Vince Clicks the Viral - Bill Cosby Covers the Beatles

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Monday Giveaway! The Beatles - Hit Single Collections

For this wonderful, post-Thanksgiving Monday morning, Stark has teamed up( yet again,) with Cornerstone Promotion and Amazon to offer you another fantastic giveaway. This time, we have two Beatles compilations up for grabs. The "Red" and "Blue" Beatles collections are remastered hit singles from both 1962-1966 ("Red") and 1967-1970 ("Blue"). Below is an expert from the press release:

The Beatles' original 1973 compilation 1962-1966 ("Red") and 1967-1970 ("Blue") have been remastered by the same dedicated team of engineers at EMI Music's Abbey Road Studios responsible for remastering The Beatles' original UK studio albums, carefully maintaining the authenticity and integrity of the original analogue recordings. The result is the highest fidelity the catalogue has seen since its original release. Both 2CD packages include expanded booklets with original liner notes, newly written essays by Bill Flanagan and rare photos. "Red" and "Blue" are the first Beatles compilations to be released after the band's 1970 disbandment, the popular collections each feature a selection of singles and album tracks written by the band's members

To order both compilations visit Amazon  HERE.

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Review: Dr. Dog's Shame, Shame

[mp3] Dr. Dog: "Shadow People"

[mp3] Dr. Dog: "Stranger"

I had the pleasure of talking to Zach Miller, pianist for Philadelphia retro-pop act Dr. Dog, last summer just as his band was about to record its sixth full length album in New York's Catskill Mountains.

In our conversation, I asked Miller if the task ahead of the band - to build upon its enormous success in the last five years, which has seen the quintet steadily rise from Philly's best kept secret to national darling - was daunting. What could the band possibly have in store for the follow-up to 2008's Fate, a career breakthrough that combined modern indie sensibilities with the classic pop of yesteryear?

Miller's reply, after hesitating for a moment to find the right word: "Directness."

At the time, I wasn't quite sure what to make of the answer, given my appreciation for the band's subtle sonic and lyrical touches that have come to enhance - if not define altogether - what Dr. Dog is about.

But eight months later, after spending copious time with Shame, Shame, the album Miller and his band mates wound up recording and another exceptional addition to an already sterling discography, I can't begin to think of a better descriptor.

Shame, Shame, released on Tuesday via Anti- Records, is direct in a way Fate, and 2007's We All Belong before it, were not. Its 11 songs speak to us like a friend would, without pretense or distraction, and are transmitted to us not through the funnel of studio wizardry, but right from the band's mouths and amps to our ears.

For the rest of the review, continue reading after the jump:

 
It was easy on past releases to get lost in the words of co-singers Scott McMicken and Toby Leaman, who coated their lyrics with enough ambiguity that they could mean different things to different listeners. But Shame, Shame is the two writers' most outwardly autobiographical album yet, leaving little to interpretation.

Take a song like "Shadow People," McMicken's vivid account of a desperate night in his West Philly neighborhood, an anthem set to Velvet Underground chords.

"The neon lights on Baltimore / every shadow's getting famous / In some backyard, in some plastic chair / Hoping these cigarettes will save us," McMicken sings, as he searches his street and city for any kindred spirits who might feel the same as he does.

In "Jackie Wants a Black Eye," he finds them in Jackie and John, two bar mainstays perpetually stuck in sad situations, and bonds with them over their mutual anguish. In a perverse, but strangely satisfying consolation, McMicken assures his friends they're "…all in this together / as we all fall apart / swapping little pieces / of our broken little hearts."

Joined by the real-life Jackie and John on the song's powerful coda, McMicken preaches those words as if they were the lonely man's gospel. Sure, it might sound uplifting for these souls to be alone together, but at the end of the day, they're ultimately still alone.

In fact, much of Shame, Shame deals with that isolation, a theme Leaman has chalked up to spending too much of his life on the road and the realization that it's primarily been of his own accord. Leaman's songs on the album deal with the pain of leaving his friends and family at home for long stretches of time (the beautiful country ballad "Station") and confronting himself about the person he's turned into on tour, while the rest of the world moves along without him (the sublime and aptly-titled opener "Stranger").

But don't think Shame, Shame is all gloom and doom. Far from it. The album carries on stylistically right where Fate left off: an exciting, at times euphoric, blend of 1960s and '70s pop with a current spin.

The band has been, ahem, dogged in the past for sometimes wearing its influences too heavily on its sleeve. It's near impossible to read a Dr. Dog review without seeing at least one of three musical benchmarks mentioned: The Beatles, The Beach Boys and The Band.

That's not without reason. It's true: Dr. Dog sounds a lot like those bands. But does it matter when it pays tribute to them - and then expands on their sound - so well?

Go ahead. Spot the references. There are Brian Wilson's California harmonies lurking in the background on nearly every song, John Lennon's spirit and guitar tones on "Later" and a constant energy from the entire ensemble making Shame, Shame sound like a studio version of The Band's famed Last Waltz concert.

But Dr. Dog, under the tutelage of producer Rob Schnapf (Beck, Elliott Smith) also adds new weapons to its arsenal: a Motown backbeat on "Unbearable Why," a sly R&B groove on the title track and a fractured guitar breakdown at the end of "I Only Wear Blue," to name a few.

Few bands are able to take cues from the past and translate them to the present so effortlessly. Shame, Shame is the document of Dr. Dog continuing to do just that, while managing to shift its lyrical and aural focus from careful to candid at the same time.

Dr. Dog is in the midst of a national headlining tour. The band will come home to Philadelphia on May 13, when it plays the Electric Factory at 8 p.m.

Billboard: A Retrospective on International Charts

Back in high school I used to write down the songs on Casey Kasem’s American Top 40 while listening on the radio. It took me a while to realize that those charts were published in Billboard, and that the newsstand across the street from our apartment building in the Bronx carried it. It was expensive (think it was $4), but I literally read it cover to cover. Because there was no way I could buy it weekly, I kept the same copy around for months at a time, studying it—and one of my favorite sections were the charts from other countries.

In 1980-81 at the height of my interest, songs by the Specials, OMD, Adam & The Ants, The Beat and The Teardrop Explodes all were top 10 singles in the UK. England as well that other countries in Europe, as well as Australia and even Japan were alternate realities where cool music was hugely popular.

~Michael Krumper, Stark Contributor

More on Billboard including Diane Birch, The Gossip and more after the jump.

Flash to this past week. Was looking at the Hits of the World Chart in Billboard, and saw that The Gossip has the #8 single in Germany and #10 in Australia with “Heavy Cross” and almost more impressively, Diane Birch has the #7 single in Japan with “Fools.”

Yep, I know that these countries have unbelievably crappy artists and songs that top their charts on a regular basis, just like we do. Somehow, I’m still left feeling the same way as I did way back when. I do love pop music--the new Miley single is great, sounds like “Genius of Love”- I’d just like to see “Stillness Is The Move”, “My Girls” and “Two Weeks” charting in the top ten next to her, not just in the NPR listeners top ten songs of the year. In a world of fragmentation, I’m somehow still dreaming of that alternate universe existing in the US—like they seem to have in other countries, sometimes.

Beatles to Remaster Catalog - Offer Exclusive mp3s

Yeah, we know, we're giving space and time to the Beatles, like they need it right? We're actually pretty sure you get in trouble for even mentioning the Beatles on the internet. Don't worry we'll get back to covering your band in a second. Allow us this indulgence. Apple and EMI are remastering and re-releasing the Beatles catalog and a whole bunch of other expensive (physical) crap on September 9th. Most people will view this as a ploy by EMI to get people to re-buy Abbey Road for the 1 millionth time. Of course it is. YET, at the same time, re-mastering is awesome. The records come out sounding great (most of the time) and they often come along with pretty packaging. The Martin family produced Beatles remix record LOVE featured some remastered Beatles tracks, and they sounded amazing. Columbia has done a great job re-mastering the Dylan catalog and the first three Leonard Cohen records; and you know what? It makes a difference. If you're not listening on vinyl, you deserve more than some crappy CD made in 1992 before they knew how to properly transfer the music. I'm just surprised this hasn't happened sooner. Bruce catalog??? Stay tuned for tons of Beatles mp3s coming on Stark.

"Twist and Shout" In This Year's Ferris Bueller Themed Halloween Parade

File this one in the "marginally about music, but still awesome" file. According to reports on bizbash.com - at this year's Halloween parade in the West Village (of NY), there will be a full-scale recreation of that amazing downtown Chicago parade scene in Ferris Bueller's Day Off. Scantily clad bar-maids and other vintage 80's-style folks will once again dance around a glorious German themed float to The Beatles' "Twist and Shout." We usually stay away from the parade like the plague - but this could be some damn good fun to watch.

"Event organizers confirmed Tuesday that the Ferris Bueller float will be a participant in this year’s Village Halloween Parade.

The brainchild of artists Mina Karimi and Kara Suhey, Project Bueller aims to recreate the Von Steuben Day parade scene from the 1986 John Hughes film Ferris Bueller's Day Off. The scene in question, you might remember, finds Matthew Broderick taking over a parade float and inspiring much of Chicago to join him in a round of the Beatles’ “Twist and Shout.”

In addition to participation from people on the float (who will be wearing matching barmaid uniforms), organizers are hoping parade watchers will help out. Everyone is encouraged to wear '80s business casual attire for added authenticity.

“It’s just the kind of thing we love,” said the parade’s artistic producing director, Jeanne Fleming. “The Halloween Parade, in one sense, is the Art Parade. A lot of the same folks work on both. And if you’re going to put that much effort out there, you might as well get it seen by a million people.”"

Fist pump to TICE on this one.

Dr. Dog at Rittenhouse Square

DR. DOG

RITTENHOUSE SQUARE

Philadelphia, PENNSYLVANIA

8.13.08

by ANDREW DANIELS

In "The Way The Lazy Do", a standout track from Dr. Dog's 2007 album We All Belong, co-frontman Scott McMicken sings, "It's just that time of year/ that brings them here." On a beautiful August night in center city Philadelphia, hundreds of music fans and curious passersby gathered together to hear the soulful pop of Dr. Dog. It could've been the weather, like McMicken alludes to in the song. It could've been a chance to encounter one of the country's premier live bands, up close and personal. Or maybe it had something to do with the fact that it was all free. Wednesday night marked the first of four weekly concerts held in Philly's historic Rittenhouse Square, presented by Philadelphia Weekly. The city of brotherly love's own Dr. Dog played a triumphant, rousing hometown show, and by the end of the night had converted an entire park into believers.

Full review and pictures after the jump.
Continue reading...

The band took to the stage -- a modest plywood creation akin to something one would find for picnic entertainment -- around 7:30 p.m., when the sun was just beginning to set. The front and both sides of the stage were lined with throngs of Dr. Dog hardcores, but there was ample room for casual park strollers and those who arrived late to the show to catch a great view. The band opened with "The World May Never Know", the lead-off to 2005's breakout Easy Beat, musing on life's odd -- but ultimately satisfying -- little wonders. They quickly transitioned into "The Old Days", one of the night's first of many cuts from their excellent new album, Fate, just released on Philly's Park The Van. With a chorus simple and catchy enough that even the pets in the park could sing along to ("Down, down, down"..."Thump, thump, thump"..."Chop, chop, chop"...) and a jaunty, speakeasy piano breakdown courtesy of Zach Miller, the song certainly turned heads.


The seamless shift between McMicken's vocals -- dreamy, harsh, Lennonesque -- and fellow songwrtier Toby Leaman's -- husky, soulful, Segeresque? -- executed itself just as well live as it does on record. Take the one-two punch of Fate's "From", a McMicken song, and "Hang On", a Leaman track that followed. The former is a perfect Beatles tune, complete with lilting harmonies and token nonsensical lyrics (choo-choo trains and choo-choo rain), while the latter is a classic rock showcase with tinges of gospel. One of Dr. Dog's best drawing points is their borrowing from so many kindred spirits: quite obviously The Beatles, The Band, and The Beach Boys are all apparent benchmarks, but a closer look will point to influences like Wilco, David Bowie and even James Brown. That "something for everyone" approach is what has carried the band so far in such a short time, and by surveying the diverse crowd in attendance, it's working in droves.

Naturally, as a band armed with a record still in its honeymoon stage, they drew their hour-and-a-half-long set largely from Fate. Ten of that album's 11 songs were present and accounted for, and all translated extraordinarily well. Fate's closing duo of "The Beach" and "My Friend" served as the end to the night's regular set, before the band brought out string and horn players to accompany them on several orchestrated songs. McMicken introduced the players as some of Philly's best musicians, and they proceeded to lend their talents to "Oh No", "Army Of Ancients", "The Breeze", "Uncovering The Old", "Worst Trip", and the crowning closer, "We All Belong." It was clear that this night was special for the band, who proudly performed for their friends and family -- members' parents were in attendance! -- in the city they call home. It was an entertaining and undeniably fulfilling show, capped by enjoying it in an intimate, picturesque and free setting.


Fate is out now on Park The Van Records, and the band embarks on a national tour starting on September 5th in Arlington, Virginia.