| CMU Daily - on the inside 11 Nov 2002 |
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In today's CMU Daily:
• G ‘n’ R start off with a riot,
• Jay proteges pay tribute,
• The Chili Peppers – Remastered and Reissued,
• Coroner blames festival death on organisers,
• Osbourne talk show confirmed,
• Review: Kinesis - Billboard Beauty,
• Blur studio footage online,
• 100 best number ones,
• Review: Bah Samba - So Beautiful,
• Police plan reunion gig as they enter hall of fame,
• Eminem reigns supreme in the US,
• Robbie release date shift,
• Peel’s fabric release,
• Charlotte Church sacks her mum,
• Ocean gets honorary degree
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Who said of whom: “He would love to be six-foot tall and thin and good looking. But he’s not – he reminds me of a soddin mountain goat”?
Answer tomorrow
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RECOMMENDED RELEASES: OUT TODAY
Singles: EP2 - Daniel Prydz (EMI/Credence); Slam feat. Dot Allison - Visions Remixes (Soma)
Albums: Missy Elliot – Under Construction (Warners/Elektra); Pearl Jam – Riot Act (Sony/Epic); TLC – 3D (BMG/Arista); Dzihan and Kamien - Gran Riserva (Couch Records); Teenage Fanclub - 4766 Seconds (Sony/Columbia); New Order – International (Warners/London); Malente – No Risk no Funk (Unique); Various – The Very Best of Euphoria (Telstar); Various - Laws Of Motion 2 (Laws Of Motion)
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CHART REPORT
Well, it’s a good week to be in a boy band. Westlife have now topped the singles chart eleven times – there mediocre latest track ‘Unbreakable’ going in at number one this week. Meanwhile the Blue boys beat of competition from US to go to the top of the album charts.
Singles wise, last week’s number one from DJ Sammy fell to two, while Nelly and Kelly proved they have lasting power with ‘Dilemma’ still in the top three, at three. There’s a new entry at four from Shania Twain - with H and Clare in at 10, Britney in at 13 and Phil Collins at 28. But before you slit your wrists, Queens of the Stone Age’s ‘No One Knows’ does enter at 15, the Yeah Yeah Yeah’s are a welcome new entry with ‘Machine’ at 37 – and it may not be cool to like Moby any more, but I quite like ‘In This World’ which goes in at 35.
On the albums front U2’s Greatest Hits go in at 2, while David Gray, Gareth Gates and Nirvana slip to 3, 4 and 5 respectively. Mr Nsync’s debut solo album ‘Justifed’ goes in at 6, Badly Drawn Boy’s ‘Have You Fed The Fish’ goes in at 10, and Tom Jones’ new album ‘Mr Jones’ goes in at 36.
There are a plethora of best ofs in the albums chart just now (just in time for Christmas me thinks) - the latest Bowie best of is in at 11, the Stone Roses best of enters the chart at 19 and there’s even a Robert Palmer best at 40!
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G ‘N’ R START OFF WITH A RIOT
Guns ‘n’ Roses kicked off their North American tour in style by cancelling a date and causing a riot. The initial explanation for the cancellation was that inclement weather in LA was preventing Axl Rose from flying out to Canada, a later announcement said a malfunctioning airplane was to blame. Other local media reports said Rose had missed his flight, was on his way or already in the city.
Either way he didn’t get there and when cancellation notices were posted outside the venue at the last minute violence broke out among the 8000 fans already queuing outside. Windows were smashed, a ticket kiosk trashed and firecrackers thrown at security. The police quickly arrived and retaliated with pepper spray and batons. A little later the rest of the band, who were already in the venue, were carefully ushered out of the building by security.
Axl made it to subsequent dates this weekend, and we now await word on whether the Vancouver show will be rescheduled.
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JAY PROTEGES PAY TRIBUTE
Friends of Jam Master Jay say the last few weeks of his life were spent working on his Hot Ta Def record label which had the mission of creating stars from the talent he had recruited in Queens. He had just negotiated a distribution deal for his acts via Virgin.
Boe Skagz, one half of Hot Ta Def signing Rusty Waters, was working with Jay on the day he was shot. He told reporters this weekend: "Jay was really on the rhymes. If he ain't like one thing you said in your rhymes, you had to change your whole rhyme. He was most definitely a perfectionist when it came to the music."
Skagz went on to comment on how bizarre it was that the loved and revered Jam Master Jay was killed where he felt most comfortable — among the people. "Jay was the streets, Jay was the king. This whole thing is crazy because when you see him, you just think, 'That's Jam Master Jay.' When you have those three Adidas stripes on and a jacket, you don't need bodyguards. You got us. Our clique. In anybody's 'hood he was comfortable. The media is twisted, and a lot of the things they're saying are not right. The truth is that Jay was peaceful dude. There was never no reason for nobody to have drama with him."
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THE CHILI PEPPERS – REMASTERED AND REISSUED
EMI are planning to remaster and reissue The Red Hot Chili Peppers' first four studio albums - 1984 eponymous debut, 1985's ‘Freaky Styley’, 1987's ‘The Uplift Mofo Party Plan’ and 1989's ‘Mother's Milk’. They will include the original artwork from the vinyl releases, there will be new liner notes written by bassist Flea and, as is often the case on these kind of releases, you can expect a number of rarities to be thrown in.
Among the previously unreleased material will be demo takes of ‘Get Up and Jump’, ‘Police Helicopter’, ‘Out in LA’, ‘Green Heaven’ and ‘What It Is‘, an eight-plus-minute instrumental version ‘Freaky Styley’, a dub mix of ‘Higher Ground’ and two live Jimi Hendrix covers, ‘Castles in the Sand’ and ‘Crosstown Traffic’.
Expect a January release date.
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CORONER BLAMES FESTIVAL DEATH ON ORGANISERS
An Australian coroner has criticized Limp Bizkit and the organizers of the legendary Big Day Out Festival over the death of a teenage fan caught in a crush at the event last year. Senior New South Wales Deputy Coroner Jacqueline Milledge also recommended educating teens about the dangers of crowd surfing and violent dancing in concert mosh pits.
Ruling that 15-year-old Jessica Michalik was crushed to death by the crowd at Sydney's ‘Big Day Out’, the coroner said of festival organisers Creative Entertainment "For promoters to be taken by surprise because their headline act causes excitement and reckless behavior shows they did not turn their mind to the crowd reaction".
Criticising the band she said of Fred Durst: "He should have acted more responsibly”. While she accepted that Durst may not have realised the seriousness of the crushing from his standpoint, she accused him using language that was "inflammatory and indeed insulting to the security staff who were engaged in their best efforts to extricate crucially injured patrons from the crowd collapse".
Creative’s response: "I think we do have to take a bit of responsibility for this. Everyone's had a major wake-up call from this".
Durst’s response: "No one is a winner in a court case where a young girl has lost her life. When the industry is properly regulated I look forward to bringing the Limp Bizkit band back to Australia".
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OSBOURNE TALK SHOW CONFIRMED
Warners company Telepictures Production have confirmed they have signed up Sharon Osbourne to front a new talk show. Due to debut on a number of networks around the US in Autumn 2003, word is each edition of the show will focus on a single issue, similar to ‘The Oprah Winfrey Show’. The LA Times reported Sharon will receive between $3 million and $5 million for her efforts.
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REVIEW: Kinesis - Billboard Beauty (Independiente)
Well, we couldn’t find a press release to go with this one (to be fair, it’s possible it went in the bin with all the jiffy bags) and with this reviewer currently internetless this is a purist view. So here we go … Kinesis’ ‘Billboard Beauty’ is bubblegum nu-metal, as performed by someone with a voice disturbingly reminiscent of Daniel Johnston. And it's about the unrealistic expectations drilled into women by advertising. Hooray for this bizarre record - not very exciting musically – but good fun nevertheless. B-sides ‘Dead by Sunrise’ and ‘Killing With Ease’ - more conventional metal – and less fun. They’re both pretty dull, despite the latter's attempt at Meat Loaf-style atmospherics.
Release date: 18 Nov
Press contact: Hall or Nothing [CR, RR, NR] Alan James PR [CR, RR, NR]
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BLUR STUDIO FOOTAGE ONLINE
The Blur boys have put more video footage of their studio work online. The band are currently in Devon putting the finishing touches to the long awaiting new album, due out early next year. The footage – at www.blur.co.uk – shows them at work.
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100 BEST NUMBER ONES
More mad stats – the latest a public voted Top 100 number ones – timed to coincide with the fiftieth anniversary of the retail charts. The 100, which will be counted down on Radio 2 tonight, features mainly classic track – none of the Top 25 come from the last decade. More recent tracks in the 100 include Kylie Minogue's ‘Can't Get You Out Of My Head’, the Junkie XL remix of Elvis' ‘A Little Less Conversation’, Oasis's Don't Look Back In Anger and U2's Beautiful Day. But Robbie, Westlife and the Spice Girls aren’t anywhere to be seen.
The predictable classics are there: Queen's ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’, John Lennon’s ‘Imagine’ and the Beatles’ ‘Hey Jude’ form the top three, though perhaps surprisingly Simon And Garfunkel’s ‘Bridge Over Troubled Water’ is at number four.
Darren Haynes of The Official UK Charts Company told reporters: "This list of the nation's favourite songs once again shows the enduring appeal of pop classics such as ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ and John Lennon's masterpiece ‘Imagine’."
The Top 10:
1. Queen - Bohemian Rhapsody.
2. John Lennon - Imagine
3. Beatles - Hey Jude
4. Simon & Garfunkel - Bridge Over Troubled Water
5. George Harrison - My Sweet Lord
6. Procol Harum - A Whiter Shade Of Pale
7. Animals - The House Of The Rising Sun
8. Abba - Dancing Queen
9. Beach Boys - Good Vibrations
10. Queen & David Bowie - Under Pressure
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REVIEW: Bah Samba - So Beautiful (Estereo Records)
Bah Samba are Julian Bendall and Alice Russell – a ‘live’ outfit that cross over into clubland. ‘So Beautiful’ is a floating almost sickly sweet tune using Russell’s controlled yet warming vocals, amid Spanish guitars and a mild housey bassline. Up steps NY legend Jon Cutler on the remix who tightens a few screws and pushes it more 4/4-ward and takes it to more clubby dancefloors in his usual high quality fashion. ‘Na Brasa’ is the flip – proper Brazilian business reminiscent of Senor Coconut – with cowbells crazed congos and frantic percussives, but all kinda relaxed. Definitely worth a check. PV
Release date: 18 Nov
Press contact: Sainted [all]
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POLICE PLAN REUNION GIG AS THEY ENTER HALL OF FAME
Sting, Stewart Copeland and Andy Summers are all signed up for a Police reunion next March – the first time the band will have performed together since an Amnesty International Concert in the US in 1986.
The gig has been announced as the band win a place in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame – they join the Clash, Elvis Costello and the Attractions, AC/DC, and the Righteous Brothers as the 2003 additions to the list of the rock n roll greats.
Talking about the planned show, and the excitement of entering the Hall of Fame, Sting told reporters: "I am very proud of the legacy of the Police. We were a damn good band, and the music still holds up ... I've been to one of the induction ceremonies and it was great fun. I'm really looking forward to the evening."
Drummer Copeland added, "It was our intention twenty-five years ago to blow our predecessors out of the water, but it is now humbling to be chosen by our peers to be given this great honor.”
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EMINEM REIGNS SUPREME IN THE US
The boy bands may reign supreme this week in the UK, but its Eminem’s week in the US. Not only is his movie ‘8 Mile’ at the top of the box office charts (taking double the ticket sales of number two film ‘Santa Clause 2’) but the soundtrack to the movie is at the top of the album chart. The movie has now had the second-best opening ever for an R-rated film (behind Hannibal), while the album is well and truly America’s best selling this week having shifted 702,000 copies to date. The movie is due for release here on 13 Jan.
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ROBBIE RELEASE DATE SHIFT
Robbie has brought forward the release date of the first single from his new album – ‘Feel’ will now hit the stores on 2 Dec, not 9 Dec. The official line is that the release date has been altered to “satisfy public demand” – and nothing to do with the fact Gareth Gates and Blue also release singles on 9 Dec.
Unless 'Feel' turns out the have the lingering appeal of 'Angel', the earlier release will pretty much rule Robbie out of the Christmas number race with a number of big pop releases due in the shops between 2 Dec and the Christmas chart.
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PEEL’S FABRIC RELEASE
John Peel is compiling the December issue of Fabric’s Live CD, and word is we should expect a diverse and eclectic range of artists spanning 50 years including The Avalanches, Don Carlos, Trouble Funk, The Fall, The Datsuns, MC Det, Smith and Selway and Joy Division.
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CHARLOTTE CHURCH SACKS HER MUM
Charlotte Church has told Sony that she is sacking her manager – all the bigger a story because her manager is her mother! Word is Church has fallen out with her family after arguments over her 18 year old boyfriend Steven Johnson. Charlotte has apparently moved into Johnson’s family home – where he lives with his father – and her parents will not join her on her forthcoming US tour.
Charlotte’s mum took on management duties after the family sacked her agent Jonathan Shalit two years ago. Her fortune is now managed by her own company - Charlotte Church Ltd – for which her mother and stepfather are both listed as directors. A spokesperson for the young star said simply: "We do not wish to speak about Charlotte's personal business".
But a family friend told the BBC: "Charlotte's always been strong-willed. She doesn't want her mother controlling her career. She has her own plans and would prefer it that any career decisions were taken between herself and Sony and not her mother. Anyone who knows Charlotte and Maria knows they're both strong characters - there's often a clash."
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OCEAN GETS HONORARY DEGREE
Billy Ocean – he of ‘When The Going Gets Tough, The Tough Get Going’ - has been given an honorary degree in Music by University of Westminster. He visited Barbican Centre in London this weekend to collect his degree.
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Answer to Friday's pop quiz:
What were Toploader the last British band to do in August 2000?
They were the last British band to play the old Wembley stadium (as support to Bon Jovi)