David Crosby’s Cameron Crowe-produced doc opening in theaters this week

Legendary singer/songwriter David Crosby is subject of the new documentary David Crosby: Remember My Name, which was produced by Cameron Crowe and directed by A.J. Eaton. The synopsis:

A triumph at Sundance, this inspired collaboration between director A.J. Eaton and producer Cameron Crowe captures David Crosby, member of three major groups in music history (The Byrds; Crosby, Stills & Nash; and Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young), with unflinching candor as the singer-songwriter confronts mortality and assesses the damage of his earlier days. At the same time, his redemptive journey back to music is universally inspiring and uplifting, bearing an emotional impact that transcends the standard rock documentary genre.

In the illuminating twilight of his days as a living legend, “Croz” has chosen living over legend. He’s making less money but more music than ever, hitting the road despite health issues, surrounded by young players who have helped inspire a critically-acclaimed creative streak of fresh songs, albums, and performances. As a troubled talent but uncompromising and principled spirit whose voice has been harmoniously woven into the fabric of pop culture and music royalty since the mid-1960s (first with the Byrds but most famously as a founding member of the supergroup Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young), Crosby distinguishes himself as a masterful raconteur and unsparingly self-aware survivor.

Taking viewers through soaring career highs, along with the chemical variety that led to ravaging addictions and prison time, DAVID CROSBY: REMEMBER MY NAME explodes myths and sheds new light on all the music, politics, and personalities that crossed his incredible — and ongoing — path.

Speaking about it to Rolling Stone, Crosby says, “The way they do most documentaries these days is fucking bullshit. People make documentaries that are just shine jobs. I wanted to be honest.” And on working with Cameron Crowe, Crosby said, “I knew him when he was the kid in Almost Famous and we or Led Zeppelin were the band. Both of us stuck joints in his mouth and introduced him to girls, and that was that.”

The film gets its theatrical premiere in NYC and LA this Friday (7/19), with several screenings a day through July 25 at NYC’s Film Forum and The Landmark at 57 West and at LA’s ArcLight Hollywood and The Landmark. Tickets for both NYC and LA screenings are on sale now.

Watch the trailer below:

Singer/Songwriter Thomas Priest Drops New EP “Wake Up Call” with Album Release Party at Revolution in Amityville

This Friday July 12th, up and coming young Singer/Songwriter Thomas Priest is releasing “Wake Up Call”; his second EP recorded in Nashville and first with Rian Dawson of All Time Low behind the board. Thomas will be celebrating the occasion with a live performance at Revolution Bar & Music Hall (140 Merrick Rd, Amityville, NY 11701). Doors open at 7pm for this all ages show, admission is $10. Also playing will be The Brothers Union, Collideoscope, Aoeria and Same to you, Bud

GET TIX TO THOMAS PRIEST AT REVOLUTION!

Thomas Priest is a fast rising music star from East Northport, Long Island. On his 13th birthday, Thomas began jamming on the electric guitar and realized that he had a real passion for music, immersing himself in the art and quickly learning to play the acoustic and bass guitars as well. He began songwriting and playing live a few years later; his first performance being at his High School’s talent show when he was just 15. Over time, Thomas learned he also had a knack for singing and within a year of that first show the now competent and confident Singer/Songwriter/Guitarist began writing and recording his own songs in a studio. After completing two incredible tracks which immediately became the talk of his hometown, Thomas set his sights on making his dream to become a professional nationally touring musician come true.

Earlier this year, Thomas had the pleasure of recording his second EP in Nashville, TN with Rian Dawson of All Time Low as Producer. The fruits of their labor can be heard on this brand new EP entitled "Wake Up Call", which comes out on July 12th everywhere. Thomas Priest isn't looking back, he’s charging forward. No prayers needed; he’s got the drive, determination and most of all the exceptional talent required to truly succeed. Listen online and decide for yourself. You’ll want to catch him performing LIVE in a city near you very soon!

Check out Thomas Priest on Spotify HERE!

Check out Thomas Priest on Apple Music HERE!

Chastity Belt Is Back, Baby!

The always charming post-party-punk quartet Chastity Belt is back, Seattle! Not that they went anywhere too far, but this is their first tour since calling off dates last year due to health reasons. We’re glad they’re feeling better and ready to hop back into action! Tonight, they play at the Clock-Out Lounge to a sold out audience.

Meeting as students in Walla Walla, the now-Seattle-based band hasn’t released anything since their third record, I Used to Spend So Much Time Alone, in 2017. This album brought us the moody, '90s-inspired opener, the perfect song to play while cracking open a shower beer. The music video pays homage to Temple of the Dog's "Hunger Strike":

The band apparently have more new music on the way. In the meantime, you’re just going to have to play the jangly “Cool Slut” over and over while you tipsily get ready to head out to the show. I've subtly put this on at parties and hoped someone noticed the lyrics so that we could yell out, together, "It's okaaay, to be sluuuuutttyyyy:"

Opening for Chastity Belt is Seattle dark pop band Red Ribbon. Their music is a bit witchy, a bit synthy, a bit Lynchian. My colleague Dave Segal, comparing them to La Luz, described both bands as radiating an "understated cool with hushed, amber-hued songs that intrigue by luring you into a sonic world of interiorized moods and upholstering your mind with velveteen melodies, sung by dulcet-voiced women." Damn—check them out below:

Bob Dylan Turns Tambourine Man in Scorsese’s Revealing Rolling Thunder Revue

The Pitch: Martin Scorsese’s second Bob Dylan documentary, Rolling Thunder Revue, picks up nearly 10 years after the conclusion of his first, No Direction Home. That first six-hour opus focuses on Dylan’s rapid cultural rise as protest folk singer, electrified poet, and voice of a generation, leading right up to his infamous motorcycle accident, which necessitated his first major departure from both the rock-and-roll spotlight and the increasing demands of a public who saw him more as a prophet than a songwriter. It’s about the ’60s icon that most people associate with the name Bob Dylan. However, Rolling Thunder Revue: A Bob Dylan Story by Martin Scorsese catches up with a very different Dylan, one who has survived his first deadly dance with destiny and fame and has now returned to figure out what comes next. He’s older now, a father, fallible, but somehow no less a visionary, even though the mania surrounding him a decade ago has largely dissipated.

(Buy: Tickets to Upcoming Bob Dylan Shows)

Rolling Thunder begins by depicting a confused, groggy America still waking up disgusted in the aftermath of the Vietnam War. It’s an aimless nation without conviction, so scared of being fooled again that any real search for meaning seems to have been suspended. And just when you think Scorsese might be setting the stage for Dylan to come back and provide the spark the nation so badly needs with his Rolling Thunder Revue, present-day Dylan breaks off the interview. “Nothing … it’s about nothing,” he says, throwing his hands up. “It happened 40 years ago. What do you want to know? That was before I was born.” It should have been apparent by the film’s opening clip — silent footage of a parlor magician making a woman disappear using a painfully botched camera trick — that Dylan wouldn’t stand for that burden. That he’s nobody’s tambourine man, and yet, Rolling Thunder Revue turns out to be just that, the story of a group of the most unlikely people thrown together as they fell under Dylan’s dancing spell.



Bob Dylan and Friends in Rolling Thunder Revue

The Cast: In some ways, this really isn’t a Dylan documentary. Oh, Dylan’s driving the bus (quite literally at times), but it’s the gypsy caravan of competing personalities along for the ride who have stories to tell about a short tour that Dylan now describes as having been lost to the “ashes” of time. Those personalities include, in one form or another, famed poet Allen Ginsberg, folk luminaries Joan Baez and Joni Mitchell, Godmother of Punk Patti Smith, Rolling Stone journalist Larry “Ratso” Sloman, mysterious violinist Scarlet Rivera, now-former President Jimmy Carter, actor and playwright Sam Shepard, falsely convicted heavyweight fighter Ruben Carter, and a young Sharon Stone in a KISS shirt.

Each comes to Dylan and the Rolling Thunder Revue in search of something and seems to leave with the very thing needed. Sloman finds the conviction to tell the story he knows his readers care about, Mitchell summons the courage to abandon her hits and try new material live, and Jimmy Carter draws succor from Dylan’s words as he considers the challenges facing the country he’ll one day lead. In the case of Ruben Carter, Dylan’s song “Hurricane” brought renewed attention to the prisoner’s plight and helped him eventually get released.

Ginsberg, according to his tour companions, dreamed of trading the quiet life of a poet for the excitement of being a rock star. “I saw the best minds of my generation destroyed by madness,” recites Dylan, not understanding how a man who’s written one of the most indelible lines in modern poetry can question his place in the country’s cultural landscape. By tour’s end, Ginsberg explains that while they fell short of “recovering America,” he believes the communal nature of the tour gave hope to audiences seeking semblances of community. In Baez’s case, she and Dylan seem to bury an unspoken hatchet and move forward. In a tender moment turned silly, the ex-lovers explain why they married who they loved or thought loved them. “Thinking will fuck you up,” extols Dylan half-seriously. “It’s heart, not head.”

Bob Dylan in Rolling Thunder Revue

The Music: Nobody can question Scorsese’s taste in music or ability to pair it with film. Here, he employs a soft touch to the footage corresponding to several recordings with which Dylan fans have long been familiar. He cuts away from the performance only when necessary and allows several to play out in full drama. So, in addition to greatest hits like “I Shall Be Released” and “Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door”, the latter of which provides the film with a musical denouement of sorts, Scorsese permits Dylan time to play through a haunting “One More Cup of Coffee (Valley Below)” and summon thunder with his harmonica on a righteous version of the mystical “Isis” that captures Dylan storming around the stage and barking lightning.

As fans of these recordings know, Dylan, backed by names as legendary as Mick Ronson, Roger McGuinn, and T-Bone Burnett, has never been more locked in and animated as a performer, nor has he had a band more capable of turning his old folk songs into rolling storms of rain, lightning, and thunder claps. Dylan bounces about on the now-rollicking “It Ain’t Me Babe”, gathers light stoically as he shifts from whisper to pained wail during “Simple Twist of Fate” from a stool center stage, and sounds like he’s actually shouting down a warning from a mountaintop on the roaring “A Hard Rain’s A-Gonna Fall”. In one of his most intense performances ever, Dylan falls into a trance while barking the lyrics to “Hurricane”, only coming out of the spell to shoot daggers stage left with his eyes that barely miss Scarlet Rivera, whose violin sounds like a wailing siren on a hot urban summer night. Had Scorsese done nothing but finally find these performances a coherent home, Rolling Thunder would have done a great service to Dylan fans.

Seeing the concert footage in such high quality is simply stunning, and Dylan has never been more charismatic or unpredictable in front of a camera. As he takes you through songs, it’s easy to get enamored by, say, the way light shines brightly off his guitar, the peacock feather in his hat, or the worn knees of his bluejeans. Dylan himself appears a work of art: blue stained-glass eyes beneath the brim of his floral-decorated hat, thick mascara acting as a border between the white of his eyes and the white Kabuki makeup smeared across his face like a mask, the pasty color running south with sweat until it hits the bandanna sloppily tied around his neck. If the checkered suits, wild hair, and shades of his youth made Dylan look like one cool cat, his gypsy ensemble makes him look as though he fits in everywhere and nowhere all at once.

(Don’t Look Back: Seeing the Real Bob Dylan at Last?)

Backstage: Like D.A. Pennebaker’s groundbreaking Dont Look Back, much of the footage from Rolling Thunder finds Dylan and companions backstage, on the bus between gigs, and generally killing time between performances in less than glamorous fashion. It’s these moments, along with contemporary interviews, that flesh out the experience to create more than just a concert film. They’re also damn entertaining. Sharon Stone, for instance, recalls how she swooned as Dylan played a song that he wrote for her on an old, abandoned piano backstage. She laughs at how her bubble burst when a member of the crew finally clued her in that “Just Like a Woman” had been written a decade ago. Baez remembers that one of her favorite pastimes was impersonating Dylan in full gypsy costume and fooling catering with her nasally impression.

On a more poignant note, Scorsese allows us to see beautiful extended footage of Dylan and Ginsberg visiting Jack Kerouac’s grave in Lowell, Massachusetts. We also see Dylan meet Ruben Carter in person and the fervor with which Dylan and his representation negotiate the chance to put out a single that could stir sentiment for Carter’s plight. In footage captured from an interview years later, Carter sheds light on how he sees Dylan. The now-free ex-heavyweight describes the songwriter as someone who must always be searching for the next thing that sparks his passions. Carters tells his interviewer that in subsequent meetings over the years, he always begins by asking Dylan what he’s searching for next. Dylan, of course, insists he has no idea why Carter keeps asking him that.

Bob Dylan and Allen Ginsberg in Rolling Thunder Revue

Bad Weather for the Fair-Weather: Make no mistake. Rolling Thunder Revue rolls like a film for Dylan fans made by a Dylan fan. Scorsese, while tackling a subject who was very much still a rock star in the mid-’70s, takes a deep, esoteric look at a Dylan already light years removed from the ’60s icon that the general public associate with his name. This is a movie equal parts documentary and concert film about a tour that the public knows nothing about but Dylan fans have been fascinated with for decades, either since attending a show, stumbling upon the recordings, or trying to make sense of four hours of Renaldo and Clara. For all the uncut musical performances, Scorsese keeps it relatively tight at a whopping two hours and twenty-two minutes. The celebs involved and new interviews also prevent the film from getting heavy as a bottle of bread. That said, unless you are a Dylan diehard, it’s difficult to imagine you not tapping out during the first extended performance. For Dylan devotees, Scorsese has given them the gift of compiling so many artifacts — plus some never-before-seen gems — in one place. It’s disappointing that Dylan himself didn’t shed more light on the concept behind the tour, but seeking transparency from Bob Dylan only leads to dead ends and riddles.

The Verdict: As Scorsese’s film stretches past the two-hour mark, viewers may begin to suspect that they are the audience Mark Twain suggested be prosecuted, banished, or shot in his opening note to The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. That is, guilty of trying to derive meaning where one shouldn’t. “Life isn’t about finding yourself … or finding anything,” Dylan states with conviction. “Life is about creating yourself.” It’s a line that smacks of “he not busy being born is being dying,” where being born is an action we take rather than something thrust upon us. Now, why Dylan’s latest creation took on the circus-like caravan form of the Rolling Thunder Revue is still anyone’s guess. But to all these years later see Allen Ginsberg “dance beneath the diamond sky with one hand waving free”; Ruben “The Hurricane” Carter “facing no fences but for the sky”; and Dylan helming that “magic swirling ship” reminds us that not all beautiful, life-altering moments can be pinned down neatly. Both Dylan and Scorsese cast a spell in Rolling Thunder Revue, one that Dylan fans will gratefully fall under.

Where’s It Playing?: Rolling Thunder Revue: A Bob Dylan Story by Martin Scorseseappears on Netflix beginning Wednesday June 12th

Stereolab announce North American tour & more reissues

The newly reformed Stereolab have just announced their 2019 world tour which includes a lengthy North American leg beginning in September, including dates in Austin, Atlanta, NYC, Philly, DC, Boston, Montreal, Detroit, Toronto, Denver, Seattle, San Francisco, and more. The NYC stops are two nights at Brooklyn Steel on September 27 & 28. Tickets for those shows and the whole tour go sale Friday, February 22 and there’s a Stereolab presale starting Thursday (2/21) at 10 AM local time — sign up for their mailing list for the presale password.

The lineup of the band for this tour will be Laetitia Sadier, Tim Gane, Andy Ramsay, Simon Johns, and Joe Watson.

Stereolab are also reissuing 1993’s Transient Random Noise-Bursts With Announcements and 1994’s Mars Audiac Quintet on vinyl and CD on May 3 via Warp and Duophonic UHF Disks. Details:

Each album has been re-mastered from the original 1/2″ tapes by Bo Kondren at Calyx Mastering and overseen by Tim Gane. Bonus material will include alternate takes, 4 track demos and unreleased mixes.

The initial vinyl editions will be pressed onto triple clear numbered vinyl with a poster / insert containing sleeve notes by Tim. They will also include a lottery style scratch card – all winners will receive a limited edition 12″ EP

The band have also produced a super limited edition of 500 clear vinyl copies and 250 compact disks – each will have a numbered obi band made from 2″ 24 track Stereolab master tape.

Preorder the special Duophonic editions now and check out packaging for both as well as an “Early Version Mix” of Transient track “French Disko,” as well as streams of the original albums, below.

Look for reissues of Emperor Tomato Ketchup, Dots and Loops and Cobra and Phases Group Play Voltage in the Milky Night in August 2019 with Sound-Dust and Margerine Eclipse being released in November 2019.

All tour dates, which include festivals Primavera Sound and Desert Daze, are listed below.

Stereolab – 2019 Tour Dates

MAY
30 – Brussels, BE @ Botanique/Orangerie
31 – Hilvarenbeek, NL @ Best Kept Secret**

JUNE
01 – Barcelona, ES @ Primavera Sound**
06 – Porto, PT @ Primavera Sound**
08 – Bordeaux, FR @ Rock School Barbey
09 – Paris, FR @ Vilette Sonique**
11 – Brighton, UK @ Concorde 2
12 – London, UK @ O2 Shepherd’s Bush Empire
15 – Bristol, UK @ SWX
16 – Birmingham, UK @ O2 Institute 1
18 – Sheffield, UK @ The Leadmill
19 – Manchester, UK @ Albert Hall
20 – Newcastle, UK @ Boiler Shop
21 – Leeds, UK @ Leeds Uni Stylus
22 – Glasgow, UK @ SWG3 Galvan3
24 – Belfast, UK @ Empire Music Hall
25 – Dublin, IE @ Vicar Street

AUGUST
10 – Oslo, NO @ Øyafestivalen**
15–18 – Brecon Beacons, UK @ Green Man Festival**

SEPTEMBER
16 – El Paso, TX @ Lowbrow Palace
17 – Santa Fe, NM @ Meow Wolf
19 – San Antonio, TX @ Paper Tiger
20 – Austin, TX @ Mohawk
21 – Dallas, TX @ Granada Theatre
23 – Atlanta, GA @ Variety Playhouse
25 – Washington, DC @ 9:30 Club**
26 – Philadelphia, PA @ Union Transfer
27 – Brooklyn, NY @ Brooklyn Steel
28 – Brooklyn, NY @ Brooklyn Steel
29 – Boston, MA @ Royale

OCTOBER
01 – Montreal, QC @ Corona Theatre
02 – Toronto, ON @ Danforth Music Hall
03 – Detroit, MI @ Majestic Theatre
04 – Milwaukee, WI @ Turner Hall
05 – Minneapolis, MN @ First Avenue
07 – Denver, CD @ Gothic Theatre
08 – Salt Lake City, UT @ Metro Music Hall
10 – Phoenix, AZ @ Crescent Ballroom
11 – Moreno Beach, CA @ Desert Daze**
13 – Portland, OR @ Wonder Ballroom
14 – Vancouver, BC @ Commodore Ballroom
15 – Seattle, WA @ The Showbox
18 – San Francisco, CA @ The Fillmore
19 – San Francisco, CA @ The Fillmore

** – Presale Not Available

Listen to Liam Gallagher’s new single ‘Shockwave’

It's coming round like a Shockwave...

Liam Gallagher has released ‘Shockwave’, the first track to be taken from his upcoming second solo album.

After debuting the track at a London gig earlier this week, the latest effort from the former Oasis frontman has now received an official release. It marks the first single to be taken from new album ‘Why My? Why Not’ and sees Liam largely continuing with the vintage rock and roll sound that defined his debut solo record.

“You sold me right up the river, you had to hold me back, you could’ve looked for the sunshine, yeah, but you had to paint the whole thing black”, Liam sings on the new track.

“Now I’m back in the city, the lights are up on m, they tried to keep me locked away but hallelujah I feel free.”

The former Oasis frontman previously confirmed the follow-up to his October 2017 solo debut ‘As You Were’ would be titled ‘Why Me? Why Not’ on Twitter.

Yesterday also saw the premiere of ‘As It Was’, a documentary which charts his rise as a solo star. Speaking to NME, Gallagher explained how his estranged brother Noel had prevented him from using any of the band’s songs in the film.

“I think he has seen it, him and his little people [have seen] it and took the Oasis music out of it because that’s all he’s got left for me. Let him get on it with it,” he said.

Charlie Lightening, the director of the film, has suggested that the new album will be Liam’s solo answer to Oasis’ ‘What’s The Story (Morning Glory)’.

“It’s a continuation of ‘As You Were’,” Lightening told NME of the record. “If you look at ‘Definitely Maybe’ and ‘What’s The Story (Morning Glory)?’, one’s the more punkier one and one’s the bigger one, you know what I mean? That’s progression. It’s someone in the prime of it all. People aren’t gonna be disappointed with it. I think it’s gonna blow people away.”

Brooke Moriber's "Cry Like A Girl" Album Release Show Wednesday, 6/12 at Rockwood Music Hall

With the recent release of “Cry Like A Girl” being lauded for sharing “Raw Emotion with Strong Vocals and a Spot-On Delivery” (Parade Magazine) and as a “powerhouse” (Popdust) - Singer/Songwriter Brooke Moriber is bringing her recent Nashville-produced LP back to the city she calls home. She’ll perform it LIVE for her official Album Release Show on Wednesday, June 12th at 8PM at Rockwood Music Hall - Stage 2 (196 Allen St, New York, NY 10002) along with Golden Dimes!

“Cry Like A Girl” was recorded in Nashville, Tennessee, with legendary producer Fred Mollin (Sheryl Crow, Vince Gill, Shawn Colvin) at the helm and mixed by 5 time Grammy Winner Chris Lord-Alge (Carrie Underwood, Madonna, Bruce Springsteen). The 11-track release delves into messages of self-discovery, empowerment, and overall growth, which Moriber says embodies the collection as a whole. “Itʼs a statement about the strength that comes from embracing your emotions and allowing yourself to heal and grow. The making of this album was a journey of self discovery for me”.

Brooke has been lauded for her “clarion voice” by the Associated Press and songs that are “destined for high rotation”. A native New Yorker, Brooke began her singing career at the age of 8 by snagging a starring role on Broadway as Young Cosette in Les Miserables. No less than The New York Times has praised her acting ability as Brooke went on to star in six other legit shows as well as several roles on TV and in film. Brooke’s remarkable ability to juggle her career as both a recording artist and an actor led to her sharing the stage and screen with such performers as The Gin Blossoms, Cyndi Lauper and Alan Cumming as well as singing the National Anthem for the New York Knicks.

Now as she gets ready to celebrate in the heart of NYC at Rockwood Music Hall - Stage 2 (196 Allen St, New York, NY 10002) on Wednesday, June 12th along with Golden Dimes, her fans can experience what it feels like to truly “Cry Like A Girl” in celebration of her momentous release!

For Tickets to Brooke Moriber’s “Cry Like A Girl” Album Release Show at Rockwood Music Hall, VISIT: https://bit.ly/2XZvZD3

Liverpool’s great lost band, Candy Opera release their first album after 35 years

When Candy Opera release 45 Revolutions Per Minute on February 23rd, it will be a belated introduction to a very special band, sired during Liverpool’s 1980s golden age, which has taken almost thirty years to happen.

Lovingly unearthed and compiled by Firestation Records of Berlin, and available on limited edition 18-track CD and deluxe 16-track vinyl, the result is a lost gem that points to a million what-might- have-beens.

When Candy Opera first appeared on the kaleidoscopic early 1980s Liverpool music scene, by rights they should have changed the world. Here was a classic four-piece, after all, steeped in the symphonic pop of Love’s Forever Changes and The Beach Boys’ Surf’s Up. Taking such influences as a template, alongside contemporaries such as Aztec Camera, The Pale Fountains and Prefab Sprout, Candy Opera were in the throes of crafting a 1980s song-book in their own image, and the band’s 1983 Honeysuckle Rose demo has become something of a holy grail.

By 1985, the band had played alongside the likes of The Pogues, The Go-Betweens and The Redskins, as well as appearing on Granada TV. Reviews in NME, Sounds and Jamming magazine followed.

Forming on the tough Phythian Estate in Liverpool’s Kensington district in 1982 and based around the songwriting of Paul Malone, Candy Opera offered up a nouveau classicist sensibility, which had seen the band listen without prejudice to The Monkees and Karen Carpenter.

“Where I grew up, it was a so-called impoverished area,” says vocalist and song-writer, Paul, “but my childhood was very happy, very insular, the world was within a street. As a kid, I didn’t really feel affected by the poverty. It wasn’t ’til later, when I went to other areas and saw how they lived, that I realised the differences. So, my environment was really the main inspiration for songs.”



With assorted Candy Opera line-ups augmented at various points by baroque flourishes of clarinet, flute or violin, such a sophisticated musical palette went way beyond notions of indie-band purism to create something grander, none of which remotely fitted in with the voguish scene-setters behind shoegaze, baggy and Britpop.

After a decade ploughing their own stubborn furrow in various guises, despite interest from EMI and Go! Discs, Candy Opera called it a day in 1993 with only a fistful of demos to their name. As the mainstream took a glossier turn, Candy Opera somehow got left behind, and for the best part of thirty years have remained a rumour, a whisper and a quietly lost legend that the occasional online leak could only hint at. Until now…



In 2017, the Berlin-based purveyors of indie obscurities behind Firestation Records chanced upon those same demos and it was love at first listen. The label’s Uwe Weigmann tracked down Malone and co, and found a band who hadn’t made music for a very long time. Paul comments, “When the label got in touch, it just all seemed a bit surreal to me; it was a big surprise, especially after 35 years, but I was glad that somebody finally recognised our worth.”

Having unearthed a spate of recordings that span Candy Opera’s entire history, the result is 45 Revolutions Per Minute.



“I first read about the band some years ago, on a forum for The La’s, and from this point on I was very interested to hear the band’s music,” recalls Uwe, Firestation’s founder and label manager. “Then a friend of mine told me that some Candy Opera songs were on YouTube. The first I listened to was What A Way To Travel. A couple of minutes later, I was sure that I wanted to work with the band. 45 Revolutions Per Minute is the perfect pop album, in my opinion.

It is an absolute masterpiece and I would list it next to such classics as Steve McQueen (Prefab Sprout), From Across The Kitchen Table (The Pale Fountains), High Land, Hard Rain (Aztec Camera) or Trapped and Unwrapped (Friends Again).”

Today, the songs that make up this exquisite package, that comes with extensive sleeve notes and archive photographs, sound both of their time and beyond it. On the surface, the arrangements sound simple, but there is depth there too, with Malone’s lyrics wrapped up in a sweetness that recalls a more innocent age.

That was Candy Opera, and this is 45 Revolutions Per Minute. Watch this space…

~

You can find Candy Opera on Twitter and Facebook. Firestation Records have their own website which can be found here