Articles

[blessingx]

Other references to the loss - 

Sheryl Crow: Universal Studios fire destroyed all my master tapes

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-48745638

Here Are Hundreds More Artists Whose Tapes Were Destroyed in the UMG Fire

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/06/25/magazine/universal-music-fire-bands-list-umg.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share

Edited June 26, 2019 by blessingx

[Torpedo]

Dear lord what a list. The only tapes I hadn't saved from there are Yoko Ono's, all the others are just worthy in the worst case, the vast majority are a terrible loss. I can't help wondering what would have been of current music if all those hadn't ever existed.

[jose]

Did not Sony also lose a large part of its masters (from Columbia) in a fire?

[ironbut]

There have been fires and worse, master tapes thrown in landfills because they were taking up space that could make more money another way.

I hang out on some archivist forums/mailing lists and I remember when the Universal fire happened. 

There were lots of questions about what was stored there and just a few hints about stuff like the Chess tapes.

UMG did a great job of covering up the whole thing by starting rumors that the claims of priceless masters were folks trying to spin a big story out of a minor one.

It wasn't until this NYT story was released that the true depth of the tragedy was beginning to be reveal to the general public.

Thankfully, other labels haven't been so careless and take their stewardship seriously. 

A lot of these disasters have been allowed to happen because of the endless shuffling of record labels and copyrights ownership. 

[ironbut]

Here's a NYT article from 2011 about a donation that UMG/Sony made to the Library of Congress. 

Instead of "Library of Congress Gets A Mile of Music" the subject line should read something like " UMG Tricks Library of Congress to Preserve and Archive A Mile of Music for Free,.. Forever!" And of course when they say Library of Congress guess who's footing the bill?

Also, it would seem that UMG got some help from the LOC regarding their cover up of what was lost in the fire. Note that 3/4 of the way in the article they mention the Chess tapes, all of which were lost in the fire.

https://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/10/arts/music/10masters.html

[blessingx]

Tom Petty’s Problematic Album Southern Accents https://longreads.com/2019/07/09/tom-pettys-problematic-album-southern-accents/

 

And related... Broken Record Wildflowers podcast https://brokenrecordpodcast.com/episodes#/episode-7-tom-petty-and-the-creation-of-wildflowers/

Edited July 9, 2019 by blessingx

[blessingx]

On Van Morrison’s Contractual Obligation album

[blessingx]

Glen Campbell and Jimmy Webb created an entirely novel kind of mature pop: countrypolitan

[blessingx]

The end of silence 

[Craig Sawyers]

Because of the power intensity of data centres, and the cost of noisy air conditioners for cooling them, there are very serious studies to build them in the bottom of lakes and the sea - the water is cold and becomes the cooling. Which removes the air conditioning entirely. And makes them quiet. And inherently secure too.

[blessingx]

Jumalattaret: John Zorn, Barbara Hannigan, and Stephen Gosling

[HiWire]

Found a cool article on the Japanese "city pop" genre of the 80s (my interest is mainly derivative – video game music influenced by city pop, e.g., Sega Genesis soundtracks):

https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/mbzabv/city-pop-guide-history-interview

 

Edited January 6, 2020 by HiWire

[blessingx]

Old Musicians Never Die. They Just Become Holograms. 
“But here’s the headline,” Shapiro went on. “Look at who’s gone, just in the last couple of years: Bowie, Prince, Petty. Now look who’s still going but who’s not going to be here in 10 years, probably, at least not touring: the Stones, the Who, the Eagles, Aerosmith, Billy Joel, Elton John, McCartney, Springsteen. That is the base not just of classic rock but of the live-music touring business. Yes, there’s Taylor Swift, there’s Ariana Grande. But the base is these guys.”

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/01/07/magazine/hologram-musicians.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share

Edited January 7, 2020 by blessingx

[mikeymad]

Bill Frisell: New Ideas in Old Songs
by Ken Micallef 

https://www.stereophile.com/content/bill-frisell-new-ideas-old-songs

 

 

[HiWire]

On 1/7/2020 at 10:51 AM, blessingx said:

Old Musicians Never Die. They Just Become Holograms. 
“But here’s the headline,” Shapiro went on. “Look at who’s gone, just in the last couple of years: Bowie, Prince, Petty. Now look who’s still going but who’s not going to be here in 10 years, probably, at least not touring: the Stones, the Who, the Eagles, Aerosmith, Billy Joel, Elton John, McCartney, Springsteen. That is the base not just of classic rock but of the live-music touring business. Yes, there’s Taylor Swift, there’s Ariana Grande. But the base is these guys.”

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/01/07/magazine/hologram-musicians.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share

I don't like the idea of holograms, or at least treating them like a performance. I get that they give event promoters something to sell, but, in my opinion, this is "dead music", not live music.

[Dusty Chalk]

Ok boomer

 

[blessingx]

James Taylor on Joni Mitchell, Carole King, and John Lennon 

“It’s a cynical thing,” he says. “But, you know, a mother really has to be there. But a father? Well, you can construct a father out of a few good episodes.”

Edited February 18, 2020 by blessingx

[blessingx]

'It sounded like the future': behind Miles Davis's greatest album 

[blessingx]

John Prine’s 15 Essential Songs 

https://www.nytimes.com/article/john-prine-songs.html?referringSource=articleShare 

[HiWire]

Not as serious... but long. The Top 20 Proggiest Prog Epics (see you next month):

https://www.loudersound.com/features/top-twenty-proggiest-prog-epics

Is it sacrilege to say that I've always enjoyed the album art of prog rock more than the music?

Edited April 14, 2020 by HiWire

[Dusty Chalk]

It will surprise you not at all that I’ve heard most of those.  It may surprise you a little that I’ve not heard all of them.

[HiWire]

Who has the time?

https://music.avclub.com/decorate-thine-facade-with-resplendent-self-seriousness-1798214487

AllMusic review of Fates Warning's 2000 album, Disconnected: "This is a significant effort by perhaps the most important progressive metal band of all time. Highly recommended." Whoa.

Edited April 14, 2020 by HiWire

[blessingx]

Chris Frantz: 'If you knew David Byrne, you would not be jealous of him' 

The ex-Talking Heads drummer talks about his revealing new book Remain in Love and a contentious relationship with the band’s frontman
https://www.theguardian.com/music/2020/jul/21/chris-frantz-talking-heads-david-byrne?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other 

[blessingx]

Happy 25th MP3 

https://hackaday.com/2020/07/27/mp3-is-25-years-old/ 

[HiWire]

Somewhat related – Defining the '90s Music Canon: https://pudding.cool/2020/07/song-decay/

You may recognize the song, but that doesn't mean you have to like it  😈

There are some interesting spikes in the graph at the bottom that might demonstrate the associative soundtrack / meme value of some songs over their musical value.

Edited July 28, 2020 by HiWire