Rock History

1955 – Van Halen bassist Michael Anthony is born in Chicago.

Michael Anthony Sobolewski (born June 20, 1954) is an American musician. He is best known as the former bassist and a founding member of the hard rock band Van Halen. Anthony joined the band in 1974 and was their official recording and performing bassist for most of their career until he was replaced by Wolfgang Van Halen, son of fellow founding member Eddie Van Halen, after the band’s 2004 tour.

Anthony is known for his stage antics, his effects-laden live solos, and his number of custom-made bass guitars including a Jack Daniel’s model shaped like a whiskey bottle. He also has a signature Yamaha bass guitar series. In total, Anthony is known to have in excess of 150 bass guitars. In addition to his musical career with Van Halen and other acts, Anthony markets a line of hot sauces and related products named Mad Anthony.

Anthony has been married to his wife Sue since 1981 and they have two daughters: Taylor (born 1991) and Elisha (born 1985). Anthony now lives in Glendora, California and can be frequently seen driving his prized hot rods.

Biography

Early life (1954–1966)

Anthony was born in Chicago, Illinois, USA to Polish immigrant parents, and was one of five siblings (Nancy, Michael, Steve, Robert and Dennis). He later moved to California where he attended Arcadia High School, graduating in 1972. He developed his interest in music in childhood, playing the trumpet. He became interested in playing mainly rock, blues, and jazz, taking after his father Walter.

Musical career begins (1967–1974)

While Anthony was a promising catcher in baseball, he also competed on the Dana Junior High School track team (long jump) and played in the marching band there from 1967–1969. He took an interest in guitar as a teenager, but picked up the bass instead since most of his other friends already played guitar or drums. Anthony’s friend Mike Hershey gave him a Fender Mustang electric guitar that Anthony converted by removing its top two strings and playing it as a bass guitar. Eventually, his father bought him a Victoria copy of a Fender Precision Bass and a Gibson amplifier. Anthony modeled his bass playing after Led Zeppelin’s John Paul Jones mostly, but also admired Jack Bruce of Cream, and Harvey Brooks of Electric Flag. His main interest in life was music once he left high school. His first band was called Poverty’s Children. Other bands he played in included Black Opal, Balls and Snake. Although Anthony is naturally left-handed, he plays right-handed.

Snake, a three-piece group featuring Anthony on lead vocals and bass guitar, was the last band Mike played in before joining Van Halen. Snake played covers of ZZ Top, Lynyrd Skynyrd, and Foghat, along with some original songs. They played a lot of the same types of gigs as did the Van Halen brothers’ band Mammoth. Snake even opened for Mammoth at a show at Pasadena High School one night. Mammoth’s PA failed that night, so Anthony lent them Snake’s PA.

While attending Pasadena City College, Mike pursued a degree in music. Alex Van Halen took classes there too and they would often see each other on campus. During this time, Mark Stone was kicked out of Mammoth and the Van Halens decided to audition Anthony to be their new bassist. Anthony was impressed by their skill during subsequent jam sessions even though he had seen the brothers play before. After the session, the Van Halen brothers asked Anthony to join the their band. He said he had to think about it and consulted Snake guitarist Tony Codgen who advised Anthony to go ahead with joining Van Halen. However, according to Michael Anthony’s web site, when asked if he wanted to join Van Halen, Anthony immediately said yes, that there was no consulting with anyone.

Van Halen (1974–1996)

Main article: Van Halen

In 1974, Eddie Van Halen, Alex Van Halen along with David Lee Roth and Michael Anthony became known as Van Halen, dropping the name Mammoth because they discovered that another local band was using that moniker. They were signed to Warner Brothers in 1977 and released their self titled debut album on February 8, 1978. Anthony’s bass lines and high vocal harmonies became a distinctive part of the Van Halen sound. The band released a total of ten studio albums from 1978–1995, along with a live album and a compilation CD in 1996 that featured two previously unreleased songs. Despite the Van Halen brothers falling out with both their vocalists frequently (David Lee Roth in 1985, 1996, 2000 and 2001 and Sammy Hagar in both 1996 and 2004), Anthony maintained positive relationships with all of the musicians.

Diminishing role with Van Halen and side projects (1996–2003)

As early as 1996, rumors periodically surfaced that Anthony had been fired from Van Halen. Despite claims to the contrary and his continued work with the band, these persisted until his final departure.

Anthony’s involvement in the 1998 album Van Halen III was less than for previous albums. Anthony performed on only three songs; Eddie Van Halen recorded the others. Anthony is credited as a songwriter for the album along with the rest of the band as is always the case for Van Halen albums. Anthony performed with the band for the 1998 tour, and was credited for messages from the band thereafter. He participated in the band’s three reunion attempts with David Lee Roth from 2000 through 2001. Anthony’s name was also credited in a few band newsletters during this time, and he appeared in band interviews. Sometime after this, however, Anthony disappeared from public view until the 2004 reunion.

In interviews, Eddie and Alex Van Halen suggested they were jamming and writing/recording new material during this time period but appeared to be working without Anthony.

Anthony began periodic appearances with Sammy Hagar during his solo tours. He usually played as part of The Waboritas, Hagar’s band. During 2002′s David Lee Roth/Sammy Hagar tour, both Michael Anthony and ex-Van Halen vocalist Gary Cherone make guest appearances at concerts, sometimes together. Anthony never performed during Roth’s segment however.

In 2002, Anthony, Hagar, Neal Schon, Deen Castronovo, and Joe Satriani formed the “supergroup” Planet Us and Anthony began making more frequent performances at Sammy Hagar concerts. Planet US recorded two songs, one of which was intended for the Spider-Man soundtrack but ultimately did not make the album. The band did perform the unreleased song Vertigo on the Internet radio show RockLine.

Van Halen reunion (2003–2005)

Initially when Eddie and Alex asked Hagar to rejoin at the end of 2003 for a 2004 tour, the plan was not to invite Anthony back. Hagar, however, refused to perform if Anthony did not rejoin, and Anthony agreed to play but on a reduced royalties contract. The contract drawn up was for the duration of the tour only, with his role within the band resting in the hands of the Van Halen brothers thereafter. Throughout this time, and during the Van Halen III period, the public was unaware of Anthony’s tenuous status within the band and was led to believe that he was still a full-time member.

In 2004, Van Halen released the compilation album The Best of Both Worlds which included three new songs. Anthony did not participate in the writing and recording of the new songs and was not credited on the album for the new material.[1]

Anthony now states in media interviews that he has not spoken to the Van Halen brothers since the 2004 tour. He has also speculated that since the brothers were not pleased with Hagar’s commercial ventures such as the Cabo Wabo product line, their similar displeasure with Anthony’s hot sauce brand may have caused the rift that ultimately separated Hagar and Anthony from the band.[2]

Departure from Van Halen and recent projects (2006–present)

Anthony spent the Summer of 2006 touring as a member of The Other Half during a segment of the Sammy Hagar and the Waboritas tour. The Other Half featured Anthony and Hagar performing classic Van Halen songs from both the Roth and Hagar periods.

On September 8, 2006, Eddie Van Halen announced that his son, Wolfgang, was replacing Michael Anthony as Van Halen’s bass player. On February 2, 2007, it was announced that Van Halen was reuniting for a tour with original vocalist David Lee Roth. The tour began on September 27, 2007. Anthony commented that he heard about his replacement “on the Internet” and stated, “I’m a little miffed that they’re calling it a Van Halen reunion. If I was dead and they needed someone to play, that’s one thing, but to me this is not a reunion.”[3]

Anthony surprised his former bandmate and good friend Sammy Hagar on live national TV on February 25, 2007. During a pre-race performance for the California race on FOX television, the bassist jumped onstage and joined Sammy Hagar during a performance of “I Can’t Drive 55″. Hagar could only respond “Michael Anthony’s in the house.”

Michael Anthony and Sammy Hagar were the only members, former or current, to appear at Van Halen’s induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame on March 12, 2007. Eddie Van Halen was in rehab at the time, and Alex Van Halen and David Lee Roth declined to appear.[4]

Anthony is currently developing a side project called “Chickenfoot” with Sammy Hagar, Red Hot Chili Peppers drummer Chad Smith and guitarist Joe Satriani, which will include a yet unnamed studio album release. He has also recently established a band named the Mad Anthony Xpress that will tour with Hagar in 2007 and 2008.

From Wikipedia

2006 – Baldemar Huerta, also known as Freddy Fender dies today this day in rock.

Freddy Fender (June 4, 1937 – October 14, 2006), born Baldemar Huerta in San Benito, Texas, USA, was a Mexican-American, Tejano, country, and rock and roll musician, known for his work as a solo artist and in the groups Los Super Seven and the Texas Tornados. He is best known for his 1975 hit “Before the Next Teardrop Falls”.

Early years

As a child, Fender and his parents traveled throughout the United States as a circus act. At age 5, he turned a sardine can and screen door wire into a homemade guitar, and by age 10, had his first radio appearance on Harlingen’s KGBS-AM radio station, where he sang “Let’s Spend The Night Together” and reportedly won a tub of food worth $5.

At the age of 16, Fender quit school and started a three year hitch in the United States Marine Corps. He returned to Texas and played nightclubs, bars and honky-tonks throughout the south, mostly to Latino audiences. In 1957, then known as “El Bebop Kid,” he released two songs to moderate success in Mexico and South America: Spanish language versions of Elvis Presley’s “Don’t Be Cruel,” and Harry Belafonte’s “Jamaica Farewell.” This has made Baldemar Huerta the first Latino to have recorded and performed the first rock and roll song hit of “No Seas Cruel” in Spanish. He is known for his rockabilly music and his cool persona as “Eddie Con Los Shades rock and roll album which like more of his rock and roll CDs are still being sold as of today. In 1958, the musician changed his name from Baldemar Huerta to Freddy Fender. He took Fender from an amplifier, and ‘Freddy’ because the alliteration sounded good to him and it would,”…sell better with Gringos!” He then headed for California.

Initial success

In 1959, Fender recorded the blues ballad “Wasted Days and Wasted Nights”. The song became popular, but he was beset by legal troubles in May 1960 after he and a band member were arrested for possession of marijuana in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. After nearly three years in the fearsome Louisiana State Penitentiary Angola prison farm, he was released through the intercession of then Governor Jimmie Davis, also a songwriter and musician. Davis requested that Fender stay away from music while on probation as a condition of his release. However, in a 1990 NPR interview on Fresh Air with Terry Gross (rebroadcast October 17, 2006), Fender said that the condition for parole was to stay away from places that served alcohol.

By the end of the 1960s, Fender was back in Texas working as a mechanic, and attending a local junior college, while only playing music on the weekends.

Number one on pop and country charts

In 1974, Fender recorded the song “Before The Next Teardrop Falls”. The single was selected for national distribution, and became a number one hit on the Billboard Country and Pop charts. His next three singles, “Secret Love”, “You’ll Lose A Good Thing” and a remake of “Wasted Days And Wasted Nights”, all hit the number-one spot on the Billboard Country charts. Between 1975 and 1983 Fender charted a total of 21 country hits such as “Since I Met You Baby” , “Vaya Con Dios”, “Livin’ It Down”, and “The Rains Came”.

Fender also had much success on the pop charts. In addition to “Before The Next Teardrop Falls” going number 1 on the pop charts in May 1975, he also took “Wasted Days And Wasted Nights” into the pop top 10 and “Secret Love” into the top 20. Also “Since I Met You Baby,” “You’ll Lose A Good Thing” (his last pop top 40), “Vaya Con Dios,” and “Livin’ It Down” (his last pop hit to reach the pop top 100) all did well on the pop charts.

Not only notable for his genre-crossing appeal, more than a few of Fender’s hits featured verses or choruses in Spanish. Rarely did bilingual songs hit the pop charts, and when they did it was more because of a novelty status. Having bilingual songs on the country charts was even more uncommon, given country music’s regional insularity and fanbase.

Swamp pop influences

Fender was heavily influenced by the swamp pop sound that hailed from south Louisiana and southeast Texas, as evidenced by his recording of swamp pop standards on his 1978 album Swamp Gold. Indeed, Fender recorded one of his major hits, “Wasted Days and Wasted Nights,” with a typical swamp pop ballad arrangement. Fender associated frequently with swamp pop musicians like Joe Barry and Rod Bernard, and issued many recordings on labels owned by Huey Meaux, a Cajun recordman who specialized in swamp pop recordings. As music writer John Broven has observed, “Although Freddy was a Chicano from Texas marketed as a country artist, much of his formative career was spent in South Louisiana; spiritually Fender’s music was from the Louisiana swamps.”

Later years

Texas Tornados

In 1989, Fender teamed up with fellow Tejano music/Tex-Mex musicians Doug Sahm, Flaco Jimenez, and Augie Meyers to form the Tejano supergroup the Texas Tornados, whose work meshed conjunto, Tejano, R&B, country, and blues to wide acclaim. The group released four albums and won a Grammy in 1990 for ‘Best Mexican American Performance’ for the track “Soy de San Luis.” Following the death of Sahm, the production of the Tornadoes slowed. A live 1990 appearance on TV’s Austin City Limits, one of three made by the group, was released in 2005 as part of the show’s Live From Austin, TX series.

Los Super 7

In the late 1990s, Fender joined another supergroup, Los Super Seven, with Los Lobos’ David Hidalgo and Cesar Rosas, Flaco Jimenez, Ruben Ramos, Joe Ely, and country singer Rick Trevino. The group won a 1998 Grammy in the Mexican-American Performance category for their self-titled disc.

Later work

In 2001, Fender made his final studio recording, a collection of classic Mexican boleros titled La Música de Baldemar Huerta that brought him a third Grammy award, this time in the category of Latin Pop Album. Rose Reyes, who worked with Fender in 2004 for a Texas Folklife and Austin tribute titled “Fifty Years of Freddy Fender,” said of the album, “When he did Mexican standards at that point in his career, I expected it to be good because he’s a perfectionist. But that record is so beautifully recorded; his voice is perfection. I was so proud it was coming back to his roots.”

Death and aftermath

Fender underwent a kidney transplant in 2002 donated by his daughter and a transplant of the liver in 2004. Nonetheless, his condition continued to worsen. He was suffering from an “incurable cancer” in which he had tumors on his lungs. On December 31, 2005, Freddy performed his last concert and resumed chemotherapy.

He died on October 14, 2006 of lung cancer at his home in Corpus Christi, Texas with his family at his bedside. He was 69 years old and is buried in his hometown of San Benito. International news coverage of the death cited an oft-expressed wish by the singer to become the first Mexican-American inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame, with reporters noting that posthumous induction remains a possibility.

A Freddy Fender Museum and The Conjunto Music Museum opened November 17, 2007 in San Benito. They share a building with The San Benito Historical Museum. His family has committed to continue the Freddy Fender Scholarship Fund and other philanthropic causes about which the musician was passionate.

Trivia
Lists of miscellaneous information should be avoided. Please relocate any relevant information into appropriate sections or articles. (April 2008)

Space Ghost character Brak’s real name “Baldemar Garza. Huerta” is a reference to Fender’s birth name.

In 1988, Fender played the mayor of a small New Mexico town in the Robert Redford-directed film, The Milagro Beanfield War.

Freddy Fender recorded a song called “Holy One” or “Only One” under the name of Scotty Wayne.

Freddy Fender also used the stage name Eddie Medina. His father Serapio Huerta was Saturnino Huerta and his mother’s name was Tiburcia Medina born in Soto La Marina, Mexico. His mother was Margarita Huerta.

Frank Black wrote a song about Fender, called “Dead Man’s Curve”. It can be found on his Christmas compilation cd.

Discography

Albums
Year     Album     Chart Positions     RIAA
US Country     US 200
1974     Before the Next Teardrop Falls     1     20     Gold
1975     Recorded Inside Louisiana State Prison
Are You Ready for Freddy?     1     41
Since I Met You Baby     10
1976     Rock ‘N’ Country     3     59
Your Cheatin’ Heart
If You’re Ever in Texas     4     170
1977     The Best of Freddy Fender     4     155
If You Don’t Love Me     34
Merry Christmas / Feliz Navidad
1978     Swamp Gold     44
1979     Tex-Mex
The Texas Balladeer
1980     Together We Drifted Apart
1982     The Border Soundtrack
1991     The Freddy Fender Collection
Favorite Ballads
2001     Forever Gold     70

Singles
Year     Single     Chart Positions     Album
US Country     US Hot 100
1975     “Before the Next Teardrop Falls”     1     1     Before the Next Teardrop Falls
“Wasted Days and Wasted Nights”     1     8
“Since I Met You Baby”     10     45     Since I Met You Baby
“Secret Love”     1     20     Are You Ready for Freddy?
1976     “The Wild Side of Life”     13         Since I Met You Baby
“You’ll Lose a Good Thing”     1     32     Rock ‘N’ Country
“Vaya con Dios”     7     59
“Living It Down”     2     72     If You’re Ever in Texas
1977     “The Rains Came”     4         Rock ‘N’ Country
“Sugar Coated Love”     flip         The Best of Freddy Fender
“If You Don’t Love Me
(Why Don’t You Just Leave Me Alone)”     11         If You Don’t Love Me
“Think About Me”     18
1978     “If You’re Looking for a Fool”     34
“Talk to Me”     13         Swamp Gold
“I’m Leaving It All Up to You”     26
1979     “Walking Piece of Heaven”     22         Tex-Mex
“Yours”     22         The Texas Balladeer
“Squeeze Box”     61
1980     “My Special Prayer”     83
“Please Talk to My Heart”     82         Together We Drifted Apart
1983     “Chokin’ Kind”     87         Single only

Honors

* Academy of Country Music (1975) – “Most Promising Male Vocalist”
* Country Music Association (1975) – “Single of the Year” for “Before the Next Teardrop Falls”
* Grammy nominations in 1975, 1976, and 1997
* Tejano Music Hall of Fame (1987)
* Inaugural Balls – Presidents Bill Clinton and George H.W. Bush
* Grammy Award for Best Mexican/Mexican-American Album (1990) – for the Texas Tornados
* European Walk of Fame (1993) – in Rotterdam, the Netherlands
* Freddy Fender Lane (1994) – dedicated in his hometown of San Benito, Texas
* Hollywood Walk of Fame (1999)
* Texas Music Hall Of Fame (1999)
* Nashville Sidewalk of Stars (1999)
* Grammy Award “Best Mexican/American Performance” (1999) – for Los Super Seven
* Louisiana Hall Of Fame (2001)
* Grammy Award “Best Latin Pop” (2002) – for La Musica de Baldemar Huerta
* Annual Freddy Fender Humanitarian Award

Stage names

Fender had several stage names at the onset of his career. “Freddy Fender” became his legal name.

* El Be-Bop Kid, 1957
* Freddy Fender, 1958
* Eddie Medina, 1961
* Scotty Wayne, 1962

2002 – The Who’s John Entwistle is found dead in his hotel room in Las Vegas. He has cocaine in his system, and the Deaths is ruled accidental. He is 57.
John Alec Entwistle (October 9, 1944 – June 27, 2002) was an English bass guitarist, songwriter, singer, and horn player, who was best known as the bass guitarist for the rock band The Who. His aggressive lead sound influenced rock bass players[1][2] such as Steve Harris, Geddy Lee, Phil Lesh, Billy Sheehan and Chris Squire.

Entwistle’s lead instrument approach used pentatonic lead lines, and a then-unusual trebly sound created by roundwound RotoSound steel bass strings. He had a collection of over 200 instruments by the time of his death, reflecting the different brands he used over his career: Fender and Rickenbacker basses in the 1960s, Alembic’s basses in the 1970s, Warwick in the 1980s, and Status all-graphite basses in the 1990s.

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(CNN) — In “Rock Dreams,” writer Nik Cohn and artist Guy Peellaert’s slightly surreal history of rock ‘n’ roll, the early Who are summarized by means of a simple, fictional ledger.

On the credit side are the band’s gigs for the week, a couple hundred pounds for concerts at the Marquee Club and other venues in and around London. On the debit side are several hundred pounds of expenses for new guitars, microphones and drum kits, new clothes for guitarist Pete Townshend, repairs to vocalist Roger Daltrey’s car, and nightlife money for drummer Keith Moon.

And, at the bottom, is a debit for 1 pound, 17 shillings, 6 pence for bassist John Entwistle’s luncheon vouchers.

That was Entwistle: an oasis of personal, working-class quietude among the band’s chaotic sturm und drang.

Entwistle, 57, known as “Ox” or “Thunderfingers,” died at the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada, on Thursday, after suffering an apparent heart attack.

His death came just one day before the group was set to begin a North American tour. An autopsy is due to be held Friday to determine the cause of death.

CNN NewsPass VIDEO
CNN’s Tim Lister looks back on the career of bassist John Entwistle of The Who (June 28)

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Fans at the Las Vegas Hard Rock Hotel Casino pay their respects (June 27)

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AUDIO
“My Generation”
153 / 14
WAV sound
“My Wife”
161 / 14
WAV sound
“Boris the Spider”
206 / 19
WAV sound

MORE STORIES
• Who’s Entwistle dies
• Obituary: The quiet artist
• Entwistle tributes pour in
• Novel to go unpublished

EXTRA INFORMATION
Gallery: Memories and tributes

RESOURCES
EW.com: All About The Who
In Memoriam: John Entwistle

The group now has just two of its four original members — Roger Daltrey and Pete Townshend. Moon died in 1978 of a drug overdose.

Townshend and Daltrey posted a tribute to Entwistle on Townshend’s Web site Friday.

“The Ox has left the building — we’ve lost another great friend,” it read. “Thanks for your support and love. Pete and Roger.”

Entwistle was on medication for a heart condition, according to Steve Luongo, a member of The John Entwistle Band.

The Who’s scheduled concert at the Hard Rock on Friday was canceled, but the rest of the tour will apparently continue. On Friday, Townshend posted a message on his Web site that read, “We are going on. First show Hollywood Bowl. Pray for us John, wherever you are.”

The tour takes in more than 20 venues in various American states including New York, California, Indiana, Illinois, Colorado and Texas before finishing up in Cleveland, Ohio, on September 27.
‘Unique and irreplaceable’

While the spotlight focused on Daltrey’s microphone spinning, Townshend’s guitar windmilling and Moon’s cataclysmic drumming, Entwistle stood off to the side, his stolid, nimble-fingered presence anchoring the group.

With Townshend’s power chords effectively providing rhythm for the group, Entwistle’s intricate bass lines essentially provided the group’s melodic lead. On songs ranging from “My Generation” to “The Real Me” to “You Better You Bet,” he moved up and down the fretboard, providing bottom and filling the gaps between Townshend’s bursts of guitar.

In an interview with The Associated Press, longtime Rolling Stones’ bassist Bill Wyman described Entwistle as “the quietest man in private but the loudest man on stage. He was unique and irreplaceable,” he said.

“He just was the most humble rock star I have ever met, besides having the best hands of any bass player in the history of rock and roll,” rocker Sammy Hagar told the AP.

John Alec Entwistle was born October 9, 1944 — exactly four years after John Lennon — in Chiswick, London, England. He played brass instruments in his early years, and was often known to lend a French horn to Who songs.

Entwistle and Townshend were schoolboy friends, but didn’t play in a rock band together until Entwistle suggested his old friend to Roger Daltrey, then in a band called the Detours, in 1962. Moon joined the group the next year, and the group renamed itself The Who in 1964.
Songwriting prowess

The group became a key band for Britain’s Mod movement, and had its first British hit in 1965 with “I Can’t Explain.” By the end of the year they’d become a force on the UK scene, with “My Generation” going to No. 2.
The Who
The Who: From left, Roger Daltrey, Pete Townshend, John Entwistle and Keith Moon, in the 1970s.

Entwistle’s bass solo on that song took several takes, in large part because he kept breaking bass strings. The trebly strings were difficult to replace, and the story goes that Entwistle had to keep going out to buy new basses because he wasn’t allowed to buy the strings separately.

The Who finally broke through in the United States with “Happy Jack,” which made the Top 30, and “I Can See for Miles,” which hit the Top 10, both in 1967.

The band cemented its U.S. success with 1969′s “Tommy” album, and played Woodstock in August of that year. (The group had also played 1967′s Monterey Pop Festival, and taped a memorable appearance on “The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour.”)

A critic once wrote that Entwistle had the misfortune of being a good songwriter in a band with a great one — Townshend — and his contributions to Who albums were only occasional. But Entwistle-penned songs such as “Boris the Spider,” “Cousin Kevin,” and “My Wife” were standouts on Who albums as well as being concert favorites.

Entwistle released nine albums, solo and with his band Ox. He also formed The John Entwistle Band, while continuing to play with The Who.

The Who were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1990.
‘It’s just devastating’

Entwistle was also a talented artist. He created the cover for The Who’s 1975 “The Who By Numbers” album, and an art exhibition featuring his work at Grammy’s Art of Music Gallery was due to open in Las Vegas on Thursday.

The gallery’s assistant manager, Diana Tabor, said staff and fans were in a state of shock.

“I’m emotionally distraught just now, it’s just devastating. I just had to break the news to a client who broke down in tears,” she said.

“The entire Who family is terribly saddened by John’s passing. Our deepest sympathies go out to his family, friends and the millions of Who fans the world over,” said Bill Curbishley, The Who’s manager.

Entwistle was married twice and has one son from his first marriage, Christopher.

Outside The Joint in Las Vegas, where the concert was scheduled, fans like Lauren J. Hammer, 35, of Boulder, Colorado, gathered in front of a growing collection of flower bouquets and a large British flag, the AP reported. She held her Colorado license plate that read “WHO R U” and business cards that stated “Who Fan Extraordinaire.”

The casino played the band’s songs, and the hotel changed its marquee from a concert promotion to a memorial reading, “John Entwistle. 1944-2002. You will be missed by all.”

1999 – Eric Clapton parts with 100 of his guitars and generates over $5 million for his Crossroads Centre at Antigua, and alcohol and drug-dependency treatment center in the West Indies. Among the stringed beauties auctioned off is “Brownie,” a 1956 sunburst Fender upon which he recorded his hit “Layla”; the instrument goes for a record-breaking $450,000.

FEATURED

from: http://www.xs4all.nl/~slowhand/ecfaq/guitars.html

Q: What was Clapton’s first guitar?
A: His first guitar was an acoustic Spanish Hoya. His first electric guitar was a double cutaway Kay.

Q: Where did “Blackie” come from?
A: In 1970, Clapton bought a handful of Stratocasters, Telecasters, and various other Fenders for $100.00 each at the Sho-Bud shop in Nashville, Tennessee. He took them back to England and gave one to George Harrison, one to Steve Winwood, and one to Pete Townshend. Clapton disassembled the remaining three and constructed “Blackie” out of the best components from each of them.

Q: Where is “Blackie” now?
A: “Blackie” was retired in 1985 after 15 years of faithful service. According to Clapton: “It’s at home. It’s off the road completely. I play it at home occasionally, but it is too precious for me to take out for fear of loss or breakage or something like that.”

Q: What is the Eric Clapton Signature Strat?
A: Dan Smith, the head of Fender guitars, approached Clapton to discuss a plan to create a guitar to Clapton’s specifications and market it under his name. Clapton told them to make an exact copy of “Blackie” (his favorite Strat), especially the shape of the neck. Clapton’s favorite neck was the “V” neck, like the early Martins. Fender made up a neck and put it on a Strat Elite guitar body for Clapton to try.  In the meantime, Fender made another prototype with a less V’ed neck that Clapton liked even more. Among the Elite’s features was a “mid boost” control, which on the Elite was meant to mimic the output and sound of a Gibson Les Paul. Clapton loved the boost (which he calls a “compressor”) and told Fender to keep it, but he wanted “more of the compressor”. The original prototype had 14 db of boost but Clapton wanted more than that. So, they put the guitar together with Lace Sensor pick-ups and a circuit that had a 25 db boost in the midrange at around 500 Hz [Guitar World, Dec 1989]  The guitar can be seen in an interview with Lee Dickson that ran in a 1985 issue of Guitar Player magazine. It’s a black Elite body with a different neck attached (quite easy to tell). The fact that Clapton’s favorite guitar was a Fender, apparently had nothing to do with the fact that his signature guitar is marketed by that company. The original production guitar was available in three colors — charcoal gray, Torino red, and 7-Up green. Per Clapton’s request, the color black was not offered initially, but was added as an option around 1991. Alpine white was also added about the time of the “Nothing But the Blues” tour.

Q: Where is Clapton’s famous psychedelic SG guitar from his days with the band Cream?
A: . The design on Clapton’s 1961 SG/Les Paul was done by The Fool, the Dutch group of artists (Simon and Marijke) that designed the album sleeve for the first pressing of the Beatles “Sgt. Peppers” album. Clapton first purchased this guitar in 1966/67, and was used on the first two Cream albums (Fresh Cream and Disraeli Gears), and on the Wheels of Fire live recordings.
The guitar is now in the collection of Todd Rundgren and the paint has been touched up.

Q: What kind of strings does Clapton use?
A: At least on his Strats, he uses Ernie Ball Regular Slinkies (.010) or Super Slinkies (.009).

Q: How did he do that?
A: Tabs of many of Clapton’s songs are available at The Slowhand Blues World tab archive. The tone and feeling is up to you, but the notes are here! In printed form, Hal Leonard (check in your local music store) sells many Clapton songbooks and stylebooks — some even contain a CD for easy playing.

Q: Has Clapton always played Fender guitars?
A: No. From about June 1965 until around 1970, Clapton played Gibson electric guitars almost exclusively. His reputation as a guitarist (i.e. “Clapton is God”) was developed with a Gibson guitar. In June 1965, when Clapton bought a second-hand, cherry sunburst Gibson Les Paul guitar, little did anyone know that he was about to change the history of the electric guitar. Clapton created a new electric guitar sound and employed an overdriven Marshall amplifier that provided the distortion, feedback, and sustain he needed for his trademark sound. Although not the first to use these electrical “by-products” to his advantage, he refined their use and combined them with his virtuoso abilities and, most importantly, angst-driven passion. Clapton’s blues solos during his days with John Mayall’s Blues Breakers could send shivers down the spine while bringing tears to the eyes.

The Gibson Les Paul model guitar that Clapton played, however, was a discontinued model, having been produced from 1952-1960. He subsequently purchased several more, but his favorite one was stolen during early Cream rehearsals in the summer of 1966. Clapton’s popularizing of the Les Paul model guitar affected the electric guitar world so much that Gibson decided to re-introduce and reissue the guitar in 1968.

If Clapton had not popularized the Gibson Les Paul guitar, it would have been consigned to the dust-bin of history. Today, vintage Gibson Les Paul sunburst guitars from the 1958-1960 are collector’s items.

Q: How did Clapton get the famous “woman-tone” in Cream?
A: According to Clapton, the “woman-tone” is achieved by rolling the tone control all the way off on either the neck or the bridge pickup of a guitar with humbucking pickups and the volume all the way up. Heavy strings and a bassy-sounding amp at high volume also helps to achieve that wooing, whooshing tone. In fact, a lot of Clapton’s “woman tone” was achieved this way [with a wah-wah pedal], with the pedal about three-quarters back from the forward position. (from Guitar Player magazine, Gear Guru, March 1993)

Q: What equipment set-up did Clapton use during [fill-in band name/date/tour here] ?
A: During his tenure with the Yardbirds, Clapton used a Vox AC-30 amplifier and a Fender Telecaster guitar.

In John Mayall’s Blues Breakers, Clapton used a 1960 model Les Paul Standard through a 45-watt, model-1962 Marshall 2-12 combo. The amp was stock except that the output tubes were replaced with KT66′s (which have a more refined mid-range and clearer top end than either EL34s or 6L6s). The amp was almost always turned up full volume, even in the studio. When the engineer complained that Clapton’s amp was too loud, Eric replied “That’s the way I play.” Clapton-fan and researcher, DeltaNick, has extensively researched the history of the Clapton Les Paul and contributed the following article, Clapton’s Bluesbreakers 1960 Gibson Les Paul Standard Guitar.

In Cream, Clapton switched to 100-watt Marshall heads (JTM 45) and 4-12 cabinets (two full stacks). He also used a Vox wah-wah and occasionally a fuzz. After his Blues Breakers-era Les Paul was stolen, Clapton had several more Les Paul model guitars (presumably 1960 models because the neck on the 1960 model was significantly thinner than on previous models). He used Les Paul guitars exclusively until 1967, having used at least three different Les Paul Standard model guitars in 1966 (the latter two — one of which was borrowed — with Cream). Sometime in 1967, Clapton started using the 1961 Gibson SG-style Les Paul (the famous psychedelic guitar). He switched to a single pick-up Gibson Firebird I during the Spring of 1968 and then switched between the Firebird and a Gibson ES-335 “block” guitar for the remainder of Cream and for Cream’s farewell concert.

In Blind Faith, Clapton used a Gibson Firebird through either Fender Dual Showman or Marshall amps; and at the debut performance played a Fender Telecaster with a Stratocaster neck (supposedly Clapton didn’t like the Tele neck). [Guitar World, Dec 1989]

During Derek and the Dominoes, Clapton switched to maple neck Fender Stratocasters and Fender tweed Champ amps for recording the “Layla” album.[Guitar Player January 1999]. On stage, he used either Marshalls or a Fender Showman.

From 1972 to 1987, Clapton used his famous “Blackie” guitar as his basic stage guitar.

In 1976, Clapton used a Gibson ES-335 for slide playing. It was strung with Ernie Ball Super Slinky’s .009-.042 and an Isis medium slide. He utilized Modified Music Man amps (HD 130 Reverb) with the bias up all the way and special open-back cabinets. He also used a Leslie cabinet with JBL components and had a special foot switch with fast/slow and on/off positions so that the guitar could go either through the amp, through both the amp and the Leslie, or just through the Leslie at either fast or slow speeds (as in the song “Badge”). He also used a Cry Baby Wah-wah pedal.

On the Journeyman album, Clapton used the Eric Clapton Signature Strat and the Gibson ES-335 on “Hard Times”.

On the song “Forever Man” from the Journeyman album, Clapton achieved that “fat” tone by using a different Strat with heavy strings and tuned the guitar down to “D” — not a “D” tuning, but down a whole step down from concert (normal) pitch.

On the Behind the Sun tour, Clapton used an effects board similiar to the one used by Jeff Pocaro. The effects board from right to left ; Jim Dunlop Cry baby re-issue, the Bradshaw foot controller, a Roland 700 synthesizer bank. The rack is controlled by a pedal board consisting of an Ibanez Harmonics/Delay, a DBX 160 compressor, a Roland SDE-3000 delay, a Tri Stereo CVhorus [Dyno-My-Piano], a Boss CE-1 chorus, and a Boss Heavy Metal pedal but actually only uses the one chorus and then a deeper chorus. Clapton switched from Music Man amps to Marshall 800 series heads (50 watts) during this time. The amp settings were: presence 3; bass and middle 1 o’clock; treble 8; and volume just under 9. The strings he used were Ernie Balls .010-.046. He used his usual array of Strats, including Blackie and Brownie. He also used a Dean Markely head— possibly a 130 with Marshall cabinets. Ernie Ball strings (.009), Picks: Ernie Ball heavys.

On the ARMS tour, Clapton used a ’57 blonde Fender Twin, Blackie, a Gibson Explorer, a Martin acoustic, and other Fender Strats.

In recording the album From The Cradle, Clapton used approximately 50 guitars from his collection, including a dot-neck Gibson ES-335 (a tobacco sunburst model from the early 60s), and his famous cherry-red model from Cream. He also used his white Eric Clapton Model Strat from the Fender Custom Shop, several different Gibson L-5′s, Byrdlands, and some Super 400′s. He also played straight through a Soldano head. The acoustic guitars he used included several Martins, a Tony Zemaitis 12-string, and several Dobros in different tunings. He used an old Fender Twin with no effects and occasionally an old Fender Champ amp [Guitar World, Dec 1994], plus a Silverface Fender Deluxe and a Blonde Showman head.

Jason Richlar was a Clapton fanatic. He spent hours assembling this guitar list. He waited anxiously for it to go onto the site and then wrote in with corrections. Jason passed away sometime in 1996. Most Slowhanders never met Jason, but his memory lives here. This list was contributed by Jason and is dedicated to his memory.

Lot # DescriptionNote:Photos of the guitars can be seen on the Shun & Lisa Eric Clapton Fan Page Estimated ValueIn U.S. Dollars Final BidIn U.S. Dollars Purchased By
1 1994 Martin J12-40 (natural) 4 – 6,000 26,000 in person
2 1996 Fender Stratocaster Eric Clapton Signature Model (midnight blue) 6 – 8,000 35,000 in person
3 1951 Gibson J-185 (sunbrust) 6 – 8,000 14,000 in person
4 1998 Fender Stratocaster Eric Clapton Signature Model (sunburst) 5 – 7,000 22,000 in person
5 Gibson ES-335 DOT (natural) 6 – 8,000 38,000 by telephone
6 1996 Martin OM-28 VR (natural) 6 – 8,000 35,000 by telephone
7 1995 Gibson Les Paul Custom (sunburst) 6 – 8,000 28,000 in person
8 c. 1960′s Silvertone (sunburst) signed by Les Paul 1 – 2,000 24,000 in person
9 1995 Gibson B.B. King Lucille (black) signed by B.B. – bought at a charity auction 6 – 8,000 45,000 by telephone
10 1996 Gibson Explorer (black) bought at a Stevie Ray Vaughan Benefit Auction 2 – 3,000 24,000 in person
11 c. 1960 Harmony Stratotone Mars Model (sunburst) 1 – 2,000 16,000 ?
12 1985 Martin Shenandoah 000-2832 (natural) generally used by Andy Fairweather-Low 3 – 5,000 21,000 by telephone
13 1994 Fender Stratocaster Eric Clapton Signature Model (cream) 6 – 8,000 50,000 Mike D. of California
14 1991 Gibson Firebird (red) given to Clapton by a fan 2 – 3,000 34,000 in person
15 1970′s Gibson Les Paul Custom (cherry red) 5 – 7,000 26,000 in person
16 1999 Gibson Les Paul Standard (sunburst) 3 – 5,000 26,000 in person
17 c. 1962 Gibson SG Les Paul Standard (cherry red) 5 – 7,000 30,000 in person
18 1958 Gretsch Chet Atkins Tennessean (translucent red) 5 – 7,000 22,000 in person
19 1959 Martin 00-17 (natural) 4 – 6,000 17,000 in person
20 Late 1950′s Hofner Club 60 (natural) gift from Roger Forrester 2 – 3,000 24,000 in person
21 1959 Gibson ES-335TDN (natural) 20 – 30,000 45,000 in person
22 1990s Vicente Sanchis Flamenco Model 41 (cypress) 3 – 5,000 26,000 by telephone
23 1960s Coral Sitar (red/black crackle) 6 – 8,000 36,000 in person
24 1919 Martin 0-18 (ntaural) 4 – 6,000 44,000 by telephone
25 c. 1920 Gibson L-3 (red mahogany sunburst) 2 – 3,000 24,000 in person
26 1940 Gibson L-7 (sunburst) 5 – 7,000 22,000 Jeff Gale
27 1990s Beltona Tri-cone (nickel) 6 – 8,000 35,000 in person
28 1970s Gibson Les Paul Recording Model (walnut) signed by Les Paul 6 – 8,000 40,000 by telephone
29 c. 1962 Gibson SG Les Paul Junior (cherry red) 3 – 5,000 30,000 in person
30 c. 1928 Gibson L-3 (sunburst) 2 -3,000 16,000 in person
31 c.1940s Gibson L-50 (sunburst) 4 – 6,000 20,000 ?
32 c. 1949 Gibson ES-125 (sunburst) used on Motherless Child video 6 – 8,000 32,000 Michael J. Fox
33 c. Late 1930s Kalamazoo (sunburst) 1 – 2,000 l 7,000 Steve & Anna Fern, England
34 1960 Gibson ES-330TD (sunburst) 3 – 5,000 24,000 in person
35 1994 Fender Stratocaster Eric Clapton Signature Model (cream) used on film score of The Van 6 – 8,000 50,000 in person
36 1959 Gibson ES-225TD (sunburst) 2 – 3,000 18,000 in person
37 1953 Gibson ES-295 (sunburst) 6 – 8,000 21,000 by telephone
38 Fender/Versace Guitar Strap 800 – 1,200 14,000 in person
39 1996 Fender Stratocaster Eric Clapton Signature Model (black/green) 6 – 8,000 52,000 by telephone
40 c.1940 Gibson ES-100 (sunburst) 4 – 6,000 17,000 Debra Berg-McCarthy
41 1960 Gibson ES-330T (sunburst) 3 – 5,000 22,000 in person
42 1956 Gibson Byrdland (sunburst) 15 – 20,000 52,000 in person
43 Fender/Versace Guitar Strap 800 – 1,200 9,000 in person
44 1996 Fender Stratocaster Eric Clapton Signature Model (black/green) 6 – 8,000 50,000 in person
45 Late c. 1930s Kalamazoo (sunburst) 1 -2,000 24,000 in person
46 1959 Gibson ES-335TD (sunburst) 20 – 30,000 70,000 Gill Southworth, who owns Southworth Vintage guitars in Bethesda, Maryland
47 1993 Fender Stratocaster Eric Clapton Signature Model (ivory shite) 6 – 8,000 42,000 in person
48 1957 Gibson Byrdland (sunburst) 10 – 15,000 38,000 in person
49 1947 Fender Broadcaster Relic (blonde) 5 – 7,000 19,000 in person
50 1994 Fender Stratocaster 40th Anniversary Concert Edition Model (wine red) 5 – 7,000 28,000 by telephone
51 1941 Martin 00-18G (natural) 5 -7,000 24,000 in person
52 Late 1950s Fender Twin Amplifier 2 – 3,000 12,000 by telephone
53 1958 Fender Stratocaster (Mary Kay – translucent blonde) 20 – 40,000 55,000 in person
54 c. 1952 Gibson Super 400C (sunburst) 12 – 18,000 26,000 in person
55 1956 Gibson Super 300C (sunburst) 10 – 15,000 26,000 in person
56 1990 National Reso-phonic Model M-1 (sunburst) used on film Rush 6 – 8,000 42,000 Peter Morton’s Hard Rock Hotel and Casino (Las Vegas)
57 Fender D’Aquisto (natural) used on Retail Therapy 5 – 7,000 22,000 by telephone
58 1991 Fender Stratocaster Eric Clapton “Blackie” Signature Model (smoker’s model) 5 – 7,000 68,000 in person
59 1987 Guild GF-60NT (natural) on the 25 Years tour programme 2 – 3,000 20,000 in person
60 1989 Guild F-46NT (sunburst) 3 – 5,000 16,000 in person
61 1982 Gibson Chet Atkins Standard (natural) 5 – 7,000 35,000 in person
62 1986 Fender Stratocaster Eric Clapton Signature Model (pewter) 10 – 15,000 95,000 in person
63 1987 Fender Stratocaster Eric Clapton Signature Model (Torino red) 6 – 8,000 60,000 in person
64 1987 Fender Stratocaster Eric Clapton Signature Model (7-Up green) 6 – 8,000 50,000 in person
65 1988 Guild G-60NT (natural) 2 – 3,000 18,000 by telephone
66 1988 Guild F-61RNT (natural) 2 – 3,000 17,000 in person.
67 1987 Fender Stratocaster Eric Clapton Signature Model (Torino red) 3 – 5,000 50,000 by telephone.
68 Late 19th Century Salvador Ibanez (natural) 3 – 5,000 42,000 Jeff Gale
69 1990 James Trussart Steel Deville (chrome) 3 – 5,000 35,000 in person
70 1990s Fender Stratocaster Eric Clapton Model (gold with snow leopard) 5 – 7,000 42,000 in person
71 1982 Fender Stratocaster ’57 Re-issue model (sunburst) 5 – 7,000 28,000 by telephone
72 1992 Fender Telecaster 40th Anniversary model (sunburst) custom made for Clapton 5 – 7,000 62,000 in person
73 1988 Pensa-Suhr (honey) gift from Mark Knopfler 5 – 7,000 45,000 in person
74 1982 Roland G-505 (candy apple red) with two synthesizers – used during Edge of Darkness period 3 – 5,000 29,000 in person
75 1986 Guild Nightbird (green metallic) 3 – 5,000 26,000 Jonathan Mikos (VH1 contest winner)
76 1980s Fender Stratocaster XII (sunburst) 6 – 8,000 42,000 ?
77 1991 Taylor 955-C (natural) gift from Richie Sambora 5 – 7,000 30,000 by telephone
78 1987 Fender Stratocaster Eric Clapton Signature Model (7-Up green) 6 – 8,000 55,000 by telephone
79 1990 Gibson Chet Atkins Standard 5 – 7,000 35,000 in person
80 Fender/Versace Guitar Strap 800 – 1,200 15,000 in person
81 1990 Fender Stratocaster Eric Clapton Signature ‘Blackie’ Model 5 – 7,000 48,000 ?
82 Late 1950s Fender Twin Amplifier 2 – 3,000 16,000 ?
83 1956 Gibson ES-350TN (natural) played at Chuck Berry tribute 15 – 20,000 62,000 ?
84 1959 Gibson J-200 (sunburst) 8 – 12,000 78,000 ?
85 c.1964 Gibson ES-345TD (sunburst) 15 – 20,000 32,000 ?
86 c.1980 Santa Cruz F-13 (sunburst) pictured with cat 4 – 6,000 35,000 ?
87 c.1980 Santa Cruz FTC-15 (natural) 3 – 5,000 35,000 ?
88 1960s National Studio 66 Model (black) used on film Water 1 – 2,000 28,000 ?
89 1980s Fender Stratocaster Elite (cream) 5 – 7,000 30,000 ?
90 1980s Roger Giffin (blue metallic) 5 – 7,000 42,000 Jeff Gale
91 1980s Fender Stratocaster Elite (black) 5 – 7,000 26,000 ?
92 1958 Gibson Explorer (natural) used in ARMS concert unknown 120,000 ?
93 1979 Fender Stratocaster Anniversary Model (silver metallic) 5 – 7,000 35,000 ?
94 c. 1930s National Duolian (nickel) 6 – 8,000 35,000 Michael J. Fox
95 1978 Guild D-55NT (natural) 5 – 7,000 32,000 ?
96 1974 Martin 000-28 (natural) rodeo man sticker 12 – 18,000 155,000 ?
97 c.1975 Telecaster (translucent blonde) 6 – 8,000 42,000 ?
98 1956 Fender Stratocaster (sunburst ) 20 – 30,000 80,000 ?
99 Dobro Electric 12-string (natural) 2 – 3,000 28,000 ?
100 c.1930 Gibson L-4 (sunburst ) 6 – 8,000 50,000 ?
101 1930s D’Angelico (sunburst ) 20 – 25,000 55,000 ?
102 1930s D’Angelico Excel (sunburst ) 20 – 30,000 42,000 ?
103 1954 Fender Stratocaster (sunburst ) 20 – 30,000 190,000 ?
104 1952 Fender Telecaster (natural) gift from Carl Radle 15 – 20,000 90,000 ?
105 ‘Brownie’ – 1956 Fender Stratocaster (used on Layla album) 80 – 100,000 450,000 by telephone
These prices were confirmed by Christie’s TOTAL $4,452,000 Total (including premium) $5,072,350

1999 – The Deftones, on the final stop of their tour opening for Black Sabbath, find that their truck has been stolen from the parking lot of the Holiday Inn in Dearborn, Mich. Taken are all of the band’s backline equipment and instruments, including several of Chi Chings’ Precision Fender Bass guitars, and Stephen Carpenter’s custom-made guitars and racks.

1997 – Bob Dylan releases Time Out of Mind. Critics call it a masterpiece this day in rock history!

Time Out of Mind is Bob Dylan’s 30th studio album, released in 1997 by Columbia Records.

For fans and critics, the album marked Dylan’s artistic comeback after he struggled with his musical identity throughout the 1980s, and hadn’t released any original material since the release of Under the Red Sky in 1990. Upon release, Time Out of Mind was hailed as one of the singer-songwriter’s best albums, and it went on to win three Grammy awards, including Album of the Year in 1998. It also made Uncut magazine’s Album of the Year.

The album features a particularly atmospheric sound, the work of producer (and past Dylan collaborator) Daniel Lanois, whose innovative work with carefully placed microphones and strategic mixing was detailed by Dylan in the first volume of his memoirs, Chronicles, Vol. 1. Despite being generally complimentary to Lanois, especially his work on the 1989 album Oh Mercy, Dylan has voiced dissatisfaction with the sound on Time Out of Mind. He has gone on to self-produce his subsequent albums.

Further details

Shortly after completing the album, Dylan became seriously ill with near-fatal pericarditis, an inflammation of the sac around the heart. His forthcoming tour was cancelled, and Dylan spent most of June 1997 in excruciating pain.

Time Out of Mind’s revitalization of Dylan’s career extended all the way to the Grammys where it won multiple awards, including “Album of the Year” in early 1998. It was also voted as the best album of the year in The Village Voice Pazz & Jop critics poll. With all the media attention and praise, U.S. sales soon passed platinum, a feat that a Bob Dylan album had not reached in nearly two decades.

Recording sessions

Back in April 1991, Dylan told Paul Zollo that “there was a time when the songs would come three or four at the same time, but those days are long gone…Once in a while, the odd song will come to me like a bulldog at the garden gate and demand to be written. But most of them are rejected out of my mind right away. You get caught up in wondering if anyone really needs to hear it. Maybe a person gets to the point where they have written enough songs. Let someone else write them.”

Dylan’s last album of original material came in 1990′s Under the Red Sky, a critical and commercial disappointment. Since then, he had released two albums of folk covers and a live album of older compositions; yet, there was no signs of any fresh compositions until 1996.

According to Jim Dickinson, Dylan first began writing for Time Out of Mind during the winter of that year. Snowed in on his farm in Minnesota, Dylan phoned his manager, Jeff Kramer, and said, “Well, I’m snowed in, so I’m writing songs. But I’m not going to record them.” Dylan would later change his mind, and he scheduled studio reservations in January of 1997 at Criteria Recording Studios in Miami, Florida. Dylan later admitted that Time Out of Mind was “the first album I’ve done in a while where I’ve protected the songs for a long time.”

Dylan even demoed some of the songs in the studio, something he rarely did. According to drummer Winston Watson, elements of Dylan’s touring band (including Watson himself) were involved in these sessions. Dylan also used these loose, informal sessions to experiment with new ideas and arrangements. At one point during the sessions, Dylan improvised a country-blues riff of indeterminate origin which was later sampled as the backing track for “Dirt Road Blues.” (“He made me pull out the original cassette, sample 16 bars and we all played over that

In a televised interview with Charlie Rose, Lanois recalled Dylan talking “about spending a lot of late nights working on this chapter of work. And, when he finished the words, he believed that the record is done, the record was written. He said, ‘you know, we can do a waltz version, we can do this in 4/4, it can be up, it can be down, it can be these kind of chords, you know whatever we decide to do with it, that’s that.’ But what’s important is that it’s written.”

Dylan continued rewriting lyrics until January 1997, when the official album sessions began. It would mark the second collaboration between Dylan and his chosen producer, Daniel Lanois, who had previously produced Dylan’s 1989 release, Oh Mercy. Lanois had just finished producing Emmylou Harris’s Wrecking Ball when Dylan asked him to produce the sessions for Time Out of Mind. According to Lanois, “What we…did this time was make reference to some old records from the 1950s that Bob really likes because they had a natural depth of field which was not the result of a mixing technique. You get the sense that somebody is in the front singing, a couple of other people are further behind and somebody else is way in the back of the room. So we set up the studio like that.”

“The recording process is very difficult for me,” Dylan conceded. “I lose my inspiration in the studio real easy, and it’s very difficult for me to think that I’m going to eclipse anything I’ve ever done before. I get bored easily, and my mission, which starts out wide, becomes very dim after a few failed takes and this and that.”

By now, new personnel were hired for the album, including slide guitarist Cindy Cashdollar and drummers Jim Keltner and Brian Blade. Both Cashdollar and Blade were hired by Lanois while Dylan brought in Keltner, who had previously toured with Dylan in 1979. Dylan also hired Nashville guitarist Bob Britt, Duke Robillard, organist Augie Meyers, and Jim Dickinson to play at the sessions.

With two different sets of players competing in performance and two producers with conflicting views on how to approach each song, the sessions were far from disciplined. Years later, when asked about Time Out of Mind, Dickinson replied, “I haven’t been able to tell what’s actually happening. I know they were listening to playbacks, I don’t know whether they were trying to mix it or not!

Dickinson does admit that “even with the twelve people playing, it would be, like, an hour to an hour and a half of chaos, and then like eight or ten minutes of just clarity and beauty. During that ten minutes we’d nail it to the wall.

“In the past, when my records were made, the producer, or whoever was in charge of my sessions, felt it was just enough to have me sing an original song,” said Dylan. “There was never enough work put into developing the orchestration, and that always made me feel very disillusioned about recording. Time Out of Mind is more illuminated, rather than just a song and the singing of that song. The arrangements or structures are really an integral part of the whole.”

Lanois admitted some difficulty in producing Dylan. “Well, you just never what you’re going to get. He’s an eccentric man, and you might get something great on the first take, or

In a later interview, Lanois elaborated, saying “Bob and I…would step out into the parking lot because he would never discuss anything openly in front of the band, in terms of intimate details of the songs,” recalled Lanois. “Like the song ‘Standing In The Doorway.’ We were in the parking lot, and I said ‘listen, I love ‘Sad Eyed Lady Of The Lowlands.’ Can we steal that feel for this song?’ And he’d say ‘you think that’d work?’ Then we’d sit on the fender of a truck, in this parking lot in Miami, and I’d often think, if people see this they won’t believe it! Me and Bob Dylan just sitting here, strumming guitars, working out chords for a session!”, let’s try that.’”

Asked why Dylan did not “discuss anything” in front of musicians, Lanois responded, “Well, he doesn’t like too much democracy…he respects my commitment, knows I love him and want the best for him. He also knows he can’t bulldoze me too hard; I’ll put up a fight. So it’s a two-way street.”

In subsequent interviews, Dylan cited Buddy Holly as an influence during the recording sessions. “You know, I don’t really recall exactly what I said about Buddy Holly,” said Dylan, “but while we were recording, every place I turned there was Buddy Holly. You know what I mean? It was one of those things. Every place you turned. You walked down a hallway and you heard Buddy Holly records like ‘That’ll Be the Day.’ Then you’d get in the car to go over to the studio and ‘Rave On’ would be playing. Then you’d walk into this studio and someone’s playing a cassette of ‘It’s So Easy.’ And this would happen day after day after day. Phrases of Buddy Holly songs would just come out of nowhere. It was spooky.

With Time Out of Mind, Lanois “produced perhaps the most artificial-sounding album in ‘s canon,” says author Clinton Heylin, who described the album as sounding “like a Lanois CV.” In a March 1999 interview in Guitar World Magazine, Dylan discussed the sound of Time Out of Mind in relation to past works like Highway 61 Revisited, Blood on the Tracks, and Infidels:

“Those records were made a long time ago, and you know, truthfully, records that were made in that day and age all were good. They all had some magic to them because the technology didn’t go beyond what the artist was doing. It was a lot easier to get excellence back in those days on a record than it is now. I made records back then just like a lot of other people who were my age, and we all made good records. Those records seem to cast a long shadow. But how much of it is the technology and how much of it is the talent and influence, I really don’t know. I know you can’t make records that sound that way any more. The high priority is technology now. It’s not the artist or the art. It’s the technology that is coming through. That’s what makes Time Out of Mind… it doesn’t take itself seriously, but then again, the sound is very significant to that record. If that record was made more haphazardly, it wouldn’t have sounded that way. It wouldn’t have had the impact that it did. The guys that helped me make it went out of their way to make a record that sounds like a record played on a record player. There wasn’t any wasted effort on Time Out of Mind, and I don’t think there will be on any more of my records.”

The songs

A few critics, including NPR’s Tim Riley, drew parallels between the album’s title and the Steely Dan song of the same name (first issued on their 1980 album, Gaucho), but the phrase goes back at least to 1596 when Shakespeare used it in Mercutio’s Queen Mab speech in Act 1.4 of Romeo and Juliet.

In a 1997 interview, Dylan said that the songs on Time Out of Mind “naturally hung together because they share a certain skepticism. They’re more concerned with the dread realities of life than the bright and rosy idealism popular today.”

In an article published in The Chicago Tribune on September 28, 1997, Greg Kot writes, “Dylan projects the unease of someone adrift in a world that he ceases to understand, and that ceases to understand him. Yet he finds a strange comfort in his surroundings. ‘You could say I’m on anything but a roll,’ he sings , one of many instances of the album’s gallows humor. The music, anchored by Dylan contemporaries such as pianist Jim Dickinson and organist Augie Myers, hovers like an eerie David Lynch soundtrack and echoes the solo-free groove and grind of Dylan’s ’60s masterpieces. With Lanois’ painterly production giving the songs a three-dimensional depth, the arrangements frame Dylan’s voice as few recent recordings have.

“Dylan does not push his voice beyond its limits, but rather sing-speaks barely above a hush, as though holding an imaginary conversation with a distant lover, perhaps even his long-departed audience. He sings about love gone cold, but until the epic closing song, ‘Highlands,’ that loss never acquires a human face. In this 16+ minute epic, the singer briefly recaptures the conversational, playful and erotically charged tone of his youth.

“If the Dylan of World Gone Wrong echoed Flannery O’Connor, the Dylan of Time Out of Mind evokes playwright Samuel Beckett and his spare, unsentimental poetry of despair. He is confident of only one thing: ‘When you think you’ve lost everything, you find out you can always lose a little more.’

“Not Dark Yet” is arguably the most celebrated song on Time Out of Mind, and is perhaps the clearest example of John Keats’ influence on Dylan’s writing; it is even possible that “Not Dark Yet” was grown out of Keats’ own work. In his book, Dylan’s Visions of Sin, Christopher Ricks, a Boston University professor of humanities, draws parallels between “Not Dark Yet” and the Keats poem Ode to a Nightingale. Broken down line for line, “similar turns of phrase, figures of speech,  felicities of rhyming” can be found throughout “Not Dark Yet” and the Ode. Ricks also argues that “there is a strong affinity with Keats in the way that in the song night colours, darkens, the whole atmosphere while never being spoken of,” just as Keats used winter to color and darken the atmosphere in another poem he wrote, To Autumn. “Dylan’s refrain or burden is ‘It’s not dark yet, but it’s getting there.’ He bears it and bares it beautifully, with exquisite precision of voice, dry humour, and resilience, all these in the cause of fortitude at life’s going to be brought to an end by death.”

The longest composition ever recorded by Dylan, the 16-minute “Highlands” took its central motif (“My heart’s in the highlands,”) from a chorus in a stall ballad called “The Strong Walls of Derry.” Jim Dickinson later recalled Dylan “leaning over the equipment case working on the lyrics…with a pencil.”

Outtakes

Fifteen compositions were recorded for Time Out of Mind, of which eleven would make the final cut. The four that did not were “Mississippi”, which was re-recorded for “Love and Theft”, “No Turning Back”, the Elizabeth Cotten composition “Shake Sugaree” and, according to Jim Dickinson “the best song there was from the session”, “Girl from the Red River Shore”.

On past albums, some fans have criticized Dylan for some of the creative decisions made with his albums, particularly with song selection. Time Out of Mind was no different except this time the criticism came from colleagues who were disappointed to see their personal favorites left on the shelf. When Dylan accepted the Grammy Award for Album of the Year, he mentioned Columbia Records chairman Don Ienner, who “convinced me to put

Unlike past sessions, none of these outtakes have circulated among collectors, something unprecedented for a Bob Dylan album. “With all of my records, there’s an abundance of material left over – stuff that, for a variety of reasons, doesn’t make the final cut. And other people seem to think they have some kind of right to it. That it’s their property even, which is baffling to me. I mean, you don’t drive a car out of the showroom without paying for it, do you? You don’t leave the supermarket without passing through the check-out with your goods. It’s called stealing. Why the principle should be thought to be any different when it comes to music, I really don’t know.”

According to Dylan, “If you had heard the original recording , you’d see in a second” why it was omitted and recut for Love and Theft. “The song was pretty much laid out intact melodically, lyrically and structurally, but Lanois didn’t see it. Thought it was pedestrian. Took it down the Afro-polyrhythm route – multirhythm drumming, that sort of thing. Polyrhythm has its place, but it doesn’t work for knifelike lyrics trying to convey majesty and heroism.

“Maybe we had worked too hard on other things, I can’t remember,” Dylan continues, “but Lanois can get passionate about what he feels to be true. He’s not above smashing guitars. I never cared about that unless it was one of mine. Things got contentious once in the parking lot. He tried to convince me that the song had to be ‘sexy, sexy and more sexy.’ I know about sexy, too. He reminded me of Sam Phillips, who had once said the same thing to John Prine about a song, but the circumstances were not similar. I tried to explain that the song had more to do with the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution and the Bill of Rights than witch doctors, and just couldn’t be thought of as some kind of ideological voodoo thing. But he had his own way of looking at things, and in the end I had to reject this because I thought too highly of the expressive meaning behind the lyrics to bury them in some steamy cauldron of drum theory. On the performance you’re hearing, the bass is playing a triplet beat, and that adds up to all the multirhythm you need, even in a slow-tempo song. I think Lanois is an excellent producer, though.”

Aftermath

Before the album was officially released, Dylan suffered a serious heart infection called pericarditis. A potentially serious condition (caused by the fungal infection histoplasma capsulatum), it makes breathing very difficult. “It was something called histoplasmosis that came from just accidentally inhaling a bunch of stuff that was out on one of the rivers by where I live,” said Dylan. “Maybe one month, or two to three days out of the year, the banks around the river get all mucky, and then the wind blows and a bunch of swirling mess is in the air. I happened to inhale a bunch of that. That’s what made me sick. It went into my heart area, but it wasn’t anything really attacking my heart.”

“Bob was starting to get a little sick when we were sequencing the album,” recalled Lanois. “We had finished the record but then, at that point, what hit him was fluid around the heart and it probably had been building up for a while.”

Following Dylan’s May 1997 health scare, a number of columnists speculated that the songs on Time Out of Mind were inspired by an increased awareness of his own mortality. This, of course, was despite the fact that all of the songs were completed, recorded, and even mixed before he was hospitalized. Some critics like the Village Voice’s Robert Christgau tried to tame such speculations, with Christgau writing “I’m convinced that Time Out of Mind is in no intrinsic way ‘about death’… the mortality admirers hear in it is their own…The timelessness people hear in it…what Dylan has long aimed for – simple songs inhabited with an assurance that makes them seem classic rather than received.”

In interviews following its release, Dylan, for the most part, downplayed these speculations with much reserve. However, he did give a blunt assessment in a 2001 interview published in The Times Magazine: “Where? Show me…I don’t see it like that. But again, that’s the story of my life…From ‘The Times They Are A-Changin’ onwards, people have misconstrued my words. They’ve attached the wrong meanings to them. That’s the status quo. That’s what happens, and there’s nothing to be done about it.”

In the same interview, Dylan re-assessed Time Out of Mind, admitting some dissatisfaction with the results. “My recollection of  is that it was a struggle. A struggle every inch of the way. Ask Daniel Lanois, who was trying to produce the songs. Ask anyone involved in it. They all would say the same. I didn’t trust the touring band I had at the time to do a good job in the studio, and so I hired these outside guys. But with me not knowing them, and them not knowing the music, things kept on taking unexpected turns. Repeatedly, I’d find myself compromising on this to get to that. As a result, though it held together as a collection of songs, that album sounds to me a little off…There’s a sense of some wheels going this way, some wheels going that, but hey, we’re just about getting there…But that’s my truthful memory of it, and that memory overshadows any gratification about its acceptance.”

In 1999, Guitar World Magazine asked Dylan if Time Out of Mind would have made a satisfactory final release: “No, I don’t think so. I think we are just starting to get my sound on disc, and I think there’s plenty more to do. We just opened up that door at that particular time, and in the passage of time we’ll go back in and extend that. But I didn’t feel like it was an ending to anything. I thought it was more the beginning.”

In 2003, the album was ranked number 408 on Rolling Stone magazine’s list of the 500 greatest albums of all time.

Track listing

All songs were written by Bob Dylan.

1. “Love Sick” – 5:21
2. “Dirt Road Blues” – 3:36
3. “Standing in the Doorway” – 7:43
4. “Million Miles” – 5:52
5. “Tryin’ to Get to Heaven” – 5:21
6. “‘Til I Fell in Love with You” – 5:17
7. “Not Dark Yet” – 6:29
8. “Cold Irons Bound” – 7:15
9. “Make You Feel My Love” – 3:32
10. “Can’t Wait” – 5:47
11. “Highlands” – 16:31

Personnel

* Bucky Baxter – acoustic guitar, pedal steel (3,5,7,8)
* Brian Blade – drums (1,3,4,6,7,10)
* Robert Britt – martin acoustic, Fender Stratocaster (3,6,7,8)
* Chris Carrol – assistant engineer
* Cindy Cashdollar – slide guitar (3,5,7)
* Jim Dickensen – keyboards, Wurlitzer electric piano, pump organ (1,2,4,5,6,7,10,11)
* Bob Dylan – guitar, acoustic and electric rhythm lead, harmonica, piano, vocals,producer
* Geoff Gans – art direction
* Tony Garnier – electric bass, acoustic upright bass
* Joe Gastwirt – mastering engineer
* Mark Howard – engineer
* Jim Keltner – drums (1,3,4,5,6,7,10)
* David Kemper – drums on “Cold Irons Bound”
* Jeff Kramer – manager
* Daniel Lanois – guitar, mando-guitar, firebird, martin 0018, gretch gold top, rhythm, lead , producer, photography
* Tony Mangurian – percussion (3,4,10,11)
* Augie Meyers – vox organ combo, hammond b3 organ, accordion
* Susie Q. – photography
* Duke Robillard – guitar, electric l5 gibson (4,5,10)
* Mark Seliger – photography
* Winston Watson – drums on “Dirt Road Blues”

Title

Its title is probably a reference to a speech by Mercutio in Shakespeare’s Romeo & Juliet (Act 1, Scene 4), but it dates back earlier than this-

Her chariot is an empty hazel-nut
Made by the joiner squirrel or old grub,
Time out o’ mind the fairies’ coachmakers.
And in this state she gallops night by night
Through lovers’ brains, and then they dream of love;

It is included in the “Act of Submission” of the Narragansett Indians from 1644-

Nor can we yield over ourselves unto any, that are subjects themselves in any case; having ourselves been the chief Sachems, or Princes successively, of the country, time out of mind; and for our present and lawfull enacting herof, being so farre remote from His Majestie, wee have, by joynt consent, made choice of foure of his loyall and loving subjects, our trusty and well-beloved friends…

(The World Turned Upside Down, Calloway 1994)

It is also quoted in Greenblatt’s Invisible Bullets from Thomas Harriot’s account of Algonquian Indians:

The disease was so strange, that they neither knew what it was, nor how to cure it; the like by report of the oldest man in the country never happened before, time out of mind

(Invisible Bullets, Greenblatt)

The phrase “Time Out of Mind” is also used on the first pages of Tolkien’s The Hobbit.
It is the last line of the second verse of Warren Zevon’s song “Accidentally Like A Martyr”.
It is also mentioned in Part Two of Jonathan Swift’s Gulliver’s Travels and the title of a novel by Richard Cowper.

It is also in W.B Yeats’s 1910 poem: ‘Upon a House shaken by the Land Agitation’, in the lines: ‘How should the world be luckier if this house,/ Where passion and precision have been one/ Time out of mind, became too ruinous/ To breed the lidless eye that loves the sun?’

It is also used in “The Voice”, a poem by Sara Teasdale.
It is also the title of a Steely Dan song from their album Gaucho (album) It is also found in “Dirge Without Music”, a poem by Edna St.Vincent Millay

It is also found in the song “The no where man” by The Veils

The phrase “Time Out of Mind” is a synonym for “time beyond memory”, or “time immemorial”. The Oxford English Dictionary gives quotations for the phrase dating back to 1480, and variants as early as 1407.

1990 – The Fender Stratocaster on which Jimi Hendrix played “The Star-Spangled Banner” at Woodstock sells at a London auction for $295,000.

1980 – Keith Godchaux, former keyboardist of the Grateful Dead, dies in an auto wreck at the age of 32.

Biography

Keith Godchaux was born in Seattle, Washington and grew up in Concord, California. He met and married Donna Jean Godchaux in 1970; their son Zion, of the band BoomBox, was born in 1974.

The couple introduced themselves at a Jerry Garcia concert in October 1971. At the time, Keith Godchaux had been appearing with Dave Mason (formerly of Traffic). He was also known to Betty Cantor-Jackson, a Grateful Dead sound engineer. He joined the band shortly afterwards, remaining a member until February 1979.

In 1972 and for much of his career, Godchaux played acoustic piano; however, he played the Fender Rhodes frequently in 1973 and 1974. He had an ability to home in on and provide perfectly timed Fender Rhodes baritone solos that enhanced Jerry’s solos in 1974. Godchaux was replaced by Brent Mydland in 1979.

Godchaux played provocative, jazz-influenced piano during his tenure with the Dead, spurring some of their most adventurous group improvisations. Keith and Donna also issued the mostly self-written Keith and Donna album in 1975 with Jerry Garcia as a member of their band. The album was recorded at their home in Stinson Beach, where they lived in the 1970s. In turn, they performed as part of the Jerry Garcia Band. Godchaux also appeared with the New Riders of the Purple Sage. Subsequently, he co-wrote songs with Lowell George (of Little Feat) and Robert Hunter.

After Keith Godchaux’s time with the Grateful Dead, he and Donna formed The Heart of Gold Band.

Godchaux died in an automobile accident in Marin County, California, in 1980.

1965 – Leo Fender sells Fender Guitars for $13 million on this day in Rock history!

1963 – Yngwie Malmsteen is born in Stockholm Sweden this day in rock history!

Yngwie Johann Malmsteen (born Lars Johan Yngve Lannerbäck on June 30, 1963 in Stockholm, Sweden) is a Swedish guitarist, composer, multi-instrumentalist, and bandleader. Malmsteen became notable in the mid-1980s for his technical fluency and neo-classical metal compositions. Four of his albums, from 1984 to 1988, Rising Force, Marching Out, Trilogy, and Odyssey, ranked in the top 100 for sales

Biography

Early life

Malmsteen was born on June 30, 1963, as the first child of a musically talented family in Stockholm, Sweden. At age seven, he saw a television news report on the death of Jimi Hendrix. To quote his official website, “The day Jimi Hendrix died, the guitar-playing Malmsteen was born”. At the age of 10 he took his mother’s maiden name Malmsten as his surname, slightly changed it to Malmsteen, and Anglicised his given name Yngve to “Yngwie”. Malmsteen was a teenager when he first encountered the music of the 19th century violin virtuoso Niccolò Paganini, whom he cites as his biggest classical music influence.

Through his emulation of Paganini concerto pieces on guitar, Malmsteen developed a prodigious technical fluency. Malmsteen’s guitar style include a wide, violin-like vibrato inspired by classical violinists, and use of such minor scales as the Harmonic minor, and minor modes such as Phrygian, and Aeolian. Malmsteen also cites Brian May of Queen, Steve Hackett of Genesis, Uli Jon Roth, Alex Lifeson of Rush, and Ritchie Blackmore of Deep Purple as influences.

1980s

In late 1982 Malmsteen was brought to the U.S. by Mike Varney of Shrapnel Records, who had heard a demo tape of Malmsteen’s playing. He had brief engagements with Steeler, for their self-titled album of 1983, then Alcatrazz, for their 1983 debut No Parole From Rock N’ Roll, and the 1984 live album Live Sentence. Malmsteen released his first solo album Rising Force in 1984, which featured Barrie Barlow of Jethro Tull on drums. His album was really meant to be an instrumental side-project of Alcatrazz, but it contained vocals, and Malmsteen left Alcatrazz soon after the release of Rising Force.

Rising Force won the Guitar Player Magazine’s award for Best Rock Album and was also nominated for a Grammy for ‘Best Rock Instrumental’, achieving #60 on the Billboard album chart. Yngwie J. Malmsteen’s Rising Force (as his band was thereafter known) next released Marching Out (1985). Jeff Scott Soto filled vocal duties on these initial albums. His third album, Trilogy, featuring the vocals of Mark Boals, was released in 1986. In 1987, another singer, former Rainbow vocalist Joe Lynn Turner joined his band. That year, Malmsteen was in a serious car accident, smashing his Jaguar XKE into a tree and putting him in a coma for a week. Nerve damage to his right hand was reported. During his time in the hospital, Malmsteen’s mother died from cancer. In the summer of 1988 he released his fourth album, Odyssey. Odyssey would be his biggest hit album, mainly because of its first single “Heaven Tonight”. Shows in Russia during the Odyssey tour were recorded, and released in 1989 as his fifth album Trial By Fire: Live in Leningrad. The concert in Leningrad was the largest ever by a western artist in the Soviet Union.

Malmsteen’s “Neo-classical” style of metal became moderately popular during the mid 1980s, with contemporaries such as Jason Becker, Paul Gilbert, Marty Friedman, Tony MacAlpine and Vinnie Moore becoming prominent. MacAlpine came to the neoclassical/shred field by applying his classical piano training to his guitar playing and Moore arrived at a similar style because he shared Malmsteen’s major influences. In late 1988, Malmsteen’s signature Fender Stratocaster guitar was released, making him and Eric Clapton the first artists to be honored by Fender.

1990s

In the early 1990s Malmsteen released the albums Eclipse (1990), The Yngwie Malmsteen Collection (1991), Fire and Ice (1992) and The Seventh Sign (1994). Despite his early success, and continuous success in Europe and Asia, by the early 1990s 1980s heavy metal styles such as neoclassical metal and lengthy, virtuoso shred guitar solos had become unfashionable in the US.

In the 1990s, Malmsteen continued to record and release albums under the Japanese record label Pony Canyon, and maintained a devoted following from some fans in Europe and Japan, and to a lesser extent in the USA. In 2000, he once again acquired a contract with a US record label, Spitfire, and released his 1990s catalog into the US market for the first time, including what he regards as his masterpiece, Concerto Suite for Electric Guitar and Orchestra, recorded with the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra in Prague. In 1993, Malmsteen’s mother-in-law, who was opposed to his engagement with her daughter, had him arrested for threatening her with a shotgun and holding her daughter against her will . The charges against Malmsteen were dropped when he denied the incident.

2000s

After the release of War to End All Wars in 2000, singer Mark Boals left the band. Malmsteen went on tour with former Ark vocalist Jorn Lande. Due to various tensions on tour, Jorn left before the recording of Malmsteen’s next album, Attack!!. He was replaced by former Rainbow vocalist Doogie White. White’s vocals were well received by fans. In 2003, Malmsteen joined Joe Satriani and Steve Vai as part of the G3 supergroup. Malmsteen made two guest appearances on keyboardist Derek Sherinian’s albums Black Utopia (2003), and Blood of the Snake (2006) where Malmsteen is heard on the same tracks as Al Di Meola and Zakk Wylde. In 2004, Malmsteen made two cameo appearances on Harvey Birdman, Attorney at Law- possibly alluded to his status as a guitarist.

Malmsteen released Unleash the Fury in 2005. He is married to April and has a son named Antonio after Antonio Vivaldi, and they live in Miami, Florida. A noted Ferrari enthusiast, he owned a black 1985 308 GTS February 2008 saw the replacement of singer Doogie White with former Iced Earth and Judas Priest and current Beyond Fear singer Tim Owens, with whom Malmsteen had once recorded a cover of Ozzy Osbourne’s song “Mr. Crowley”, for the 2000 Osbourne tribute album Bat Head Soup: A Tribute to Ozzy. The first Malmsteen album to feature Owens is entitled Perpetual Flame and will be released October 14.

Equipment

Guitars

Malmsteen uses Fender Stratocasters, especially vintage instruments from 1968 through 1972. His Strats tend to feature scalloped fingerboards and DiMarzio HS-3 pickups, and (more recently) the staggered-polepiece HS-3 released as the Dimarzio YJM. He routinely disconnects the middle pickup and tone controls on his guitars. Malmsteen briefly used Schecter Guitars in the 1980s, who built him Stratocaster-style guitars similar to his Fenders. While in Alcatrazz, he also used Aria Pro II.

Live equipment

Malmsteen uses vintage 1972 Marshall amplifiers for his live performances, sometimes performing with a “wall” of up to 27 vintage Marshall 4×12 Cabinets with Celestion G12T-75 (75 watt) speakers. All of the 24 heads on the cabinets are Vintage 1972 Mark II Marshall 50 Watt heads. Floor effect pedals consist of a BOSS CS-3 Compression Sustainer, Roland DC-10 analog echo pedal, vintage Dunlop Cry-Baby Wah Pedal, Moog Taurus Bass Pedals, BOSS OC-2 Octave, DOD 250 Overdrive Pre-Amp pedal, BOSS NS-2 Noise Suppressor and a Custom Audio Electronics switching system for his effects rack.

Malmsteen’s guitars onstage are 1968-1972 Fender Stratocasters. For his acoustic sets, Malmsteen uses a nylon strung electro-acoustic black or white Ovation Viper. Prior to the Ovations, Malmsteen used Aria, Alvarez & Gibson classical acoustics on stage. Malmsteen regularly performs onstage with a custom light top, heavy bottom string gauge ranging from 0.08 through 0.48 gauge, which are considered by most guitarists to be very thin, especially with the downtuning used. Malmsteen’s picks are Jim Dunlop 1.5 white.

YJM308 Yngwie Malmsteen Overdrive

Malmsteen had used the Gray DOD250 overdrive pedal exclusively throughout most of his career because of its warm, smooth and almost violin-like tonal characteristics, plus its dramatic yet clean signal boosting ability.

In order to protect his favorite but now Vintage Gray 250 pedals from the abuse of regular gigging and also to modernize his sound further for the new millennium, he assisted DOD in creating a somewhat treblier, less bass intensive version of their popular 90′s reissue yellow DOD250 pedal, which then became his signature model YJM308 overdrive.

Yngwie’s signature pedal was a big success first time around but got discontinued. It was later re-released due to public demand but has now been discontinued yet again. He now often uses the re-creation, named YJM308 after Malmsteen’s initials and the name of his favorite car, the Ferrari 308.

Band members

Previous members

* Jeff Scott Soto – lead vocals (1984-1985)
* Mark Boals – lead vocals (1986-1996-1999-2001)
* Joe Lynn Turner – lead vocals (1988-1989)
* Goran Edman – lead vocals (1990-1992)
* Mike Vescera – lead vocals (1994-1995)
* Mats Leven – lead vocals (1997-1998)
* Doogie White – lead vocals (2001-2008)
* Anders Johansson – drums (1985-1989)
* Mike Terrana – drums (1994)
* Jens Johansson – keyboards (1984-1989)
* Mats Olausson – keyboards (1990-2001)
* Derek Sherinian – keyboards (2001-2003-2004; 2007-2008)
* Svante Henrysson – bass (1990-1992)
* Barry Sparks – bass (1994-1995)

Current members

* Tim “Ripper” Owens – lead vocals (2008-present)
* Yngwie Malmsteen – guitars (1978-present)
* Michael Troy – keyboards (2007-present)
* Bjorn Englen – bass (2008-present)
* Patrick Johansson – drums, percussion (2001-present)

Discography

Steeler
Date of Release     Title     Label     Chart positions     US sales
1983     Steeler     Shrapnel

Alcatrazz
Date of Release     Title     Label     Chart positions     US sales
1984     No Parole from Rock N’ Roll     Polydor
1984     Live Sentence     Polydor

Solo
Year     Album     Publisher     Chart positions     US sales
1984     Rising Force     Polydor     60
October 1985     Marching Out     Polydor     54
1986     Trilogy     Polydor     44
March, 1988     Odyssey     Polydor     40
October, 1989     Trial By Fire: Live in Leningrad     Polydor     128
1990     Eclipse     Polydor     112
November, 1991     The Yngwie Malmsteen Collection     Polydor
1992     Fire and Ice     Elektra     121
February 18, 1994     The Seventh Sign     Pony Canyon
September 21, 1994     Power And Glory     Pony Canyon
October 21, 1994     I Cant Wait     Pony Canyon
June 06, 1995     Magnum Opus     Pony Canyon
November 05, 1996     Inspiration     Pony Canyon
September 03, 1997     Facing the Animal     Pony Canyon
February 04, 1998     Concerto Suite for Electric Guitar and Orchestra in Em, Opus 1     Pony Canyon
September 18, 1998     Double LIVE!     Pony Canyon
September 17, 1999     Alchemy     Pony Canyon
March 15, 2000     Anthology 1994-1999     Pony Canyon
May 09, 2000     The Best Of: 1990-1999     Dream Catcher
November 22, 2000     War to End All Wars     Pony Canyon
January 09, 2002     Concerto Suite LIVE With the New Japan Philharmonic     Pony Canyon
September 04, 2002     Attack!!     Pony Canyon
December 30, 2002     The Genesis     Pony Canyon
January 01, 2004     Oujya Ressou – Instrumental Best Album     Pony Canyon
March 10, 2004     G3: Rockin’ in the Free World     Epic
February 23, 2005     Unleash the Fury     Universal Music
October 14, 2008     Perpetual Flame     Rising Force Records

1956 – Randy Rhoads, a guitar god of a different stripe with Ozzy Osbourne’s band, is born in Santa Monica, Calif.

Randall William “Randy” Rhoads (December 6, 1956 – March 19, 1982) was an American heavy metal guitarist who played with Ozzy Osbourne and Quiet Riot. Despite his short career, he is cited as an influence by many contemporary heavy metal guitarists. A devoted student of classical guitar, Rhoads often combined his classical music influences with his own heavy metal style. While on tour with Ozzy Osbourne, he would often seek out classical guitar tutors for lessons.

Biography

Early life

Rhoads was born on December 6, 1956 at St. John’s Hospital in Santa Monica, California. He was the youngest of three children. His older brother, Doug, who goes by the name of Kelle Rhoads, is a drummer and vocalist who also arranges classical compositions. His sister’s name is Kathy.

When Randy was 17 months old, his father, William Arthur Rhoads, left his mother, but he stayed in touch with Randy even up until his son’s death. Delores Rhoads, and the three children. Mrs. Rhoads has owned and operated the Musonia School of Music in North Hollywood, California since 1949. Rhoads started playing guitar at age 7 on his grandfather’s old Gibson “Army-Navy” classical acoustic guitar. According to Rhoads’ mother, he learned to play folk guitar, which was a popular way to learn guitar at the time, although he did not take lessons for very long. Rhoads was always evolving toward a hard rock/metal lead guitar style, but he was heavily influenced by classical music as well. This can be heard on Ozzy Osbourne tracks like “Dee” (an instrumental he named for his mother Delores), “Mr. Crowley”, “Diary of a Madman”, “You Can’t Kill Rock And Roll”, “Crazy Train” and “Revelation (Mother Earth)”.

Quiet Riot

At the age of 14 Rhoads formed a cover band called Violet Fox (after his mother’s middle name, Violet), with his older brother Kelle on drums. Violet Fox staged several performances in the “Grand Salon” at Musonia, Delores Rhoads’ music school. Among their setlist was “Mississippi Queen” by Mountain, as well as songs from The Rolling Stones, Alice Cooper, and David Bowie. After the dissolution of Violet Fox, Rhoads taught his best friend Kelly Garni how to play bass, and together they formed a band called The Whore (rehearsing during the day at Rodney Bingenheimer’s English Disco, a famous ’70s Hollywood nightspot), spending several months playing at backyard parties around Los Angeles. Together the pair went on to form Quiet Riot when Rhoads was about 17 (according to Rhoads’ mother). Kevin DuBrow auditioned for vocalist in Rhoads’ kitchen after he convinced Rhoads and Garni to give him a chance. The drummer, Drew Forsyth, was already in the picture and had periodically played with Rhoads and Garni in the past.

Quiet Riot initially played in small bars in Hollywood and local parties in Burbank, eventually playing at the two main L.A. music clubs of the day — the Whisky a Go Go, and The Starwood. While the band had a strong following in the L.A. club scene, they were unable to secure a major recording contract in the United States. Eventually, however, the band was able to land a record deal with Japanese label CBS/Sony Records and Quiet Riot and Quiet Riot II were released in Japan.

Career with Ozzy Osbourne

In 1979, ex-Black Sabbath singer Ozzy Osbourne was forming a new band. Future Slaughter bassist Dana Strum recommended Rhoads to Osbourne. Rhoads got the call for the audition just before his final show with Quiet Riot. He walked in with his Les Paul guitar and a practice amp and started warming up; Osbourne immediately gave him the job. Rhoads recalled later, “I just tuned up and did some riffs, and he said, ‘You’ve got the gig.’ I had the weirdest feeling, because I thought, ‘You didn’t even hear me yet.’” Osbourne described Rhoads’ playing as “God entering my life.” Rhoads subsequently recommended his friend Greg Leon, who also taught guitar at Musonia for Rhoads’ mother, to replace him in Quiet Riot, and then departed for the UK to write and record with Osbourne in November 1979.

The band, then known as the Blizzard of Ozz, headed into the studio to record the band’s debut album, which would also be called Blizzard of Ozz. Rhoads’ guitar playing had changed due to the level of freedom allowed by Ozzy and Bob Daisley and he was encouraged to play what he wanted. His work with Quiet Riot has been criticized as being “dull” and did not rely on classical scales or arrangements. Propelled by Rhoads’ neo-classical guitar work, the album proved an instant hit with rock fans, particularly in the USA. They released two singles from the album: “Mr. Crowley” and the hit “Crazy Train”. The British tour of 1980-81 for Blizzard of Ozz was with Bob Daisley and Lee Kerslake. After the UK tour, the band wrote another LP before the US Blizzard of Ozz tour. But before the US Blizzard tour, both Lee Kerslake and Bob Daisley were fired by Sharon Osbourne. For the US Blizzard tour, Tommy Aldridge and Rudy Sarzo were hired. Diary of a Madman was released soon after Blizzard of Ozz in October 1981, and since Kerslake and Daisley were already out of the band, Aldridge and Sarzo’s photos appear on the album sleeve. This was the source of many future court battles.

Around this time Rhoads remarked to Osbourne, fellow Ozz bandmates Tommy Aldridge and Rudy Sarzo, and friend Kelly Garni that he was considering leaving rock for a few years to earn a degree in classical guitar. In the documentary Don’t Blame Me, Osbourne confirmed Randy’s desire to earn the degree and stated that had he lived, he didn’t believe Randy would have stayed in his band. Friend and ex-Quiet Riot bassist Kelly Garni has stated in interviews that if Randy had continued to play rock, he might have gone the route of more keyboard-driven rock, which had become very popular through the 1980s.

It was at this time that Rhoads was beginning to receive recognition for his playing. Just before his death Jackson Guitars created a signature model, the Jackson Randy Rhoads or Randy Rhoads Pro (though it was recommended to be called the Jackson Concorde). Randy received two prototypes — one in black and one in white — but died before the guitar went into production. Rhoads also received the Best New Talent award from Guitar Player.

Death
Rhoads’ tomb, San Bernardino, California

Randy Rhoads’ last show was played on Thursday March 18, 1982 at the Knoxville Civic Coliseum in Knoxville, Tennessee. On March 19, 1982, the band was headed to a festival in Orlando, Florida. After driving much of the night, they stopped at the house of Jerry Calhoun, the bus company’s owner, in Leesburg, Florida. The driver, Andrew Aycock, took Rhoads and hairdresser Rachel Youngblood on a flight in a Beechcraft Bonanza he had taken without permission. Apparently, during the flight, a few attempts were made to “buzz” the tour bus where the other band members were sleeping.

Randy’s funeral was held at the First Lutheran Church in Burbank, CA. He is interred at Mountain View Cemetery in San Bernardino, California where his grandparents are also buried.

Equipment

Guitars

* 1975 Cream Gibson Les Paul Custom
* Black Gibson Les Paul Custom
* Karl Sandoval Polka Dot Flying V
* White Jackson Randy Rhoads w. black pinstripes
* Black Jackson Randy Rhoads
* Guild 12 string acoustic
* Early 60s Fender Stratocaster
* Gibson Firebird 12 string electric guitar
* Martin 6&12 string acoustics

Effects

* VOX 847 Wah Wah pedal
* MXR Distortion plus
* MXR 10 band equalizer
* MXR Stereo flanger
* MXR Stereo chorus
* Maestro Phase Shifter
* Maestro Echoplex
* Roland FV-300H Volume Pedal

Amplifiers

* Marshall vintage Super Lead Plexi 100w amp heads (2)
* Marshall 4×12 White cabinets with Altec Lansing speakers (2)
* Marshall 4×12 Black cabinets with Altec Lansing speakers (2)
* Marshall Plexi MKII Super Lead 100 watt amp (modded with cascade mod)
* Ampeg 4×12 cabinet with Altec Lansing speakers
* Peavey standard 130 watt amp
* Fender Harvard 1×12 amp

Posthumous achievements

In 1987, five years after Rhoads’ death, Osbourne released Tribute, the only official album featuring Osbourne and Rhoads playing together in concert. Most of the album is a live performance from Cleveland, Ohio, recorded on May 11, 1981. Also used in the recording was Rhoads’ guitar solo from a show in Montreal, Canada, recorded on July 28, 1981. That whole show had been broadcast on WMMS, and the King Biscuit Flower Hour, from which it became an extremely popular and fast selling bootleg. The songs “Goodbye to Romance” and “No Bone Movies” from the Tribute album were recorded on the UK Blizzard of Ozz tour at Southampton, on the same date as the Mr. Crowley EP.

Randy was inducted into the Guitar Center Rock Walk (on Sunset Blvd in Hollywood, CA), on March 18, 2004. Guests included Delores Rhoads, Kelle Rhoads, Rudy Sarzo, Ozzy and Sharon Osbourne, Zakk Wylde and Yngwie Malmsteen. In a 2006 Guitar World article, it was mentioned that Rhoads’ last name was mistakenly spelled “Rhodes” on his plaque, and by the time it was discovered, there was not enough time to correct the mistake. It has since been fixed.

As a tribute to Rhoads, Marshall Amplification released the 1959RR at NAMM 2008. The amp is a limited-edition all-white Marshall Super Lead 100 watt head modeled after Randy’s own Super Lead amp. Marshall engineers looked extensively at Rhoads’ actual amplifier and made the 1959RR to those exact specifications, right down to the special high-gain modification Randy specifically requested when he visited the Marshall factory in 1980.

Honors

* Voted “Best New Talent” by the readers of Guitar Player magazine in December 1981
* Voted “Best Heavy Metal Guitarist” by the readers of UK-based Sounds magazine in December 1981
* Placed 85th on Rolling Stone Magazine’s 100 Greatest Guitarists.
* Placed 4th on Guitar World Magazine’s 100 Greatest Heavy Metal Guitarists.
* Crazy Train and Mr. Crowley placed 9th and 28th respectivley on Guitar World’s 100 Greatest Guitar Solos readers poll.
* Named one of the fastest guitar players in Guitar World’s 50 Fastest Guitarists list.
* “Crazy Train” placed 51 in Rolling Stone’s “100 Greatest Guitar Songs of All Time” list.

Influence
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Please help improve this article by adding reliable references. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (November 2007)

Despite his youth and relatively limited recorded work, Rhoads has influenced many notable guitar players including: Zakk Wylde,

Discography

With Quiet Riot

* Quiet Riot (1977)
* Quiet Riot II (1978)

With Ozzy Osbourne

* Blizzard of Ozz (1980)
* Diary of a Madman (1981)
* Tribute (1987)

1955 – Elvis Costello (Declan McManus) is born in London. His biggest hit is the top 20 song “Veronica” in 1989, which he writes with Paul McCartney.

Elvis Costello (born Declan Patrick MacManus 25 August 1954) is an English musician and singer-songwriter, with Irish ancestry. Costello came to prominence as an early participant in London’s pub rock scene in the mid-1970s, and later became associated with the punk rock and New Wave musical genres, before establishing his own unique voice in the 1980s. Steeped in wordplay, the vocabulary of Costello’s lyrics is broader than that of most popular songs, and his music has drawn on dozens of genres. Critic Stephen Thomas Erlewine wrote, “Costello, the pop encyclopedia, can reinvent the past in his own image”.

Costello and Canadian jazz singer and pianist Diana Krall were married on December 6, 2003 at Elton John’s estate outside London. Their first children together, twin sons Dexter Henry Lorcan and Frank Harlan James, were born December 6, 2006 in New York City.
Biography

Early life

Costello was born Declan Patrick MacManus[3] in St Mary’s Hospital, Paddington in London, the son of Mary (née Costello) and Ross MacManus, a musician and bandleader.[4] Costello lived in Twickenham, attending what is now St Mark’s Catholic Secondary School in neighbouring Hounslow.[5] With a musically inclined father (his father sang with The Joe Loss Orchestra), Costello’s first broadcast recording was alongside his dad in a television commercial for R. White’s Lemonade (“I’m a Secret Lemonade Drinker”). His father wrote and sang the song; Costello provided backing vocals. The ad won a silver award at the 1974 International Advertising Festival.

Costello moved with his Liverpool-born mother to Birkenhead in 1971. It was there that he formed his first band, a folk duo called Rusty. After completing secondary school at St. Francis Xavier’s College Liverpool, he moved back to London where he next formed a band called Flip City,[6] which had a style very much in the pub rock vein. They were active from 1974 through early 1976. Around this time, Costello adopted the stage name D.P. Costello.

To support himself, he worked a number of office jobs, most famously at the Elizabeth Arden cosmetics firm — immortalised in the lyrics of “I’m Not Angry” as the “vanity factory” — where he worked as a data entry clerk. He worked for a short period as a computer operator at the Midland Bank computer centre in Bootle, Liverpool. He continued to write songs, and began actively looking for a solo recording contract. On the basis of a demo tape, he was signed to noted independent label Stiff Records. His manager at Stiff, Jake Riviera, suggested a name change, using Elvis Presley’s first name despite Costello having a small antipathy towards Presley, and Costello comes from his great grandmother’s name[7] to form Elvis Costello.

1970s

The first Costello single for Stiff was “Less Than Zero” b/w “Radio Sweetheart (single mix),” released on March 25, 1977. Two months later, Costello’s first album, My Aim Is True (1977), was a moderate commercial success (No. 14 in the UK and Top 40 in the US) with Costello appearing on the cover in his trademark oversize glasses, bearing a striking resemblance to a menacing Buddy Holly. A highlight of the album was the country-influenced ballad “Alison” with a typically biting Costello lyric. Costello’s backing on this first album was provided by American West Coast band Clover, a roots/country outfit living in England (contrary to rumor, Clover did not exactly become Huey Lewis and the News – Huey Lewis did play with Clover shortly before the recording of My Aim Is True, but he and Sean Hopper, who appears on Costello’s record, struck out on their own later). Costello was originally marketed as a punk artist. Later on, as the term New Wave was applied to the first post-punk bands, Costello was classified as new wave for a time.

The same year, Costello recruited via auditions his own permanent band, The Attractions, consisting of Steve Nieve (born Steve Nason; piano), Bruce Thomas (bass guitar), and Pete Thomas (drums; unrelated to Bruce Thomas). He released his first major hit single, “Watching the Detectives,” which was recorded with Nieve and the pair of Steve Goulding (drums) and Andrew Bodnar (bass), both members of Graham Parker & The Rumour (whom he had used to audition for The Attractions).

Stiff’s records were initially distributed only in the UK, which meant that Costello’s first album and singles were initially available in the US as imports only. In an attempt to change this, Costello was arrested for busking outside of a London convention of CBS (Columbia Records) executives, “protesting” that no US record company had yet seen fit to release Elvis Costello records in the United States. Costello signed to CBS in the US a few months later.
Elvis Costello, Cardiff, 1979
Elvis Costello, Cardiff, 1979

In December 1977, Costello and The Attractions appeared on Saturday Night Live as a last minute fill-in for the Sex Pistols, but Costello ended up causing some controversy himself, and was banned from the program for over a decade. Following a whirlwind tour with other Stiff artists (captured on the Live Stiffs album, notable for Costello’s recording of the Burt Bacharach/Hal David standard “I Just Don’t Know What to Do With Myself”) the band recorded the frenetic, raucous This Year’s Model (1978). Some of the more popular tracks include the British hit “(I Don’t Want To Go To) Chelsea” and the subversively anthemic “Pump It Up”. His U.S. record company saw Costello as such a priority that his last name replaced the word “Columbia” on the label of the disc’s original pressing. A tour of the US and Canada also saw the release of the much bootlegged promo-only “Live at the El Mocambo,” which finally saw an official release as part of the “2½ Years” box set in 1993. It was during the ensuing United States tour that Elvis met and developed a relationship with former Playboy model, Bebe Buell (mother of Liv Tyler). Their on-again-off-again courtship would last until 1984 and would allegedly become a deep well of inspiration for some of Costello’s most lovelorn songs. 1979 would arguably see the peak of Costello’s commercial success with the release of Armed Forces (originally to have been titled Emotional Fascism, a phrase that appeared on the LP’s inner sleeve). Both the album and the single Oliver’s Army went to #2 in the UK. Costello also found time in 1979 to produce the debut album for 2 Tone ska revival band, The Specials.

1980s
Live at Metropol-Theatre, Berlin, May 1980

The soul-infused Get Happy!! would be the first, and—along with King of America—possibly most successful, of Costello’s many experiments with genres beyond those he is normally associated with. The single, “I Can’t Stand Up For Falling Down” was an old Sam and Dave song (though Costello increased the tempo considerably). The brevity of the songs (20 tracks in under 50 minutes) suited the band’s new style (the Thomas’ typically melodic rhythm section and Nieve’s reasonable impersonation of Booker T. Jones) as well as the frantic and stressful conditions under which it was written and recorded, live at a rock concert and fuelled by excessive drinking. Lyrically, the songs are full of Costello’s signature wordplay, to the point that he later felt he’d become something of a self-parody and toned it down on later releases. He has mockingly described himself in interviews as “rock and roll’s Scrabble champion.” The only 1980 appearance in North America was at the Heatwave festival in August near Toronto.

1981′s Trust, despite its eclecticism (“Different Finger” had a distinct country feel) had a more pop sound than Get Happy!! Still, overall the album was clearly affected by the growing tensions within the band, particularly between Bruce and Pete Thomas. In the US, the single “Watch Your Step” was released and played live on Tom Snyder’s “Tomorrow” show, and received airplay on FM rock radio. In the UK, the single “Clubland” scraped the lower reaches of the charts; follow-up single “From A Whisper To A Scream” (a duet with Glenn Tilbrook of Squeeze) became the first Costello single in over 4 years to completely miss the charts.

Following Trust, Costello released Almost Blue, an album of country music cover songs written by the likes of Hank Williams (“Why Don’t You Love Me (Like You Used To Do?)”), Merle Haggard (“Tonight The Bottle Let Me Down”) and Gram Parsons (“How Much I Lied”). The album was a tribute to the country music he had grown up listening to, especially, George Jones. Some avid fans dismissed the album because it was inconsistent with earlier recordings. It was not a country-rock album (a la The Byrds or Eagles), which might have been more palatable to his established audience and to reviewers, but rather an undiluted country album. It received mixed reviews, some of which accused Costello of growing soft. Perhaps in anticipation of the inevitable accusations of apostasy, the first pressings of the record in the UK bore a sticker with the message: “WARNING: This album contains country & western music and may cause offence to narrow minded listeners”. Almost Blue did spawn a surprise UK hit single in a version of George Jones’s “Good Year For The Roses” (written by Jerry Chesnut), which reached #6.

Imperial Bedroom (1982) marked a much darker, almost baroque sound for Costello, due in part to the production of Geoff Emerick, famed for engineering several Beatles records. Imperial Bedroom remains one of his most critically acclaimed records, but again failed to produce any hit singles. Costello has said he disliked the marketing pitch for the album, weak ads consisting only of the phrase “Masterpiece?”. Imperial Bedroom also featured Costello’s song “Almost Blue”; jazz singer and trumpeter Chet Baker would later perform and record a version of this song.

1983 saw another sidetrack with the pop-soul of Punch the Clock, featuring female backing vocals (Afrodiziak) and a four piece horn section (The TKO Horns), alongside The Attractions. Clive Langer (who co-produced with Alan Winstanley), provided Costello with a melody which eventually became “Shipbuilding”, an oblique look at the political contradictions of the Falklands War: the controversial military build-up provided jobs for Britain’s struggling shipyards. The song featured a trumpet solo by Chet Baker. Prior to the release of Costello’s own version, a version of the song was a minor UK hit for former Soft Machine drummer and political activist Robert Wyatt.

Equally political was “Pills And Soap”—a UK hit for Costello himself under the pseudonym of “The Imposter”—an attack on the changes in British society brought on by Thatcherism, released to coincide with the run-up to the 1983 UK general election. (The electorate was seemingly unswayed.) Punch the Clock also generated an international hit in the single “Everyday I Write the Book”, aided by a prophetic music video featuring lookalikes of the Prince and Princess of Wales undergoing domestic strife in a suburban home. The song became Costello’s first top forty hit single in the US. Also in the same year, Elvis provided vocals on a version of the Madness song “Tomorrow’s Just Another Day” released as a B-side on the single of the same name. Tensions within the band were beginning to tell, and Costello announced his retirement and the disbandment of the group shortly before they were to record Goodbye Cruel World (1984). Costello would later say of this record that they had “got it as wrong as you can in terms of the execution”. The record was poorly received upon its initial release, and even many ardent Costello fans see Goodbye as his weakest album (the liner notes to the 1995 Rykodisc re-release, penned by Costello, begin with the words “Congratulations!, you’ve just purchased our worst album”). Costello’s retirement, although short-lived, was accompanied by two compilations, Elvis Costello: The Man in the UK, Europe and Australia, and The Very Best of Elvis Costello & the Attractions in the U.S.

In 1985, he appeared in the “Live Aid” benefit concert in England, singing The Beatles’ “All You Need is Love” as a solo artist. (The event was overrunning and Costello was asked to “ditch the band”). Costello introduced the song as an old northern folk song, and the audience was invited to sing the chorus, which they did.

In the same year Costello teamed up with good friend T-Bone Burnett for a single called “The People’s Limousine” under the moniker of The Coward Brothers. That year, Costello also produced Rum, Sodomy, and the Lash for the punk/folk band The Pogues. It was then that he met his second wife, Pogues bassist Cait O’Riordan.

By 1986, Costello was preparing to make a comeback. Working in the US with Burnett, a band containing a number of Elvis Presley’s sidemen (including James Burton and Jerry Scheff), and minor input from the Attractions, he produced King of America an acoustic-guitar-driven album with a country sound. Around this time he legally changed his name back to Declan MacManus, adding Aloysius as an extra middle name. The Attractions felt understandably insecure about the ease with which they could be dropped considering their boss had cut a new album largely without them, and was planning to undertake a major tour showcasing the King of America material with his new musical partners. To allay their fears, Costello retooled his upcoming tour to allow for multiple nights in each city; playing one night with The Confederates (James Burton et al.), one night with The Attractions, and one night solo acoustic.

In May 1986, Costello performed at Self Aid, a benefit concert held in Dublin that focused on the problem of chronic unemployment which was widespread in Ireland at that time. Later that year, he returned to the studio with the Attractions and recorded Blood and Chocolate, which was lauded for a post-punk fervour not heard since 1978′s This Year’s Model. It also marked the return of producer Nick Lowe, who had produced Costello’s first five albums. While Blood and Chocolate failed to chart a hit single of any significance, it did produce what has since become one of Costello’s signature concert songs — “I Want You”. It is on this album that Costello adopted the alias “Napoleon Dynamite”, the name he later attributed to the character of the obnoxious emcee that he played during the vaudeville-style tour to support Blood and Chocolate. (The pseudonym had previously been used in 1982, when the B-side single “Imperial Bedroom” was credited to Napoleon Dynamite & The Royal Guard, and was later appropriated by the 2004 film Napoleon Dynamite, which does not have anything to do with Costello.) In 1989, Costello, with a new contract with Warner Bros., released Spike, which spawned his biggest single in America, the Top Twenty hit “Veronica”, one of several songs Costello co-wrote with Paul McCartney in that timeframe (see “Collaborations” section below).

1990s

In 1991, infamously having grown a long beard, Costello released Mighty Like a Rose, which featured the single “The Other Side of Summer”. He also found time to co-compose and co-produce, with Richard Harvey, the title and incidental music for the acclaimed mini-series G.B.H. by Alan Bleasdale. This entirely instrumental, and largely orchestral soundtrack garnered a BAFTA, for “Best Music for a TV Series” for the pair.

In 1993, Costello tested the classical music waters with a critically acclaimed collaboration with the Brodsky Quartet on The Juliet Letters. Costello returned to rock and roll the following year with a project that reunited him with The Attractions, Brutal Youth. In 1995, Costello released Kojak Variety, an album of cover songs recorded 5 years earlier, and followed in 1996 with an album of songs originally written for other artists, All This Useless Beauty. This was the final album of original material that he issued under his Warner Bros. contract. In the spring of 1996, Costello played a series of intimate club dates, backed only by Nieve on the piano, in support of All This Useless Beauty. An ensuing summer and fall tour with the Attractions proved to be the death knell for the band. With relations between Elvis and bassist Bruce Thomas at a breaking point, Costello announced that the current tour would be the Attractions’ last. The quartet performed their final U.S. show in Seattle, Washington on September 1, 1996, before wrapping up their tour in Japan. To fulfill his contractual obligations to Warner Bros., Costello released a greatest hits album titled Extreme Honey (1997). It contained an original track titled “The Bridge I Burned”, featuring Elvis’ son, Matt, on bass. In the intervening period, Costello also served as artistic chair for the 1995 Meltdown Festival, which gave him the opportunity to leverage his increasingly eclectic musical interests. His involvement in the festival yielded a one-off live EP with jazz guitarist Bill Frisell, which featured both cover material and a few of his own songs. In 1998, Costello signed a unique multi-label contract with Polygram Records, sold by its parent company the same year to become part of the Universal Music Group. Costello released his new work on what he deemed the suitable imprimatur within the family of labels. His first new release as part of this contract involved a collaboration with famed sixties pop songwriter Burt Bacharach. Their work had commenced earlier, in 1996, on a song called “God Give Me Strength” for the movie Grace of My Heart. This led the pair to write and record Painted From Memory, released under his new contract in 1998, on the Mercury Records label. They also recorded an updated version of Bacharach’s song “I’ll Never Fall in Love Again” for the soundtrack to Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me, with both appearing in the film to perform the song. He also wrote “I Throw My Toys Around” for The Rugrats Movie and performed it with No Doubt.

In 1999, Costello contributed a version of the classic “She”, most famously released in 1974 by Charles Aznavour and Herbert Kretzmer, for the soundtrack of the film Notting Hill, with Trevor Jones producing. For the 25th anniversary of Saturday Night Live, Costello was invited to the program, where he re-enacted his abrupt song-switch: This time, however, he interrupted the Beastie Boys’ “Sabotage”, and they acted as his backing group for “Radio Radio.”

2000 to present
Costello performing with The Imposters in 2005.
Costello performing with The Imposters in 2005.

In 2000 Costello appeared at the Town Hall Theatre NYC, in Steve Nieve’s opera Welcome to the Voice, alongside Ron Sexsmith and John Flansburgh of “They Might Be Giants”.

In 2001, Costello was announced as the featured “artist in residence” at UCLA (although he ended up making fewer appearances than expected) and wrote the music for a new ballet. He produced and appeared on an album of pop songs for opera singer Anne Sofie von Otter.

In 2002 he released a new album, When I Was Cruel, this time on Island Records, and toured with a new band, the Imposters (essentially the Attractions but with a different bass player, Davey Faragher, formerly of Cracker). On February 23rd, 2003, Costello, along with Bruce Springsteen, Steve Van Zandt, and Dave Grohl performed a version of The Clash’s “London Calling” at the 45th Grammy Awards ceremony, in honor of legendary Clash frontman Joe Strummer, who had died in December of the previous year. In March 2003, Elvis Costello & The Attractions were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. In May, his engagement to Canadian jazz singer and pianist Diana Krall was announced. September saw the release of North, an album of piano-based ballads concerning the breakdown of his former marriage, and his falling in love with singer Diana Krall.

In 2004, the song “Scarlet Tide” (co-written by Costello and T-Bone Burnett and used in the film Cold Mountain) was nominated for an Academy Award; he performed it at the awards ceremony with Alison Krauss, who also sang the song on the official soundtrack. Costello co-wrote many songs on wife Diana Krall’s 2004 CD, The Girl in the Other Room, the first of hers to feature several original compositions. In July 2004 Costello’s first full-scale orchestral work, Il Sogno, was performed in New York. The work, a ballet after Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, was commissioned by Italian dance troupe Aterballeto, and received critical acclaim from the classical music critics, while being scorned by the popular music press.
Costello’s hand prints on the European Walk of Fame, Rotterdam
Costello’s hand prints on the European Walk of Fame, Rotterdam

While composing it, Costello deliberately avoided listening to the previous interpretations by Mendelssohn and Britten in order to ensure his own originality. A range of musical moods and styles are used to represent the different elements of the cast—satirical pomp for the courtiers, jazz for the faeries, and for Bottom a deliberately intrusive “brass band” motif. Performed by the London Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Michael Tilson Thomas, the recording was released on CD in September by Deutsche Grammophon. Costello released another album that same month: The Delivery Man, recorded in Oxford, Mississippi, and released on Lost Highway Records. Mainly blues, country, and folk, The Delivery Man received early acclaim as one of Costello’s best albums, and continues Costello’s personal quest to release an album on each of Universal’s record labels.

In July 2005, a CD recording of a collaboration with Marian McPartland on her show Piano Jazz was released. It featured Costello singing six jazz standards and two of his own songs, accompanied by Marian McPartland on piano. In November 2005 Costello started recording a new album with Allen Toussaint and producer Joe Henry. The River in Reverse was released in the UK on the Verve label on 29 May 2006.

In 2006 the studio recording of Nieve’s opera “Welcome to the Voice”, for Deutsche Grammophon, Costello interpreted the character of Chief of Police, with Barbara Bonney, Robert Wyatt, Sting and Amanda Roocroft.

Also released in 2006 was a live recording of a concert with the Metropole Orkest at the North Sea Jazz Festival, entitled My Flame Burns Blue.

In 2007 Nieve’s opera “Welcome to the Voice was released on CD by Deutsche Grammophon, reaching #2 in the Billboard classical charts.

Costello has been commissioned to write a chamber opera by the Danish Royal Opera, Copenhagen, on the subject of Hans Christian Andersen’s infatuation with Swedish soprano Jenny Lind, called The Secret Songs. Some of the songs were previewed on the Opera’s main stage in October 2005. However, since Costello has repeatedly missed deadlines, plans have been changed: extracts from the projected opera will be interspersed with songs from The Juliet Letters for performance in the Opera’s studio theatre (Takelloftet) in March 2007. It will be directed by Kasper Bech Holten and will feature Danish soprano Sine Bundgaard as Lind.

On May 6th, 2008, Fender Musical Instruments releases the Elvis Costello Jazzmaster, an exact representation of his late-1960′s heavily modified Fender Jazzmaster guitar he had used to record his first 1977 album, “My Aim Is True”, honoring one of the most recognized Jazzmaster players in music history. Uniquely Costello-inspired features include a post-’68 neck design, a walnut stain finish and a tremolo with easier and greater travel, essential for that “Watching the Detectives” tone, or what Costello calls that “spy movie” sound. This signature release comes during the 50th anniversary of Fender’s introduction of the Jazzmaster guitar, which first appeared in 1958.

On April 22nd, a new Elvis Costello and the Imposters album, “Momofuku”, will be released on Lost Highway Records, the same imprint that released his last major studio album, “The Delivery Man”. The new album will, at least initially, be released exclusively on vinyl (with a code to download a digital copy of the album). This summer, in support of the album, Costello will tour with The Police on the final leg of their 2007/2008 Reunion Tour.

On 5th February 2008 it was announced Elvis would play a homecoming gig at the Liverpool Philharmonic Hall on June 25th.[8]

On 28th June 2008, Costello gave his first performance in Poland, appearing with the Imposters for the closing gig of the Malta theatre festival in Poznań.

In July 2008, Costello (as Declan McManus) was awarded an honorary degree of Doctor of Music from the University of Liverpool.

In November 2008, Costello will interpret the role of Chief of Police in “Welcome to the Voice” on the stage of the Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris, with Sting, Joe Sumner of Fiction Plane, and Sylvia Schwartz.

Controversies

Costello’s success in the U.S. was bruised for a time in the late 1970s when, during a drunken argument with Stephen Stills and Bonnie Bramlett in a Columbus, Ohio, Holiday Inn hotel bar, Costello allegedly referred to James Brown as a “jive-ass nigger,” then upped the ante by pronouncing Ray Charles a “blind, ignorant nigger.”[9]

A contrite Costello apologised at a New York City press conference a few days later, claiming that he had been drunk and had been attempting to be obnoxious in order to bring the conversation to a swift conclusion, not anticipating that Bramlett would bring his comments to the press. According to Costello, “it became necessary for me to outrage these people with about the most obnoxious and offensive remarks that I could muster.” In his liner notes for the expanded version of Get Happy!!, Costello writes that some time after the incident he had declined an offer to meet Charles out of guilt and embarrassment, though Charles himself had forgiven Costello (“Drunken talk isn’t meant to be printed in the paper”). In a Rolling Stone interview with Greil Marcus, he recounts an incident when Bruce Thomas was introduced to Michael Jackson as Costello’s bass player and Jackson said, “I don’t dig that guy…”.[9]

Costello worked extensively in Britain’s Rock Against Racism campaign both before and after this and also produced the debut album of the Specials whose multi-racial line-up was a very public statement about integration. This incident inspired his Get Happy!! song “Riot Act”.[10]

Personal life

Costello has been married three times. In 1974, MacManus married Mary Burgoyne. The couple had a son, Matthew, and divorced in 1984. In 1986, Costello married Cait O’Riordan, then bassist for the band The Pogues. The couple split at the end of 2002. Costello became engaged to singer Diana Krall in May 2003. In December, Costello and Krall married at the London estate of Sir Elton John. Their twin sons Dexter Henry Lorcan and Frank Harlan James were born December 6, 2006 in New York City.
Wikinews has related news:
Canadian jazz star Diana Krall gives birth to twin boys

Collaborations

In addition to his major recorded collaborations with Bacharach, the Brodsky Quartet, and von Otter, Costello has frequently been involved in other collaborations.

In 1987, Costello began a long-running songwriting collaboration with Paul McCartney. They wrote a number of songs together, including:

* “Back On My Feet”, the B-side of McCartney’s 1987 single “Once Upon A Long Ago”, later added as a bonus track on the 1993 re-issue of McCartney’s Flowers in the Dirt
* Costello’s “Veronica” and “Pads, Paws and Claws” from Spike (1989)
* “So Like Candy” and “Playboy to a Man” from Mighty Like a Rose (1991)
* McCartney’s “My Brave Face”, “Don’t Be Careless Love”, “That Day Is Done” and “You Want Her Too” from Flowers in the Dirt (1989)
* “The Lovers That Never Were” and “Mistress and Maid” from Off the Ground (1993).
* “Shallow grave” from “All This Useless Beauty” (1996).
* “I don’t want to confess”, “Tommy’s coming home”, “Twenty-five fingers” and “Indigo moon” (Officially unreleased).

Costello talked about their collaboration:

When we sat down together he wouldn’t have any sloppy bits in there (meaning the songs). That was interesting. The ironic part is, if it sounds like he wrote it, I probably did and vice versa. He wanted to do all the ones with lots of words and all on one note, and I’m the one trying to work in the “Please Please Me” harmony all over the place.[citation needed]

* In 1987, he appeared on the HBO special Roy Orbison and Friends, A Black and White Night, which featured his long-time idol Roy Orbison, and was invited back to Saturday Night Live for the first time since 1977.

Artistic significance

Costello has worked with Tony Bennett, Lucinda Williams, Lee Konitz, Brian Eno, and Rubén Blades, just a few of the artists not mentioned above. Costello has inadvertently made himself capable of challenging Kevin Bacon’s role in a musical version of the Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon game, as his associations span the gamut in the music industry.

Costello is also a big music fan, and often champions the works of others in print. He has written several pieces for the magazine Vanity Fair, including the summary of what a perfect weekend of music would be. His collaboration with Bacharach honoured Bacharach’s place in pop music history. Costello also appeared in documentaries about singers Dusty Springfield and Wanda Jackson. He has also interviewed one of his own influences, Joni Mitchell.

In 2004, Rolling Stone Magazine ranked him #80 on their list of the 100 Greatest Artists of All Time.[11]

Discography

Main article: Elvis Costello discography

Rykodisc/Demon reissues

From 1993 to 1995, Rykodisc Records (U.S.) and Demon Records (UK) reissued Costello’s pre-Warner Bros. catalogue with bonus tracks for each album as well as a greatest hits compilation and the live album Live at the El Mocambo. In addition, Rykodisc were the U.S. distributor for The Juliet Letters. This licensing deal ended in 2000.

Rhino reissues

Starting in 2001, Rhino Records began an eighteen double-disc reissue program for Costello’s back catalogue prior to his Polygram/Universal contract. Except for the compilation, each of the reissues presented the remastered original album on one disc, and a separate bonus disc of B-sides, outtakes, live tracks, alternate versions and/or demos of songs.

The project featured the direct participation and guidance of Elvis Costello himself, who wrote new liner notes for each album consisting of his thoughts on the music as well as anecdotes and reminiscences from the time. They were released in batches of three, with the exception of King of America, The Juliet Letters, and The Very Best of Elvis Costello, the last being an unaltered re-release of the Polygram compilation of 1999, which arrived in the stores singularly. The reissue dates are as follows:

1. April 17, 2001: The Very Best of Elvis Costello
2. August 11, 2001: My Aim Is True, Spike, All This Useless Beauty
3. February 19, 2002: This Year’s Model, Blood and Chocolate, Brutal Youth
4. November 19, 2002: Armed Forces, Imperial Bedroom, Mighty Like a Rose
5. September 9, 2003: Get Happy!!, Trust, Punch the Clock
6. August 3, 2004: Almost Blue, Goodbye Cruel World, Kojak Variety
7. April 26, 2005: King of America
8. March 21, 2006: The Juliet Letters

The Almost Blue and Kojak Variety bonus discs were particularly notable as each contained, essentially, an entire new album’s worth of material also performed but either not issued, or released as B-sides on singles originally. The Kojak bonus disc also included ten songs of the ‘George Jones’ tape, cover songs Costello intended to induce the famed country singer to perform on a subsequent album. The Get Happy bonus disc was also of note, with 30 additional tracks, bringing the total for the two disc set to 50 songs.

Costello’s early single on Stiff can be found on the Ultimate Stiff Records Discography site: http://www.buythehour.se/stiff/

Universal reissues

In August 2006, three months after the conclusion of Rhino’s reissue series (My Aim Is True through The Juliet Letters), Universal Music Enterprises announced their purchase of the early Elvis Costello catalogue. This licensing acquisition covers from My Aim Is True through King of America, excluding the Warner Bros. albums (Spike through All This Useless Beauty). These albums had all been re-released on Rhino, a Warner Music Group subsidiary. The press release says, “[l]eading the industry in online marketing with a dedicated department that manages its digital and mobile business, UMe also expects to mine Costello’s catalog for ringtones, digital box sets, and more.”[12] UMe announced that they would be reissuing the albums on their Hip-O Select label. Costello is quoted in the press release as saying, “[I]t’s great to be able to do this through a company that has not only enjoyed major success with reissues but has done them with a genuine emphasis on quality.”[13] This reissue series will mark the fourth release of his Stiff/Radar/Demon catalogue (released by Columbia Records in the US) on compact disc.

Tribute albums

1. 1998: Bespoke Songs, Lost Dogs, Detours & Rendezvous – (various artists)
2. 2002: Almost You: The Songs of Elvis Costello – (various artists)
3. 2003: The Elvis Costello Songbook – Bonnie Brett
4. 2004: A Tribute to Elvis Costello – Patrik Tanner
5. 2004: Davis Does Elvis – Stuart Davis

Filmography

* 1979 film debut as “Earl Manchester” in Americathon
* 1984 as “Henry Scully” in UK TV series Scully
* 1984 as “Stone Deaf A&R Man” in UK TV series “The Comic Strip Presents”, episode “The Bullshitters” (directed by Stephen Frears)
* 1985 as inept magician “Rosco de Ville” in the Alan Bleasdale film No Surrender
* 1987 as “Hives the Butler” in the Alex Cox film Straight to Hell, starring Joe Strummer and Courtney Love
* 1994, 1996 as himself in The Larry Sanders Show
* 1997 as himself in Spiceworld
* 1999 as himself in Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me, performing the song “I’ll Never Fall In Love Again” with Burt Bacharach
* 1999 as himself in 200 Cigarettes
* 2000 as himself in Sans plomb
* 2001 as a public defender and a teacher in Prison Song,
* 2001 as himself in the final episode of 3rd Rock from the Sun,
* 2002 as himself (voice) in “How I Spent My Strummer Vacation”, an episode of The Simpsons
* 2003 Academy Award nomination for best original song “The Scarlet Tide” in Cold Mountain.
* 2003 as “Ben” in the Frasier episode “Farewell, Nervosa”
* 2003 as guest host on Late Show with David Letterman
* 2003 as himself in I Love Your Work
* 2004 performing the Cole Porter song “Let’s Misbehave” in De-Lovely
* 2004 as himself on Two and a Half Men
* 2005 as himself in the American situation comedy Two and a Half Men
* 2006 as himself in Putting the River in Reverse
* 2006 as himself in Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby
* 2006 as himself in Delirious