2005

In support of their iconic 1983 album “Synchronicity,” the Police finally embraced the bombast of arena rock, expanding their lineup with backing vocalists, hiring a designer to provide their stage outfits and utilizing intricate lighting schemes.

For years, the only available visual document of this tour was the aptly named home video “Synchronicity Concert,” taped in November 1983 in Atlanta. But with its Sept. 5 U.K. re-release via Universal, fans will be treated to the first DVD of the project, comprising a host of previously unreleased features. A North American release date for the DVD has not yet been finalized but is expected to follow shortly on the heels of the U.K. edition.

The DVD will boast remixed 5.1 Surround Sound, multi-angle performances of “Synchronicity II,” “Roxanne,” “Invisible Sun” and “Don’t Stand So Close to Me” from the Atlanta show, a rare 1984 band interview taped in Melbourne and never-before-seen versions of “Demolition Man,” “O My God” and “Murder by Numbers” from a “Synchronicity”-era small venue gig in Montreal.

“The show in Montreal was the first to be shot and was recorded before the ‘Synchronicity’ tour had started with some difficulty in an intimate club environment, which they felt would recreate the band’s early days,” the video’s original executive producer, Derek Power, tells Billboard.com.

That show was filmed in front of radio-station contest winners by Kevin Godley and Lol Creme, who had previously directed videos for the “Synchronicity” singles “Every Breath You Take,” “Wrapped Around Your Finger” and “King of Pain”

“However, the band was ambivalent in its reaction to the Montreal shows, and wanted to have other versions of various songs done with in front of a large stadium audience,” Power says. “At their own expense they re-shot it in Atlanta, and this is why there are tracks shot in both places. The Atlanta recording and filming was done on an expanded and more lavish basis than the Montreal shoot, with the band [in] top form and much happier with [its] performances there.”

Although the Police were nearing the end of the line, Power recalls Sting, Andy Summers and Stewart Copeland were getting along “fine, with no obvious clashes, although there were the accumulated tensions that had come with touring and filming. Always a demanding, fatiguing and occasionally painful process.”

Here is the track list for “Synchronicity Concert”:

Intro
“Synchronicity I”
“Walking in Your Footsteps”
“Message in a Bottle”
“Walking on the Moon”
“Wrapped Around Your Finger”
“Hole in My Life”
“King of Pain”
“One World”
“Tea in the Sahara”
“Oh My God”
“De Do Do Do De Da Da Da”
“Every Breath You Take”
“Can’t Stand Losing You”
“Spirits in the Material World”
“So Lonely”

Source billboard.com.

Ben Harper, Ted Leo, the Fiery Furnaces, the Donnas, Dar Williams and Sufjan Stevens are among the artists confirmed to appear on a song-by-song tribute to the Beatles’ “Rubber Soul.”

Due Oct. 25 via Razor & Tie, “This Bird Has Flown — A 40th Anniversary Tribute to the Beatles’ Rubber Soul” even reproduces the sequence of the 14-track original LP. Other acts stepping into the Fab Four’s footprints include Ben Kweller, Nellie McKay, the Yonder Mountain String Band, Ben Lee, Low and Rhett Miller.

“As we looked toward artists we would approach, we felt they should be kindred spirits, whose gifts for singing and arranging lend themselves to these melodies and themes,” says producer Jim Sampas, who previously assembled the Sub Pop set “Badlands: A Tribute to Bruce Springsteen’s Nebraska.” “Each artist on this album brought their own fascinating interpretations and have extracted new meanings from ‘Rubber Soul.'”

Released in December 1965, “Rubber Soul” marked the Beatles’ turning point from pop-driven teen idols to musicians willing to experiment with folk and psychedelica. The set spent six weeks at No. 1 on The Billboard 200.

Here is the track list for “This Bird Has Flown”:

“Drive My Car,” the Donnas
“Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown),” the Fiery Furnaces
“You Won’t See Me,” Dar Williams
“Nowhere Man,” Low
“Think For Yourself,” Yonder Mountain String Band
“The Word,” Mindy Smith
“Michelle,” Ben Harper & The Innocent Criminals
“What Goes On,” Sufjan Stevens
“Girl,” Rhett Miller
“I’m Looking Through You,” Ted Leo
“In My Life,” Ben Lee
“Wait,” Ben Kweller
“If I Needed Someone,” Nellie McKay
“Run For Your Life,” Cowboy Junkies

Source billboard.com.

Interpol recently announced dates that’ll have the New Yorkers performing in the U.S. and Canada beginning September 7 at Grand Prairie, Texas’ Nokia Theatre. So far, that itinerary spans through September 30, where the foursome will wrap up at the State Theatre in Portland, Maine.

Before any of that can happen, however, these well-dressed men will make their way across the globe, with dates scheduled for Australia, Japan and Mexico.

Interpol will play various gigs in Australia and New Zealand at the end of July/early August before heading to Japan for the two-day Summer Sonic festival. Bands scheduled for those dates include M.I.A., Arcade Fire, Duran Duran, TV on the Radio, Echo & The Bunnymen and more.

From there, Paul Banks (vocals/guitar), Carlos D. (bass), Sam Fogarino (drums) and Daniel Kessler (guitar/vocals) will play three dates in Mexico before hitting the States.
In June, the quintet sold out shows with the likes of U2, Pixies, The Killers, Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, Louis XIV, The Bravery and a few other familiar names. But even with the backing of those popular names, Interpol knows exactly what they want.

“We’re definitely a band that doesn’t need to be led,” Kessler told Pollstar. “We’ve always had an idea about who we wanted to be working with and where we wanted to go.”

By the time Interpol arrives in the States, they’ll be celebrating the one-year anniversary of their second full-length album, Antics, which was released on Matador Records. That album followed their popular debut, Turn on the Bright Lights.

Source pollstar.com.

A handwritten lyric sheet for “All You Need is Love” used by John Lennon in 1967 was sold for 600,000 pounds ($1.04 million) at an auction in London on Thursday, organizers said.
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The manuscript was part of a pop memorabilia sale featuring clothes, paintings and musical instruments from Lennon, Jimi Hendrix and others.

The “All You Need Is Love” lyric sheet was used by Lennon during a television performance by the Beatles and could be seen on film footage dropping to the floor after the song was performed, said a spokesman for auctioneers Cooper Owen.

A girl working for the BBC at the time retrieved the manuscript from beneath Lennon’s music stand. She provided a letter of authenticity for Thursday’s sale.

“The atmosphere really was quite something, especially when the manuscript was sold for 600,000 pounds,” a Cooper Owen spokesman said. The buyer’s identity was not revealed.

A military-style tunic worn by Lennon that inspired the Beatles’ famous “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band” record cover fetched 100,000 pounds.

A pair of Lennon’s trademark round wire spectacles was sold for 55,000 pounds. ($1=.5751 Pound)

Source yahoo.com.

D12 member Proof is gearing up for the Aug. 9 release of his first solo album, “Searching for Jerry Garcia.” The set will be issued via the artist’s own Iron Fist label and features such guests as longtime collaborator Eminem, 50 Cent, Method Man, Nate Dogg, Obie Trice and his D12 cohorts.

To read more, visit billboard.com.

The Steve Kimock Band will tour this fall in support of his long anticipated stuio album Eudemonic, and like their studio work, the band’s live show is bold, inventive, and dynamic. As always, Kimock and Holmes have hand-picked a group of ace musicians, and the cast will rotate slightly – promising fresh material and inspired interpretations.

Joining SKB for August’s west coast run is old friend Reed Mathis on bass, David Nelson Band keyboardist extraordinaire Mookie Siegel, and Mitch “Moose” Stein on guitar. Tour dates include:

July 28

Liz Phair has finalized the track list for her fifth album, “Somebody’s Miracle.” As previously reported, the 14-track set will arrive Oct. 4 via Capitol. First single “Everything to Me,” one of the album’s three co-writes with producer John Shanks, will arrive imminently at U.S. radio outlets.

“Somebody’s Miracle” is the follow-up to Phair’s 2003 self-titled effort, which spawned her first crossover hit in the form of “Why Can’t I?,” but alienated longtime fans with its glossy sound and mainstream ambitions.

Phair has not exactly returned to her lo-fi, indie-rock roots; streamlined cuts like “Stars and Planets,” “Giving It All to You” and “Count on My Love” seem primed for pop radio airplay.

But several tracks here should bring a smile to the face of devotees of her 1993 Matador debut, “Exile in Guyville,” and its 1994 follow-up, “Whip-Smart.” “Why I Lie” rides a sexy, Stones-style rock groove, while “Got My Own Thing” lopes along on a detuned riff that recalls the “Guyville” touchstone “Stratford-on-Guy.”

While not as openly sexual as an earlier single like “Supernova,” “Can’t Get Out of What I’m Into” is a similarly fast, fun rocker about a relationship that flies in the face of better judgment. “It gives me something to laugh about / because my real life ain’t f***in’ funny,” she sings.

Fresh off an appearance last weekend at Lollapalooza in her Chicago hometown, Phair kicked off a solo acoustic tour last night (July 26) in Boston and will be on the road through Aug. 19 in San Francisco.

Here is the track list for “Somebody’s Miracle”:

“Leap of Innocence”
“Wind in the Mountain”
“Stars and Planets”
“Somebody’s Miracle”
“Got My Own Thing”
“Count on My Love”
“Lazy Dreamer”
“Everything to Me”
“Can’t Get Out of What I’m Into”
“Table for One”
“Why I Lie”
“Lost Tonight”
“Everything (Between Us)”
“Giving It All to You”

Source billboard.com.