End Of The Year - Random Thoughts

The Majors:

Warner Music Group’s stock briefly dipped below $6.00 a share. Anyone else think Edgar Bronfman Jr. is completely incompetent? It must be nice to inherit billions of dollars and to be able to buy into the music business. Perhaps he would have been better at selling wine and spirits under the Seagram’s name. This is a guy that wanted the power and prestige of controlling a music empire, but had no vision or talent to do so. And his money has allowed him to attempt to do it twice!

Sony/BMG is a disaster. The once proud Columbia Records may merge with Sony/BMG label mate Epic. So much for Rick Rubin saving Columbia. The hallways are empty; there is no vibe or passion. There is no leadership. There is no longer a true A&R presence at Sony or anywhere else - artist development is gone.

The employees, the bands, and the consumers no longer believe in the major labels. I always laugh when I read that someone at a major label has been promoted to some pointless executive VP position. Do they or their label bosses really think the promotion means anything? Is it really enhancing or driving business? It is an empty maneuver within an old and outdated business model. The executives are playing an old game – just going through the motions. The new musical talent is no longer there, the record sales are gone, radio doesn’t mean shit anymore, and the money has dried up. They are living in fantasy land pretending the walls are not caving in.

The 360 degree deal? How about renaming it the “Up The Ass” deal? The labels are in dire financial straits and cannot move enough units of CDs to cover their inflated costs, which let’s face it, is largely bloated executive salaries. So, they decide to present the 360 deal to the artist which is basically an attempt to share ALL artist generated revenues i.e. touring revenues. That’s right, the labels want touring revenue. They can’t sell your record, therefore they can’t get paid, so they want a piece of your touring revenue. That is all the 360 deal is after sifting through all the wording and extensive contract language – a way for record labels to take a piece of the touring revenue. Any young artist that signs this deal is not only a complete and desperate idiot, but someone that deserves no compassion for enslaving themselves.

Anyone up for a subscription service as a way to obtain their music? The labels want this one big time because they hate the consumer owning music. They want the consumer to rent it. If the consumer owns it, they can trade it with friends, burn copies for their car, load it onto their mp3 players, load in onto their computer, etc. That is too much freedom and offers too much enjoyment. The consumer must have their listening freedom stripped away so the record label can control how the consumer listens to it. Isn’t that what Columbia’s Rick Rubin wants? For you the consumer to listen to rented music on some sort of Sony music player device for a monthly fee?

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Concert Promoters:

Who loves the price of concert tickets for major attractions? Isn’t it great shelling out hundreds of dollars for a ticket that gets you 1 – 2 hours of entertainment by a headlining act?

It has all been said before. The managers and agents overprice the talent; therefore the promoters overpay and pass it on the cost to the consumer. It is old news. That business is going to crash just like the current model in place with the major labels. Live Nation and AEG can claim revenues are up because ticket prices are up, but attendance is down and there is now a real concern that there is no next generation of $200 per ticket acts coming down the pipeline.

How about the supposed trip made by AEG’s Randy Phillips and Tim Leiweke to London to watch Led Zeppelin at the Ahmet Ertegun gig and to personally present them a touring offer? This is one of those times that you wish Peter Grant was still around so he could have thrown those two out of their own venue. They represent what is wrong with the concert experience. Going after Led Zeppelin not because they LOVE Led Zeppelin, but because they want to whore the band out on the road so they can screw the consumer with an excessively expensive concert experience. Although, you have to give Tim credit this time, at least this one seems like a sure thing compared to his $200 million dollar David Beckham experiment.

Going to a concert is way too corporate and oversized – many times even at the club level. The actual music has taken a backseat. One senses that it is only a matter of time before the promoter’s business implodes with layoffs, huge losses, finger pointing at StubHub and others, blaming labels for not developing bands, starting their own ill-fated labels, the selling off or closing of some venues, etc. But during that desperate time, there will still be meaningless executive promotions and the raising of ticket prices. And all the while, less and less consumers and fans will go to the shows.

Instead of cutting costs, ticket prices and bloated SALARIES, the individuals running these companies are too greedy to try to reinvent their business. It all comes down to money. Instead of trying to create steady revenue streams for years ahead, the executives see the end of the road and want to extract every last dollar from their bosses and the consumer, so they are flushing the business down the toilet in the name of greed.

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Led Zeppelin:

They just performed the most famous concert held in years. It doesn’t appear the band is going to tour in 2008. Maybe some isolated gigs, but not a full scale tour.

I was listening to the audio from their incredible 2003 “DVD” the other day and was completely blown away by the Earls Court material. The 1975 Earls Court shows are some of the most famous concerts the band ever performed and contained marathon sets filled with material from all eras of their illustrious career up to that point. The “DVD” only showcases 6 performances. Having heard the complete shows from underground sources, I was very familiar with the gigs. However, I rarely have time to watch music DVDs, so I decided to jam to the audio.

After hearing these 6 officially released performances in crystal clear sound with a fantastic mix by Kevin Shirley, I realized that I will have trouble listening to the underground versions from here on out. “Going To California” highlights the beautiful and majestic acoustic interplay between John Paul Jones and Jimmy Page while the band is absolutely dazzling with its highly skilled musicianship as it tears through “In My Time Of Dying” and “Trampled Underfoot.” Many fans consider the real gem of the “DVD” to be the 1970 Royal Albert Hall gig, but I have to say that I have become equally impressed with the 1975 Earls Court material.

Page needs to finally issue some sort of official Earl’s Court CD/DVD package. The professional mix and mastering of the “DVD” material brings these famous performances to life. It is a reminder of why they were such a legendary live band. They are firing on all cylinders during the Earls Court performances. As I played these tracks over and over, I started to crave a professional mix of the stunning versions of “No Quarter,” “The Song Remains The Same,” and “The Rain Song” from those gigs that remain in the vaults. Time for an official release.

One can dream, but most likely Page will ready an official DVD release of the 2007 O2 Arena gig. Even though the music world is buzzing about the O2 show, I’ll take a 1975 Earls Court package over it any day of the week.

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Oscar Peterson:

Oscar passed away this week. He was one of the greatest piano players of all time and a true Jazz legend. Any Jazz fan can list the loads of inspirational performances he accumulated throughout his illustrious career. His collaborations with other Jazz heroes such as Lester Young, Dizzy Gillespie, Count Bassie, Clark Terry, and Milt Jackson were incredible. Anyone not overly familiar with Oscar Peterson’s work should check out and spin one of his many stunning albums, “Night Train.”

The Elvis Presley Catalogue

Another year has passed with the music catalogue of one of the greatest talents and figures in contemporary music history in total and complete disarray. From the time Elvis became a major recording artist in the late-50’s, RCA flooded the market with excessive amounts of product. For a time, it made economic sense, but once the mid-60’s arrived, that old business philosophy was outdated and ultimately counterproductive on all levels.

Throughout the late-60’s and into the late-70’s up until Elvis’ death, he was contracted to release 2-3 albums of new material PER YEAR. It is clear that Elvis was badly mismanaged by Colonel Tom Parker during that era, but that sums it up if there was ever any doubt. What other mainstream superstar was contracted to release multiple albums of NEW material in one calendar year? That was an era when labels released one album at the most by many of the top performers per year and in many cases, a couple of years could pass between projects. Obviously Elvis’ studio work suffered from this unrealistic release schedule in addition to his inhibiting publishing arrangements.

Because of this insane contract he had with RCA, the market was flooded with loads of product consisting of haphazardly thrown-together studio albums of mediocre tracks, compilations, and live albums. Think about it; Elvis’ last huge hit “Burning Love” was released on an RCA budget album with reissued soundtrack material from the 60’s. That should have been the lead-off single on a rock album. A year later in 1973, Elvis hit number one on the album charts with his “Aloha From Hawaii” soundtrack album during the first quarter of the year. Instead of marketing and promoting it like other labels had done with big live albums, RCA rushed out a substandard studio album in the second quarter of the year leaving the live album that had so much sales potential to fade away with little fanfare. Talk about horrible A&R representation. Between Tom Parker and Joan Deary at RCA, Elvis’ recording career didn’t have a chance during the last decade of his life.

The madness never stopped. After Elvis’ passing (unless you believe he faked his death and is driving an 18 wheeler and living in a doublewide in Kalamazoo), RCA continued to roll out compilations and reissues endlessly. The market has been flooded with excessive product for over 30 years. There have been countless misguided reissue campaigns during the past 15 years that have been aborted and not completed.

Elvis’ catalogue is a mess. For the general consumer, it is a daunting and impossible task to find a proper starting place if they are interested in checking out Elvis’ music. What compilation should they start with? 2003’s “ELV1S 30 Number 1 Hits” was an attempt to create the one big hits album everyone had to have in their collection, and it sold nearly 10 million copies, but it was ultimately relegated behind newer compilations. BMG finally had a huge Elvis hit on their hands and they quickly moved on leaving the future sales potential behind once again.

There is a reason why The Eagles’ “Greatest Hits Vol. 1” is the biggest selling album in U.S. history (not only because the music is of high quality). There hasn’t been a flood of Eagles’ compilations issued annually for decades. One doesn’t come across Eagles titles like: “Eagles Love Songs,” “The Eagles Sing Country,” “The Eagles – An American Band,” “The Eagles Live In The 70’s,” “The Eagles – The Henley & Frey Songbook,” “The Eagles – A Taste Of America,” “The Eagles Sing All Kinds,” “The Essential Eagles,” etc. For years, the consumer had essentially two options if they wanted an Eagles compilation and ultimately “Greatest Hits Vol. 1” sold massive amounts. Clear the shelves of endless Presley compilations and focus on one or two, and the sales would be massive. It isn’t a complicated concept. “ELV1S 30 Number 1 Hits” could still be a huge selling album, but it is now just one of many choices of Elvis compilations.

Aside from endless compilations, there hasn’t been a focus to market and promote key albums from Elvis’ catalogue. As pointed out, there was always loads of product on the shelves, but Elvis still released some very high quality studio albums and live albums. BMG (now Sony/BMG) could have spent some time addressing this, but they never really did. In the late-90’s, some classic Presley titles were reissued with soft liner notes, remastering and bonus tracks (they weren’t really bonuses consisting of outtakes, but rather extra songs already available on many other releases) – but that reissue campaign was aborted. There is no reason why one of Elvis’ greatest studio achievements, “Elvis Is Back!,” should be out of print on the mainstream Sony/BMG catalogue. So what if it doesn’t sell huge units? There has to be a need for some sort of artistic integrity and desire to present the recording legacy of Elvis Presley in a historically accurate fashion.

Sony keeps a lot of Miles Davis’ albums in print, and more than a handful cannot be moving big units. Yes, there are plenty of Miles Davis compilations, but for consumers looking to explore his catalogue and body of work in a more extensive way once they graduate past compilations, they can locate a vast majority of his catalogue titles. In Elvis’ case, good luck finding anything.

There is an Elvis Presley collector’s label run out of Sony/BMG Denmark by longtime Elvis producer and archivist Ernst Jorgensen called Follow That Dream. A lot of Elvis’ catalogue albums are available in deluxe form from this collector’s label, but at a very high price. Why should one of music’s most influential and greatest artists have the gems from his catalogue available through fan club outlets and as Amazon imports at excessively high prices?

Now with the end of the CD era in sight and Sony/BMG facing some serious problems, it is hard to imagine the Elvis Presley catalogue will get the much needed attention it deserves. What would be the label’s incentive to try to organize Elvis’ catalogue and shape it with some artistic integrity? They have run his catalogue like used car salesmen and the result speaks for itself. Ultimately, Sony/BMG will focus on moving Elvis’ catalogue online and a lot of special performances will be ignored and forgotten while the hits will be recycled over and over with no direction or historic representation.

Anyone remotely interested in Elvis and not sure where to start, try to find any of these titles of interest before they are gone:

*Elvis At Sun
*Elvis Presley
Elvis Presley [deluxe edition] (Follow That Dream release)
Elvis
Loving You
*Elvis Is Back!
Elvis Is Back! [deluxe edition] (Follow That Dream release)
Something For Everybody
Tomorrow Is A Long Time
*Memories: The 68 Comeback Special
*Tiger Man
*From Elvis In Memphis
Suspicious Minds – The Memphis 1969 Anthology
*Elvis At The International (Follow That Dream release)
All Shook Up (Follow That Dream release)
*That’s The Way It Is [special edition]
One Night In Vegas (Follow That Dream release)
*Elvis Country
An Afternoon At The Garden
Burning Love
On Tour Rehearsals (Follow That Dream release)
Aloha From Hawaii
Raised On Rock [deluxe edition] (Follow That Dream release)
Today [deluxe edition] (Follow That Dream release)
The Jungle Room Sessions (Follow That Dream release)
Elvis At The Movies
Platinum [boxset]

*Essential Titles

A Look At The O2 Gig

I have also always been ambivalent about a possible Led Zeppelin reunion. Huge offers of 9 figure guarantees for a tour have been extended to the band for years. They have not taken the bait; which means a reunion tour would have to be more about money. A few attempts to become a working unit again have been derailed a couple of times since their break-up in 1980. One senses that Jimmy Page has wanted a full-scale reunion for years and that Jones would ultimately come aboard without much hesitation. Robert Plant has always been the odd man out. He is the guy that made it difficult for Page to release archival material for years because of his veto power in the band. Will he embrace this new found inspiration with Led Zeppelin and agree to additional shows?

Plant seems to be an artist that likes to be inspired and pushed into new areas of exploration. He ultimately embraced his past with Zeppelin and reconnected with Page in the mid-90's during the Unledded and Walking Into Clarksdale projects, but when it started to feel like the collaboration was turning into Led Zeppelin, he bailed. Can anyone familiar with the inner workings of the band and Plant as an artist confidently say that he would be content to take on a massive tour under the Led Zeppelin banner? Maybe a few isolated gigs or festivals, but a full-scale world tour? It would not end on a positive note.

The recordings are starting to circulate from the triumphant O2 gig. It is easy to understand how being in the audience would have been an amazing concert experience. LED ZEPPELIN was actually on stage playing a full ROCK set! The energy from within the arena must have been phenomenal and inspiring. That is why all the reports from those that attended are glowing. How often do real, authentic music events take place in 2007? The concert experience has been lacking substance in many cases for a long time. The anticipation of Led Zeppelin playing together built this show up to something greater than a typical rock concert.

But was it really THAT good? How many times have you been to a show and thought it was incredible? Then shortly after you were presented with a recording of the gig and realized that it sounded a LOT better when you were experiencing it live? I'm not saying the O2 gig was mediocre or even a failure, it was far from it. I can only base my opinion from audience tapes. Actually, the concert was better than I thought it would be. The set-list was very strong and some of the renditions such as “No Quarter” and Kashmir” were phenomenal. Still, a closer look at what is circulating at the moment shows a strong show, but not the earth-shattering event some are boasting of.

Plant was incredible - which isn't too much of a shock considering he has been singing extremely well during his Strange Sensation tours over the past few years. Jones being the highly gifted musician that he is was awesome as expected. Page on the other hand was forgettable. He didn't bomb, but any seasoned session guitarist could have pulled it off as well as he did. But was he really playing any better in 1977? He peaked in 1973. Jason Bonham was the sentimental and appropriate choice on drums. He held it together, but he didn't add any magic to the music either. He almost sounded tentative and pedestrian at times.

So, this show kicked ass from all accounts. But would it on a nightly basis? Just ask Clapton. He regretted playing the Madison Sqaure Garden shows with Cream after the Royal Albert Hall reunion gigs. Zeppelin should release a DVD of this concert and walk off into the sunset with their heads held up high. The only thing that has really tarnished their legacy since breaking up in 1980 is the flood of hits compilations/boxsets released during the past 17 years. Somehow, one has to assume that a mammoth tour won't add any credibility to the cause. If they go out next year, the shows will become less and less of a revelation as the tour unfolds.

Still, most fans that can get their hands on a ticket will pay the $250+ admission fee to see it without any hesitation. Personally, I would be more elated if Page issued an Earl’s Court CD/DVD combo boxset of the famous 1975 gigs.

Led Zeppelin - Live In London 12/10/07

Led Zeppelin returns for one night in London. Will more shows follow?

The concert just ended, but here is how the set-list appears to have played out:

Good Times Bad Times
Ramble On
Black Dog
In My Time Of Dying
For Your Life
Trampled Underfoot
Nobody's Fault But Mine
No Quarter
Since I've Been Loving You
Dazed And Confused
Stairway To Heaven
The Song Remains The Same
Misty Mountain Hop
Kashmir
**encore**
Whole Lotta Love
Rock And Roll

Fantastic set. Hopefully it sounds as good as it looks.

Karaoke Loser

Journey has a new lead singer. Arnel Pineda of the Philippines now gets to front the once great rock band; which is now a parody of its former self. Guitarist Neal Schon saw Pineda (who was fronting a cover band called Zoo) on YouTube belting out Journey songs. Journey is after all the world’s greatest karaoke band, so it is a perfect fit.

The Quintessential line-up of the band was Steve Perry, Neal Schon, Ross Valory, Steve Smith, and Jonathan Cain. They recorded some incredible albums, toured the world playing to record breaking audiences, and produced some of the best rock hits of their generation. And while they were all highly skilled musicians, the musical element that elevated the band to the elite heights of the rock industry – was the brilliant lead vocals of Steve Perry.

Once vocalist extraordinaire Steve Perry exited the band, all legitimacy went with him. With Perry fronting the band, Journey was an arena headlining band with credibility. Once he left, they became a joke. His replacement, Steve Augeri, was an adequate singer, but also helped the band evolve into a B-level rock band subjected to a career on the oldies/has-been touring circuit with the likes of a stripped down Styx and Reo Speedwagon.

Ultimately, the vocals were too taxing and Augeri blew out his voice. Jeff Scott Soto, a total hack, filled in for Augeri for a short period of time before the band knew it needed to find a suitable replacement. Rumors immediately surfaced that Steve Perry would return. That was of course pure fantasy, but you can bet the band tried to somehow reconcile with him because the financial rewards and the return to rock royalty status would have been huge had Perry been interested.

I started laughing out loud when I saw the news that Neal Schon discovered the newest front man of Journey on YouTube covering Journey tunes with his karaoke band. Talk about sinking to a new low. Where did Neal see the footage? In his cabin on a cruise ship scouting new singers in cocktail lounges and 3rd rate Vegas-style shows? What a joke.

Schon says Pineda doesn’t sound synthetic and doesn’t emulate anyone. He goes on to say that the band feels reborn. Journey has become a total embarrassment. The band knows they mean nothing now, but they needed a new vocalist so they could continue their endless touring. You can’t blame the guys for wanting to make a living. But when you hear an advertisement for a Journey concert, Steve Perry’s voice comes booming through the speakers and frankly, I have always felt this is false advertising because once the ticket holder shows up at the venue for the show, Steve Perry will not be on that stage.

Don’t get me wrong, I am not a huge Journey fan, but the quintessential line-up did produce some strong and memorable music during the 80’s. First and foremost, I admire Steve Perry’s vocal abilities. He was a tremendous talent. He once fronted an immensely popular mainstream band – now his former band is a karaoke machine with a revolving door of second-rate vocalists. Why pay $50+ dollars to see a Journey show? Just log onto YouTube and you may very well see the next lead singer.

Is This Necessary?

Everyone knows the major labels like to issue compilations and vault material around the holidays. The casual fan is likely to pick up a compilation of hits or holiday music and a devoted fan is likely to pick up a vault release without much reservation during the 4th quarter. Sometimes great care goes into these releases and sometimes it is obvious that a label is throwing out a title with reckless abandon.

Sony recently issued a new Stevie Ray Vaughan compilation titled “Solos, Sessions & Encores.” The title pretty much sums up the content. It is a haphazard collection of a wide range of performances ranging in sound quality and performance quality. In fact, it is the biggest disappointment out of all the posthumous SRV releases.

The record label put very little effort into this compilation. The concept is an interesting one – compiling a release of music focusing on some of Vaughan’s collaborations with other artists. But the release falls flat. A handful of the performances are pulled from video feeds leaving the sound quality somewhat muddy and lifeless. Others are from some well-known bootlegs (taking away any intrigue for hardcore fans) and others are from the “SRV” boxset.

The liner notes are a mess and are inaccurate. For example, the notes state that Vaughan’s collaboration with Jeff Beck on “Going Down” is a gem from the 1984 CBS Records Convention in Hawaii, but it is actually the same performance from the “SRV” package recorded during 1989 in Albuquerque. Vaughan and Beck didn’t play “Going Down” in Hawaii and Sony should know this. Later in the liner notes, it states that this track is actually from “SRV!" Who was the editor on this project? Careless effort with artwork and liner notes is inexcusable. All it does lower the credibility of the project.

“Solos, Sessions & Encores” is really a peculiar release. Most of these performances should have been part of the “SRV” boxset. It almost feels like a lost disc from that project. For the most part, Sony has done a decent job with Stevie Ray Vaughan’s archival projects. Still, there are some holes that need to be filled.

There still is not a premiere live album available. “In The Beginning” is an exciting snapshot of an early Vaughan club gig, but it is highly incomplete with a handful of fantastic tracks from that show remaining in the vaults. “Live At Carnegie Hall” is another teaser – why wasn’t this historic concert released in its entirety? This one should have been a two disc set. The “SRV” boxset has some nice live material, but it is piecemealed and the end result leaves the fan wanting complete shows. “Live At Montreux” for the most part showcases two complete gigs, but the actual concerts are not overly memorable. Sony has a lot of concert recordings in the vaults – a complete concert released during the 4th quarter sales period of this year would have served Stevie Ray Vaughan’s legacy well and filled a void at the same time. The aforementioned CBS Record Convention could have been a nice release.

This new compilation from Sony is a joke. The label rushed out “Solos, Sessions & Encores” to capitalize on some holiday sales. Some executive somewhere was probably looking at the horrible numbers on some balance sheet, panicked, and decided to tap into the SRV vault to quickly issue some product in hopes of moving a few additional 4th quarter units for the label. It is depressing that Stevie Ray Vaughan’s legacy is being subjected to this used car salesmen technique. Shame on Sony.

Mr. Fantasy At The Crossroad’s Festival

Eric Clapton’s “Crossroads Guitar Festival 2007” DVD was recently released. There are some fantastic performances on it from Robert Cray & Jimmie Vaughan, Johnny Winter, John McLaughlin, Doyle Bramhall II, Buddy Guy, Jeff Beck and Clapton’s band. But the one artist that blew me away was Steve Winwood.

Winwood’s first appearance on the DVD is a collaboration between himself and Clapton’s band on some Blind Faith numbers. When he started playing “Can’t Find My Way Home,” I stopped what I was doing and was glued to the screen. I realized I was looking at one of the most talented artists from the past 40 years. I had chills during this track. His performance of “Dear Mr. Fantasy” was also stunning.

His vocals were sensational. While most of his contemporaries have blown out their voices, he still sings like he did when he was in his early twenties. He hits every note and doesn’t have to change the pitch of the song to match his current range because he still has the same vocal range he has always had.

He is also a pretty accomplished guitarist. Anyone familiar with Winwood knows he is a highly skilled and gifted musician, but his lead guitar playing was dazzling at times during his Crossroads Festival performance.

Clapton’s Crossroads DVDs are highly entertaining musical adventures and well worth the money (they also support a great cause), but the 2007 edition is essential for the five Winwood performances alone. Steve Winwood’s appearance on this new DVD is a reminder of how the great musicians can inspire by simply playing one note. They don't need flash and a circus atmosphere on stage - because with the great ones, their music talent transcends everything.