Carl Palmer on His Massive Kit, Circa 1974 (Image Source)
Carl Palmer, drummer for Emerson, Lake & Palmer and Asia was born on this day March 20th, in 1950. Carl has a new instructional DVD out called Carl Palmer, Drum Solos which features a note-for-note transcription of the entire “Karn Evil 9” drum solo from the 1974 California Jam concert, so you know I’m looking forward to reviewing that for The Gig in upcoming weeks. Happy Birthday, Carl!
It’s a fact that there will never be another band like The Beatles. I mean, it takes too long to even talk about. But for about 15 years, Oasis sure did have us imagining what a second coming of the Fab Four might be like, didn’t they? Tabloid tales of poor personal hygiene and ridiculous sibling rivalry / rampant fisticuffs between brothers Liam and Noel Gallagher aside, Oasis was a real rock & roll band! Together with whoever happened to be in the band at the time, the brothers Gallagher wrote and recorded so many classic melodic pop songs that are better and more enduring than anything you’ll hear on the radio today.
Continue reading Oasis Receives the Legacy Treatment
On This Date in 2003: Led Zeppelin reached the top of the Billboard 200 album chart for the first time in 24 years with the triple live album How the West Was Won, which contained performances from their 1972 U.S. tour, and spent one week on top of the album chart.
Best. Movie. Ever.
APPLE CORPS LTD PROUDLY ANNOUNCE THE DVD RELEASE OF THE BEATLES FILM HELP! ON OCTOBER 29TH!
Ohmygod, I am so excited about this news! I first saw the Beatles’ movie HELP! in the theaters when I was four or five years old and it launched my lifetime obsession with the greatest band ever in the Universe of all time. Even though – thanks to eBay – I’ve owned a decent looking Asian bootleg of HELP! on DVD for years, to own the real thing all enhanced and with extra bonus features and shit will just be too awesome. It’s like being five years old all over again! Here’s more from the press release I stole off of Myspace:
Apple Corps Ltd have announced the eagerly anticipated DVD release of The Beatles’ second feature film Help! on October 29th (30th in the USA) which will be marketed and distributed by EMI Music. Directed by Richard Lester, who also directed the band’s debut feature film, A Hard Days Night, Help! made its theatrical debut in 1965. The story follows The Beatles as they become passive recipients of an outside plot that revolves around Ringo’s possession of a sacrificial ring, which he cannot remove from his finger. As a result, he and his band mates John, Paul and George are chased from London to the Austrian Alps and the Bahamas by religious cult members, a mad scientist and the London police. In addition to starring the Beatles, Help! has a witty script, a great cast of British character actors and features 7 classic Beatles tracks, including:
* “Help!”
* “You’re Going To Lose That Girl”
* “You’ve Got To Hide Your Love Away”
* “Ticket To Ride”
* “I Need You”
* “The Night Before”
* “Another Girl”
The DVD will be a 2-disc set. Disc 1 will feature the original film digitally restored with a newly created 5.1 soundtrack, while Disc 2 contains an hour of extra features, including:
* The Beatles in Help! – A 30 minute documentary about the making of the film with Richard Lester, the cast and crew. Includes exclusive behind the scenes footage of The Beatles on set.
* A Missing Scene – Featuring Wendy Richard * The Restoration of Help! – An in-depth look at the restoration process.* Memories of Help! – The cast and crew reminisce
* Theatrical Trailers – 2 US trailers and 1 Spanish trailer.
* 1965 US Radio Spots – Hidden in disc menus.
There will be 2 editions of the DVD – a standard digipack and a deluxe boxed set that will contain a reproduction of Richard Lester’s original annotated script, 8 lobby cards and a poster, plus a 60-page book with rarely seen photographs and production notes from the movie. Both the deluxe book and the standard booklet feature an introduction by Richard Lester and an appreciation by Martin Scorsese.