Brett Dennen ‘You Ain’t Goin’ Nowhere’
Mariachi El Bronx ‘Love Sick’
Ziggy Marley ‘Blowin’ in the Wind’
The Gaslight Anthem ‘Changing of the Guards’
Silversun Pickups ‘Not Dark Yet’
My Morning Jacket ‘You’re A Big Girl Now’
The Airborne Toxic Event ‘Boots of Spanish Leather’
Sting ‘Girl from the North Country’
Mark Knopfler ‘Restless Farewell’

CD2
Queens Of The Stone Age ‘Outlaw Blues’
Lenny Kravitz ‘Rainy Day Woman # 12 & 35’
Steve Earle & Lucia Micarelli ‘One More Cup of Coffee’ (Valley Below)
Blake Mills ‘Heart Of Mine’
Miley Cyrus ‘You’re Gonna Make Me Lonesome When You Go’
Billy Bragg ‘Lay Down Your Weary Tune’
Elvis Costello ‘License to Kill’
Angelique Kidjo ‘Lay, Lady, Lay’
Natasha Bedingfield ‘Ring Them Bells’
Jackson Browne ‘Love Minus Zero/No Limit’
Joan Baez ‘Seven Curses’ (Live)
The Belle Brigade ‘No Time To Think’
Sugarland ‘Tonight I’ll Be Staying Here With You’ (Live)
Jack’s Mannequin ‘Mr. Tambourine Man’
Oren Lavie ‘4th Time Around’
Sussan Deyhim ‘All I Really Want To Do’
Adele ‘Make You Feel My Love’ (Recorded Live at WXPN)

CD3
K’NAAN ‘With God On Our Side’
Ximena Sariñana ‘I Want You’
Neil Finn with Pajama Club ‘She Belongs to Me’
Bryan Ferry ‘Bob Dylan’s Dream’
Zee Avi ‘Tomorrow Is A Long Time’
Carly Simon ‘Just Like a Woman’
Flogging Molly ‘The Times They Are A-Changin’
Fistful Of Mercy ‘Buckets Of Rain’
Joe Perry ‘Man Of Peace’
Bad Religion ‘It’s All Over Now, Baby Blue’
My Chemical Romance ‘Desolation Row’ (Live)
RedOne featuring Nabil Khayat ‘Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door’
Paul Rodgers & Nils Lofgren ‘Abandoned Love’
Darren Criss featuring Chuck Criss and Freelance Whales ‘New Morning’
Cage the Elephant ‘The Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll’
Band of Skulls ‘It Ain’t Me, Babe’
Sinéad O’Connor ‘Property of Jesus’
Ed Roland and The Sweet Tea Project ‘Shelter From The Storm’
Ke$ha ‘Don’t Think Twice, It’s All Right’
Kronos Quartet ‘Don’t Think Twice, It’s All Right’

CD4
Maroon 5 ‘I Shall Be Released’
Carolina Chocolate Drops ‘Political World’
Seal & Jeff Beck ‘Like A Rolling Stone’
Taj Mahal ‘Bob Dylan’s 115th Dream’
Dierks Bentley ‘Senor (Tales of Yankee Power)’ (Live)
Mick Hucknall ‘One Of Us Must Know (Sooner Or Later)’
Thea Gilmore ‘I’ll Remember You’
State Radio ‘John Brown’
Dave Matthews Band ‘All Along the Watchtower’ (Live)
Michael Franti ‘Subterranean Homesick Blues’
We Are Augustines ‘Mama, You Been On My Mind’
Lucinda Williams ‘Tryin’ To Get To Heaven’
Kris Kristofferson ‘Quinn The Eskimo (The Mighty Quinn)’
Eric Burdon ‘Gotta Serve Somebody’
Evan Rachel Wood ‘I’d Have You Anytime’
Marianne Faithfull ‘Baby Let Me Follow You Down’ (Live)
Pete Seeger ‘Forever Young’
Bob Dylan ‘Chimes Of Freedom’

All proceeds from the sales of the compilation will be donated  Amnesty International.  It is released on January 30th 2012.

CROSSFADE – Secret Love

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In 2004, Crossfade’s debut album, ‘White On Blue’ was extremely well received by melodic rock fans and critics. Although Swedish, the band’s music celebrated the late 70s and early 80s sounds of American westcoast music, with a particularly strong nod to the styles set out by Toto’s earlier works. Joining guitarist Lars Hallbäck and keyboard player Richard Stenström, renowned melodic rock vocalist Göran Edman completed the core of the band’s line-up. Having normally been associated with harder rock styles, often in a very Scandinavian style, Crossfade’s smoother edges allowed Edman to really show off his range as a vocalist, making an album which more than deserved the praise it received.

Seven years in the making, Crossfade’s second release, ‘Secret Love’ picks up where ‘White On Blue’ left off, with Edman, Hallbäck and Stenström joined by session players Per and Sven Lindstrom (bass and drums respectively), with Wotjek Goral on saxes. Following a sax intro, the band launch head-on into their opening number ‘A Wonderful Illusion’ which borrows a great amount of style from Toto and other westcoast luminaries Airplay along the way. The guitar playing is smooth and very tasteful and the overall arrangement shows a great tightness, while Edman proves strong vocally. A mid section offers some great orchestration, with the band hinting that they could be capable of flying off on a slightly jazzy tangent. They never do, however, preferring instead to keep things focused on songs rather than muso-based wanderings. This is a very strong opening number on all fronts, with a strong sense of melody, helped immensely by a hooky chorus fleshed out with female harmonies.

That sets the mood for the bulk of the disc, although if anything, the title track moves even farther into the late 70s/early 80s westcoast vibe. Led by a fluid bass, augmented by tinkling keys, the song plays host to another decent chorus and even better playing: guitar leads which would make Steve Lukather proud provide some good moments, but they aren’t ever as impressive as the track’s bass-lines. High in the end mix, Per Lindstrom sets a strong basis for the rest of the band to work around; his bass so often pivotal to this band’s best work. Another bevvy of female voices fills a chorus, over which Edman’s lead is possibly stronger than before. The slightly funky arrangement lends itself well to the instrumental sections; something never more obvious than on the instrumental play out, where Hallbäck finds a great space with his guitar leads.

Slightly soulier in places, ‘Heart of a Hero’ presents a shuffling arrangement. With that bass at the centre yet again, there’s a key difference here in that a harmonica often takes a dominant role over the keys and guitars. There are Crossfade’s usual musical features in abundance, of course: on this track, during the slightly more upbeat moments, the mood is right for a handful of top-notch guitar leads and a slightly ugly keyboard solo. Yes, that keyboard sound could be described as dated, but it’s perfectly in keeping with the “1982 time-capsule” so many of these tunes sound like they’ve culled from. Not to labour a point but, once again, if you love Toto, Jay Graydon and perhaps a little Bill Champlin, there’s plenty to enjoy here. Fusing a smooth AOR vibe with an almost reggae pulse from the keyboards, ‘In My Mind’ gets off to a slightly wobbly start. As such, it could have been this album’s weak link, but a killer chorus makes up for the verse’s slightly off-kilter nature. It doesn’t actually anything you haven’t heard before from Crossfade at this point, but Edman is in particular fine voice, while an occasional twin guitar sound during the featured solo adds a slight edge. Judged on chorus alone, this represents lots of Crossfade’s strengths.

‘Waiting For a Miracle’ is an extended arrangement which really finds its feet during a lengthy instrumental passage, utilising a muted trumpet as its lead voice. Leading up to those moments, however, it’s business as usual: Edman stretches his vocal to its limit – though, sounding like the consummate professional he never resorts to over-singing anything to make an impression – while the rest of the band offer great performances, be they vibrato guitar leads, jazzy basswork or even jazzier pianos. It may be a little too smooth jazz oriented for the AOR purists, but for those approaching this album from a classic westcoast perspective it’s surely one of the album’s most essential listens.
The only time Crossfade breaks away from their beloved westcoast sound is during the atmospheric instrumental ‘Borrowdale’, a track which appears here as both a full length number and reprise. Featuring a vibrato-filled lead guitar smoothly played over a blanket of eighties synths, this owes a huge debt to Jeff Beck (in particular, parts of his ‘Guitar Shop’ from 1989). It shows Hallbäck off as a wonderful guitarist, with a great tone to his work, even when pushed outside his usual AOR and westcoast boundaries. It may be the odd man out here, musically speaking, but it’s still far better than anything you could ever consider filler material.

Although it’s slightly rockier nature in a couple of places means that Crossfade’s ‘Secret Love’ is not quite as perfect as the 2010 debut from State Cows, this album still presents something immensely enjoyable in its musical field. It could be accused of being a little Toto obsessed, but when was that ever a bad thing?! This is a superb second album from Crossfade, one which fans will consider well worth the seven year wait.

November 2011

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Paul Weller to release new studio album in March

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Paul Weller has announced the release of his new studio album.

‘Sonik Kicks’ – Weller’s eleventh studio album – will be released in the UK on March 26th. The release will feature guest appearances from ex-Oasis man Noel Gallagher and Blur guitarist Graham Coxon.

Ahead of the album’s release, The Modfather will play two dates at London’s Roundhouse on March 18th and 19th, where he will premier the new album in full.

‘Sonik Kicks’ official tracklisting:

‘Green’
‘The Attic’
‘Kling I Klang’
‘Sleep Of The Serene’
‘By The Waters’
‘That Dangerous Age’
‘Study In Blue’
‘Dragonfly’
‘When Your Garden’s Overgrown’
‘Around The Lake’
‘Twilight’
‘Drifters’
‘Paperchase’
‘Be Happy Children’

Florence + The Machine: is new video racist?

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The new video for Florence + The Machine’s new single ‘No Light, No Light’ has come under fire for potentially racist views.

The video depicts a man in black body paint practising voodoo – presumed evil, while Florence – presumably the good in the piece – suffers at the hands of the voodoo doll.

Various websites are now claiming the piece to be racist. It is unlikely this was Florence Welch’s intention, or the intention of the clip’s Icelandic directors Arni & Kinski.

Fans are naturally jumping to Welch’s defence, some with the argument that many of her key influences are black, so therefore she could not be racist.

Real Gone would like to play devil’s advocate here: not being racist isn’t as simple as that. Eric Clapton idolises dozens of blues legends. He even takes Buddy Guy on tour with him regularly. And yet, at a concert on August 6th 1976, he spouted what could be one of the most racist rants ever, worthy of an extreme right-wing political party. He has never apologised.

Below is the new Florence + The Machine video. Racist, misjudged or just overtly pretentious? You decide.

Jaded Heart sign deal with Fastball Music

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German melodic rock band Jaded Heart have signed a new contract with Fastball Music for the release of their next album.

Although no other details are known at this time about the band’s eleventh studio album, it is expected to appear sometime in May 2012.

The band’s three previous outings, ‘Helluva Time’ (2005), ‘Sinister Mind’ (2007) and 2010’s ‘Perfect Insanity’ were issued by Frontiers Records – Europe’s premier melodic rock label. The band’s earliest work released by the now-defunct MTM Records label is now out of print.