By Rolling Stones album, I of course mean, album produced by member of the Rolling Stones musical family, that is saxophonist Tim Ries. He released this album on Amazon back in October, but I haven't heard a thing about it, and I constantly look out for Rolling Stones stories!
I think it's a real shame that IORR, a site I always think of as the fountain of Rolling Stones knowledge, hasn't mentioned it in their news section. Especially as in the past they've mentioned Darryl Jones and Bernard Fowler's solo projects.
Anyhoo, The album is called: Stones World: The Rolling Stones Project, Vol. 2 And you buy it here: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Stones-World-Rolling-Project-Vol/dp/B001EOQURI/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1227826500&sr=8-1 (Sorry I can't post a direct link on this blog as it does strange things!)
It's an album of songs arranged by Tim, and it has a wide variety of accomplished musicians on it, including all of the Rolling Stones! Here are a just a few of the names:
Personnel: Tim Ries: alto, tenor and soprano saxophones, piano; Charlie Watts: drums; Keith Richards: guitar; Mick Jagger: harmonica; Ronnie Wood: guitar, lap steel; Adam Rogers: guitar; African Tuareg group Chuck Leavell: piano; Clarence Penn: drums; Conrad Herwig: trombine; Custodio Castelo: Portuguese guitar; Dave Carpenter: bass; Lisa Fischer: vocals;
The track listing is just fantastic: Disc: 1 1. Baby Break It Down 2. Under My Thumb 3. Hey Negrita 4. No Expectations 5. Miss You 6. Fool to Cry 7. You Can't Always Get What You Want 8. Brown Sugar 9. Salt of the Earth Disc: 2 1. Jumpin' Jack Flash 2. Angie 3. Funky Number 4. Lady Jane
I will be ordering my copy pronto, and I'll let you know what I think in time! I hope he does a European tour soon, you know he tours with the Stones best ever bassist, Darryl Jones? Oh yeah.
BTW, in case you're wondering who Tim Ries is:
If you've ever been to a Stones show, he stands on the right of the stage (Stage Left) next to Bobby Keys. He plays soprano and tenor sax. He's one of the younger members of the Stones family, and has only been with the band since the 80s. He's known for his skill in jazz circles, and played with other personal faves of mine like Stevie Wonder and Blood, Sweat and Tears. I met him for the first time in Milan 2006, and he was very charming!
Here's Tim and Darryl doing the seldom played, Lady Jane.
So that's what the Prince of Dartford has been doing in the last 18 months, singing Judy Garland songs.
Some solid good news for Stones fans for once, Keith's going to release a new solo album, and one full of easy listening covers, at that.
It'll be KR's first solo album since 1992's Main Offender. For that album, the only other member of the Stones team who played with him was the amazing backing vocalist Bernard Fowler, I wonder if he'll rope in anyone this time? Or maybe collaborate with some of the living names on his Rolling Stone list (see below post).
I just can't wait. Imagine Keith doing his own versions of these songs: Judy Garland's "Somewhere Over the Rainbow"
Keith's such a romantic, it will be beautiful!
Perry Como's "I Wonder Who's Kissing Her Now"
Tammy Wynette's "Apartment #9"
He'd be amazing at this one!
Andy Williams' "Let It Be Me"
But Keith's will probably sound more like the above, by The Jamaica Jubilee Stompers.
Hoagy Carmichael's "The Nearness of You"
Fats Domino's "Blue Monday"
Jerry Lee Lewis' "She still comes around"
Wonder what Patti will make of that one!
I think it must be a bit of a tribute to him mum, Doris Richards, who passed away in 2007, she was reportedly a big fan of that type of music.
It's amazing that Keith has really caught the zeitgeist with these songs. People don't want to listen to heavy rock right now, it's too in-your-face and feels really inappropriate with this financial crisis going on. We need warm gentle, pensive music at a time like this.
I'm just happy that with all this gloomy news, even the Woody stuff is very disappointing, we finally have something to look forward too! Bring on 2009!
Oh yeah, the Stones will be recording their new album in Autumn 09, and then in 2010, TOUR! Thank god! I was getting itchy feet.
While Ronnie Wood continues to let himself down, struggling with alcoholism and having a relationship with a girl less than a third his age, his estranged wife seems to be going from strength to strength.
In an interview with Hello magazine, Jo Wood shows what a role model she is for the sisterhood.
"I feel really good at the moment. It's been such a tough time. When the revelations first came out, it was really hard - I never imagined he would do that to me."
"I had to put on a brave face, while underneath it all I was feeling awful. Now, I actually feel really good. When I look happy, it's no longer a façade. Time heals everything. I've thrown myself into working and keep fit, and I'm out all the time. I'm so busy, which is great."
"Everyone's been fantastic. I've had great support. I've got such a great family. I'm now expecting my sixth grandchild next year (her daughter Leah recently announced she was pregnant) and all that keeps me very busy."
"I've got everyone checking I'm not alone and inviting me over, saying, 'Come and do this mum, look after the kids mum', but I'm like, 'Hey, I've got a social life now! I can't do it'."
"I don't think I've been out so much since I was in my twenties. I'm really enjoying my freedom. I've been going to a different party every night, so come the weekend I just want to rest. I've been asked out by a couple of people. I'm happy to be asked out by eligible men; I'm ready to start having fun again and going on dates."
"I have started seeing someone... it's Trinny's husband Johnny, actually. I met him and he was very charming and then he phoned me. I didn't actively decide to start dating, but I have to keep busy and get on with my life. I was flattered he called."
"I feel free now. For years I have been at home cooking, cleaning and listening to moaning, but now I have so much work on and my family have been so strong, so it's been easier to get through everything".
And talk about grace. This lady isn't throwing away 23 years of friendship, along with her marriage. She's even inviting the old dog home for Christmas: "I will be saving a place at the dinner table for my ex - but only if he can be bothered to call".
Following the success of Shine A Light, Martin Scorsese has been inspired to make a documentary film, similar to the first part of his Stones film, but about the best Beatle, George Harrison.
It was this lost interview, by 60's BBC journalist Miranda Ward, that gave him the idea:
In the interview, George discusses eastern mysticism, politics and drink and drugs.
Film director, David Lambert, has listened to the tape and describes it as "pretty controversial" and, "I think you'll actually look at George and think, 'The guy really is talking a lot of sense and people should have listened at the time'."
It's so great that George is finally getting the credit he deserves. It's bound to be an amazing film.
Those shits at Abkco, the company that own the publishing rights to the Rolling Stones' back catalogue up to 1969, are suing Lil Wayne because they reckon his song "Playing With Fire" rips off the Stones' "Play With Fire".
Abkco think the similarities between Lil Wayne's chorus line "But you can’t blame me if I set this stage on fire" are directly influenced by, and emulating Mick Jagger's penned line "But don’t play with me, ’cause you’re playing with fire."
Judge the similarities and differences for yourself:
The above is the Stones on ABC's equivalent to Top of The Pops, Shindig!. I love how they've made the band look like a record sleeve to start off with (which they'd normally show when a band couldn't make the filming) and then you realise it's them.
They look so scary and menacing leaning against the car, just like the modern day hoodies I see round East London, but the Stones are better dressed and better looking!
It's funny that the Stone's 60's US record label once marketed the band to come across as dangerous bad boys, and yet they're now objecting to the Lil Wayne tune because:
"the public might assume the Rolling Stones approve of Wayne’s uses explicit, sexist and offensive language."
I think Lil Wayne may have a good case to defend himself because the similarities aren't that strong. It's only one line that has shadow of the Stones version.
However, the hoo ha reminds me of 1997, when I was in the process of becoming a hardcore Stones fan, and this song, was completely and utterly ripped off by those thieves, the Verve:
I mean, WHAT THE HELL, were the Verve thinking by not crediting Mick and Keith, who'd written the tune (and Andrew Oldham who arranged it).
Here's the Ashcrodt version. Check out the frightful late 90's footwear going on:
The Stones are just so great, everyone copies them!
PS The reason I refer to Abkco as "those shits" is because, ironically, they ripped off so many of the 60's best artists by pretty much not paying them for all their hard work.
Musicians like the Small Faces, Marianne Faithfull, Sam Cooke, the Ronettes and the Animals have all complained they don't receive royalties. Read Ian McClagan's autobiography All The Rage to hear his issues with the label.
George Harrison even wrote the line "Beware of Abkco" in his song "Beware of Darkness" after the Beatles' issues with Allen Klein.
2008 marks the year I finally realise the dashing, handsomeness of George Clooney. Then he goes and un-does all his Cary-Grant-of-Lake-Como work, with some styling tips from Hollywood murderer Charles Manson, and a middle class hippy, James Taylor. I do object to moustache combined with long hair. In fact, long hair and facial hair are officially over. Come back Gorgeous George. You were right first time:
Note: Yes, I know George has grown his hair because he's "in character" for his new film, but still, isn't it his job to look like a hunk?
If you're still interested, the movie is called "Men Who Stare At Goats", which is sadly, not about furry, four legged little creatures, but the Iraq war.
These bambini look A LOT cuter than Clooney does right now:
An old boyfriend of mine used to have this fab picture of Lynda Carter as Wonder Woman for a screen saver. I must admit it was the first time I'd given the Lassoed Lesbian any thought since I was three years old and had a WW figurine that you could wrap her rubber legs around her neck (oh yeah). Recently though, a friend was having a clear out and gave me his box set of Wonder Woman DVDs and I've been having a good time getting back to the late '70's. What's not to love (apart from the wooden acting and lame plots)? I'm completely charmed by the Ancient Greek connections, the Amazonian fantasy and WW's strength over all men, especially her weakling "associate" Steve.
I love that in one episode, when a bad guy is trying to be smooth and have his wicked way, she looks at him and says "what are you doing?" Then, a woman breaks into her flat and tries to attack her, but Wonder Woman says, "We're women, we shouldn't be fighting." Up the sisterhood!
But the best thing about the show has got to be the beautiful Lynda Carter, who has the most unbelievable figure, which isn't comparable to anyone else's today.
Her waist looks so small, I'd guess about 22", her hips must be near 35", but she's also got a 37" bust. Just an unreal figure without any surgical enhancements.
I actually prefer her wardrobe when she's Diana Prince. Those enormous glasses and scraped back hair may make her look slightly nerdish, but all the clothes accentuate her tiny waist and fabulous bust line and she's a pure sex kitten. I can't find any pictures, but check out her spinning!
She wears a lot of wrap dresses, mainly Diane Von Furstenbergs. I actually thought DVF must have had something to do with the costumes, so tasteful were they, but the German designer played no part in the show. It's obvious now she wishes she did because she's just launched a new collection inspired by Wonder Woman, and created a comic book tribute. Buy the book here: http://www.dvf.com/dvf/browse/productDetail.jsp?productId=prod110008&categoryId=cat110002
Guy Peellaert, the artist behind the iconic 70's album artwork for David Bowie's Diamond Dogs, and the Stones' It's Only Rock and Roll has passed away, aged 74, in Paris.
He died after a long fight with cancer.
The Belgian-born pop artist also designed posters for classic films such as Paris, Texas and Taxi Driver.
Skulking around for a bitch fight, the press have made much of Keith's list of the greatest singers of all time for Rolling Stone magazine. Saying that because he didn't choose Mick he doesn't think much of his singing.
However, Keith's manager, Jane Rose, released this statement:
"They are all getting on well. When Keith got the ballot he just thought his vote was for ‘outside’ the family. If Keith Richards did not think Mick was his favorite, they would not be the Glimmer Twins!”
However, Keith voted for himself! Here's his list in his own hand (of Fate):
Sounds like classic Keith, trying to keep Mick on his toes. Has Keith paid Mick a public compliment in that past 10 years? If you can remember one, let me know!
Talking of rivalry, it is my prediction that Keith will be pissed off by the Faces reunion, and get together with Mick next year to start writing another album. He may even leave Woody off most of the early recording sessions as Faces punishment, but mainly because he's left Jo Wood for this Russian child bride. The last time Ronnie nearly left Jo, Keith, the moral man, tried to kill Woody. Will he succeed this time?
Jerry Hall has finished her autobiography and sent it over to Harper Collins' lawyers. She signed a reported £1million deal with the Murdoch-owned publishers, and the book will be released in March 2009.
Jerry's comments on the book allude to an expose of Mick's affair with France's new First Lady, Carla Bruni.
(Here's Carla at a Versace event in the early 90's. She's pictured with Eric Clapton, who she left for Mick Jagger)
And bearing in mind the lowly way Ronnie Wood has treated Jerry's close friend Jo, I wouldn't be surprised if there were some salacious stories about the Gypsy Face too.
"I've told the truth about everything and everyone in the book. There were very, very dark times with Mick and all the Stones."
I can't wait to read it, I wonder if it will have the charm of Marianne Faithfull's though?
This is the cover of the memoirs she published in the 80's, you know the 09 ones will be so much better!
The New York Post's rumour-mill is suggesting that the original Prada-clad devil, Anna Wintour, is leaving the best selling Conde Nast title, US Vogue, in the near future. Their "source" (a Conde Nast intern or as bored NYP sub-editor perhaps?) told the paper:
“Her contract is up soon. She's thinking of retiring. She feels she's done it all and had enough. She has been putting out feelers to intimate friends, recommending a possible replacement to S.I. Newhouse. She's so tired out, she just let Men's Vogue close instead of fighting for it.” http://www.nypost.com/seven/11182008/gossip/pagesix/restless_anna_139201.htm
Whether there is any truth to this rumour, or just wishful thinking on the part of the Post and Wintour's wannabe successors, remains to be seen.
However, Wintour is surely the best woman for the job. She has continued Vogue's success as the best selling US fashion magazine, giving her mainstream American readers what they want (instead of taking the more creative and reverential tone that works so well in Paris and Italian Vogue).
In September 2007, at the onset of the Credit Crunch, she even produced Vogue's biggest ever issue, with more pages of advertising than any mainstream magazine has ever published.
I have always had a fondness for the mythological idea of a Devil Wearing Prada, and I've joked on many occasions, as a former assistant to a powerful publishing figure in the music industry, that my devil wore Lynyrd Skynyrd T-Shirts.
However, the film, and the book, really got it wrong. The Devil of the story, is not the editor who has devoted her life to her love of fashion, the magazine and making sure she and her team outstrip the competition every month. It is the miserable, arrogant assistant, with a superiority complex, who looks down her nose at the art form that is fashion, and thinks she is above one of the most legendary magazines ever published. Sure, her boss needs to go on a management training course, and needs to be reminded that manners cost nothing, but at the end of the day the editor's behaviour just enhances the legend of the magazine, which in turn celebrates it.
When I worked at the NME, it was exciting to think it was the same office that 70s music journalist Charles Shaar Murray once through a typewriter out of the window of. And when co-workers had tantrums and smashed CDs across the office, or threw books in the faces of people they were rowing with, someone else might have called HR, but I thought it added to the colour of the place, and it actually united us.
Whatever disagreements we may have had, regarding coverlines, why one band was shit and one was great, or who should be receiving the Godlike Genius gong at the NME Awards, when it came right down to it, we shared a to-the-bone passion for music and a high regard for the half century old magazine we worked for.
Anna Wintour has that devotion to fashion, and her legendry persona of Nucleur Wintour is on a par with that of Bette Davis or Joan Crawford. A nightmare for anyone who works in the real world, but for someone entering the self-celebrating industry of the media, it’s a dream come true.
Stay right where you are Anna Wintour, there are many more myths, novels and TV shows to be based on you yet.
The most moving thing Ive heard in the last twenty four hours:
This morning I was listening to the song:
It's a harrowing and moving song, but something so beautiful has happened. It needs a new verse. Those better times and things that were prayed for are now being delivered. We still have a long way to go, but the heritage of a black man is changing for the better every day, and that should be a source of pride for people of all races.
His conceding speech is going on now. He just said that this election is special for African Americans. HOW WRONG. It's special for ALL Americans. They now live in an equal society.
BUT
He's now encouraging all his supporters to realise they're fellow Americans first and foremost.
I hope they do.
"He was my opponent, now he's my president." So moving.
God bless Sarah Palin, she's wearing a very expensive suit. I do hope she gives up politics and gets her own daytime TV show. She's moron, but completely warm, charming and good hearted.
Barack Obama is going to be the 44th President of the United States of America! Thank god! It's what I've been praying for! He's going to make it better.
America can now prove to the world what a great country it is. It's reputation as racist, war-mongering, right wing extremist, and out of touch with the rest of the world could dissolve with a leader like Obama. There is no alternative.
This snap makes me laugh. I'm sure that Wintour voted for Obama. Not only is Obama THE fashion choice (countless New York designers created smoking hot accessories that were sold in his online store), there were some ugly rumours that Sarah Palin was going on the November Vogue cover, instead we got a heart-warming feature all about the women in Joe Biden's family.
Nice to note that voting is literally and metaphorically a democratiser, even the Devil herself has to queue up with the rest of her fellow citizens.
Here I am, sitting on my sofa with my cats, eating an Italian cheese board, and waiting for the East Coast polls to close and be counted.
In twenty minutes the BBC election coverage officially begins and I'm as giddy as I was in 1997, when I bunked off school and stayed up for two days to watch the Labour Party's incredible landslide.
With my Obamania and ants in my pants I'm remembering a few of the funniest and best election moments I've lived through: Paxo Vs Galloway Punch-Up
I will NEVER EVER forget OUT! OUT! OUT!
Twiggy became a bit of a pin-up amongst the girls in my school, even though he's gay:
PS Just watching Newsnight. They interviewed some McCain campaigners from Pennsylvania, one said Obama had a record on infanticide and another called him a Communist.
What ludicrous and freakish claims to be made about a politician running for office by election, and one from a party called "Democrat" (McCain-ites, democracy is the opposite political ideal to Communism.
And infanticide? If those campaigners have any prooof that a member of the US senate has killed children perhaps they should pass that evidence onto the police. And is biology in American schools so bad that no one knows the difference between a foetus and a person?
Jesse Jackson was just interviewed on Newsnight by Jeremy Paxman. When asked about why Obama has a chance to win the presidency, whereas the Reverend Jackson didn't in 1984 and 1988, he explained that the civil rights movement has been all about tearing down walls. After Rosa Parks, Martin Luther King and the rest, Jesse Jackson's bid for presidency broke down walls for Obama. His last words were: "The Civil Rights movement tore down walls, now Barack Obama can concentrate on building bridges." America, we're waiting for you to change the world for the better.
Cream gowns! Cake! High Heels! Eva Herzigova is living the dream! I am not sure if I'm over this whole austerity trend, or if I'm having a very 2006 moment, but someone take me out shopping NOW!
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