It was 25 years ago today - Live Aid

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what started out as the reaction by a fading rocker to a news report on famine in Africa culminated 25 years ago today with the greatest music event the world has ever seen - Live Aid.

Showcasing almost every major band in the western hemisphere, the concert was so large it had to take place in two venues in two timezones - RFK stadium in Philadelphia, PA and Wembley Stadium in London.

While the main thrust of Live Aid was to help the famine stricken in Ethiopia, a side benefit of the day was the turning of ordinary bands into superstars... which was bound to happen with a global audience in the HUNDREDS of millions.

Who can forget Freddie Mercury's amazing call and response during Queen's set or the career making U2 set where they actually ran out of time and couldn't play their current single "Pride" (but who can forget that rendition of "Bad"?). Then there was Phil Collins playing at both venues, thanks to Concorde, or the performance by Duran Duran creating a historic howler on the #1 single of the day "A View to a Kill".

It's hard to be cynical about an event that did so much for so many. Most egos were left at the door and it made for one of the most entertaining days of music ever. In some ways, Live8 tried to replicate the magic for the 20th anniversary.

Live Aid was not only a concert with a roster of chart toppers, it was an event of its era and of its day, the greed is good generation giving something back with no strings attached.  That's something you can't replicate - not in 2005 and not in 2015. Just ask those who didn't buy Band Aid II or Band Aid 20.

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Men at Work ordered to pay 5% royalties on "Down Under"

Men at Work via last.fm

Having been found guilty this past winter of plagiarism for one of their biggest hits "Down Under", it has been announced this week that Men at Work are to pay a mere 5% of song royalties accrued since 2002, as well as on future earnings.

The track, an unofficial Aussie national anthem, tells the story of a backpacker travelling the world and includes a number of iconic Aussie images - including the narrator being offered a Vegemite sandwich.

Featured throughout the song is a flute riff that has now been proved to be ripped off from the Aussie folk song "Kookaburra Sits in the Old Gum Tree."

The 5% awarded is a fraction of the 60% royalty claim Larrikin Music, owners of the copyright to "Kookaburra Sits in the Old Gum Tree" were seeking.

Lead man at work Scottish-born Colin Hay, who co-wrote the song with fellow bandmate Ron Strykert, has maintained that any reference to the Aussie folk song was "inadvertent, naive, unconscious".

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Yazoo to reconnect with live album

For a band that only released two albums and a handful of singles during their very, very brief existence, Yazoo seem to continue to mine their catalogue to come up with new and interesting releases.

This week it was announced that the duo's short "Reconnected" tour in 2008 (which was to promote the 4 disc boxset "In Your Room") is being prepped for a CD release on the 27th September.

The set is scheduled to be released by Mute Records as a 2-CD set, a limited edition 2-CD set with 32 page hardcover book and digital download.

The tracklisting is as follows:

CD1

1. Nobody's Diary (04:53)
   
2. Bad Connection (04:02)
   
3. Mr Blue (04:03)
   
4. Good Times (03:32)
   
5. Tuesday (03:04)
   
6. Ode To Boy (04:18)
   
7. Goodbye '70s (02:53)
   
8. Too Pieces (03:35)
   
9. In My Room (03:31)
   
10. Anyone (03:32)
    
11. Walk Away From Love (03:10)

CD2
1. State Farm (04:02)
   
2. Sweet Thing (03:55)
   
3. Winter Kills (04:22)
   
4. Midnight (04:34)
   
5. Unmarked (03:31)
   
6. Bring Your Love Down (Didn't I) (03:34)
   
7. Don't Go (05:56)
   
8. Only You (03:06)
   
9. Situation (06:23)

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Front Line Assembly chart success

Image by pellesten via Flickr

As a fan of Canadian industrial band Front Line Assembly, I resigned myself to being in the minority. Unlike breakout acts of the genre like Nine Inch Nails and Ministry, FLA (as fans call them) never reached the heady heights of mass market success.

Indeed, they've had more success over the years with their side project Delerium, especially a track they did with Sarah McLachlan called "Silence" which seemed to ignite both acts' careers in the UK back in the early 2000s.

Having said that, it was with surprise, bewilderment and joy that I discovered Front Line Assembly not only have a new single out, but that it's charted in the US. Not one of the usual "scraped in at #198 on the Hot 200" that people mutter under their breath.

Oh no, ladies and gentlemen, the new single "Shifting Through The Lens" has reached the heady heights of #13 on the influential Billboard singles chart.

As lead Assembler Bill Lieb told website Side-Line, "We are really happy about the buzz and all the good feedback. This is the first time in many years that we have a release on the Billboard charts."

My hat is off the Bill Lieb and co. So much so that I spent a chunk of today revisiting my favourite FLA album, "Caustic Grip".

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Spotify for Android finally updated

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After what seems like an eon since the iPhone release of the latest Spotify client, news comes today that the app for Android phones has finally been updated.

This latest release, version 0.4.04 is HUGE! It includes all the social aspects of the revamped desktop client as well as the biggie request that's been clogging the internet since the mobile apps were released - Last.FM scrobbling enabled.

The Cure may finally disintegrate in May!

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One of the greatest albums of all time was released in 1989.

Featuring murky, dark and painful material "Disintegration" was the pinnacle of the Cure's musical output of the 80s. Building on the difficult double album "Kiss Me, Kiss Me, Kiss Me", "Disintegration" continued "Kiss Me"'s dark sense of foreboding, and expanding it into one of moodiest, most perfectly claustrophobic soundscapes of recent times.

It's been a long time in coming - especially in the run of Cure reissues which have been coming out in dribs and drabs for over five years - but this masterpiece is finally going to see the light as part of the deluxe edition range in May. There were rumours that due to general declining CD sales and a fallout with their (ex) record label, the reissues of Cure material was ceasing.

A post on The Cure's official website, however, has proven the rumours to be just that.

As if almost re-booting the reissue phase, "Disintegration" is being unleashed in a deluxe THREE CD set in time for the album's 21st anniversary.

The collection will feature a bonus disc of 21 songs in mostly demo form, as well as an expanded version of the "Entreat" live album that originally came out in France. The original version only featured 8 tracks, the reissue now features the entire "Disintegration" album live.

Thankfully most of the online vendors aren't playing silly beggars with the price. You'll be able to grab this 3 discer for under £12 from the usual suspects.

Tracklisting

CD1 DISINTEGRATION

01. Plainsong
02. Pictures of You
03. Closedown
04. Lovesong
05. Last Dance
06. Lullaby
07. Fascination Street
08. Prayers for Rain
09. The Same Deep Water as You
10. Disintegration
11. Homesick
12. Untitled

CD2 RARITIES (1988 - 1989)

ALL PREVIOUSLY UNRELEASED VERSIONS (* PREVIOUSLY UNRELEASED SONG)

# PRAYERS FOR RAIN (instrumental demo)
# PICTURES OF YOU (instrumental demo)
# FASCINATION STREET (instrumental demo)
# HOMESICK (instrumental)
# FEAR OF GHOSTS (instrumental)
# NOHEART (instrumental) *
# ESTEN (instrumental demo) *
# CLOSEDOWN (instrumental demo)
# LOVESONG (instrumental demo)
# 2LATE (alt version - instrumental)
# THE SAME DEEP WATER AS YOU (instrumental demo)
# DISINTEGRATION (instrumental demo)
# UNTITLED (alt version - instrumental)
# BABBLE (alt version - instrumental)
# PLAINSONG (rough mix)
# LAST DANCE (rough mix)
# LULLABY (rough mix)
# OUT OF MIND (rough mix)
# DELIRIOUS NIGHT (rough mix) *
# PIRATE SHIPS (rough mix) *

03. ENTREAT PLUS Live At Wembley 1989
1. Plainsong
2. Pictures of You
3. Closedown
4. Lovesong
5. Last Dance
6. Lullaby
7. Fascination Street
8. Prayers for Rain
9. The Same Deep Water as You
10. Disintegration
11. Homesick
12. Untitled

6 Music's demise makes me sad

I missed out on the pirate radio revolution of the 60s and the whole radio licence expansion fight led by Xfm and Virgin Radio back in the 90s.

However, I will always remember my first taste of 6 Music, the BBC's digital only bridge between radios 1 and 2. There was just something intangibly cool about the station. It wasn't the way they wore their indie cred on their sleeve, leaving the rubbish one hit wonders of modern pap for radio 1 and the safe somewhat twee pop for radio 2.

I always found 6 Music to be that cool older brother who always had the best records and the cool friends - someone to aspire to. Unlike Radio 1 who was this far away from an ASBO and radio 2 who'd nodded off before dinner with slippers on and pipe in hand.

6 Music would never get the listeners it's siblings got, for the main reason that DAB is still an exclusive club. Sure it's available on the net and through various television systems, but there's a LOT of entertainment competition when you're at your PC or plonked in front of your telly.

The Beeb have always been able to forge in new directions that more commercial ventures wouldn't be able to dare, and in some avenues (iPlayer) they've hit paydirt.

I still believe there's life left in 6 Music, and I tune in from time to time on my PC, as I never did get dabbed up.

If it does die, I will be saddened, as if I had my way Radio 1 would have been for the guillotine around the time of John Peel's (the last surviving reason to tune in) passing.

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