Nipper – The First Dog of Music
Sep 30, 2009 rock and blues
Ever wondered about the dog that graced RCA Victor records?
His name was Nipper and he was born in Bristol in 1884. He died 11 years later but his image is indelibly imprinted on our minds.
There have been suggestions that he was a fox terrier or an American Pit Bull (even a dalmatian) however, take it from me that he was a Jack Russell. Remember, in those days Jack’s had not been messed about with by the Kennel Club. He was called Nipper because he had a habit of biting people on the leg.
After his original owner died in 1887 Nipper went to live with his owner’s brothers in Kingston upon Thames which is where he was buried. 3 years after his death one of the brothers, Francis Barraud, painted a picture of Nipper listening to the horn of a Edison-Bell cylinder phonograph. He tried to sell it to the Edison- Bell company but they rejected it saying that dog’s do not listen to phonographs. 
On 31st May 1899 Francis went to the Maiden lane offices of The Gramophone Company, he wanted to rework the picture replacing the black horn with the brass one in the picture. William Owen, who was the manager of the office said that if he replaced the cylinder machine with a Berliner disc gramophone the company would buy the picture.
The painting was reworked and the deal done. Francis sold the picture and the “his master’s voice” slogan for the magnificent price of £100 (That is equivalent to more than £15,000 today).
The rest, as they say is history. Through various interpretations Nipper’s image and memory lives on.
Tags: emile berliner, nipper, rca, rca victor, rock and blues
On This Day – Love Me Tender (again and again 856,327 times)
Sep 29, 2009 On This Day
On this day in 1956 RCA Victor announced a huge number of advance orders for “Love Me Tender” by Elvis Presley.
Only a couple of days ago it was the anniversary of Emile Berliner inventing the gramophone. In 1956 the record company that he co-founded with Eldridge Johnson was going from strength to strength.
These days, of course, RCA is part of Sony BMG. The history is somewhat contorted but, briefly;
In the ’80s RCA bought 50% of Arista. General Electric bought RCA in ‘86 (selling its interest in the RCA/Ariola International back to Bertelsmann the owner of Ariola). The RCA/Ariola International entity was renamed Bertelsmann Music Group (BMG). GE meanwhile closed all RCA entities ‘cept for a NBC. So, BMG was the only RCA game in town. They also resurrected RCA Victor for Rock music.
While RCA had acts like The Eurythmics on its books it also produced a number of successful albums of shows on Broadway.
in 2004 BMG merged with Sony to produce ‘Sony BMG’. Interestingly, RCA once owned NBC now RCA was in a group once owned by NBC’s rival CBS, Columbia Records.
2008 saw BMG being bought out by Sony and Sony BMG became Sony Music Entertainment.
There, told you it was simple!
Tags: elvis presley, emile berliner, rca, rca victor, real rock and blues, rock and blues
Arrival on This Day – Helen Shapiro
Sep 28, 2009 arrivals
Helen Shapiro was born on this day in 1946.
Helen was a very popular young singer in the early 60s (she was only 14 when she had her first number one in the UK). The Beatles’ first UK tour was as a support act for her. When she was 14 she had her first number one single in 1961. In fact her first 4 singles (‘61 & ‘62) all made the UK’s top 3.
By the time she was 18 her popularity was on the wane (may have been something to do with her beehive hairstyle being seen as old fashioned). Her last single was ‘Fever’ released in 1964. After quitting pop music she returned to jazz and began a career as a stage performer. In 1987 she became a born again Christian and has devoted her talents to spreading the word since that time.
Tags: classic rock music, helen shapiro, love rock music, real rock and blues, rock and blues
A New One From Jacko, Old Ones From The Beatles
Sep 27, 2009 About and things
A new single from Michael Jackson will be released on 12th October. Whether it would have been released if he was still alive I do not know.
In the last week the Beatles sold 2.5 million (remastered) albums in the US, UK, and Japan. A spokes person for EMI said “Beatlemania has returned, with fans new and old embracing these beautiful albums in their re-mastered and re-packaged forms. By putting the needs and desires of consumers first, the band are breaking new records around the world more than four decades after they first started recording. All of us at EMI Music are very proud to have been a part of this exciting project and to have delivered an insightful and globally executed marketing plan.”
So what it boils down to is this. MJ will have a song released that may not have seen the light of day if he was alive and the Beatles are topping the charts after 40 years. What does that say about the state of modern pop music?
BTW, don’t you just love the way that EMI were acting altruistically in releasing the remastered albums. They were “putting the needs and desires of consumers first”. If only the rest of the music business shared the same selfless motivation……
Tags: beatles, classic rock music, love rock music, michael Jackson
Sweet Jane
Sep 26, 2009 rock and blues
No reason for this post other than it is the best version of a classic rock song. Lou encapsulates what rock meant to so many of us. It was not just Jane’s life that was saved…………
The classic Hunter/Wagner band that graced this world in ‘74. Not until he had the wonderful Robert Quine on guitar did he have a band that did him justice.
Tags: lou reed, sweet jane, velvet underground
On This Day – Thanks Emile
Sep 26, 2009 On This Day
This day in 1887 was one of the great days of popular music.
Emile Berliner who emigrated from Germany to the USA when he was 26 applied for a patent for his invention, the gramophone. This was the first machine to play discs and not the wax cylinders. He solved the problem of getting the turntable to revolve at a steady and measurable rate after teaming up with Eldridge Johnson.
Although he also designed a very (very) early helicopter and a loom suitable for mass weaving his contribution to popular music is what he will be remembered for.
My thanks to Emile, you saved my young life.
Tags: emile berliner, On This Day, rock and blues
Someone, Please Stop Kelly Rowland!
Sep 15, 2009 Rants
There are wonderful songs, there are good songs, there are OK songs, there are bad songs, there are dreadful songs.
And then there is ‘When Love Takes Over’
Dreadful song, dreadful voice, and amazingly annoying.
When I looked up the lyrics (below) I was really surprised to find that there were any, other than the one hook line “When love takes over”. In fact, they are just there to allow whats-her-name sing the chorus. This is an increasing trend in pop songs. The purpose of a pop song is not to entertain and to inform it is to sell a CD, download, whatever.
Look at this song. Two verses (the bit where the songwriter is meant to tell the story and the chorus is sung (badly) 3 times. Oh yes the line “When love takes over” is also repeated until my eyes want to bleed.
The lyrics
Its complicated, it always is
That’s just the way it goes
Feels like the way it is so long for this
I wonder if it shows
And under water now i can breath
It never felt so good
Cause i can feel it coming over me
I wouldn’t stop it if i could
[Chorus]
When love takes over yeaaah
You know you can’t deny
When love takes over yeaaah
‘Cause something’s here tonight
Give me a reason I gotta know
Do you feel it too?
Cant you see me here on overload
And this time I blame you
Hmm looking out for you to hold my hand
It feels like I could fall
Now love me right, like I know you can
We could lose it all
[Chorus]
When love takes over yeaaah
You know you can’t deny
When love takes over yeaaah
Cause something’s here tonight
(tonight, tonight, tonight, tonight ….)
I’ll be loving all the time, it’s true
Cause I want to make it right with you
When love takes over, when love takes over
When love takes over, when love takes over …
Over, over, over ….
[Chorus]
When love takes over yeaaah
You know you can’t deny
When love takes over yeaaah
‘Cause something’s here tonight
I have been known to take a virulent dislike to songs ( I could cheerfully strangle Kid Rock) but there is something uniquely horrible about this brain worm.
She has to be stopped and someone must take David Guetta’s crayons away before he writes another formulaic song like this.
Tags: kelly rowland, real rock and blues, rock and blues, when love takes over, worst song in the world
The Mercury Prize 2009
Sep 10, 2009 About and things
Well, once again the wrong artist won the Mercury prize.
Not that I have anything against Speech Debelle it is just that Led Bib are wonderful. Here’s the list of Nominations. What do you think?
The Nominees were;
SPEECH DEBELLE – SPEECH THERAPY
BAT FOR LASHES – TWO SUNS
FLORENCE AND THE MACHINE – LUNGS
FRIENDLY FIRES – FRIENDLY FIRES
GLASVEGAS – GLASVEGAS
THE HORRORS – PRIMARY COLOURS
THE INVISIBLE – THE INVISIBLE
KASABIAN – WEST RYDER PAUPER LUNATIC ASYLUM
LA ROUX – LA ROUX
LED BIB – SENSIBLE SHOES
LISA HANNIGAN – SEA SEW
SWEET BILLY PILGRIM – TWICE BORN MEN
I am not convinced about Florence, can’t stand Kasabian, and do not like the idea of Lisa Hannigan (Irish folk……). But apart from that quite a strong bunch. The Horrors are good, and I like Twice Born Men (even after a review in the Sunday Times that was suitable for Pseuds Corner).
Tags: BAT FOR LASHES, FLORENCE AND THE MACHINE, FRIENDLY FIRES, GLASVEGAS, KASABIAN, LA ROUX, LED BIB, LISA HANNIGAN, rock and blues, SPEECH DEBELLE, SWEET BILLY PILGRIM, THE HORRORS, THE INVISIBLE, the mercuries, the mercury prize 2009
Beatlemania to Sweep The World! (again)
Sep 9, 2009 About and things, rock and blues
There is going to be a worldwide growth in fabness. Mop tops will be back in fashion and lovable Liverpudlian accents everywhere. At least according to the media including a simpering Sunday Times this week, the reason?
The Beatles’ albums have been remastered and reissued together with a magnificent box set. The box set contains all the albums and costs a paltry (!) £169 while the albums cost about £11 each making the box set the most cost effective choice if you want to replace all your existing CDs and vinyl.
Now, most remastered CDs are less than impressive, more of a marketing opportunity than a valuable addition to your collection. From everything that I have read these reissues are different. From the fawning Sunday Times to an anonymous commenter on Yahoo Answers the verdict is that the reissues are like new records.
The original dynamics have been retained (original from the master tapes, not the bland CDs of the past). The trend has been to make the softer bits louder and the louder bits softer to make the overall sound more even. That may sound good on radio but does lose the original attack of the recording.
Overall, these reissues are well worth the money. I will be replacing Revolver (the only Beatles album that I own currently) as well as investing in Sgt. Peppers, Rubber Soul, and Past Masters. Past masters is an interesting album. It contains all those singles that never appeared in albums – seems strange these days that anyone would not issue all their singles on albums – but that is what happened way back when. As well as She Loves You, I Want To Hold Your Hand (so innocent) etc. there are some rarities. Well worth the money even for those of use who are Beatles completists (and I am certainly not one of those). What CDs should you avoid? Yellow Submarine has to be at the top of this list, absolutley useless more Monkees than Beatles….. Also avoid Beatles For Sale. The 4th album in 2 years, whoever thought that would be a good idea?
I was never a huge Beatles fan, (my mother liked them, hated those dirty and loutish Rolling Stones so guess which band I favoured?) but it is true that they were a good band and did change a lot of things for those that came later. I do have some quibble (quite a lot of a quibble, in fact) with John’s statement that they were the best rock band in the world, at least when they were playing in Hamburg. As virtually no one saw them in Hamburg it is hard to argue with him though.
Tags: beatlemania, beatles, beatles remasters, george harrison, john lennon, love rock music, paul mccartney, ring, rock and blues, rongo starr
On This day – Keith Moon
Sep 7, 2009 Departures, On This Day
On this day in 1978 Keith Moon died. He overdosed on a drug called Heminevrin. Ironically this had been prescribed to help him over alcohol withdrawal symptoms.
“Moon the Loon” joined The Who in 1964 after Doug Samden left and played on all their albums from “My Generation” (1865) to “Who Are You” released just 2 weeks before his death. His style was not conventional, eschewing the traditional focus on back beats in favour of dramatic fast rolls across tom toms and cymbals. He was never still behind the drum kit, always looking to add drama and urgency into the songs.
Although a rock drummer of distinction it is for his destructive tendencies that Keith Moon seems to be mainly remembered. he had a fascination with destroying toilets. He used to blow them up with explosives starting with penny bangers (cherry bombs) and graduating to dynamite. So obsessed was he with blowing up toilets that he and the band were banned from several hotel chains and named hotels.
His most famous escapade, however, involved a car, not explosives. On the occasion of his 21st birthday (he was actually 20 but wanted to be able to drink in all the states in the USA, so, naturally he said it was his 21st). Moon was drunk and decided that what he really needed to do was to drive a car into a swimming pool. Variously said to be either a Cadillac or a Lincoln Continental it was this act, as well as serial toilet destruction incidents, that led Moon to be banned from the Holiday Inn chain, for life.
Keith Moon died after spending an evening with Paul and Linda McCartney. They had been to a preview of the film The Buddy Holly Story and then to dinner. After returning to their flat Moon and his girlfriend went to bed. Before going to bed Moon took 32 tablets of Clomethiazole (Heminevrin). This was prescribed drug to help Moon with alcohol withdrawal symptoms. He had been told by his doctor never to take more than 3 tablets in any 24 hour period.
Tags: classic rock music, deaths, keith moon, love rock music, On This Day, rock and blues, the who
