YES AND KING CRIMSON MEMBERS RELEASE NEW LP!

YES and KING CRIMSON Members Collaborate on the New Album by Peter Banks and David Cross – Crossover is OUT NOW!

David Cross was a member of King Crimson during the 1970s and the late Peter Banks was the original guitarist in YES.

The guitar and violin parts for this NEW STUDIO ALBUM were recorded on the 10th of August 2010 in an afternoon of improvisation.

Of the release, David Cross said “The response from the guest musicians was truly wonderful in the way that they gave their time and talent to this project and I would like to thank them on behalf of Pete and myself. They were asked to ‘interpret the music as freely and creatively as you wish’ and they have turned in incredibly skilled and inspiring performances which were not easy given the improvised nature of the starting material and the spontaneity of the structures.”

The resultant album was produced by Tony Lowe and David Cross and the guest appearances were recorded during 2018 and 2019 and Crossover features:

Crossover

Pat Mastelotto
Tony Kaye
Billy Sherwood
Randy Raine-Reusch
Andy Jackson
Oliver Wakeman
Jay Schellen
Jeremy Stacey
Geoff Downes

David Cross added: “When I recall the original recording session with Pete I remember his fresh almost naïve approach, his positive energy and his constant and restless search for something new. It was a joy to know Pete Banks and an honour and a privilege to play with him: I think he would be pleased with the way our album turned out.”

This is the last new album of material from the late Peter Banks, who passed away in 2013, and had wanted to see this material released.

*NEW* THE PRETENDERS WITH FRIENDS CD/DVD/BLU RAY BOX SET

“The Pretenders With Friends” - The Pretenders feat. Chrissy Hynde Performs With Special Guests Iggy Pop, Shirley Manson of Garbage, Kings of Leon and Incubus!

Blu-Ray/DVD/CD package featuring Bonus interviews with Band members, Slide show, Trailers & More!

Grammy Award-winning, multi-platinum selling band The Pretenders featuring the Legendary Chrissy Hynde performs with special guests including Iggy Pop, Shirley Manson of Garbage, Kings of Leon and Incubus, recorded live at the Decades Rock Arena in Atlantic City, NJ.

Songs include “Brass in Pocket”; “Message of Love” by Incubus, "I'm Only Happy When It Rains” by Shirley Manson, “Precious”; “Candy” by Iggy Pop and Chrissy Hynde", “Talk of the Town”; “Back on the Chain Gang”; “Drive” by Incubus; “Mystery Achievement", "Fools Must Die" by Iggy Pop, and "Middle Of The Road" encore performance featuring The Pretenders with Iggy Pop, Incubus, Kings Of Leon and Shirley Manson.

Decades Rock Live is an innovative live concert series that features performances by celebrated artists from rock to soul who have influenced popular music over the last 50 years, as well as performances from some of today's hottest recording acts who have been inspired by these legends. This 75 Minute concert program was filmed in Hi-Definition and is presented in Stereo and 5.1 Surround Audio.

The Pretenders - With Friends [Blu-ray]

Track Listing:
01 ”The Wait”
02 “The Losing”
03 “Back In The Chain”
04 “Talk Of The Town”
05 “I’m Only Happy When It Rains”
06 “Day After Day”
07 “Bucket”
08 “Up The Neck”
09 “Drive”
10 “Message Of Love”
11 ”Precious”
12 “Fools Must Die”
13 “Candy”
14 “Mystery Achievement”
15 ”Brass In Pocket”
16 “Middle Of The Road”

Bonus Materials
DVD includes Bonus interviews with Band members, Slide show, Trailers & More! Includes a CD also!

KING CRIMSON CELEBRATES KC50!

In celebration of 50 years, King Crimson announces 50 Concerts for 2019. The current eight musician line-up will perform 50 concerts across three continents as part of their 2019 Celebration tour.

Dates confirmed so far, are as follows:

King Crimson 2019 Tour Dates:
JUN 10, 2019 - HAUS AUENSEE, Leipzig
JUN 12, 2019 - JAHRHUNDERTHALLE, Frankfurt
JUN 13, 2019 - JAHRHUNDERTHALLE, Frankfurt
JUN 15, 2019 - LIEDERHALLE, Stuttgart
JUN 16, 2019 - LIEDERHALLE, Stuttgart
JUN 18, 2019 - ROYAL ALBERT HALL, London
JUN 19, 2019 - ROYAL ALBERT HALL, London
JUN 20, 2019 - ROYAL ALBERT HALL, London
JUN 22, 2019 - DE VEREENIGING, Nijmegen
JUN 23, 2019 - DE VEREENIGING, Nijmegen
JUN 26, 2019 - TEATR ROMA, Warsaw
JUN 27, 2019 - TEATR ROMA, Warsaw
JUN 29, 2019 - ZITADELLE, Berlin
JUL 04, 2019 - ROMISCHES THEATER AUGUSTA RAURICA, Basel
JUL 08, 2019 - ARENA DI VERONA, Verona
JUL 10, 2019 - STUPINIGI SONIC PARK, Torino
JUL 12, 2019 - DOCTOR MUSIC FESTIVAL, Escalarre
JUL 13, 2019 - DOCTOR MUSIC FESTIVAL, Escalarre
JUL 14, 2019 - DOCTOR MUSIC FESTIVAL, Escalarre
JUL 18, 2019 - ARENA SANTA GIULIANA, Perugia
AUG 23, 2019 - TEATRO METROPOLITAN, Mexico City
AUG 24, 2019 - TEATRO METROPOLITAN, Mexico City
AUG 27, 2019 - TEATRO DIANA, Guadalajara
AUG 29, 2019 - TEATRO METROPOLITAN, Mexico City
SEP 03, 2019 - GREEK THEATRE, Los Angeles
SEP 05, 2019 - FOX THEATER, Oakland
SEP 06, 2019 - FOX THEATER, Oakland
SEP 08, 2019 - PARAMOUNT THEATER, Denver
SEP 10, 2019 - AUDITORIUM THEATRE OF ROOSEVELT UNIVERSITY, Chicago
SEP 12, 2019 - WARNER THEATRE, Washington D.C.
SEP 14, 2019 - BUDWEISER STAGE, Toronto
SEP 17, 2019 - ST DENIS THEATRE, Montreal
SEP 19, 2019 - BOCH CENTER WANG THEATER, Boston
SEP 21, 2019 - RADIO CITY MUSIC HALL, New York City
SEP 23, 2019 - THE MET, Philidelphia
SEP 25, 2019 - HARD ROCK ROCKSINO, Cleveland
SEP 27, 2019 - THE RYMAN AUDITORIUM, Nashville
SEP 29, 2019 - THE COBB CENTER, Atlanta
OCT 06, 2019 - SUNSET STAGE ROCK IN RIO - Rio de Janeiro

Since the band's return to live performance in 2014, with critically acclaimed sell-out shows all over the world including two defining shows at the Roman amphitheater in Pompeii, the audience has been reinvented, as much as the band itself:

“In Pompeii, a large percentage of the audience was young couples; KC moved into the mainstream in Italy. I walked onstage knowing that this band's position in the world has changed level.” Robert Fripp

The band's packed three-hour shows regularly include material from twelve of their thirteen studio albums, including many of the songs from their seminal 1969 album In The Court of the Crimson King, described by Pete Townshend, as an “uncanny masterpiece”.

The new 8-piece line-up plays many historic pieces which Crimson have never played live, as well as new arrangements of Crimson classics – “the music is new whenever it was written”.

There are also new instrumentals and songs, as well as the compositions by the three drummers, Pat Mastelotto, Gavin Harrison and Jeremy Stacey, which are a regular highlight. A unique show, where eight of the best musicians in the world play music without distraction or adornment.

Physical music releases include:

February: King Crimson 1972 – 74 – (ABOVE) the second boxed set of 6LPs from Larks' Tongues in Aspic to the expanded USA in 200-gram vinyl.

May: Heaven and Earth: Multi-disc CD/ DVD-a/Blu-Ray set covering the period from the late 1990s – 2008 – completing the availability of all King Crimson studio albums in 5.1 multi-channel audio.

October: Complete 1969 Recordings CD/DVD-a/Blu-Ray set – completing the availability of all King Crimson studio albums on Blu-Ray. A vinyl set of 1969 recordings is also being planned

Other planned music releases include: 200-gram vinyl editions of Beat and Three of a Perfect Pair, the 2CD 2019 King Crimson tour box – 6th in the series of releases issued to accompany each tour from 2014 onwards

50 Collectors' Club Releases:
2019 will see the release of CLUB48, CLUB49 and CLUB50 - the final three in the Collectors Club series, taking it 50 releases in the band's 50th year. CLUB48 will be a recently discovered board recording of the concert in Newcastle on 8th December 1972 by the complete Larks Tongues in Aspic line-up before Jamie Muir left the band.

October: In The Court of the Crimson King Companion & Boxed Set - Released to coincide and celebrate the original release date of King Crimson's debut album on 12th October 1969:

Limited edition expanded boxed set of In The Court of the Crimson King including all the live recordings, the expanded multitrack 1969 recording sessions, as well as a new 5.1 remix of the album. DGM Companion Vol 1, edited by Robert Fripp & David Singleton – Vinyl sized coffee table book covering the history of In The Court of Crimson King, with the complete timeline, extensive photos, recollections and essays.

June: Sid Smith's long out-of-print acclaimed biography, In the Court of King Crimson, will be published in a revised, updated and expanded edition.

50 special Digital music releases, KC 50:

50 tracks, 1 per week featuring a new, rare or alternate take from across the KC catalog and available via all major download and streaming services. Each track will be accompanied by a special spoken word introduction by King Crimson manager/producer David Singleton.

DOWNLOAD THE FIRST 50 TRACKS HERE

Documentary:
Cosmic F*Kc: The King Crimson documentary, directed by Toby Amies, who has been given unique access to the current band as well as interviews with past members and archive footage. To be released in late 2019. An accompanying soundtrack will also be issued.

Limited edition Silk Screen prints of Barry Godber's famous “Screaming Face” cover from In The Court of the Crimson King:

200 limited edition Silk Screen prints of the outer sleeve of In the Court of the Crimson King. 100 copies of the interior. Printed at the actual size of the original art (46.5 inches x 27.5 inches including surround). All prints will be signed and numbered by Robert Fripp. Early purchasers will be given the option to buy matching numbered sets.

Clothing:
12 special 50th anniversary T-shirts, complementing the artwork for the KC50 digital download series.

For more information: www.dgmlive.com
paintings by Francesca Sundsten
photographs by Dean Stocking and David Singleton

ROBERT FRIPP, though best known for his work in King Crimson, has contributed to numerous albums by players as diverse as Brian Eno, David Bowie, Peter Gabriel, Blondie, Talking Heads, Daryl Hall, The Roches, Peter Hammill, Keith Tippett, David Sylvian, The Orb, and The Grid. His 1979 solo album, Exposure was described as “the Sergeant Pepper of avant punk.” He has appeared twice in Rolling Stone magazine's 100 Greatest Guitarist Of All Time poll, although Fripp claims these are likely to have been mistakes by the typesetter.

TONY LEVIN has been a member of King Crimson since 1981. Internationally renowned and constantly in-demand for his distinctive bass work, he also tours with Peter Gabriel with whom he has worked since 1977. He has appeared on albums by Paul Simon, John Lennon, David Bowie and countless others and recently formed his own band, Stick Men alongside Crimson drummer, Pat Mastelotto.

JAKKO JAKSZYK was a member of Level 42, before working with Mel Collins as part of the ex-KC alumni group, 21st Century Schizoid Band between 2002 - 2004. His solo album, The Bruised Romantic Glee Club (2006) was his first recorded collaboration with Fripp, followed by A Scarcity of Miracles in 2011. An acclaimed producer in his own right, Jakszyk has recently mixed Jethro Tull's Ian Anderson's UK Top 20 album, Homo Erraticus.
.
MEL COLLINS was previously a member of King Crimson 1970 - 1972 appearing on In The Wake Of Poseidon (1970), Lizard (1970), Islands (1971), Earthbound (1972) as well as a guest appearance on Red (1974), the final King Crimson album of the 1970s. He subsequently worked with The Rolling Stones, Pink Floyd's Roger Waters, Dire Straits, Eric Clapton and many others, before returning to King Crimson in 2014.

GAVIN HARRISON joined King Crimson in 2007, playing a series of dates in the USA the following year. A respected author and tutor, he has also recorded three albums with The Pineapple Thief, though Harrison is probably best-known for his work with Porcupine Tree. Modern Drummer magazine placed him in their Top 50 Drummers Of All Time.

PAT MASTELOTTO joined King Crimson in 1994 after working with Robert Fripp and David Sylvian. A member of the hugely successful American 1980s group and MTV favourites, Mr. Mister, he is at home in both experimental music working with KTU as well as pop and rock appearing on albums by The Rembrandts, Hall And Oates and XTC.

JEREMY STACEY is a British drummer. His early work included the 1990s band, The Lemon Trees (with twin brother Paul Stacey on guitars, Guy Chambers and others) and Denzil. He has also played with Sheryl Crow, the Finn Brothers, Nick Harper, Noel Gallagher, and many more. On March 7, 2016, it was announced that he would be taking the place of Bill Rieflin as the centre drummer on the 2016 King Crimson European tour, a position he retained even after Rieflin's return to the band.

BILL RIEFLIN is a multi-instrumentalist but is primarily known for his drumming with Ministry and industrial rock outfit KMFDM. From 2003 until their dissolution in 2011 he played drums with REM. He recorded with Robert Fripp on Birth Of A Giant and The Repercussions Of Angelic Behaviour (both 1999) and most recently in the ambient super-group, Slow Music in 2006 and 2014.

LONDON MUSIC LEGENDS CURVED AIR HAS NEW RELEASE!

Curved Air Announces Third Volume of its Ongoing Rarities Series With The Second British Rock Meeting 1972 – OUT NOW!

London - Legendary Prog band Curved Air is pleased to announce the third volume of its ongoing rarities series with The Second British Rock Meeting 1972 – OUT NOW!

The sound quality is of an astonishing fidelity for a live recording from the early 1970s and features the only known recordings of the band improvising!

The last track is an extended jam and a version of the band’s hit “Vivaldi” – lasting well over 30 minutes! The band had just released its Phantasmagoria album at the time and the line-up was:

Sonja Kristina
Darryl Way
Francis Monkman
Florian Pilkington-Miksa
Mike Wedgwood

Second British Rock Meeting 1972

The booklet features a written introduction by Francis Monkman, who mastered the audio and curated the release personally, along with two essays written by attendees at the festival and previously unseen pictures.

Francis recalls the concert: “Listening to the recording, I was at first puzzled that we'd decided to start the set with Everdance, especially as I had some kind of hazy memory of waiting in the dank pre-dawn gloom, trying to persuade my fingers to work in preparation for our customary opening with It Happened Today.

But the uncertainty of the initial holding pattern rhythm, together with Sonja's plaintive "what shall we do?" triggered the realisation that we had arrived on stage and plugged in, only to find that the guitar was for some now-long-forgotten reason not working. So we had to decide quickly once it became clear it wasn't going to be fixed in a hurry. And what you hear is the upshot...”

These recordings capture a unique set from the band’s heyday, their only recorded improvisations and all in unbelievable sound quality for a festival in the early 70s!

SCOTTISH SINGING LEGEND BARBARA DICKSON RELEASES NEW CD!

London – Scottish music legend Barbara Dickson has recently completed a new studio album, “Through Line,” which is released on CD on Gonzo Multimedia UK. The project features some of Barbara's favourite songs, from her early days as a singer on the Scottish folk circuit through to mainstream chart success in the '70s and '80s, re-recorded with the acclaimed Carducci String Quartet.

Each of the nine tracks has been specially chosen by Barbara for the album with completely new arrangements by Jethro Tull legend John O'Hara who also produces. O'Hara is the orchestral conductor, pianist, keyboardist and accordion player for Ian Anderson & Jethro Tull. He also produced and arranged the # 1 Billboard charting 2017 album “Jethro Tull, the String Quartets.”

Says Barbara, “The Carducci are wonderful, talented people and a pleasure to meet. This is a completely different avenue for me and I'm very excited with the results. The album will have lots of familiar music that people will know as well as some lesser-known favourites of my own.”

Barbara Dickson is a Scottish singer whose hits include “I Know Him So Well,” “Answer Me” and “January February.” She has placed fifteen albums in the UK Albums Chart from 1977 to 2018, and had a number of hit singles, including four which reached the Top 20 in the UK Singles Chart.

The Scotsman newspaper has described her as Scotland's best-selling female singer in terms of the numbers of hit chart singles and albums she has achieved in the UK since 1976.

She is also a two-time Olivier Award-winning actress, with roles including Viv Nicholson in the musical “Spend Spend Spend,” and she was the original Mrs. Johnston in Willy Russell's long-running musical “Blood Brothers.” On televison she starred as Anita Braithwaite in “Band of Gold.”

Through Line

Track listing

1. January, February

2. In the Night

3. Lord Thomas of Winesberry

4. The West Coast of Clare

5. Cam' Ye O'er Frae France?

6. The Caravan Song

7. Boulder to Birmingham

8. I Could Fall

9. Easy Terms

LEE SHAPIRO PLAYS THE GREATEST HITS OF FRANKIE VALLI!

Lee Shapiro

NEW YORK (Sept. 19, 2018) ― Who loves you, Frankie Valli? Your former musical director, Lee Shapiro, and he’s releasing a tribute album to salute you for 45 years as a friend and mentor.

Though he’s been playing the greatest hits of Frankie Valli on the world’s stages since he helped make them hits as his fellow Jersey Boy’s 1970s musical director and arranger, Shapiro brings an entirely new twist to the iconic vocalist’s music with the Sept. 28 release of Lee Shapiro Plays the Greatest Hits of Frankie Valli (Mink Mitten), a solo piano tribute, interpreted for the very first time as instrumental cocktail music.

Shapiro, who originally arranged two of Valli’s biggest Four Seasons hits in the mid-‘70s, the No. 1 smash “December, 1963 (Oh What a Night)” and “Who Loves You” (#3), continues to play Valli’s best across the USA these days with THE HIT MEN, his unique Supergroup of classic rock’s legendary side men.

“I always knew his music would be effectively adaptable to a piano solo format,” says Shapiro. “The songs are so harmonically clever and melodically interesting. Although it’s taken 45 years, the time is right.”

With fellow THE HIT MEN band member Jeff Ganz producing, Shapiro came up with a 10-song collection that reflects the set list from the first time they played Las Vegas together, with a big orchestra, at the original Aladdin Hotel & Casino in 1974. The selections span the 10-year period leading up to that moment, from early hits “Dawn” to later classics “Swearin’ to God” and “My Eyes Adored You,” with fan favorites such as “Marlena” and “Silence Is Golden,” and of course, the mid-‘60s ode to Sinatra, “I’ve Got You Under My Skin.”

The Hit Men

Valli launched Shapiro’s career as an unsuspecting 19-year-old Jersey Boy. He would go on to work alongside the likes of Barry Manilow, Cher, Tommy James & The Shondells, Chuck Berry, Tony Orlando, and many other superstars, before forming THE HIT MEN to forge the latest chapter.

Lee Shapiro Plays the Greatest Hits of Frankie Valli

TRACK LISTING: LEE SHAPIRO PLAYS THE GREATEST HITS OF FRANKIE VALLI

1. Can’t Take My Eyes Off of You

2. Dawn

3. My Eyes Adored You

4. Fallen Angel

5. I’ve Got You Under My Skin

6. Save It for Me

7. Our Day Will Come

8. Marlena

9. Swearin’ to God

10.Silence Is Golden

“Frankie threw me in the water and required that I swim,” Shapiro recalls. “Fortunately, I swam.”

Shapiro had been writing arrangements for an 18-piece jazz band in Garfield, NJ, when opportunity knocked. Valli was looking to replace Bob Gaudio in the Four Seasons and got a tip to check out Shapiro at a Jersey jazz club with the big band. That led to his audition in the banquet room at the Fountain Restaurant in Belleville, NJ, where the Four Seasons were rehearsing.

“Frankie came in, they put music in front of me, and said. ‘Play this,’” says Shapiro. “The song was ‘Dawn.’ I played the first chord, Frankie started singing, and I froze. He says, ‘What’s the matter? Why aren’t you playing? And I said to him, ‘Man, you sound just like the radio,’ and that cracked up everybody in the room. I felt foolish, but I continued, and the rest is history. They hired me despite my young age.

“As I look back on it, Frankie believed in me before I did. He provided the vehicle for me to learn everything I know about recording and performing, having put me in the studio with the likes of Bob Crewe, Bob Gaudio, Charlie Calello, and Artie Schroeck, as well as top session cats like Steve Gadd, Gordon Edwards, Richard Tee, Georgie Young, and singing stars Patti Austin, Darlene Love, and Donna Summer.

“The last time I saw Frankie it occurred to me that this album concept was more valid than ever, especially now that ‘Jersey Boys” has brought his music back to the forefront. This is my thank you.”

JAMES WILLIAMSON AND THE PINK HEARTS RELEASE A NEW CD JUNE 22

James Williamson of The Stooges has started a new band with Frank Meyer of The Streetwalkin' Cheetahs and Petra Haden of that dog. It's called James Williamson & the Pink Hearts and they will be releasing their debut album Behind The Shade on June 22 via Leopard Lady records. Order it Below.

Behind the Shade

Behind the Shade by James Williamson & the Pink Hearts will be released on LP+CD, standalone CD, and digitally by Leopard Lady Records on Friday, June 22, 2018.

Riot On The Strip from the Album "Behind The Shade" by

James Williamson & The Pink Hearts

Directed by Amy D'Allesandro

Cinematography by James Rodney Stolz

Edited by David Schneider

Executive Producer James Williamson

Williamson supplies all of the riffs, guitar parts, and most bass parts. In addition, Behind the Shade features a wide array of talented accompanists. Michael Urbano (Smash Mouth, Bourgeois Tagg, Todd Rundgren, John Hiatt) provides inventive percussion and driving drum patterns. Gregg Foreman, Hervé Salters, Paul Roessler, Nick Hart, and Audrey Vera guest on keyboards and piano. Additional musicians on the sessions are Jason Carmer (bass), Don Rooke (lap steel), Geoff Yeaton (saxophone), Tony Peebles (saxophone), and Steffen Kuehn (trumpets).

The origins of the Pink Hearts stretch back to 2012 when Williamson was searching for backing singers to appear on what would become the final Stooges album, Ready to Die (2013). Latter-day Stooges bassist Mike Watt suggested his friend Petra Haden to Williamson. “Petra came in with her violin and blew me away with her playing and singing,” recalls Williamson. “Months later when we recorded the basic tracks, I included her on what would become Ready to Die’s closing track, ‘The Departed’.”

RACKLIST:

1. "Riot on the Strip"
2. "Judith Christ"
3. "Pink Hearts Across the Sky"
4. "You Send Me Down"
5. "Destiny Now" *
6. "This Garden Lies"
7. "Purple Moon"
8. "Miss Misery"
9. "The Revolution Stomp"
10. "Behind The Shade"

CD BONUS TRACK:
11. "Died a Little Today" **

All songs written by Frank Meyer & James Williamson except:
* Paul Nelson Kimball & James Williamson
** Alejandro Escovedo