Following her critically acclaimed 2016 album, "A Seat At The Table", Solange has finally returned with new music that continues her exploration in to thought-provoking, alternative soul. For her fourth studio album, "When I Get Home", the singer focuses on her childhood hometown of Houston, TX by offering short songs, with most under three minutes, that continues to reflect on her feelings of the joy and struggle of being black in this world. The music that accompanies these tracks are jazz-influenced, experimental beats and sounds that enhance each song. This innovative album further pushes the singer out of the shadow of her famous sister and Solange has become an extraordinary and influential artist in her own right.
Roger Charlery, or as he was better known as Ranking Roger during his time with the British ska band, The Beat and later with General Public, has sadly passed away on March 27th at the age of fifty-six. The musician and vocalist had recently undergone surgery for two brain tumors and was also being treated for lung cancer.
Charlery was born in Birmingham, England of West Indian descent. As a teen, he was a drummer for the punk band, Dum Dum Boys before drifting in to the "two-tone" ska outfit, The Beat (or as they are know in this country, "The English Beat" for legal reasons) in 1978. This short-lived band didn't have a huge impact in America but they were wildly popular in their native Britain and Australia. They had their first hit with a cover of Smokey Robinson and the Miracles, "Tears of a Clown" in 1979 and followed that with the charting singles "Mirror In The Bathroom", "Save It For Later", "I Confess" and "Can't Get Used To Losing You".
After The Beat broke-up in 1983, Roger and fellow band mate, Dave Wakeling went on to form General Public with one of their biggest hits, "Tenderness" reaching the U.S. top-forty but they called it quits in 1986. Ranking Roger briefly joined members of another ska band, The Specials to form, Special Beat, later he became a part of Big Audio Dynamite, Mick Jones' band he created after being fired from The Clash, during their final couple of years together in 1996 and recorded two solo albums. In his later years, he was part of The Beat revival tour that included his son, Matthew Murphy who goes by the name, "Ranking Junior".
What in the world would Neil Diamond and Jay-Z have in common? They have both had their music inducted into the National Recording Registry for 2019 with Diamond's first major hit single, "Sweet Caroline" and the hip-hop artist's landmark album, "The Blueprint" receiving this prestigious honor. There were a total of twenty-five recordings selected that have been added to the Library of Congress for their cultural and aesthetic significance. These works range from early phonographs of Yiddish songs from the beginning of the 20th Century to the classic Cab Calloway call and response jazz song, "Minnie The Moocher" to Nina Simone's angry protest to the senseless murders during the Civil Rights era with "Mississippi Goddam"; the original soundtracks to the Broadway musical, "Hair" and the blaxploitation crime drama, "Superfly" and to the glittering disco of "You Make Me Feel (Mighty Real)" by Sylvester.
To be selected, the recordings must be at least ten years old and deemed "culturally, historically and aesthetically significant". The number selected for preservation has now reached 525 since 2002.
Here is the complete list of the twenty-five recordings being inducted in the 2019 National Recording Registry:
Yiddish Cylinders from the Standard Phonograph Company of New York and the Thomas Lambert Company (c. 1901-1905)
"Memphis Blues" (single) - Victor Military Band (1914)
Melville Jacobs Collection of Native Americans of the American Northwest (1929-1939)
"Minnie the Moocher" (single) - Cab Calloway (1931)
"Bach Six Cello Suites" (album) - Pablo Casals (c. 1939)
"They Look Like Men of War" (single) - Deep River Boys (1941)
"Gunsmoke" — Episode: "The Cabin" (Dec. 27, 1952)
"Ruth Draper: Complete recorded monologues" - Ruth Draper (1954-1956)
"La Bamba" (single) - Ritchie Valens (1958)
"Long Black Veil" (single) - Lefty Frizzell (1959)
"Stan Freberg Presents the United States of America, Vol. 1: The Early Years" (album) - Stan Freberg (1961)
"GO" (album) - Dexter Gordon (1962)
"War Requiem" (album) - Benjamin Britten (1963)
"Mississippi Goddam" (single) - Nina Simone (1964)
"Soul Man" (single) - Sam & Dave (1967)
"Hair" (original Broadway cast recording) (1968)
Speech on the Death of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. by Robert F. Kennedy (April 4, 1968)
"Sweet Caroline" (single) - Neil Diamond (1969)
"Superfly" (album) - Curtis Mayfield (1972)
"Ola Belle Reed" (album) - Ola Belle Reed (1973)
"September" (single) - Earth, Wind & Fire (1978)
"You Make Me Feel (Mighty Real)" (single) - Sylvester (1978)
"She’s So Unusual" (album) - Cyndi Lauper (1983)
"Schoolhouse Rock!: The Box Set" (1996)
The artists inducted in to this year's Rock and Roll Hall of Famewill be the British Goth band, The Cure; heavy metal rockers, Def Leppard; soul siren, Janet Jackson; gypsy queen, Stevie Nicks, the English alt-rock band, Radiohead, the elegant art rock outfit, Roxy Music and the psychedelic pop band, the Zombies. In order to be considered, at least twenty-five years must have passed since the musician’s first recordings were released in order to ensure that their contribution to music has stood the test of time.
The induction dinner and ceremony will be held March 29th at the Hall in Cleveland, Ohio with highlights of the speeches and performances honoring the inductees will be later shown on an HBO special on April 27th.
THE CURE
The Cure emerged during the end of the punk rock revolution and the rise of the new wave movement. The founding members of this band were school friends in Crawley, England and first played locally as Easy Cure. There were some conflicts over the direction of the band and eventually only bassist, Michael Dempsey, drummer, Lol Tolhurst and guitarist, writer and vocalist, Robert Smith remained. They decided to rename themselves "The Cure" and were signed to Fiction record label and released a still very controversial single, “Killing an Arab” in 1978. It certainly brought the band attention and their debut album, “Three Imaginary Boys” was released the following year. The band became known as leaders in the Gothic rock genre but Smith soon grew tired of their gloomy rock sound and decided to move the band in to a more distinctive pop direction after their 1982 album, “Pornography”. And The Cure found commercial success with their singles, “Let’s Go To Bed”, “Just Like Heaven”, “Lovesong” and “Friday I’m in Love”. There have been several line-up changes over the years yet Smith has remained the only constant member and there are plans for a new album sometime this year in celebration of the fortieth anniversary of The Cure’s first release.
DEF LEPPARD
Def Leppard is one of the most successful hard rock bands of all time with sales of over one hundred million records sold. This English band formed while classmates in school in Sheffield, South Yorkshire. In 1978, Pete Willis on guitar, Rick Savage on bass guitar, Rick Allen on drums and Joe Elliott on lead vocals, released the three-track, "The Def Leppard E.P.". After BBC Radio 1 DJ, John Peel gave their song, "Getcha Rocks Off" some heavy rotation, the record took off which lead to a major recording deal with Mercury Records. Def Leppard soon developed a loyal following among heavy metal fans and their major breakthrough came with their third album, "Pyromania" in 1983. With the singles, "Photograph", "Rock of Ages" and "Foolin'", the album was a massive success and would go on to sell ten million copies in the U.S. alone. Their follow-up, "Hysteria" in 1987 continued their winning streak and would become Def Leppard's biggest selling album with twenty-five million copies sold worldwide. While Pete Willis was fired in 1982 due to his serious drinking problem and replaced by Phil Collen and drummer, Allen lost his left arm in a car accident and now uses a custom electronic drum kit to play, Def Leppard are still rocking around the globe and plan to embark on a world tour this summer.
JANET JACKSON
We first met Janet Jackson as a cute eight year old appearing with her famous musical brothers, The Jackson 5 on their television variety program back in 1976. She had initially intended to become an actress and appeared on the sitcoms, "Good Times" and "Different Strokes" but her father eventually pulled her in to the family business. Jackson's first two albums featured polished r&b yet lacked a distinctive sound and failed to generate much interest. But it was when she was teamed-up with producers Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis for her third album, "Control" in 1986 that Jackson found her own voice. The record was an incredible success with six hit singles including her first number one pop song, "When I Think of You" and a Grammy nomination for Album of The Year. Jackson would go on to become a beloved and prominent figure in pop music with sales of over one hundred million records and ranked number seven on Billboard's list of the Hot 100 All-Time Top Artists.
STEVIE NICKS
With her earthy voice, gypsy style and poetic lyrics, Stevie Nicks had already achieved great success and fame as a member of the rock/pop group, Fleetwood Mac (who were inducted to the Hall in 1998) before deciding to begin a solo career. She released her debut, "Bella Donna" in 1981 which was met with critical and commercial acclaim with four hit singles (including a duet with Tom Petty on "Stop Dragging My Heart Around") and reaching the top of the Billboard 200 Album chart. Nicks would record eight studio albums including "24 Karat Gold: Songs from the Vault" from 2014 which featured new recordings of demos that Nicks had made over the years. And she is still performing with Fleetwood Mac and currently on tour with them.
RADIOHEAD
Radiohead is another popular British band who came together while meeting in school. While attending Abingdon Boarding School in Oxfordshire, England, guitarist Ed O'Brien, drummer Philip Selway, guitarist and singer Thom Yorke, bassist Colin Greenwood and his brother, multi-instrumentalist Jonny Greenwood formed a rock group called, On a Friday in 1985. They credit their music teacher for exposing them to a variety of different music like jazz, film scores, avant-garde and classical that would help shape and influence their future sound as a band. After they graduated from school, the band toured around Oxford until they drew attention by record labels. On a Friday were signed to EMI Records and the group agreed to change their name to "Radiohead" per the label's request. Their debut album, "Pablo Honey" was released in 1993 but the record and the singles failed to make much of an impact in their home country. However, the single, "Creep" would unexpectedly become a hit in Israel and the U.S. Radiohead's third album, "OK Computer" was their major breakthrough that went on to become a landmark record of the 1990's. The band's subsequent albums continued to experiment with various sounds and textures leading to Radiohead finding worldwide acclaim and a frenzied cult following.
ROXY MUSIC
Roxy Music was a popular and highly influential act in the 1970's largely in Europe and Australia. Formed by lead vocalist and chief songwriter, Bryan Ferry and bassist Graham Simpson, this stylish band brought sophistication to glam rock and would help inspire the future punk and new wave movements. They released their self-titled debut in 1972 and the eclectic album was well received reaching the top-ten on the UK Album chart. One of Roxy Music's biggest albums was their fifth, "Siren" in 1975 which featured Ferry's then-girlfriend, model, Jerry Hall on the cover and the single, "Love Is The Drug" was a substantial International hit which includes the U.S. Over the years, there were several musicians that came and went in Roxy Music (including musician and record producer, Brian Eno who was with the band during the first two albums) mostly due to creative differences with Ferry and the band would disband a few times as well. Roxy Music released their last studio album, "Avalon" in 1982 and performed together for the last time in 2011 for a series of 40th anniversary concerts.
THE ZOMBIES
The timing of The Zombies coming together was perfect as they managed to get swept in during the era of the musical British invasion of the 1960's. As teenagers, multi-instrumentalist, Rod Argent, guitarist, Paul Atkinson and drummer, Hugh Grundy decided they wanted to form a band. They later met bassist, Paul Arnold and Colin Blunstone who became lead vocalist to join them to become The Mustangs in 1962. However, after realizing there were other bands with this name, Arnold came up with "The Zombies". Arnold soon lost interest in the band and was replaced with Chris White. The Zombies won a music competition and were signed to a recording contract with Decca Records. They recorded their first single, "She's Not There" in 1964 and just missed reaching the top-ten on the UK pop chart. But the song became a bigger hit in the U.S. selling a million copies and going to number two on the chart. The Zombies found greater success in America with the singles, "Tell Her No" in 1965 and "Time of the Season" in 1969 becoming top-ten pop hits. The group had actually broken-up near the end of 1967 after struggling to get their music played with "Time of the Season" only getting a U.S. release due to the advise of musician, Al Kooper who formed Blood, Sweat & Tears. The Zombies reunited in 1990 and have continued to perform and record together with their sixth album, "Still Got That Hunger" released in 2015.
While many may have thought that Marina and the Diamonds was a band, this has always just been Marina Diamandis behind this musical endeavor. With her upcoming fourth album, "Love + Fear", the British indie-pop singer/songwriter has dropped the extended moniker and now known simply as Marina. This release will loosely be a concept album with two sets of eight songs with one titled "love" and the other "fear". This collection has been assembled together to reflect a connected mood, emotions and sounds. Have a listen to these two moving ballads, "Handmade Heaven" and "Superstar" from the forthcoming album which is due out on April 26th. And be sure to check out Marina live when she embarks on a "Love + Fear" tour that will travel through her native Britain and North America.
Last year, Zedd had a big hit when he teamed-up with rising country star, Maren Morris on "The Middle". This infectious dance track became a worldwide smash and earned three Grammy Award nominations. Now the DJ and producer has dropped a new single and joined forces with pop superstar, Katy Perry with "365". While I don't think this song is nearly as catchy as Zedd's previous hit but it does grow on you after a few listens. The music video for "365" is clever mini movie. This impressive clip, directed by Warren Fu, features Perry as a humanoid robot and Zedd as a test subject to see how compatible they could be living together. While the robot falls in love with the human, he doesn't return those affections which leads to a tragic end.
The British songstress, Jessie Ware has been quiet for a while since the release of third album, "Glasshouse" back in 2017. But she dropped a single, "Overtime" late last year and Ms Ware has made 2019 much better with another new single. Released on Valentine's Day eve, "Adore You" is a sensual, groove-based love song which was co-written by Ware and Joe Mount of the English electro band, Metronomy who also produced the track. I'm loving this record and hoping this is going to finally lead to a new album. Here are both of Ms Ware's recent tracks for your enjoyment:
Bruno Mars invited hot new artist, Cardi B to spice up a remix of his single, "Finesse" and this collaboration produced one of the biggest singles of 2018. Now, this duo has wisely teamed-up again for a new song by Cardi B. "Please Me" is another old-school flavored jam that is drenched with sexual energy. Mars is along to provide the smooth hook where he begs for a taste of what Cardi has to offer. And the music video perfectly adds to the '90's bump-n-grind vibe.
