|
Magpie (album)
''Magpie'' is the 2004 debut album by English singer-songwriter Stephen Fretwell. It was released on 22 November 2004 by Fiction Records in England and Universal Music Group worldwide. The album was recorded in studio two of Abbey Road Studios and reached No. 27 on the UK Albums Chart. Reception ''Magpie'' was praised by critics. Mars Simpson of ''Treble'' called it "Timeless. ..Manchester's Fretwell, at the tender age of 23, has done what many musicians will attempt to achieve throughout their entire careers but most never do: he's crafted an album that sounds as much at home alongside a great like Bob Dylan as it is next to contemporary singer/songwriters, and should remain relevant as long as people are stepping into soundproof booths and putting sound to tape". Chris Long of the BBC said: "''Magpie'' collects up a host of precious shining moments yet, like the bird it is named after, occasionally doesn't know what to do with them once it has them. It's a firm start but any ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Stephen Fretwell
Stephen Fretwell (born 10 November 1981) is an English singer-songwriter. He has released four studio albums and is often compared with acts such as Bob Dylan, Fred Neil, and Tim Buckley. Though receiving critical success, Fretwell has enjoyed little commercial success. His music has been described as folk rock, a genre combining mainstream Rock music, rock and Pop music, pop with American folk music and poetic or introspective lyrics. His song "Run" (2005) subsequently became the theme song of the BBC sitcom ''Gavin & Stacey''. Biography Early life Fretwell was born in Scunthorpe, England on 10 November 1981. He discovered the music of Bob Dylan at a young age in the form of the ''Bob Dylan's Greatest Hits'' record which he found in a bargain bin. Fretwell attended St. Augustine Webster Primary School in Scunthorpe and St. Bede's Catholic School in Ashby-de-la-Zouch, Ashby before furthering his study at John Leggott College. It was in his teenage years that he started his fi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Abbey Road Studios
Abbey Road Studios (formerly EMI Recording Studios) is a music recording studio at 3 Abbey Road, London, Abbey Road, St John's Wood, City of Westminster, London. It was established in November 1931 by the Gramophone Company, a predecessor of British music company EMI, which owned it until Universal Music Group (UMG) took control of part of it in 2013. It is ultimately owned by UMG subsidiary Virgin Records Limited. The studio's most notable client was the Beatles, who used the studio – particularly its Studio Two room – as the venue for many of the Recording practices of the Beatles, innovative recording techniques that they adopted throughout the 1960s. In 1976, the studio was renamed from ''EMI'' to ''Abbey Road''. In 2009, Abbey Road came under threat of sale to property developers. In response, the British Government protected the site, granting it English Heritage Listed building, Grade II listed status in 2010, thereby preserving the building from any major alterati ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Folk Rock
Folk rock is a fusion genre of rock music with heavy influences from pop, English and American folk music. It arose in the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom in the mid-1960s. In the U.S., folk rock emerged from the folk music revival. Performers such as Bob Dylan and the Byrds—several of whose members had earlier played in folk ensembles—attempted to blend the sounds of rock with their pre-existing folk repertoire, adopting the use of electric instrumentation and drums in a way previously discouraged in the U.S. folk community. The term "folk rock" was initially used in the U.S. music press in June 1965 to describe the Byrds' music. The commercial success of the Byrds' cover version of Dylan's " Mr. Tambourine Man" and their debut album of the same name, along with Dylan's own recordings with rock instrumentation—on the albums '' Bringing It All Back Home'' (1965), '' Highway 61 Revisited'' (1965), and '' Blonde on Blonde'' (1966)—encouraged other folk ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Fiction Records
Fiction Records is a British record label founded by Chris Parry in 1978, owned by Universal Music Group and based in the United Kingdom. It is best known for being the home of the Cure for over 20 years. It was originally a part of Polydor, but in January 2014, Universal restructured Fiction as a standalone label, removing it from Polydor's corporate affiliation. Fiction repertoire is now released internationally through Virgin (ex-North America). History Fiction Records was founded in the late 1970s by Polydor A&R man and longtime the Cure manager Chris Parry, alongside music publisher Fiction Songs Ltd, who went on to found Radio X (then XFM). Both were subsidiaries of Polydor Records, and based in London at 97 Charlotte Street and eventually maintained a satellite office in New York City at 850 7th Ave. Fiction was also home to UK dance label Desire, re-launched in 1988 as Fiction's house subdivision, and Non Fiction Records, Fiction's specialty label for special editions ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Universal Music Group
Universal Music Group N.V. (often abbreviated as UMG and referred to as Universal Music Group or Universal Music) is a Netherlands, Dutch–United States, American multinational Music industry, music corporation under Law of the Netherlands, Dutch law. UMG's corporate headquarters are located in Hilversum, Netherlands, and its operational headquarters are located in Santa Monica, California. The biggest music company in the world, it is one of the "Record label#Major labels, Big Three" record labels, along with Sony Music, Sony Music Entertainment and Warner Music Group. Tencent acquired ten percent of Universal Music Group in March 2020 for €3 billion and acquired an additional ten percent stake in January 2021. Pershing Square Holdings later acquired ten percent of UMG prior to its Initial public offering, IPO on the Euronext Amsterdam stock exchange. The French Vincent Bolloré, Bolloré family still owns 28 percent of UMG (18 percent directly, and ten percent through Vive ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
UK Albums Chart
The Official Albums Chart is the United Kingdom's industry-recognised national record chart for album, albums. Entries are ranked by sales and audio streaming. It was published for the first time on 22 July 1956 and is compiled every week by the Official Charts Company (OCC) on Fridays (previously Sundays). It is broadcast on BBC Radio 1 (top 5) and found on the OCC website as a Top 100 or on ''UKChartsPlus'' as a Top 200, with positions continuing until all sales have been tracked in data only available to industry insiders. However, even though number 100 was classed as a hit album (as in the case of ''The Guinness Book of British Hit Albums'') in the 1980s until January 1989, since the compilations were removed, this definition was changed to Top 75 with follow-up books such as ''The Virgin Book of British Hit Albums'' only including this data. As of 2021, Since 1983, the OCC generally provides a public charts for hits and weeks up to the Top 100. Business customers can require a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
AllMusic
AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Musical ensemble, bands. Initiated in 1991, the database was first made available on the Internet in 1994. AllMusic is owned by RhythmOne. History AllMusic was launched as ''All-Music Guide'' by Michael Erlewine, a "compulsive archivist, noted astrologer, Buddhist scholar, and musician". He became interested in using computers for his astrological work in the mid-1970s and founded a software company, Matrix, in 1977. In the early 1990s, as compact discs (CDs) replaced LP record, LPs and cassette (format), cassettes as the dominant format for recorded music, Erlewine purchased what he thought was a CD of early recordings by Little Richard. After buying it, he discovered it was a "flaccid latter-day rehash". Frustrated with the labeling, he res ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan (legally Robert Dylan; born Robert Allen Zimmerman, May 24, 1941) is an American singer-songwriter. Described as one of the greatest songwriters of all time, Dylan has been a major figure in popular culture over his nearly 70-year career. With an estimated more than 125 million records sold worldwide, he is one of the List of best-selling music artists, best-selling musicians of all time. Dylan added increasingly sophisticated lyrical techniques to the folk music of the early 1960s, infusing it "with the intellectualism of classic literature and poetry". His lyrics incorporated political, social, and philosophical influences, defying pop music conventions and appealing to the burgeoning Counterculture of the 1960s, counterculture. Dylan was born in St. Louis County, Minnesota. He moved to New York City in 1961 to pursue a career in music. Following his 1962 debut album, ''Bob Dylan (album), Bob Dylan'', featuring traditional folk and blues material, he released his ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gavin & Stacey
''Gavin & Stacey'' is a British sitcom created, written by and starring James Corden and Ruth Jones about two families: one from Billericay in Essex, and the other from Barry, Vale of Glamorgan, Barry in the Vale of Glamorgan. Mathew Horne and Joanna Page play the eponymous characters Gavin and Stacey, while Corden and Jones star as their respective friends Smithy and Nessa. Alison Steadman and Larry Lamb co-star as Gavin's parents Pam and Mick, Melanie Walters plays Stacey's mother Gwen, and Rob Brydon plays Stacey's uncle Bryn. Baby Cow Productions produced the sitcom for BBC Cymru Wales. The first series, consisting of six episodes, premiered on BBC Three in May 2007 to positive reviews and strong ratings. It returned for a second series of seven episodes in March 2008, before being transferred to BBC One for a Christmas Eve special, due to the show's growing mainstream popularity. The third and final series aired from 26 November 2009 to 1 January 2010, forming a significant ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Radio Times
''Radio Times'' is a British weekly listings magazine devoted to television and radio programme schedules, with other features such as interviews, film reviews and lifestyle items. Founded in September 1923 by John Reith, then general manager of the British Broadcasting Company, it was the world's first broadcast listings magazine. In September 2023 it became the first broadcast listings magazine to reach and then pass its centenary. It was published entirely in-house by BBC Magazines from 8 January 1937 until 16 August 2011, when the division was merged into Immediate Media Company. On 12 January 2017, Immediate Media was bought by the German media group Hubert Burda. The magazine is published on Tuesdays and carries listings for the week from Saturday to Friday. Originally, listings ran from Sunday to Saturday: the changeover meant 8 October 1960 was listed twice, in successive issues. Since Christmas 1969, a 14-day double-duration issue has been published each December ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
2004 Debut Albums
4 (four) is a number, numeral and digit. It is the natural number following 3 and preceding 5. It is a square number, the smallest semiprime and composite number, and is considered unlucky in many East Asian cultures. Evolution of the Hindu-Arabic digit Brahmic numerals represented 1, 2, and 3 with as many lines. 4 was simplified by joining its four lines into a cross that looks like the modern plus sign. The Shunga would add a horizontal line on top of the digit, and the Kshatrapa and Pallava evolved the digit to a point where the speed of writing was a secondary concern. The Arabs' 4 still had the early concept of the cross, but for the sake of efficiency, was made in one stroke by connecting the "western" end to the "northern" end; the "eastern" end was finished off with a curve. The Europeans dropped the finishing curve and gradually made the digit less cursive, ending up with a digit very close to the original Brahmin cross. While the shape of the character ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
