Sleepwalker (The Kinks Album)
''Sleepwalker'' is the sixteenth studio album by the English rock group, the Kinks, released in 1977. It marked a return to straight-ahead, self-contained rock songs after several years of concept albums. It is the first album in what critics usually call the "arena rock" phase of the group, in which more commercial and mainstream production techniques would be employed. The album also marks the last appearance of bassist John Dalton, who left the band during the recording sessions. Dalton plays bass on all songs on the album save for "Mr. Big Man". The lineup of the Kinks would be trimmed down significantly in 1977 following the album's release, as the brass section and backup singers were removed and the band returned to a standard rock band outfit. It was their first album for the Arista label. Background Despite their success with the hit singles "Lola" and " Apeman" in 1970, the Kinks had less and less commercial success throughout the 1970s, largely attributed to bandlead ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Album
An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as Digital distribution#Music, digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early 20th century as individual Phonograph record#78 rpm disc developments, 78 rpm records collected in a bound book resembling a photograph album; this format evolved after 1948 into single vinyl LP record, long-playing (LP) records played at revolutions per minute, rpm. The album was the dominant form of recorded music expression and consumption from the mid-1960s to the early 21st century, a period known as the album era. Vinyl LPs are still issued, though album sales in the 21st-century have mostly focused on CD and MP3 formats. The 8-track tape was the first tape format widely used alongside vinyl from 1965 until being phased out by 1983 and was gradually supplanted by the cassette tape during the 1970s and early 1980s; the populari ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Clive Davis
Clive Jay Davis (born April 4, 1932) is an American record producer, A&R executive, record executive, and lawyer. He has won five Grammy Awards and was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a non-performer, in 2000. From 1967 to 1973, Davis was the president of Columbia Records. He was the founder and president of Arista Records from 1974 through 2000 until founding J Records. From 2002 until April 2008, Davis was the chair and CEO of the RCA Music Group (which included RCA Records, J Records, and Arista Records), chair and CEO of J Records, and chair and CEO of BMG North America. Davis is credited with hiring a young recording artist, Tony Orlando, for Columbia in 1967. He has signed many artists that achieved significant success, including Sly and the Family Stone; Janis Joplin; Laura Nyro; Santana; Bruce Springsteen; Chicago; Billy Joel; Donovan; Bay City Rollers; Blood, Sweat & Tears; Loggins & Messina; Ace of Base; Aerosmith; Olivia Longott; Pink Fl ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Rolling Stone
''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first known for its coverage of rock music and political reporting by Hunter S. Thompson. In the 1990s, the magazine broadened and shifted its focus to a younger readership interested in youth-oriented television shows, film actors, and popular music. It has since returned to its traditional mix of content, including music, entertainment, and politics. The first magazine was released in 1967 and featured John Lennon on the cover and was published every two weeks. It is known for provocative photography and its cover photos, featuring musicians, politicians, athletes, and actors. In addition to its print version in the United States, it publishes content through Rollingstone.com and numerous international editions. Penske Media Corporation is the current own ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Ticknor & Fields
Ticknor and Fields was an American publishing company based in Boston, Massachusetts. Founded as a bookstore in 1832, the business would publish many 19th century American authors including Ralph Waldo Emerson, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Henry James, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Harriet Beecher Stowe, Henry David Thoreau, and Mark Twain. It also became an early publisher of '' The Atlantic Monthly'' and '' North American Review''. The firm was named after founder William Davis Ticknor and apprentice James T. Fields, although the names of additional business partners would come and go, notably that of James R. Osgood in the firm's later years. Financial problems led Osgood to merge the company with the publishing firm of Henry Oscar Houghton in 1878, forming a precursor to the modern publisher Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. Houghton Mifflin revived the Ticknor and Fields name as an imprint from 1979 to 1989. Company history Early years In 1832 William Davis Ticknor and John Al ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Rock Albums Of The Seventies
''Christgau's Record Guide: Rock Albums of the Seventies'' is a music reference book by American music journalist and essayist Robert Christgau. It was first published in October 1981 by Ticknor & Fields. The book compiles approximately 3,000 of Christgau's capsule album reviews, most of which were originally written for his "Consumer Guide" column in ''The Village Voice'' throughout the 1970s. The entries feature annotated details about each record's release and cover a variety of genres related to rock music. Christgau's reviews are informed by an interest in the aesthetic and political dimensions of popular music, a belief that it could be consumed intelligently, and a desire to communicate his ideas to readers in an entertaining, provocative, and compact way. Many of the older reviews were rewritten for the guide to reflect his changed perspective and matured stylistic approach. He undertook an intense preparation process for the book during 1979 and 1980, which temporarily hi ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Blender (magazine)
''Blender'' was an American music magazine that billed itself as "the ultimate guide to music and more". It was also known for sometimes steamy pictorials of celebrities. It compiled lists of albums, artists, and songs, including both "best of" and "worst of" lists. In each issue, there was a review of an artist's entire discography, with each album being analyzed in turn. ''Blender'' was published by Dennis Publishing. The magazine began in 1994 as the first digital CD-ROM magazine by Jason Pearson, David Cherry, and Regina Joseph, acquired by Felix Dennis/Dennis Publishing, UK it published 15 digital CD issues, and launched on the web in 1996. It started publishing a print edition again in 1999 in its most recent form. Blender CD-ROM showcased the earliest digital editorial formats, as well as the first forms of digital advertising. The first digital advertisers included Calvin Klein, Apple Computer, Toyota and Nike. In June 2006, the '' Chicago Tribune'' named it one of the ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Allmusic
AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and 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 CDs replaced LPs 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 researched using metadata to create a music guide. In 1990, in Big Rapids, Michigan, he founded ''All Music Guid ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Andy Pyle
Andy Pyle (born 15 July 1946, Luton, Bedfordshire, England) is a British bassist. He played with The Kinks from 1976 to 1978. Prior to that, he was in Blodwyn Pig (1968–1972) and Savoy Brown (1972–1974). Later, he played with Wishbone Ash (1986–87, 1991–93). Career A musician whose career dates back to the mid-1960s, Pyle was born in Luton in 1945 and reached his teenage years when rock & roll supplanted skiffle as the music of choice for British youth. As a budding young musician, however, he was turning more towards blues than rock & roll, as evidenced by his first professional concert with Victor Brox's Blues Train, directed by the future member of the Aynsley Dunbar Retaliation. Then, Jensen's Moods, a band composed of British bluesman Mick Abrahams on guitar and vocals, Pete Fensome on vocals and Clive Bunker on drums, who then changed their name to McGregor's Engine. Pyle continued his career with the McGregor's Engine group in his home town of Luton, B ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Blodwyn Pig
Blodwyn Pig was a British blues rock band, founded in 1968 by guitarist–vocalist–songwriter Mick Abrahams. Career Abrahams left Jethro Tull after their debut album, ''This Was'', was released, due to a falling-out with Tull vocalist Ian Anderson over the direction of the band. He formed Blodwyn Pig with Jack Lancaster (saxophone and flute), Andy Pyle (bass guitar), and Ron Berg (drums). With Abrahams and Lancaster in the lead, Blodwyn Pig recorded two albums, ''Ahead Rings Out'' in 1969 and ''Getting to This'' in 1970. Both reached the Top Ten of the UK Albums Chart and charted in the United States; ''Ahead Rings Out'' displayed a jazzier turn on the heavy blues–rock that formed the band's core rooted in the British 1960s rhythm and blues scene from which sprang groups like The Yardbirds, Free and eventually Led Zeppelin. Saxophonist–singer Lancaster (who often played two horns at once, like his idol Rahsaan Roland Kirk) was at least as prominent in the mix as ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Black Messiah (song)
"Black Messiah" is the third track from the Kinks' 1978 album ''Misfits''. It was written by Ray Davies. Lyrics The lyrics of "Black Messiah" cite racial and civil differences and unrest. The lead singer is a white man who lives in an all black neighborhood. This causes unrest, with the singer claiming that "they knock me down 'cos they brown and I white". Meanwhile, a "self-made prophet" in the house next door to the singer's claims that a "Black Messiah" "is gonna set the world on fire" and "set the whole world free". At first, the white man is skeptical, but he soon changes his opinion and believes the prophet. The song criticizes the so-called "racial equality" that blacks and whites say they strive for, saying that neither race really believes in this goal wholeheartedly. Release and reception "Black Messiah" was released on the ''Misfits'' album, but was also released in single form. On the U.S. version of the "Live Life" single, "Black Messiah" replaced "In a Foreign La ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Life Goes On (The Kinks Song)
"Life Goes On" is a song by the British rock band The Kinks. Appearing on their album ''Sleepwalker (The Kinks album), Sleepwalker'', it was written by the band's main songwriter, Ray Davies. Background At a concert, Ray Davies described the song as being about "a man who tries to commit suicide and fails," jokingly calling it "a nice, happy sort of song." The Kinks' guitarist, Dave Davies, said of the song's guitar solo, "Ideally, if I'm emotionally stimulated, I feel like I can play anything. With 'Life Goes On', we sat down and Ray just started playing it. It was the song that was really important: the emotion it created, the hollowness of it, but the fullness, as well. Those kinds of things really get me going. It just came out, because it was still that period where you could go into a studio and make a decent recording in a couple of days; you didn't have to spend three weeks just trying to get a sound on a drum computer. You could actually go in and do a song and the solos ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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A Rock 'n' Roll Fantasy
"A Rock 'n' Roll Fantasy" is the lead single and fourth track from The Kinks' 1978 album ''Misfits''. Written by Ray Davies, the song was inspired by the band's then-tumultuous state at the time, with two members leaving the band during the recording of ''Misfits.'' Released as the first single from the album, the track was the band's most successful single in years, reaching number 30. Background During the recording of the ''Misfits'' album, bassist Andy Pyle and pianist John Gosling quit the band, with drummer Mick Avory also considering leaving. Following this change, Ray and Dave Davies got together and spent time with each other, a meeting that resulted in the writing of Ray's "A Rock 'n' Roll Fantasy" and Dave's "Trust Your Heart." Ray Davies has since said, A Rock 'n' Roll Fantasy' a very personal song about Dave and I." He has also claimed that "A Rock 'n' Roll Fantasy" inspired by both a Peter Frampton concert he attended and the death of rock 'n' roll legend Elvis ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |