Rock History

2008 – GUNS N’ ROSES: ‘Chinese Democracy’ Track Listing Slightly Revised – Oct. 17, 2008
A slightly revised track listing for the new GUNS N’ ROSES album, “Chinese Democracy”, has now been posted at BestBuy.com, which will exclusively carry the album in the U.S. starting on November 23. A pre-order page for the long-delayed release was posted at the site on Wednesday (October 15), although the pre-order option was later taken off. The page lists 14 song titles for the record, 11 of which have either been played live or leaked online over the past few years. The Pulse of Radio reports that one of those, “Street of Dreams”, was previously known as “The Blues”, while three titles, “Scraped”, “Sorry” and “Prostitute”, have not been heard anywhere.

According to Billboard.com, sources who have heard the album say that it opens with a “blood-curdling Axl Rose scream.”

Two different covers will apparently be available, along with CD and vinyl versions. What appears to be one of the covers has been posted at the Best Buy site, showing what seems to be a bicycle with a basket perched on it.

There has still not been an official announcement regarding the November 23 arrival date for the record.

“Chinese Democracy” has been in the works since the mid-’90s, with speculation and mystery surrounding the album’s 13-year journey, ever-changing roster of players and spiraling recording costs.

Revised “Chinese Democracy” track listing:

01. Chinese Democracy
02. Shackler’s Revenge
03. Better
04. Street Of Dreams
05. If The World
06. There Was A Time
07. Catcher N’ The Rye
08. Scraped
09. Riad N’ The Bedouins
10. Sorry
11. I.R.S.
12. Madagascar
13. This I Love
14. Prostitute

2008 – Metallica: As fans around the world await a follow up to 2003′s St. Anger, Metallica is eyeing September as the release date for their new opus. The band has been working with producer Rick Rubin, and in various interviews, they have dropped hints that the new material harkens back to their thrashier sound from the ’80s. Speaking to BBC 6 Music recently, drummer Lars Ulrich said, “We’re just finishing up a record, we’ve got six weeks left and it should be out in September. That’s the idea right now.”

Metallica is playing a number of European dates and festivals this summer, but so far, their only U.S. date is an appearance at the Bonnaroo Music & Arts Festival in Manchester, TN on June 13.

1995 – Alice in Chains’ “Alice in Chains” is released on CD and cassette. Previously, the album only existed in a vinyl edition, released on Halloween of 1995.

1995 – Alice in Chains release a special vinyl edition of their album, “Alice in Chains.”

George, John, Ringo and Paul.

Brian Epstein and George Martin deserve Mention here too.

1994 - It’s reported that Paul, George, and Ringo are working on a new song for inclusion in the Anthology boxed set. They do it for John as much as for the fans.

To accompany the Anthology series, three double music albums were released, each containing two CDs or three vinyl discs of never-before-released Beatles material (although many of the tracks had appeared on bootleg vinyl and CD for many years prior).

Two days after the first television special in the series had aired, Anthology 1 was released to stores, and included music recorded by The Quarrymen, the famous Decca Records audition tapes, and various out-takes and demos from the band’s first four albums. It also included the song “Lend Me Your Comb”, omitted from the collection ‘Live at the BBC’, released the previous year (1994). The song “Free as a Bird” was included at the very start. 450,000 copies of Anthology 1 were sold in its first day of release, the most sales for an album in a single day ever. The Beatles’ original drummer Pete Best, fired by the band in 1962 before they hit it big, received his first substantial Beatles royalties from this album, for the inclusion of early tracks on which he played.

On March 17, 1996, Anthology 2 was released. The second collection presented out-takes and demos from the Beatles’ sessions for Help!, Rubber Soul, Revolver, Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, and Magical Mystery Tour. These included selected early demos and takes for Lennon’s “Strawberry Fields Forever”, previously available only to bootleg collectors. The new song “Real Love” — which, like “Free as a Bird”, was based on an unfinished Lennon recording — was also included in the two-CD collection.

On October 28, 1996, Anthology 3 was released. The third collection featured out-takes and demos from The White Album, Abbey Road, and Let It Be.
Collage of the three covers of The Beatles Anthology, created by Klaus Voormann.

The three album covers, when laid side-by-side, become one long painted collage of various peeling posters and album covers representing the different stages of The Beatles’ career. This was the work of Klaus Voormann, who also created the album cover for Revolver in 1966. The Anthology covers required Voormann to recreate elements of his cover for Revolver within the collage. During the music video for “Free as a Bird”, the Anthology collage appears as posters on a shop window as the camera pans quickly across the street. The design also adorned the VHS, laserdisk and DVD releases, again to be properly encountered by laying the cases side-by-side. Upon the release of Anthology 3, HMV stores made available a cardboard sleeve designed to hold all three CD volumes of which each side of the sleeve make up half of the collage.

From Wikipedia

1987 – Pink Floyd release A Momentary Lapse of Reason. The comeback album is the band’s first since the departure of Roger Waters and the subsequent lawsuit over the use of the band name.

A Momentary Lapse of Reason is Pink Floyd’s 1987 album, the band’s first release after the departure of Roger Waters from the band in 1985. The album reached #3 on both the U.S. and UK charts. It was released in the UK and the rest of Europe on EMI and on Columbia Records for the rest of the world.

Background

After Roger Waters had declared Pink Floyd ended in 1985, David Gilmour attempted to continue the band together with Nick Mason. A bitter dispute with Waters ensued, but Gilmour and Mason eventually settled out of court for the legal right to continue using the name Pink Floyd. In exchange, Waters dissolved his former management partnership with Steve O’Rourke and gained exclusive rights to some traditional Pink Floyd imagery, including the original flying pig design, almost all of The Wall concept and everything to do with The Final Cut. Richard Wright re-joined the band during the recording sessions for this album, but only as a salaried session musician.

The recording sessions started in October 1986 as a new David Gilmour project. Gilmour revealed on the Shine On and A Momentary Lapse of Reason episodes of In the Studio with Redbeard that it was almost his third solo album as the material initially sounded too weak to be a Pink Floyd album. He then went on to say that by Christmas of 1986 that he had enough confidence to turn the album into a Pink Floyd project.

The music press responded with mostly negative reviews of the album (though Rolling Stone claimed it portended “a Floyd with a future”), despite its heavy airplay rotation on video and radio music stations. Many fans regard this album a David Gilmour effort, rather than an actual Pink Floyd album. The allmusic review refers to it as a “Gilmour solo album in all but name”. Waters himself described it as “a pretty fair forgery or a good copy” of a Pink Floyd record; his most generous appraisal was that the album contained “a few bright moments when I heard something and thought, ‘Well, maybe I’d have done something with that’.” But Waters also commented that to him, Pink Floyd no longer existed.

Recording

The album was performed largely by David Gilmour and several session musicians. The most famous of these was Tony Levin (of Peter Gabriel and King Crimson fame), who played bass on most of the tracks. Nick Mason felt he was out of practice on drums, and thus many of the percussion parts were either programmed or delegated to others. For example, Carmine Appice played drums on “The Dogs of War” while Jim Keltner played on “On the Turning Away” and “One Slip”. The drum machine, used on “Sorrow”, was programmed by Gilmour.

Session keyboardist Jon Carin, whom Gilmour met and played with in Bryan Ferry’s band at Live Aid, went on to collaborate with both Pink Floyd and Roger Waters on subsequent albums and tours. Pink Floyd’s original keyboardist Richard Wright arrived during the sessions, but did not officially rejoin the band due to concerns about his severance contract with Waters (the initial album lists Pink Floyd as consisting of only Gilmour and Mason; however, later re-releases add his name). Wright can be heard playing on a few tracks, notably “Sorrow”, which features his background vocals. Most other keyboard parts on the album were played by Carin, Gilmour or Ezrin.

It has been rumoured that some of the songs on A Momentary Lapse of Reason were David Gilmour’s rejected contributions to The Final Cut. Early demos to songs like “The Dogs of War,” “Round and Around,” and the melody to “On the Turning Away” are the only known songs to be rejected.

The recording heard in the middle of “Learning to Fly” is of Mason talking to an air traffic control tower in his private aircraft (both he and Gilmour became enthusiastic pilots after conquering their mutual fear of flying).

A Momentary Lapse of Reason is Pink Floyd’s first fully digital recording; however, the acoustic drums and bass guitar tracks were recorded on analogue equipment.

Cover artwork

The cover shows 700 hospital beds placed on Saunton Sands, Devon. This effect was not achieved with trick photography; a team actually hauled the wrought iron beds over three hours from London to Devon and arranged them as seen on the finished design. When the team realised that the shoot would take more than one day, a single bed was left on the beach to see if the sea would have any effect on it over night. When they returned the following morning, the bed was nowhere to be found. Long-time Pink Floyd collaborator Storm Thorgerson produced the artwork.

The official Storm Thorgerson website  actually covers a version of this story:

700, yes 700, wrought iron hospital beds separately made up and positioned on the beach. Madness to do it at all, but we had in fact to do it twice cos it rained suddenly the first time, dank grey dizzle, and we couldn’t see the distant half of the beds.

This was the first Pink Floyd studio album since Animals to feature his work (not counting a design for the compilation album A Collection of Great Dance Songs in 1981).

In the gatefold sleeve was a portrait of David Gilmour and Nick Mason making it the first time that a picture of the members of Pink Floyd appeared in a gatefold sleeve since 1971′s Meddle album (not counting a poster of the band members on stage that came with vinyl copies of The Dark Side of the Moon in 1973)

The vinyl copies had two picture labels. Side one depicted a black and white photo of a man rowing his boat. Side two depicted the beds from the front cover on a beach with the dogs of war running whilst a man is sitting on a bed and a female maid is standing up.

If you look closely, there is a person flying a Hang Glider, probably a reference to Learning to Fly.

Reissues and remastering

A re-mastered CD was released in the early 1990s for Europe, and in 1997 for the rest of the world. Another remastered version was released in the U.S. and Canada in October 2005 due to Columbia Records losing the production masters. James Guthrie and Joel Plante supplied the label with new masters, and thus the mastering credit was changed from Doug Sax to Guthrie and Plante. Also, a number of minor changes have been noted in the credits and legal text for this latest release, mostly reflecting changes in the band’s business situation since 1997 (including the death of their manager Steve O’Rourke).

It is also the only one of the post-Waters Pink Floyd albums to have a remastered EMI version. The Columbia version is now out of print and will be re-released by Capitol/EMI in the not too distant future.

Track listing

All lead vocals performed by David Gilmour except where noted.

1. “Signs of Life” (instrumental, spoken word by Nick Mason) (David Gilmour, Bob Ezrin) – 4:24
2. “Learning to Fly” (Gilmour, Anthony Moore, Ezrin, Jon Carin) – 4:53
3. “The Dogs of War” (Gilmour, Moore) – 6:05
4. “One Slip” (Gilmour, Phil Manzanera) – 5:10
5. “On the Turning Away” (Gilmour, Moore) – 5:42
6. “Yet Another Movie” (Gilmour, Patrick Leonard) / “Round and Around” (Gilmour) – 7:28
7. “A New Machine (Part 1)” (Gilmour) – 1:46
8. “Terminal Frost” (Gilmour) – 6:17
9. “A New Machine (Part 2)” (Gilmour) – 0:38
10. “Sorrow” (Gilmour) – 8:46

Live performances for the 1987–89 tours

1. “Signs of Life” (performed after “Shine On You Crazy Diamond (Parts 1–5)” or “Echoes”)
2. “Learning to Fly”
3. “Yet Another Movie”
4. “Round and Around”
5. “A New Machine (Part 1)”
6. “Terminal Frost”
7. “A New Machine (Part 2)”
8. “Sorrow”
9. “The Dogs of War”
10. “On the Turning Away” (ended the first half of the show)
11. “One Slip” (was the first encore on the 1987/88/89 tour)

The Momentary Lapse Tour, according to Tim Renwick, was only supposed to last 11 weeks. Originally the band would play a show at Wembley Stadium, tour the United States Of America, and finish back again at Wembley, much like what Roger Waters was doing on his Radio K.A.O.S tour. The tour began on 9 September 1987 at Lansdowne Park Ottawa, Canada, and finished at BC Place in Vancouver, Canada, on 10 December 1987. The World Tour began with the band’s first and only New Zealand performance at Western Springs in Auckland, New Zealand on 23 January 1988 and finished at the Nassau Coliseum, Long Island, on 23 August 1988. In the spring and summer of 1989, the band did another European leg of the tour, dubbing it Another Lapse. During the tour, the band played two consecutive nights in Chapel Hill, North Carolina at the Dean Smith Center, where one of the men who the band was named for, Floyd Council was born.

Personnel

* David Gilmour – vocals, guitars, keyboards, sequencers
* Nick Mason – drums, percussion, drum machine, sound effects

Additional personnel

* Richard Wright – keyboards, backing vocals
* Tony Levin – bass guitar, Chapman Stick
* Bob Ezrin – percussion
* Carmine Appice – drums
* Jim Keltner – drums
* Jon Carin – keyboards
* Tom Scott – alto and soprano saxophones
* Scott Page – tenor saxophone
* Patrick Leonard – synthesizers
* Bill Payne – Hammond organ
* Michael Landau – backing guitar
* John Helliwell – saxophone (mistakenly credited as John Halliwell)
* Darlene Koldenhaven, Carmen Twillie, Phyllis St. James, Donnie Gerrard – backing vocals
* Spherical sound by: Ken Caillat, Tom Jones, Sarah Nean Bruce
* Recorded by: Guy Charbonneau, Le Mobile, Los Angeles
* Additional sound effects by: Andrew Jackson
* General technical and musical instrument supervision: Phil Taylor
* Mastered at: Mastering Lab & Precision Lacquer
* Pink Floyd management: Steve O’Rourke, EMKA Productions, London

Sales certifications (U.S.)

The R.I.A.A. have certified the album:

* Gold and Platinum (in November 1987)
* Double Platinum (in January 1988)
* Triple Platinum (in February 1992)
* Quadruple Platinum (in August 2001)

Single releases

* “Learning to Fly (edit)”/”Terminal Frost” – Columbia 38-07363; released 15 September 1987
* “On the Turning Away”/”Run Like Hell (Live)” – Columbia 38-07660; released 24 November 1987
* “The Dogs of War”; April, 1988 (US radio only)
* “One Slip”/”Terminal Frost”; June 1988

Chart positions

Album
Year     Chart     Position
1987     UK album chart     3
1987     The Billboard 200     3
1987     Billboard CD Charts     1
1987     Norway’s album chart     2

Singles
Year     Single     Chart     Position
1987     “Learning to Fly”     Mainstream Rock Tracks     1
1987     “Learning to Fly”     The Billboard Hot 100     70
1987     “Learning to Fly”     UK Singles Charts     55
1987     “On the Turning Away”     Mainstream Rock Tracks     1
1988     “The Dogs of War”     Mainstream Rock Tracks     10
1988     “One Slip”     Mainstream Rock Tracks     5
1988     “Sorrow”     Mainstream Rock Tracks     36

Quotations

On the Momentary Lapse of Reason album, Nick’s belief in himself was pretty well gone, and Rick’s belief in himself was totally gone. And they weren’t up to making a record, to be quite honest about it  Roger’s very good at belittling people, and I think over the years he managed to convince Rick completely that he was useless and more or less convinced Nick of the same thing.

– David Gilmour, Rock Compact Disc magazine, September 1992

I must say, that under the circumstances, it’s a superb title for a so-called Pink Floyd record.

– Roger Waters, Penthouse magazine, September 1988

Release of the LP

A Momentary Lapse of Reason was released on the same day in the UK as the LPs Bad by Michael Jackson and Actually by The Pet Shop Boys, both of which topped it at the first and second positions in the following week’s album charts. It debuted at No. 3 and never rose any higher although sales remained brisk helped by heavy airplay, the overall welcome reunion of Pink Floyd, and the world tour which lasted over a year.

The album debuted at #43 on the Billboard 200 and, like in the UK, rose to No. 3 in the United States as Michael Jackson’s Bad and Whitesnake’s Whitesnake ’87 occupied the top two spots respectively at numbers 1 and 2. The album remained on the US charts for over a year.

1983 – Compact disc launched.

1970 – Emerson, Lake & Palmer give their debut performance in Plymouth, England.

Progressive rock can be a very disreputable subject. No other musical style has been so vilified by the critics and became a synonym for ‘pompous’ and ‘bombastic.’ Almost every music critic in the early ’70′s had something unflattering to write about it. None of them seem to have noticed that the genre combined the old with the new and brought things to popular music that simply wasn’t there before. Prog rock flourished during the early ’70′s but was wiped out almost completely by 1976- each of the bands who played it had to undergo changes in order to ensure their survival or else evaporate during the late ’70′s and the ’80′s.

It’s hard to decide which band best represents the genre. King Crimson’s debut In The Court Of The Crimson King (1969) might be considered one of the first pure prog rock album while Genesis’s Selling England By The Pound was the best prog album to my mind and Yes and Pink Floyd made a huge splashes on both sides of the Atlantic, but none of these bands was never really identified with the genre as closely as Emerson, Lake and Palmer (Johnny Rotten’s hatred of Floyd to the contrary). ELP shared prog rock’s great paramount and deep chasms, reflecting all that was good and bad in that time, which is known the age of the rock dinosaurs.

ELP, like many early prog bands, was an English group. Keith Emerson, its founder and keyboard player, began to take formal piano lessons when he was eight years old. He started to learn classical music but was fed up with “playing like Bach.” Later, he discovered jazz and started to perform in little clubs while he was in college. It was during that time that Emerson, searching for a new sound, purchased with the benevolent help of his father a new Hammond L100 electric piano. Later, Emerson would delve into the world of keyboards even further.

After playing in several bands, Emerson heard that P. P Arnold (then a successful solo singer and today a back up singer for ex-Floyd Roger Waters) was looking for players. He then formed The Nice, with the group playing behind Arnold. But after six months, they began performing by themselves. During late 1967 and early 1968, the band traveled in Britain with such names as Pink Floyd and Jimi Hendrix. In January 1968, they traveled in the U. S and came back to Britain just in time to see the release of their first album The Thoughts of Emerlist Davjack (a pun on the band members’ names). They later recorded “America,” a work that combined Leonard Bernstein’s famous piece from the West Side Story with Dvorak’s New World Symphony and protest lyrics, making for a complex political statement (as well as a controversial once since Bernstein didn’t approve of it). During that time, Emerson began to use knives when playing. He nailed them to his keyboard in order to help him hold certain keys while he was playing. This was just one of his yet-to-come stage tricks.

The Nice recorded another two albums during the next couple of years, but in April 1970, Emerson decided that he had enough and the band ceased to exist. Nevertheless, their manager was able to piece together more albums based on live shows and out-takes and eventually try to piggyback ELP’s success to get some sales.

During a King Crimson/Nice show in 1969, Emerson met Crimson’s young bass player Greg Lake backstage. After a small chat, they have decided to form a new band in several months. Now with The Nice project finished, Emerson was ready to move on.

Greg Lake started his musical career when he was given a guitar by his mother. When he was just a school boy, he wrote the song that will later become one of ELP’s greatest hits, “Lucky Man.” During the late ’60′s, Lake played in several bands. One of these bands, The Shy Limbs, nearly got him killed. The band used to sleep in a van and eat from the hand to mouth. Eventually, Lake developed pneumonia and had nearly died before his mother sent him to a doctor.

When he played with another band, The Gods, he caught the attention of Robert Fripp who was searching a bass player for King Crimson. Lake sang and played bass on the band’s first album, In The Court Of The Crimson King. But Fripp’s tyranny made the members of the band bitter and Lake was searching for a way out. Eve after meeting Emerson and making plans with him, Lake still helped Fripp with recording the next King Crimson’s album In The Wake Of Poseidon (retained as lead singer but not bassist) and then went of to start his own new group.

But the duo was searching for a drummer. They met Mitch Mitchell, Hendrix’s drummer who didn’t want to join but tried to get Hendrix into the new band. After the couple decided to join Carl Palmer as their drummer, the British Press fantasized about a new band with two virtuosos such as Hendrix and Emerson and speculated that the band will be called Hendrix, Emerson, Lake and Palmer or HELP (which would have surely made for some hilarious headlines). But Hendrix died in September 1970, before this idea came to fruition.

Emerson and Lake found Carl Palmer after he was recommended to them. They bought an album of his band Atomic Rooster and liked what they heard so they asked him to join them. But Palmer said no at first; he has been working hard, along with Vincent Crane, to get his band running and didn’t want to throw it all away. He was playing professionally since he was 15 years old and just recently toured with The Crazy World Of Arthur Brown which had a U.K. number one hit chart single, “Fire.”

But after continuing persuasion by Greg Lake, he decided to join them for a jam session. He enjoyed it very much and the trio began to practice until May 1970, when Palmer finished his work with Atomic Rooster and thus, ELP was born. Like another then-recent supergroup, Crosby, Stills and Nash, the English trio took the audacious move of using the group members’ names as the name of the group itself.

During 1970, ELP recorded its debut album, which was called, appropriately enough, Emerson, Lake and Palmer. They drew attention from the beginning because every one of its members played in a famous group before ELP. They were a super group, a term that was given to Cream in 1967 and was quite common during the late ’60′s and early ’70′s when music world was managed like the NBA. The first album included a modern version of a Bela Bartok piece called “The Barbarian.” It also included one of their greatest radio hits, “Lucky Man”. Lake was also responsible for the recording and it gave the album a very unique final sound. Another instrument which was innovatively used was the Moog Synthesizer. Although the Monkeys played it in 1967, no other musician has gained control over it as did Emerson. He was the first musician to use it on stage and managed to get amazing sounds out of this analog multi-switched instrument., becoming one of the earliest pioneers of the synthesizer (inventor Bob Moog himself though of Emerson as one of the great exponents of his Moog synthesizer).

The band gained wide public interest at the 1970 Isle of Wight Festival, during which Keith Emerson, dressed in shiny robe, fired two cannons (thus slightly injuring an Italian camera man) and played his keyboard like a madman.

In early 1971, they released their second album, Tarkus- their first concept album – which was recorded in only two weeks. The main theme of the album (the first side of the vinyl album) is, unsurprisingly, “Tarkus.” Tarkus is a bionic armadillo who fights other bionic creatures until it is convinced by the Manticore (a mythical hybrid creature that’s part human, part lion) to cease from its deviant ways. You may say that the story is a parable about wars and the ill-necessity of machines, but ELP claimed that it didn’t have any such exalted intentions. Significantly though, ELP later named its record label Manticore Records.

Tarkus was very popular in Britain and reached 9 on the U.S. Billboard charts. Six months after Tarkus, the band released Pictures At An Exhibition (1972), a newly rearranged version of the famous piece by Mussorgsky which was recorded during a live show in Newcastle City Hall. The band had already played it before at the Isle of Wight Festival (with the shooting cannons). Pictures was a very controversial album. Some people thought that it was a great achievement in rock while some classical fans thought that it was a disgrace to the original composer and some classic rock fans thought that it was self indulgent, masterbative crap that had nothing to do with rock itself. While I might understand some of the detractors’ opinions, I still think that they have ignored the most important thing in this album- the fact that these players combined two completely different types of music into a wholly amazing piece. Instead of classical masters like Liszt or Rachmaninoff who run in a raging fury on a classical keyboard, we had a new one who combines an amazing technique with amazing technicality and creating amazing, weird and feel accentuating sounds. We can get a great sense of pace from the rhythm section as well, which combines a deep electric bass with excellent drum work. And isn’t it true that many times, great art initially faces controversy when it first appears? If one is listening to this piece without comparing it to its antecedents, one can hear that Picture At An Exhibition is a very innovative work like no other.

Another anecdote about this album is that during a 1993 show in Budapest, Lake saw a man crying on the front row. After the show he asked the man why he was crying, and he told him that 15 years earlier he spend three months in jail because the Communist regime found out that he had had a copy of the album. That was the power of such music and how it was both loved and despised so strongly.

In 1972, the band released their third studio album, Trilogy. This was another eclectic album which drew on classical sources, combining the works of Ravel with the works of Aaron Copland and, of course, highly skilled playing by the members of the band. The album also contained ELP’s best selling single, “From The Beginning.”

From 1972 to 1974, ELP were one of the most popular bands in the world. With the exception maybe of other great showmen like Alice Cooper and Kiss, their shows were the most extravagant seen. Emerson was breaking keyboards like Pete Townsend use to break guitars while he also used a special remote which allowed him to play without even touching the instrument. Carl Palmer modified his drum battery by adding all kinds of bells, tubes and percussions. Capitalizing on their success, the band started its own label in 1973 to manage their music and to help new prog bands to achieve exposure, including Crimson lyricist Pete Sinfield and Italian band PFM.

In 1973, ELP recorded another studio album, Brain Salad Surgery. The cover was designed by H. R Giger, which became one of the first high-profile gigs for the artists who later designed the set and creatures for the movie series Alien as well as David Lynch’s Dune and album covers for the Dead Kennedys and Debbie Harry of Blondie. The first side of BSS contains, like every ELP album before, a new version of previous works, this time William Blake’s “Jerusalem” and Alberto Ginstera’s “Toccata” (along with the stamp of approval from the composer himself). The rest of the first side contains two other short songs, including Lake’s lovely “Still… You Turn Me On” and a collaboration with Pete Sinfield. The end of the first side and entire second side of the album contained a 30 minute piece called “Karn Evil 9″ (a pun with carnival). The piece is divided into three parts and talks about the battle between men and technology (recalling Tarkus).

1974 was the best year in ELP’s history. The road shows were unprecedentedly grandiose, featuring twenty tons of musical gear. Lake played while standing on a 5000 pound rug because he was afraid two get electrified (he nearly did during an earlier show). Emerson’s piano flew and spun in the air while he was playing. In April 6, 1974 the band played at the California Jam rock festival after Deep Purple. 350,000 viewers watch their best performance and the show was broadcasted nationwide. Later on, they released a triple album to commemorate the tour with a title taken from “Karn Evil 9″ (Welcome Back My Friends To The Show That Never Ends– Ladies and Gentlemen. Emerson, Lake and Palmer). ELP’s albums hit top of Billboard again and Melody Maker Magazine voted them as “Best Band” along with “Best Keyboard Player” and “Best Drummer” (leaving poor Lake in the lurch). But it was to be ELP’s, as well as the progressive rock’s, apex- from here the only way to go was down. Times began to change.

After the tour, the three had decided to take some much-deserved rest. During the next three years, they bought new homes, had some rest and worked on solo albums. When they came back, punk was the popular style of the day and one of the punk’s main targets were the progressive dinosaurs, who they painted as villains that were ruining rock and growing rich and fat from it.

During the next couple of years, the band recorded two “group solo albums” (1977′s Works) with a part for every member solo composition (and years before Outkast or Hella had the idea). A tour in 1977 was economically destructive for the band members, with a loss of nearly two million dollars. And then in 1978 came Love Beach, an album that was made because the trio was under contract and was forced to do the album. Even worse, from its Beach Boys title and sunny cover image, it’s the least convincing of all of their records. This was the end. In July 1979, ELP disbanded.

During the next 20 years the band reunited as Emerson, Lake and Powell (with Cozy Powell formerly of Whitesnake, Jeff Beck Group). Palmer was available as he was involved in the most commercial of all post-ELP projects- another supergroup called Asia (included former members of Yes and Crimson).Emerson, Lake and Powell disband in the late ’80′s but Emerson, Lake and Palmer reunited again. In the early 90′s, rthey ecording a new album (Black Moon) and embarked on a few tours during the 90′s, occasionally disrupted by Emerson’s problem with nerves in his right arm (no doubt brought on by years of his theatrical playing). ELP then ceased to exist once again in 1998.

The ELP phenomenon was not unique. Every prog rock band had to reinvent itself in order to survive the punk revolution and the shallow ’80′s. Of course, they had to do it because the bands members were accustomed to a certain living style they wanted to preserve, but the prog rock style itself became somewhat inadequate. In a world where punk could transfer the essence of a song in two minutes of guitar work, nobody needed a 15 minutes piece for the same task. The bright side is that today with the Internet revolution more and more bands can get exposure and the prog rock is more alive than ever, as witnessed by the subsequent math rock movement and groups like TV on the Radio and Radiohead who have picked up on prog’s threads.

But a parallel ELP can never exist. ELP symbolized progressive rock in all its glory, with thousands of fans, tons of technical music and a highly desired glamour. But here laid its weakness. ELP became literally too expensive to maintain. All the stage tricks, all the extra players and accessories led to a situation were the cancellation of one show could cost hundreds of thousands of dollars. The band’s pomposity was derided by almost many writers who instead of listening to the music as it was, tried to find the band’s faults. The fact is that few other bands has ever taught so many young men and women that classical music can correspond very well with modern rock and roll. No other band could have done it as good as ELP had.

Sure, you can say they were a bunch of self indulged hedonists and you might accuse them of plagiarism, but to me, ELP is one of the symbols of London during the ’70′s. Every time I am listening to one of ELP’s early records, all I have to do is close my eyes and I am there, walking from Oxford St. to Regent St. There you are, going through Soho, watching King Crimson perform in Hyde Park or David Bowie at the Hammersmith Apollo, or just wandering around in the streets of London at its peak; traveling in a time when dinosaurs ruled the earth.

1970 – Beck Hansen (born Bek David Campbell, July 8, 1970) is an American musician, singer-songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist known by the stage name Beck. With his pop art collage of musical styles, oblique and ironic lyrics, and postmodern arrangements incorporating samples, drum machines, live instrumentation and sound effects, Beck has been hailed by critics and the public throughout his musical career as being amongst the most idiosyncratic artists of 1990s and 2000s alternative rock.

He rose to underground popularity with his early works, which combined social criticism (as in “MTV Makes Me Want to Smoke Crack” and “Deep Fried Love”) with musical and lyrical experimentation. He first earned wider public attention for his breakthrough single “Loser,” a 1994 hit.

Beck has cited The Cars, Mantronix, Gary Wilson, Pussy Galore, Willie Dixon, Bill Broonzy, and Sonic Youth among his influences. Two of Beck’s most popular and acclaimed recordings were Odelay (1996) and Sea Change (2002). Odelay was awarded Album of the Year by American magazine Rolling Stone and by UK publications NME and Mojo. Odelay also received a Grammy nomination for Best Album.

Early life

Beck was born in Los Angeles, California to David Campbell, a Canadian musician, and Bibbe Hansen, a visual artist. His maternal grandfather was Al Hansen, a visual collage artist of the Fluxus school of art. His paternal grandfather was a Presbyterian minister, while his maternal grandmother was half Jewish; Beck himself is a Scientologist, as are his wife and his father. Beck’s mother also has Norwegian and Swedish ancestry. When his parents separated, Beck stayed with his mother and brother in Los Angeles, where he was influenced by the city’s diverse musical offerings—everything from hip hop to Latin music and his mother’s art scene—all of which would later reappear in his recorded and published work.

After dropping out of high school in the mid-1980s, Beck traveled to Europe and developed his musical talent by busking. In Germany, he spent time with his grandfather Al Hansen. The late 1980s found him in New York City, involved in the punk-influenced anti-folk music movement.

Career

Independent releases

In 1988, Beck recorded a cassette entitled Banjo Story, which has since become available in bootleg form. He returned to Los Angeles at the turn of the decade. To support himself, he took a variety of low-paying, dead-end jobs, and lived in a shed, all the while continuing to develop his music. Beck also sought out (or sneaked onto) stages at venues all over Los Angeles, from punk clubs to coffee shops and busking on the streets. During this time, he met Chris Ballew (founder of The Presidents of the United States of America). They performed on the streets as a duo for a while. Some of his earliest recordings were achieved by working with Tom Grimley at Poop Alley Studios, a part of WIN Records.

The founders of Bong Load Custom Records, Tom Rothrock, Rob Schnapf, and Bradshaw Lambert discovered Beck, signing him to their fledgling label. “Loser”, a collaboration between hip hop nuance producer Carl Stephenson and Beck, created a sensation when radio host Chris Douridas played the song on Morning Becomes Eclectic, the flagship music program from Santa Monica College radio station KCRW. That exposure and a subsequent live performance on the show July 23, 1993, led to a bidding war among labels to sign Beck. Eventually, he chose Geffen Records, who offered him terms that included an allowance for the release of independent albums while under contract. Of all the record labels to offer Beck a contract, Geffen offered him the least amount of money, but the greatest amount of creative freedom.

Mellow Gold and Odelay

Geffen’s official debut release in 1994 of Mellow Gold—culled from sessions with Rothrock, Schnapf, and Stephenson—made Beck a mainstream success. At the same time, he released Stereopathetic Soulmanure on Flipside Records and One Foot in the Grave on independent K Records. Beck took his act on the road in 1994 with a worldwide tour, followed by a spot on the main stage of the 1995 Lollapalooza tour. Some critics still panned him as a one-hit wonder, and audiences’ familiarity with “Loser” (especially at Lollapalooza), along with their apparent lack of interest in his other work, only reinforced his image as such.

When the time came to record his follow-up to Mellow Gold, Beck enlisted Rothrock and Schnapf as producers and began recording an album of moody, low-key acoustic numbers to showcase his songwriting. The melancholy musical mood has been attributed to the deaths of several people close to Beck, including his grandfather, one of his acknowledged greatest influences. Eventually, Beck shelved the album and pursued a more upbeat approach. Beck was introduced to the Dust Brothers, producers of the Beastie Boys’ album Paul’s Boutique, whose cut-and-paste, sample-heavy production suited Beck’s vision of a more fun, accessible album.

The result, 1996′s Odelay, would put the “one-hit wonder” criticisms to rest. The lead single, “Where It’s At,” received heavy airplay, and its video was in constant rotation on MTV. Within the year Odelay received praise from Rolling Stone magazine, appeared on countless “Best of” lists (it topped the Pazz & Jop Critics Poll for “Album of the Year”), received double-platinum status, and earned a number of industry awards, including two Grammys. Besides “Where It’s At” three other hit singles were released from the album: “Devils Haircut”, “Jack-Ass” and “The New Pollution”.

Beginning in 1993, “Loser” co-writer and Mellow Gold co-producer Carl Stephenson embarked on an experimental trip hop project which eventually resulted in Forest for the Trees, releasing a self-titled album in 1997 followed by an EP in 1999. Beck contributed to both records, providing spoken word, harmonica, and various other instruments.

Mutations and Midnite Vultures

Odelay was followed in 1998 by the release of Mutations. Though the album was originally slated for release by Bong Load Records, Geffen intervened and issued the record against Beck’s wishes. The artist then sought to void his contracts with both record labels, and in turn the labels sued him for breach of contract. The litigation went on for years and it remains unclear to this day if it has ever been completely resolved. Mutations was produced by Beck and Nigel Godrich (frequent producer and collaborator with Radiohead) and is believed to have been intended as a stopgap measure before the proper next album. Recorded over two weeks, during which Beck recorded one song a day, the sessions produced fourteen songs. Mutations was a departure from the electronic density of Odelay and shows heavy folk and blues influences. Songs on the album consisted of older tracks, some dating back as early as 1994.

During 1998, Beck’s art collaborations with his grandfather Al Hansen were featured in an exhibition entitled “Beck & Al Hansen: Playing With Matches”, which showcased solo and collaborative collage, assemblage, drawing and poetry works. The show toured from the Santa Monica Museum of Art to galleries in New York City and Winnipeg, Manitoba, in Canada. A catalog of the show was published by Plug In Editions/Smart Art Press.

In 1999, Beck was awarded Best Alternative Music Performance for Mutations at the 42nd Grammy Awards. In November, Geffen released the much-anticipated Midnite Vultures, which was supported by an extensive world tour. For Beck, it was a return to the high-energy performances that had been his trademark as far back as Lollapalooza. The live stage set included a red bed that descended from the ceiling for the song “Debra”, and the touring band was supplemented by a brass section. Midnite Vultures was nominated for Best Album at the 43rd Annual Grammy Awards.

Beck released a number of B-sides and soundtrack-only songs as well, including “Deadweight” from the A Life Less Ordinary soundtrack, “Midnite Vultures” (curiously, not on the album of the same name), a cover of The Korgis’ “Everybody’s Got to Learn Sometime” which appeared in the 2004 movie Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind and David Bowie’s “Diamond Dogs” from Moulin Rouge! He is also credited on the French band Air’s 2001 album 10 000 Hz Legend for vocals on the songs “Don’t Be Light” and “The Vagabond” (as well as harmonica on the latter). He duetted with Emmylou Harris on Return of the Grievous Angel: A Tribute to Gram Parsons, performing “Sin City”.

Sea Change

In 2001, the Beck EP, which consists of B-sides from the Midnite Vultures era, was released. The EP was only available from Beck’s website, and only 10,000 copies were printed.

In 2002, Beck released Sea Change, which, like Mutations, was produced by Nigel Godrich. It became Beck’s first US Top 10 album, reaching #8. The album also received critical acclaim, earning five stars from Rolling Stone (the magazine’s highest rating) and placing second in the Pazz & Jop Critics Poll for 2002. Sea Change was conceptualized around one unifying theme: the end of a relationship. The album featured string arrangements by Beck’s father, David Campbell, and a sonically dense mix reminiscent of Mutations. Although some radio singles were released, no commercial singles were made available to the public. In August 2002, prior to the release of Sea Change, Beck embarked on a solo acoustic tour of small theaters and halls, during which he played several songs from the forthcoming album. The post-release Sea Change tour featured The Flaming Lips as Beck’s opening and backing band. A song Beck co-wrote with William Orbit, “Feel Good Time”, was recorded by pop singer Pink for inclusion on the soundtrack of the 2003 film Charlie’s Angels: Full Throttle.

Guero and The Information

In 2004, Beck returned to the studio to work on his sixth major-label studio album. The record, Guero, was produced by the Dust Brothers and Tony Hoffer and features a collaboration with Jack White of The White Stripes; it marked a return to Odelay-era sound. The album was released in March 2005 and enjoyed critical acclaim from most mainstream press, earning four of five stars from Rolling Stone, as well as a “Critic’s Choice” recognition from The New York Times. The album received a less enthusiastic response from Beck’s dedicated fan base; the album received a relatively low 6.6 (out of 10) score by Pitchfork alongside a lukewarm and disappointed review. Nonetheless, the album debuted at #2 on the Billboard charts, pushing 162,000 copies in the first week and giving Beck his best week ever in terms of commercial sales and chart position. Since the release of Guero, the album’s first single, “E-Pro” (which samples the drum track from the Beastie Boys hit “So What’cha Want”), has been well received by the mainstream rock community, receiving significant play time on mainstream radio. The second single, “Girl,” received decent play time on mainstream radio and heavy airplay on college and independent radio. The third and final single of the album was “Hell Yes”.

On February 1, 2005, Beck released an EP featuring four remixes of songs from Guero by independent artists who use sounds from various early 8-bit video game devices like the Nintendo Game Boy. The EP, GameBoy Variations, featured “Ghettochip Malfunction” [Hell Yes] and “GameBoy/Homeboy” [Que' Onda Guero], both remixed by the band 8-Bit, and also had “Bad Cartridge” [E-Pro] and “Bit Rate Variation in B-Flat” [Girl], the last two being remixed by Paza {The X-Dump}. The EP cover art shows a long-haired person headbanging to his Game Boy, which is plugged into an amplifier like an electric guitar. This EP was featured in an issue of Nintendo Power. A music video for “Gameboy/Homeboy” was made by Wyld File.
Beck plays at the Sasquatch Music Festival in George, Washington. The screens show puppets that emulated the band throughout the show.
Beck plays at the Sasquatch Music Festival in George, Washington. The screens show puppets that emulated the band throughout the show.

Beck performed at the music and arts festival Bonnaroo in Manchester, Tennessee on June 17, 2006, with a set that featured many songs from Guero. In addition to his band, Beck was accompanied by a group of puppets, dressed as him and members of his band. Live video feed of the puppets’ performance was broadcast on video screens to the audience. The puppet show was included throughout his 2006 world tour.

Beck’s seventh major-label studio album, The Information, which again reunited him with Nigel Godrich, was released on October 3, 2006. The release marked the first time in seven years that Beck released studio albums in consecutive years. The album reportedly took more than three years to make and has been described as “quasi hip-hop”. It came with a sheet of stickers, which were to be used to “make your own album cover.” Because of this, The Information was disqualified by the Official Chart Company from entering the UK albums chart, but in the US it gave Beck his third straight Top 10 studio album peak on the Billboard 200, reaching #7.  The lead US single, “Nausea”, officially went to radio on September 5, 2006. In the UK, the first single was “Cellphone’s Dead”. On September 27, 2006, Beck released a Yahoo! Music Unlimited exclusive track, “Think I’m in Love”, before the album was released. His latest single, “Timebomb”, was released on iTunes on August 21, 2007, and the limited edition vinyl 12″ was released on November 2, 2007, with an instrumental version of the song on the B-side. In December, 2007, it was announced that “Timebomb” had been nominated for a Grammy in the category of Best Solo Rock Vocal Performance.

Modern Guilt

In February 2008, Beck stated in an interview with Rolling Stone that he had been working on a new album “with an unnamed producer” and that he expected it to be released by the end of the year. In early March 2008, the unnamed producer was revealed to be Danger Mouse. On May 5, 2008, MTV.com revealed that Beck would release an as-yet untitled 10-song album within the next four to six weeks. It was also reported that singer Cat Power had contributed to the album. The new album will be released on Interscope in North America and on XL Records in the rest of the world, although no official street date has been announced. On May 12, 2008, the Rolling Stone website revealed that the new album is titled Modern Guilt. On May 19, Zane Lowe’s BBC Radio 1 show premiered single “Chemtrails”, and it was also made available on Beck’s MySpace and website. In early June, Beck performed several songs from the new album at The Echo in Los Angeles, backed by musicians including Jessica Dobson (also known as Deep Sea Diver). It was revealed on June 12 that Modern Guilt will be released on July 7, 2008, in the UK and Europe on XL Recordings, and on July 8, 2008, in North America on DGC.  “Chemtrails” has been uploaded onto Beck’s official iLike profile , along with “Orphans” and “Gamma Ray”.

Musical style

Beck’s musical style has been considered alternative and indie. He has been known to play many of the instruments in his music himself. Beck has been known to synthesize several musical elements together in his music, including hip-hop, robot funk, and blues. He has also taken music from Los Angeles as a reference point in his songs.

Pitchfork Media applauded Midnite Vultures, saying, “Beck wonderfully blends Prince, Talking Heads, Paul’s Boutique, ‘Shake Your Bon Bon’, and Mathlete on Midnite Vultures, his most consistent and playful album yet.” The review continued to comment on Beck, saying that his mix of goofy piety and ambiguous intent helped the album. Sea Change was called “evocative music”, with country rock roots. The songs on the album also had “a warm, enveloping sound” with the help of his acoustic guitar.

Personal life

From 1991 to 2000, Beck was in a relationship with designer Leigh Limon. Their breakup is said to have inspired his 2002 album, Sea Change. He wrote most of the songs for the album in one week after the breakup. Beck married actress Marissa Ribisi, the twin sister of actor Giovanni Ribisi, in April 2004, shortly before the birth of their son, Cosimo Henri Hansen. Ribisi gave birth to another child in 2007.

Beck has been involved in Scientology for most of his life; his wife is also a second-generation Scientologist. Marissa and her twin brother, Giovanni, were delivered by Beck’s mother, Bibbe. Beck publicly acknowledged his affiliation with the Church of Scientology for the first time in an interview published in the New York Times Magazine on March 6, 2005. Further confirmation came in an interview with the Irish Sunday Tribune’s i Magazine on June 11, 2005, where he was quoted as saying, “Yeah, I’m a Scientologist. My father has been a Scientologist for about 35 years, so I grew up in and around it.” When questioned by the interviewer about Scientology’s core beliefs, he replied,
“     “What it actually is is just sort of, uh, you know, I think it’s about philosophy and sort of, uh, all these kinds of, you know, ideals that are common to a lot of religions….There’s nothing fantastical… just a real deep grassroots concerted effort for humanitarian causes.I don’t know if you know the stuff they have. It’s unbelievable the stuff they are doing. Education… they have free centres all over the place for poor kids. They have the number one drug rehabilitation programme in the entire world (called Narconon). It has a 90-something percent success rate… When you look at the actual facts and not what’s conjured in people’s minds that’s all bullshit to me because I’ve actually seen stuff first hand.”     ”

Appearances in media

Beck has performed on Saturday Night Live six times; these shows were hosted by Kevin Spacey, Bill Paxton, Christina Ricci, Jennifer Garner, Tom Brady and Hugh Laurie. During his 2006 performance in the Hugh Laurie episode, Beck was accompanied by the famous on-stage puppets used during his world tour. He has made two cameo appearances as himself on Saturday Night Live: one in a sketch about medicinal marijuana, and one in a VH1 Behind the Music parody that featured “Fat Albert & the Junkyard Gang”. He has also performed on The Late Show with David Letterman alongside Borat in a 2006 episode.

Beck performed a guest voice as himself in Matt Groening’s animated show Futurama, in the episode “Bendin’ in the Wind”. He performed in episode 10 of the fourth season of The Larry Sanders Show, in which the producer character Artie (Rip Torn) referred to him as a “hillbilly from outer space”. He also made a very brief voice appearance in 1998 cartoon feature film, The Rugrats Movie, and guest-starred as himself in a 1997 episode of “Space Ghost Coast to Coast” entitled “Edelweiss”.

Discography

Main article: Beck discography

* Mellow Gold (1994)
* Odelay (1996)
* Mutations (1998)
* Midnite Vultures (1999)
* Sea Change (2002)
* Guero (2005)
* The Information (2006)
* Modern Guilt (2008)

1966 – The Beatles started a six week run at No.1 on the US album chart with ‘Rubber Soul’ the groups seventh US chart topper, which went on to spend 56 weeks on the chart. The group also started a three week run at No.1 on the US singles chart with ‘We Can Work It Out’ the groups 11th US No.1 single.

Rubber Soul is the sixth studio album by the English rock band The Beatles. Released in December 1965, and produced by George Martin, Rubber Soul was recorded in just over four weeks to make the Christmas market. Showcasing a sound influenced by the folk rock of The Byrds and Bob Dylan, the album was seen as a major artistic achievement for the band, attaining widespread critical and commercial success, with reviewers taking note of The Beatles’ developing musical vision. In 2003, the album was ranked number 5 on Rolling Stone magazine’s list of the 500 greatest albums of all time.

History

The Beatles and George Martin were beginning to expand the conventional instrumental parameters of the rock group, using a sitar on “Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown),” Greek-like guitar lines on “Michelle” and “Girl,” fuzz bass on “Think for Yourself,” and a piano made to sound like a harpsichord on the instrumental break of “In My Life.

Musically, the Beatles broadened their sound, most notably with influences drawn from the contemporary folk-rock of the Byrds and Bob Dylan. A broadening use of percussive arrangements, led by Ringo Starr’s backbeats and frequently augmented by maracas and tambourine, can also be heard throughout the album, showcased in tracks such as “Wait” and “Think For Yourself.”

Recording innovations were also made during the recording of the album—for instance, the keyboard solo in “In My Life” sounds like a harpsichord, but was actually played on a piano. George Martin found he could not match the tempo of the song while playing in this baroque style, so he tried recording with the tape running at half-speed. When played back at normal speed during the mixdown, the sped-up sound gave the illusion of a harpsichord. Other production innovations included the use of electronic sound processing on many instruments, notably the heavily compressed and equalised piano sound on Lennon’s “The Word”; this distinctive effect soon became extremely popular in the genre of psychedelic music.

Also on on Rubber Soul, the Beatles were seen heading into psychedelic rock. They introduced a genuine sitar on “Norwegian Wood,” and on the “The Word,” they voiced the drug-influenced peace-and-love sentiments that would color many psychedelic lyrics.

Lyrically, the album was a major progression. Though a smattering of earlier Beatles songs had expressed romantic doubt and negativity, the songs on Rubber Soul represented a pronounced development in sophistication, thoughtfulness, and ambiguity. In particular, the relationships between the sexes moved from simpler boy-girl love songs to more nuanced, even negative portrayals. “Norwegian Wood”, one of the most famous examples and often cited as the Beatles’ first conscious assimilation of the lyrical innovations of Bob Dylan, sketches a poetically ambiguous extramarital affair between the singer and a mysterious girl. “Drive My Car” serves as a satirical piece of reverse sexism. Songs like “I’m Looking Through You”, “You Won’t See Me”, and “Girl” express more emotionally complex, even bitter and downbeat portrayals of romance, and “Nowhere Man” was arguably the first Beatles song to move beyond a romantic subject (arguable because the song “Help!”, released earlier in 1965, also appears not to be specifically about a boy-girl relationship—the song takes the form of a general cry for “help” from the singer to another person, whose relationship to the singer remains unspecified. Even the line “now I find I need you like I’ve never done before”, could be addressed to any close friend of the singer, not necessarily a romantic partner).

After completing the album and the accompanying single “We Can Work It Out” and “Day Tripper”, the Beatles were exhausted from years of virtually non-stop recording, touring, and film work. They subsequently took a three-month break during the first part of 1966, and used this free time exploring new directions that would colour their subsequent musical work.

Until very late in their career, the “primary” version of the Beatles’ albums was always the monophonic mix. According to Beatles historian Mark Lewisohn, the group, producer George Martin, and the Abbey Road engineers devoted most of their time and attention to the mono mixdowns, and the band were usually all present throughout these sessions and actively participated in them. Even with their landmark Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band LP, the stereo mixdowns were considered less important than the mono version and were completed in far less time than the mono mixdown.

While the stereo version of the original release of Rubber Soul was similar to that of their earliest albums, featuring mainly vocals on the right channel and instruments on the left, it was not produced in the same manner. The early albums were recorded on twin-track tape, and they were intended only for production of monaural records, so they kept vocals and instruments separated allowing the two parts to later be mixed in proper proportion. By this time, however, the Beatles were recording on four-track tape, which allowed a stereo master to be produced with vocals in the centre and instruments on both sides, as evidenced in their prior albums Beatles for Sale and Help!. But Martin was looking for a way to easily produce a stereo album which sounded good on a monaural record player. In what he admits was some experimentation, he mixed down the four-track master tape to stereo with vocals on the right, instruments on the left, and nothing in the middle.

The song “Wait” was initially recorded for, and then left off, the album Help!. The reason the song was released on Rubber Soul was that album that was one song short, and with the Christmas deadline looming, the Beatles chose to release “Wait” instead of recording a new composition.

Paul McCartney claims to have conceived the album’s title after overhearing a black musician’s description of Mick Jagger’s singing style as “plastic soul”. John Lennon confirmed this in a 1970 interview with Rolling Stone, stating, “That was Paul’s title… meaning English soul. Just a pun.” Also, Paul says the words “Plastic soul, man. Plastic soul…” at the end of “I’m Down” take 1, on Anthology 2.

Album artwork

The photo of the Beatles on the Rubber Soul cover appears stretched. McCartney relates the story behind this in Volume 5 of the documentary film Anthology. Photographer Bob Freeman had taken some pictures of the Beatles at Lennon’s house. Freeman showed the photos to the Beatles by projecting them onto an album-sized piece of cardboard to simulate how they would appear on an album cover. The unusual Rubber Soul album cover came to be when the slide card fell slightly backwards, elongating the projected image of the photograph and stretching it. Excited by the effect, they shouted, “Ah! Can we have that? Can you do it like that?” Freeman said he could.

Capitol Records used a different colour saturation for the US version, causing the orange lettering used by Parlophone Records to show up as different colours. On some Capitol LPs, the title looks rich chocolate brown; others, more like gold. Yet on the official 1987 CD of the British version, the Capitol logo is visible, and the letters are not brown, nor the official orange, but a distinct green. The lettering was designed by Charles Front.

Release details

There were two different stereo versions released on vinyl in the US: the standard US stereo mix, and the “Dexter Stereo” version (also known as the “East Coast” version), which has a layer of reverb added to the entire album. The standard US stereo mix and the original mono mix are available on CD as part of The Capitol Albums, Volume 2 box set.

US release

Rubber Soul came out in the United States three days after the British release, and began its 59-week long chart run on Christmas Day. It topped the charts for six weeks from 8 January 1966, before dropping back. The album sold 1.2 million copies within nine days of its release, and to date has sold over four million copies in America.

Like other pre-Sgt. Pepper Beatles albums, Rubber Soul differed markedly in its US and UK configurations; indeed, through peculiarities of sequencing, the US Rubber Soul was deliberately reconfigured to appear a “folk rock” album to angle the Beatles into that emerging and lucrative American genre during 1965, thanks to the addition of “I’ve Just Seen a Face” and “It’s Only Love” (leftovers from the UK Help!) and the deletion of some of the more upbeat tracks (“Drive My Car”, “Nowhere Man”, “If I Needed Someone”, and “What Goes On”). The tracks missing on the US version would later surface on the Yesterday and Today collection. The track variation resulted in a shorter album length, clocking in at 29:59. In addition, the stereo mix sent to the US from England has what are commonly called “false starts” at the beginning of “I’m Looking Through You.” The track is also slightly shorter at the end. The false starts are on every American copy of the album from 1965 to 1990 and are also on the CD boxed set, The Capitol Albums Vol. 2. The US version of “The Word” is also recognizably different.

The Canadian LP shares the false start on “I’m Looking Through You.”

CD release

The album was released on CD in the UK and US in April 1987, using the 14-song UK track line-up. Having been available only as an import in the US in the past, the 14 track UK version of the album was issued on LP and cassette on July 21, 1987. As with the CD release of the 1965 Help! album, the Rubber Soul CD featured a contemporary stereo digital remix of the album prepared by George Martin. This remix is somewhat controversial among Beatles fans — many purists prefer the 1965 mix. A few Canadian-origin CD editions of Rubber Soul and Help! accidentally use the original mix of the album, presumably due to a mix-up.

Reception

The album was commercially successful, beginning a 42-week run in the British charts on 11 December 1965. On Christmas Day it replaced Help!—The Beatles’ previous album—at the top of the charts, a position Rubber Soul held for eight weeks. The album was a major artistic leap for the group, and is often cited by critics, as well as members of the band, as the point at which the Beatles’ earlier Merseybeat sound began to be transformed into the eclectic, sophisticated pop/rock of their later career. John Lennon later said this was the first album on which the Beatles were in complete creative control during recording, with enough studio time to develop and refine new sound ideas. The US version of the album also greatly influenced the Beach Boys’ Brian Wilson, who “answered” the album by releasing Pet Sounds in 1966. Rubber Soul is also believed to have been a major muse in the creation of Freak Out! by Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention, which was also released in 1966 and in turn inspired the creation of Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band. The album became a classic—on 9 May 1987, it returned to the album charts for three weeks, and ten years later made another comeback to the charts.

Rubber Soul is often cited as one of the greatest albums in pop music history. In 1998, Q magazine readers voted it the 40th greatest album of all time, while in 2000 the same magazine placed it at number 2 in its list of the 100 Greatest British Albums Ever.

Track listing

All tracks written by Lennon/McCartney, except where noted.
UK release
Side One

1. “Drive My Car” – 2:30
2. “Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown)” – 2:05
3. “You Won’t See Me” – 3:22
4. “Nowhere Man” – 2:44
5. “Think for Yourself” (Harrison) – 2:19
6. “The Word” – 2:43
7. “Michelle” – 2:42

Side two

1. “What Goes On” (Lennon, McCartney, Starkey) – 2:50
2. “Girl” – 2:33
3. “I’m Looking Through You” – 2:27
4. “In My Life” – 2:27
5. “Wait” – 2:16
6. “If I Needed Someone” (Harrison) – 2:23
7. “Run for Your Life” – 2:18

US release
Side one

1. “I’ve Just Seen A Face” – 2:07
2. “Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown)” – 2:00
3. “You Won’t See Me” – 3:19
4. “Think for Yourself” (Harrison) – 2:16
5. “The Word” – 2:42
6. “Michelle” – 2:42

Side two

1. “It’s Only Love” – 1:53
2. “Girl” – 2:34
3. “I’m Looking Through You” – 2:20
4. “In My Life” – 2:23
5. “Wait” – 2:17
6. “Run for Your Life” – 2:21

Personnel

* John Lennon – vocals, rhythm guitar, electric piano (“Think For Yourself”), other instruments
* Paul McCartney – vocals, bass, piano, guitar, other instruments
* George Harrison – vocals, lead guitar, sitar (“Norwegian Wood”), other instruments
* Ringo Starr – drums, lead vocals (“What Goes On”), hammond organ (“I’m Looking Through You”), other instruments
* George Martin – producer, piano (“In My Life”), harmonium (“The Word”)
* Mal Evans – hammond organ

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

1955 – Edward Lodewijk “Eddie” Van Halen (born January 26, 1955), is a Dutch guitarist, keyboardist, songwriter and producer most famous for being the lead guitarist and co-founder of the rock band Van Halen.

Biography

Childhood

Van Halen was a son of saxophonist Jan Van Halen; his mother Eugenia was from Java, Indonesia. At the early age of seven, he moved with his family to the city of Nijmegen (Netherlands). In 1962 they moved to Pasadena, California. Eddie learned to play the piano as a child, and has won many different talent shows. His older brother Alex also played the piano.

However, playing the piano did not prove sufficiently engaging — he once said in an interview, “Who wants to sit in front of the piano? That’s boring.” Consequently, while Alex began playing the guitar, Eddie bought a drum kit and began practicing drumming. After Eddie heard Alex’s performance of the The Surfaris’ drum solo in the song “Wipe Out”, he grew annoyed that his brother had overtaken his ability and decided to switch and begin learning how to play the electric guitar.

He has stated that he would often walk around at home with his guitar strapped on and unplugged, practicing. It’s said that he would sit in his room for hours with the door locked, as a teen practicing the guitar. He once claimed that he had learned almost all of Eric Clapton’s solos in the band Cream “note for note” by age 14; in later interviews he stated he could never play the solos precisely, instead he would modify them slightly to suit his style.

In April 1996, in an interview with Guitar World, when asked about how he went from playing his first open A chord to playing “Eruption”, Eddie replied:
“     Practice. I used to sit on the edge of my bed with a six-pack of Schlitz Malt talls. My brother would go out at 7pm to party and get laid, and when he’d come back at 3am, I would still be sitting in the same place, playing guitar. I did that for years — I still do that.     ”

Eddie has many influences, most notably Eric Clapton. He has also acknowledged the influence of Queen guitarist Brian May and fusion guitarist Allan Holdsworth, as well as the likes of Montrose guitarist Ronnie Montrose.

Van Halen formation

Van Halen, originally called “Mammoth”, was formed in 1972 in Pasadena, California, United States. The band consisted of Eddie Van Halen on guitar and vocals, his brother, Alex on drums, and bassist Mark Stone. They had no P.A. system of their own, so they rented one from David Lee Roth Soon, Michael Anthony replaced Mark Stone on bass. They opted to change the name of the band, reportedly due to another band using the same name — Roth is normally attributed with suggesting the name ‘Van Halen’.

In 1977 Gene Simmons saw one of Van Halen’s shows at Gazzari’s in Hollywood,and subsequently financed their first demo tape, flying the band to Electric Lady Studios in New York to record “House of Pain” and “Runnin’ With the Devil”. Eddie disliked his playing on the demo, because he wasn’t using his own equipment, and had to overdub guitar parts (which he had never done before.)

In 1977, Van Halen was offered a recording contract with Warner Bros. Records. Later that year, they recorded their first album, “Van Halen”, which was released on February 10, 1978. Eddie claims that their first single, “You Really Got Me”, a cover of the original Kinks song, was not his first choice. The band was forced to release the song before other bands (notably L.A. rival “Angel”) who heard Van Halen’s rendition and were trying to beat them to the punch.

Roth years

Van Halen released a total of 6 albums: Van Halen (1978), Van Halen II (1979), Women and Children First (1980), Fair Warning (1981), Diver Down (1982), and 1984 (1984); however, the band had trouble working together as a cohesive unit; according to Gene Simmons’ book Kiss and Make Up, Eddie Van Halen approached Simmons in 1982 about possibly joining Kiss, replacing Ace Frehley. According to Simmons, Eddie did so chiefly due to his personality conflicts with Roth.

Simmons persuaded Eddie to return to Van Halen, and shortly afterwards the band released the album 1984; which yielded the band’s first #1 hit, “Jump”. Other singles released from the album also sold well, particularly “Hot for Teacher”, the video for which featured a skimpily dressed model playing the part of elementary-school teacher and school-age boys portraying younger versions of the band members. The album peaked at #2 on the Billboard charts, behind Thriller by Michael Jackson, to which he contributed a guitar solo in the hit song Beat It.

Hagar years

With the arrival of former Montrose singer Sammy Hagar, the band’s sound changed somewhat, as Eddie’s keyboard playing became a permanent fixture, heard in songs such as “Dreams” and “Love Walks In”. The change in sound prompted many fans, both positively and negatively, to refer to the band as “Van Hagar.” However, tensions within the band again rose, and Hagar departed in 1996.

Following Hagar’s departure, the group briefly reunited with original singer David Lee Roth and released Best of Volume I, a greatest hits package, in 1996. Two new songs were recorded for the album, with the single “Me Wise Magic” reaching #1 on the mainstream rock chart (“Can’t Get This Stuff No More” was the other new single). However, previous disagreements resurfaced and the reunion did not last.

The band auditioned many prospective replacements for Hagar, finally settling on Gary Cherone, former frontman for Extreme, a band also represented by Van Halen’s manager. Cherone predicted that the new line-up would last ‘ten years’, however the Van Halen III album was received poorly. Cherone soon had an amicable departure, and without a lead singer, Van Halen went into hiatus.

Hagar reunion

In 2004, Van Halen returned with Hagar as their lead singer. A greatest hits package, The Best Of Both Worlds, was released to coincide with the band’s reunion tour.

The band toured the US, covering 80 cities. Despite taking $55 million dollars, it was revealed in Rolling Stone that the promoters had actually lost money on the tour. The final date on the tour appeared to bring tensions between Eddie Van Halen and Sammy Hagar to the surface, culminating in Eddie violently smashing his guitar before leaving the stage on the last date.

Reviews of the tour differed – some reviews were enthusiastic, whereas many stated the band had poor musicianship and the concerts contained apparently drunken behaviour. Michael Anthony stated that Eddie regularly performed in an alcoholic stupor:
“     I hate to talk smack about anyone in the band or whatever, but, y’know, Eddie, you know, he’s still doing a bit of drinking and everything. There were nights where it was kind of like a roller     ”

Roth reunion

On February 2, 2007, it was officially announced on the band’s website that David Lee Roth would rejoin Van Halen for their summer tour.

Persistent rumors had long indicated the Van Halen brothers were in talks with Roth to rejoin the band for a tour and/or new material. In the February 2007 edition of Guitar World magazine, Van Halen had talked about working with Roth during the summer of 2006:
“     I’m telling Dave ‘Dude get your ass up here and sing, bitch! Come on!’ As it stands right now, the ball is in Dave’s court. Whether he wants to rise to the occasion is entirely up to him, but we’re ready to go.     ”

Regarding the news that Van Halen’s then 15-year old son Wolfgang was to play bass in Van Halen in the fall (replacing Michael Anthony), Van Halen claimed his son’s presence would have a positive effect on the band:
“     Wolfgang breathes life into what we’re doing. He brings youthfulness to something that’s inherently youthful. He’s only been playing bass for 3 months, but it’s spooky. He’s locked tight and puts an incredible spin on our shit. The kid is kicking my ass! He’s spanking me now, even though I never spanked him. To have my son follow in my footsteps on his own, without me pushing him into it, is the greatest feeling in the world.     ”

Van Halen also stated in a Howard Stern interview that although Roth was a “loose cannon,” he was willing to deal with that. David Lee Roth had previously stated that reuniting with the band was “inevitable”:
“ I see (the reunion) absolutely as an inevitability. There’s contact between the two camps, and they have legitimate management. To me, it’s not rocket surgery. It’s very simple to put together. And, as far as hurt feelings and water under the dam… so what? It’s showbiz! So I definitely see it happening.     ”

Recent events

Eddie Van Halen underwent hip replacement surgery in 1999, after an existing degenerative condition became unbearable.

Since the 2004 tour, Eddie Van Halen has largely disappeared from the public eye, with the exception of occasional appearances such as the 14th annual Elton John Academy Awards party, and a performance at a Kenny Chesney concert.

In December 2004 at Dimebag Darrell’s funeral, Eddie donated his famous black and yellow guitar from the Van Halen II album inlay, stating that Dimebag had always said that was his all time favorite guitar. The guitar was put in Darrell’s Kiss Kasket, and he was buried with it.

On December 5, 2005, Eddie’s wife, Valerie Bertinelli filed for divorce in Los Angeles Superior Court. The Complaint for Divorce revealed that the couple separated on October 15, 2001. In an interview on Howard Stern’s radio show on September 8, 2006, Eddie stated that he and Valerie share custody of their son, and that he sees him every day. Van Halen’s divorce became final on December 20, 2007.

On March 8, 2007, Van Halen announced on their website that Eddie was entering rehab for unspecified reasons. However, both Sammy Hagar and Michael Anthony have made statements indicating that Ed’s personality had changed due to alcohol abuse. Hagar, Anthony and David Lee Roth have repeatedly stated their support and well wishes towards Ed’s recovery since the announcement. Hagar stated at the 2007 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction, “I hope he gets through this and we can have our buddy back” with Anthony visibly agreeing in the background.

Van Halen emerged from rehab and appeared publicly as an honorary official during the April 21, 2007 NASCAR event at Phoenix International Raceway. He also unveiled a new Fender Stratocaster with a paintjob made for the NASCAR races before the ceremony.

In 2007, Eddie was honored in the Xbox 360 version of Guitar Hero II. A player receives the “Eddie Van Halen” achievement for hitting 500 or more notes in succession.

On October 6, 2008, it was reported that Eddie Van Halen proposed to his longtime girlfriend Janie Liszwski, an actress and stuntwoman who became Van Halen’s publicist in 2007. He proposed to her while vacationing in Hawaii. They are currently engaged and are said to be married in June 2009.

Cancer

During the late 1990s Eddie Van Halen was treated twice for tongue and mouth cancer. During an interview with Howard Stern on September 8, 2006, Eddie claimed that holding a metal pick in his mouth 12-14 hours per day while immersed in the electromagnetic radiation of his music studio caused his tongue cancer. He said he continues to smoke because “cigarettes didn’t cause the cancer”, despite the fact that they could in fact contribute to the cancer’s potential for resurgence.

Eddie also revealed that he stopped the cancer via an illegal method (the nature of which he declined to specify) in conjunction with a pharmaceutical lab with which he’s affiliated in New York State. He said a portion of his tongue was removed and experimented on, and then the technique was performed on him. He said he has lost one third of his tongue, though his speech is virtually unaffected. Despite his battles with oral cancer, Eddie has been photographed in public as recently as June 2006 smoking cigarettes.

Technique

Edward Van Halen’s approach to the guitar involves several distinctive components. His innovative use of two-handed tapping, natural and artificial harmonics, vibrato, and tremolo picking, combined with his rhythmic sensibility and melodic approach, have influenced an entire generation of guitarists. The solo in “Eruption” was voted #2 on Guitar World magazine’s readers poll of the 100 Greatest Guitar Solos.

Tapping

The instrumental “Eruption” showcased a solo technique called tapping, utilizing both left and right hands on the guitar neck.

Although Van Halen popularized tapping, he did not, despite popular belief, invent the tapping technique. The tapping technique in Blues and Rock was being picked up by various guitarists in the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s. Steve Hackett from the group Genesis used a tapping technique as early as 1971 on the album Nursery Cryme .

Ritchie Blackmore has said in an interview that he and Jimi Hendrix saw Harvey Mandel tap at a nightclub in the late 1960s. From a Feb 1991 Guitar World Ritchie Blackmore interview “The first person I saw doing that hammer-on stuff was Harvey Mandel, at the Whisky A Go-Go in ’68″ .

A 1976 live performance has Eddie Van Halen performing Eruption (or what would later be called Eruption) without using any tapping techniques . The Eruption version on the first Van Halen album from 1978 does feature tapping, indicating that EVH started using the tapping technique in Van Halen songs sometime in late 1976 or early 1977.

EVH’s comments about how he came across the tapping technique vary from interview to interview. This is one interview excerpt.
“     I think I got the idea of tapping watching Jimmy Page do his “Heartbreaker” solo back in 1971. He was doing a pull-off to an open string, and I thought wait a minute, open string … pull off. I can do that, but what if I use my finger as the nut and move it around ?” … I just kind of took it and ran with it.     ”

EVH also employs tapping harmonics. He holds the pick between his thumb and middle finger, which leaves his index finger free for tapping and also makes for easy transitions between picking and tapping. In support of his two-handed tapping techniques, Van Halen also holds a patent for a flip-out support device which attaches to the rear of the electric guitar. This device enables the user to play the guitar in a manner similar to the piano by orienting the face of the guitar upward instead of forward.

Tone

Van Halen achieved his distinctive tone, known as the “Brown sound”, by using a Frankenstrat guitar, a stock 100-watt Marshall amp, a Variac (to lower the voltage of the amp to change the tone) and effects such as a Echoplex, an MXR Phase 90, an MXR Flanger and EQs. Van Halen constructed his Frankenstrat guitar using a Charvel factory 2nd body and neck, a vintage Gibson P.A.F. humbucker pickup (sealed in paraffin wax to reduce microphonic feedback), a pre-CBS Fender tremolo bridge (later to be a Floyd Rose bridge) and a single volume control (with the volume knob labelled as ‘tone’ ).

The now famous single pickup, single volume knob guitar configuration was arrived at due to Van Halen’s lack of knowledge in electronic circuitry and his failure to find a decent bridge and neck pick-up combination. Upon installing the humbucking pickup, he did not know how to wire it into the circuit, so he wired the simplest working circuit to get it to function. His later guitars include various Kramer models from his period of endorsing that company (most notably the Kramer “5150″, from which Kramer in its Gibson-owned days based their Kramer 1984 design, an unofficial artist signature model) and three signature models: the Ernie Ball/ Music Man Edward Van Halen Model (Which continues as the Ernie Ball Axis), the Peavey EVH Wolfgang (which has been succeeded by a similar guitar called the HP Special), and the Charvel EVH Art Series, on which Eddie does the striping before they are painted by Charvel.

In an interview he gave to Guitar World magazine in July, 1985, Van Halen states that his “brown sound” is “basically a tone, a feeling that I’m always working at…It comes from the person.” He continues, “If the person doesn’t even know what that type of tone I’m talking about is, they can’t really work towards it, can they?”

Tuning

Though rarely discussed, one of the most distinctive aspects of Van Halen’s sound was Eddie Van Halen’s tuning of the guitar. Before Van Halen, most distorted, metal-oriented rock consciously avoided the use of the major third interval in guitar chords, creating instead the signature power chord of the genre. When run through a distorted amplifier, the rapid beating of the major third on a conventionally tuned guitar is distracting and somewhat dissonant.

Van Halen developed a technique of flattening his B string slightly so that the interval between the open G and B reaches a justly intonated, beatless third. This consonant third was almost unheard of in distorted-guitar rock and allowed Van Halen to use major chords in a way that mixed classic hard rock power with “happy” pop. The effect is pronounced on songs such as “Runnin’ With the Devil”, “Unchained”, and “Where Have All the Good Times Gone?”.

With the B string flattened the correct amount, chords in some positions on the guitar have more justly intonated thirds, but in other positions the flat B string creates out-of-tune intervals. As Eddie once remarked to Guitar Player:
“     A guitar is just theoretically built wrong. Each string is an interval of fourths, and then the B string is off. Theoretically, that’s not right. If you tune an open A chord in the first position and it’s perfectly in tune, and then you hit a barre chord an octave higher, it’s out of tune. The B string is always a motherfucker to keep in tune all the time! So I have to retune for certain songs. And when I use the Floyd onstage, I have to unclamp it and do it real quick. But with a standard-vibrato guitar, I can tune it while I’m playing.”     ”

Volume swells

Eddie used a volume technique in the instrumental “Cathedral”. He hammered notes on the fretboard with one hand while rolling the volume knob with the other. This altered the attack and decay of the notes so they mimicked the sound of keyboards. This “volume swells” sound was originally popularized by 70′s progressive rock bands like Yes and Rush (while Ritchie Blackmore peformed this technique a lot live) but was usually performed with a volume pedal, at a slower pace. “Cathedral” also employs an electronic delay, with the delay set at 400 milliseconds (ms) and the delayed note set at the same amplitude as the original note. Most of the composition’s notes come from hammering on the notes of a major 5th string barre chord (ascending and then descending) and replicating this pattern up and down the neck of the guitar. The end result of this technique made the composition sound as if it is being played on a church/cathedral organ.

Equipment

Guitars
Eddie Van Halen built his guitar (Black and White) by hand, using an imperfect body and a used neck picked up at Wayne Charvel’s guitar shop. The body and neck were constructed by Lynn Ellsworth of Boogie Bodies guitars, who was working for Wayne at the time. In his guitar he wanted to get a Gibson sound with the Fender feel. In 1979, Eddie began to play a black, rear loaded Charvel with yellow stripes. This was later replicated by Charvel along with the black and white striped model and the red white and black model (EVH Art Series Guitars). He also used a stock unmodified Ibanez Destroyer on a lot of the tracks on Van Halens first album such as You Really Got Me and Runnin’ With the Devil and a modified Ibanez Destroyer on some tracks on Van Halens second album and a borrowed unmodified Ibanez Destroyer on some tracks on the Women and Children First album.

Also, in 1979 Eddie’s original guitar was repainted with Frankenstein artwork. Eddie also changed the neck, removed part of the scratchplate and eventually installed a Floyd Rose vibrato unit. The guitar itself is known both as a “Frankenstrat” and as THE “Frankenstrat.” Fender reissued the guitar in relic form in 2007, the limited run selling at $25,000 a guitar. However, a “new” (non-reliced) Frankenstrat is currently available through the Charvel company for significantly less, the first time Van Halen has consented to the commercial release of a guitar with his signature graphics on it.

In 1983, Eddie began to use a brand new Kramer guitar with artwork similar to its predecessor and with a hockey-stick or “banana” headstock, which came to be known as the “5150.” This guitar was rear-loaded (no scratchplate), had a Floyd Rose vibrato unit and a neck that was later electronically mapped in order for it to be copied on the later Music Man and Peavey signature models. This guitar was last used on the track “Judgment Day” on the For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge album. Various versions of it can be seen in the music videos for “Panama”, “Hot for Teacher”, “When It’s Love”, “Feels So Good” and the concert video, Live Without a Net. The guitar itself was a variant of a Kramer Pacer, although not a model that was technically available at the time.

It was painted with Krylon paints by Van Halen himself and used through the OU812 tour, after which it was “retired.” However, Edward did break out the guitar for use on the 2004 reunion tour, although the neck had finally given out and had apparently been replaced. A copy of this guitar is available today (although not with Van Halen’s permission) through the current manufacturer of Kramer’s, Music Yo, a subsidiary of the Gibson company. However, the commercially available copy does NOT feature the custom graphics, as the “Frankenstein” graphics are trademarked by Edward Van Halen.

In the mid 1990s, Ernie Ball produced an EVH signature “Music Man” guitar, and Eddie used this on For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge and Balance albums. This guitar is still commercially available under the “Axis” name, and retains all of the original features of the Edward Van Halen model. Edward was allegedly upset that Ernie Ball could not produce enough of this guitar to meet demand, and subsequently moved his endorsement to the Peavey Electronics corporation.

Eddie named his line of signature Wolfgang Guitars after his son, Wolfgang. The guitar itself was similar to the previous Axis line, but with a slightly altered shape and many additional options available in Peavey’s much larger custom shop. These guitars included a device called a “D-Tuna” which enabled a guitarist to tune the low E string down to D with a slight turn of a knob attached to the end of the bridge. In 2003, at the NAMM show, the relationship between Peavey and Eddie began to strain. Peavey constructed Eddie a glass enclosed stage to play for VIP’s at 2PM. Eddie arrived late, shocking fans there with his disheveled appearance, as he immediately went upstairs and initially refused to play. After an hour of negotiations, Eddie came down while fans, who had lined up for hours prior to the appearance, roared with approval. Eddie ended up spending his short time on stage, talking about Wolfgang guitar production and his promise to take a keen interest in quality control.

Eddie left, having only played a few notes and small riffs, much to the dissatisfaction of the fans and Peavey. The end came in 2004, when Peavey company parted ways with Van Halen, reportedly because Eddie launched an on-line sale of hand patterned (by Edward) Charvel guitars, sold by the name of the “EVH Art Series Guitars”, while he was still contractually obliged to Peavey. The guitars sold for large sums on eBay, and were essentially replicas of his famous “Frankenstrat” guitars, played by Van Halen mainly during the David Lee Roth era of the band. Eddie also launched Frankenstein replicas as noted above, which are the only Van Halen guitars currently endorsed by Eddie.

Most recently Eddie has collaborated with Fender guitars to produce a replica of the Frankenstrat. Eddie and Chip Ellis of the Fender Custom Shop teamed up to produce a guitar priced at $25,000 each. Also, Eddie has collaborated with Fender to launch his own EVH brand of guitars, amps, and musical instrument equipment, starting with his new EVH Brand 5150 III amplifier. Eddie now uses prototypes of his new EVH Brand Wolfgang, which is an updated version Eddie’s Peavey Wolfgangs but with new pickups, knobs, a thinner but very elaborate quilted maple top to allow the basswood the dominant tone, providing more tonal resonance but with a balanced high sustain. Also, the new Wolfgang is equipped with an Original Floyd Rose. In addition, the new guitar has a slightly altered headstock. This is because this was Ed and Hartley Peavey’s original design for the headstock, which Eddie had patented without the scoop on final version of the Peavey Wolfgang. He has been seen with 3 new Wolfgang guitars, first a sunburst one, then a black one which he stated he liked less than the sunburst one and now he uses a white one, the best sounding one out of the three prototypes according to Ed.

Amplifiers

Ed’s main amplifier in the early years was a 100 watt Marshall amplifier that had a 12301 serial number which dates it to the 1967-1968 transitional period at Marshall when the circuit of the 100 watt Marshall 1959 changed gradually from the ‘Bass’ circuit to the ‘SuperLead’ circuit. It has often been claimed that Ed’s main 100 watt Marshall amplifier might have been modified. Amp tech Mark Cameron has claimed that he found a schematic of Ed’s amp in amp tech Jose Arredondo’s shop after he died that showed modifications that had been performed by Jose. One of these was the Jose 16 Ohm load box which was used for re-amping and another was a Jose master volume amplifier modification. The Jose 16 Ohm load box was a transformer-coupled line out that was used to create a line level output signal from Ed’s main 100 watt Marshall amplifier and then the line out signal was fed into another Marshall amp’s input to be reamplified or re-amped.

A single basic tube amplifier has to usually be run at high volumes to produce a overdriven tone but with re-amping the first amplifier can be made to produce an overdriven tone and it’s line level output can then be fed into a second amplifier which can then control the volume level of the first amplifiers overdriven tone which results in a volume controlled overdriven tone. Re-amping with the first amplifier having a Jose master volume modification and the second amplifier being stock was most likely used to record Van Halen I. A variac set at 90 volts was also used on the first amplifier which was Ed’s main 100 watt Marshall. Pictures from the Van Halen II recording sessions show Ed’s main 100 watt amplifier with what appears to be the Jose master volume modification to the amplifiers back panel and re-amping does not seem to have been used for Van Halen II.

Between 1993 and 2004 Eddie was sponsored by Peavey Electronics to use their 5150 Amplifiers, which he had a part in designing. Following the ending of this relationship, Peavey renamed the amplifier as the ‘Peavey 6505′, with slightly updated styling but original circuitry. Eddie is now sponsored by Fender and has debuted his new amp called the 5150 III. The 5150 III features 3 channels with their own independent controls, a 4-button foot-switch and his famous striped design on the head.

Floyd Rose system

A crucial component of Van Halen’s personal style is his use of the Floyd Rose fulcrum vibrato for electric guitars. Developed in the mid-20th century, early versions of this device allowed the guitarist to impart a vibrato to a chord or single string via movement of the bar with the picking hand. Van Halen went on to collaborate with Floyd Rose on improvements to Rose’s device.

Van Halen also pioneered the mainstream use of the Trans-Trem system on the Steinberger line of guitars on “5150″, most notably on the songs “Summer Nights” and on “Me Wise Magic” off of “Best of Volume I” where the song goes through several key changes while retaining the same chord voicings. The Trans-Trem system allows for the effect of an instant “capo”, increasing the pitch of all strings by up to a minor third or lowering the pitch by as much as a perfect fourth.

Solo work

Eddie Van Halen has appeared on several projects outside of his eponymous band.

* Most famously he was called in by Quincy Jones to play guitar on the song Beat It, from Michael Jackson’s 1982 album, “Thriller”. Steve Lukather of Toto played the main guitar riff and rhythm, with Eddie playing a solo that was allegedly blended, or “comped”, from three different takes. The subsequent success of the track played a key role in getting R&B videos played on MTV. The combination of Jackson’s pop sensibilities, Quincy Jones’ production and Van Halen’s guitar work melded several genres of music, and helped each to find new fans. Concurrently, Van Halen’s song Jump was played in discos, inner-city R&B clubs, and on rock radio. Famously, Eddie refused the money he was offered for playing on the track.
* In 1983, Eddie collaborated with Queen guitarist Brian May on the Star Fleet Project, a 3-track EP consisting of a rock styled rendition of the theme to the popular anime children’s show, a May penned track (Let Me Out), and an improvised blues track (Blues Breaker).
* In 1984, Eddie recorded several instrumentals for a movie called “The Wild Life.” Some of those recordings used ideas that showed up later in Van Halen songs such as “A.F.U. (Naturally Wired)” and “Right Now.” However, only “Donut City” was included on the soundtrack album, which was released on vinyl and cassette, and never made it to CD format.
* Also in 1984, he provided the score for the 1984 TV film, The Seduction of Gina.
* He played bass on Sammy Hagar’s 1987 solo album I Never Said Goodbye.
* In 1989 he played bass on the opening track, (Twist the knife) from Steve Lukather’s debut album, as well as giving the guitar part which was taken from an outtack from the 5150 album titled “I want some action”. The main riff was also latter used by Eddie Van Halen in the 3 album for “Dirty Water Dog”.
* He has also done soundtrack work for movies such as Back to the Future, Over The Top (Winner Takes It All, a collaboration with Sammy Hagar), Twister (The track Humans Being featuring Sammy Hagar, along with the instrumental Respect The Wind), The Wild Life, and Lethal Weapon 4 (The track Fire In The Hole from Van Halen III)
* He has recorded with Dweezil Zappa, Jeff Porcaro, Roger Waters, Steve Lukather, and Thomas Dolby, amongst others.
* In July 2006, Eddie Van Halen recorded two new instrumental tracks (Rise and Catherine) which debuted in an unusual format: in a pornographic feature entitled “Sacred Sin” directed by a friend of the guitarist, well known adult director Michael Ninn. These tracks have since surfaced on the internet. Eddie also composed some minor uncredited piano interludes in the feature.