Alive! The Millennium Concert is a live album by the American hard
rock band Kiss. It was released on November 21, 2006, as part of the
Kiss Alive! 1975–2000 box set.
It was recorded on December 31, 1999, at BC Place Stadium in
Vancouver, British Columbia and included songs that had never before
been performed by the original lineup ("Heaven's on Fire", "I Love It
Loud" and "Lick It Up").
Based on the excellent reimagined and expanded album image by Mick E.
Gee. in 2010 now for the first time ever with extended dynamics and
recreated transients which makes it for a more 3D natural sounding
listening experience, which also causes less listening fatique, so you
can turn it up louder if you want.
Mick's original liner notes: "This is the official release. HOWEVER, I
changed the tempo of each track to varying degrees without changing the
pitch. In most cases this can leave some noise artifacts. In this case
they are non-existant, or at the very least almost completely
unnoticable. As you all know the Millenium disc is a very slow and
sluggish performance. I think I've adjusted each track to a tempo which
makes this disc a ton more enjoyable. 2,000 mann and god of thunder are
included and mixed in with the other tracks. I switched the left and
right channels on shout it out loud because it had ace's guitar in the
left side whereas he is on the right side on every other track. It is
now more uniform."
Newly XDR* remastered album.
*Xtended Dynamic Range
01 - Psycho Circus
02 - Shout It Out Loud
03 - Deuce
04 - Heaven's On Fire
05 - Into The Void
06 - Firehouse
07 - Do You Love Me
08 - Let Me Go, Rock 'N' Roll
09 - I Love It Loud
10 - Lick It Up
11 - 2,000 Man
12 - God Of Thunder
13 - 100,000 Years
14 - Love Gun
15 - Black Diamond
16 - Detroit Rock City
17 - Beth
18 - Rock And Roll All Nite
Turn Me Up!™
To preserve the excitement, emotion and dynamics of the original
performances this music video is intentionally quieter than some. For
full enjoyment simply Turn Me Up! (www.TurnMeUp.org)
Copyright Disclaimer Under Section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976,
allowance is made for "fair use" for purposes such as criticism,
comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research. Fair use
is a use permitted by copyright statute that might otherwise be
infringing. Non-profit, educational or personal use tips the balance in
favor of fair use. No copyright infringement intended. All rights to
clips and music belong to their respective owners.
01 - Incantation 02 - Masterplan 03 - Headbanger 04 - Summer Nite 05 - Nothing 06 - Fast Food Service 07 - Hitman (Live Milan) 08 - Living Dead 09 - Sex Junkie 10 - Plasma Jam (Live Milan) 11 - Pig Is A Pig
"Beyond
the Valley of 1984" - An Essay
The
cover of this Plasmatics album appears to show Wendy in sexy attire
and a car being blown apart. Of course, as is usually the case with
the Plasmatics, things are not quite what they seem ...
The
title of the album seems to combine "1984", i. e. the
suppression of the individual by the state, and Hollywood film title
"Beyond the Valley of the Dolls", a 1960s production
concerned with sexual morality in America. It is most unlikely that
this is coincidental. The use of the word "valley" also
implies a low point in human affairs, as if 1984 represents a
situation from which mankind will pass. But towards what?
The
Plasmatics, as pictured on the cover are intended to represent the
Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. This symbolism originates in the
Book of Revelation, when God will make his final judgement of man.
This classical image has been portrayed, with surprising attention to
detail, in the scenes depicted. The action takes place in a valley,
which ties in with the album title and also suggests Death Valley.
The photographs were taken when the sun was low in the sky, casting
long shadows across the ground. The tall cactus tree suggests
fingers, and its shadow subtly suggests the finger of death. The Four
Horsemen classically represent war, civil strife, hunger and death.
All these are clearly shown on the cover. War is represented by the
gas masks and helicopter, civil strife by the burning car, hunger by
the bleak desert location and death by the bodies on the ground. The
gatefold cover, when opened out, gives four images; this reinforces
the biblical reference. All four images are of the same size. The
colours of the horses, in Revelation are red, white, black and pale.
It would be rather too much to expect such animals to have been
obtained for the photo session, and it would also have made the
imagery rather too obvious. Nonetheless, these colours are clearly
present; the album title is written in red and white lettering and
the credits etc on the back are in red, the car is white, black
appears in the clothing and the band's name is shown in pale silver
letters against a pale blue sky.
The
Plasmatics do not look at the camera, i.e. at their listener, until
the inset photo on the rear cover. This shot was taken at the end of
the sequence, with black smoke rising from the destroyed car and a
bleak desert background. This symbolises the situation at the Day of
Judgement. The posture of the band in this shot seems to he saying to
the listener "The rest of society has been judged and found
wanting, and you are next". The facial expressions are
consistent with this. Wendy seems to be less hostile than the others.
"Sex
Junkie" is another moralistic song. A fascinating aspect of
Wendy Williams' stage persona is that it mocks that part of the
audience that is attracted to the band by her semi-clothed body. This
is entirely consistent with the classic attitude of the dominatrix
toward her clients who are humiliated by and subservient to her. The
lyrics are highly explicit and critical, not just of the sex junkie
in the song, but of two hundred million people (presumably, the
entire American adult population).
"Plasma
Jam", an instrumental, follows. This could be included as a
straightforward piece of rock music, but it is virtually at the end
of the album. The songs are therefore contained-between "Incantation"
and "Plasma Jam", encapsulating them. The album finishes
with "Pig is a Pig". This number almost shouts at us "if
you missed the message in the previous songs, here it is plain and
simple!" It strongly continues the album's theme. It says
"Everyone else is like you", the same theme as that in Sex
Junkie.
The
songs on this album are, without exception, an expansion of the "Day
of Judgement" theme of the album cover. And if anyone has any
remaining doubts about the meaning of "Beyond the Valley of
1984" they should look at the dead and dying figures on the
album cover. They are wearing what looks like white laboratory
assistant's coats. Why should they be dressed like this, out in the
desert? The answer is in the book of Revelation, Chapter 6. Following
the description of the four horsemen, the scripture goes on to say in
Verse 11: "And white robes were given unto every one of them".
All
in all, a quite extraordinary album.
II - "Metal Priestess"
12 - Lunacy 13 - Doom Song 14 - Sex Junkie (Live) 15 - Black Leather Monster 16 - 12 Noon 17 - Masterplan (Live)
"Metal
Priestess" - An Essay
The
Metal Priestess six-track EP is the companion volume to the Beyond
the Valley of 1984 album. Both were released in 1981.
Metal
Priestess is a title worthy of some analysis. At first sight it might
not appear particularly significant, merely a link between heavy
metal and Wendy. There is however a deeper meaning. A priest, and
hence a priestess, is someone authorised by the church to administer,
on behalf of God, baptisms, confirmations, the eucharist, penance,
extreme unction, orders, and matrimony. And also to pronounce
absolution, in which sins are forgiven. The priestess acts as the
link between the physical world in which we live, bound by the laws
of space and time, and the mysteries of eternity known only to God.
On
the cover, Wendy is pictured on stage on her knees, leaning
backwards. At first sight this is simply a good photo - and a sexy
one! But it has a religious aspect. Wendy - the priestess - can be
seen as subordinate to a superior being or set of beliefs.
This
becomes clear when we examine the tracks. The first - Lunacy - begins
with a fairly long instrumental prologue, which is somewhat
mantra-like. Lunacy means insanity or madness, and in the past
intermittent lunacy was attributed to the cycles of the moon. This
lunar aspect features clearly in the song. Wendy is describing some
form of cosmic power which is given to people, and which they can use
for good or evil effect. This is entirely consistent with Christian
teaching, in which people have free will to choose between good and
evil and the future is not predetermined.
The
next track - Doom Song - maintains the religious theme with an organ
introduction. Doom Song is a kind of alternative Lord's Prayer. The
priestess - Wendy - is administering a form of eucharist. Casual
listening to the record can lead to the mistaken impression that she
is swnmoning up dark forces, but the opposite is actually the case.
The condemnation of hypocrites echoes the words of Jesus, and the
priestess has been given considerable power to use some force against
the enemies of good. The hypocrites are described as "filthy",
and some mysterious crawling, oozing, slimy "something" is
going to deal with them.
The
reference to the Prince of Darkness is curious. Superficially, Satan
is being invoked, and that is why the song can easily be
misinterpreted as a form of Black Mass. But the figure of Satan is
always a baffling one; if Satan is in charge of Hell - the purpose of
which is supposedly to punish sinners for all eternity - he is
clearly acting on behalf of Ciod and is hardly the sinner's friend.
In fact, Satan would be one of God's key workers, albeit with a
rather hot and unpleasant working enviromnent! The concept of Hell
does not derive from the Bible but from later ideas, and Satan is an
ambivalent figure. It is possible that the "something"
referred to above is Satan - and therefore the priestess, acting on
Go&s authority, has summoned Satan from the underworld to punish
the hypocrites. The reference to "YI"" at the end of
the song, i.e. to Jehovah, confirms the fascinating religious theme
of this song.
The
third track - Sex Junkie - also appears in Beyond the Valley of 1984
and is a condemnation of sex-obsessed American culture (see the
analysis of this song in the section about the 1984 album)
The
fourth track - Black Leather Monster - follows the same theme as Sex
Junkie. The meaning of the title refers is unclear; it could be a
phallic reference, or maybe even to the priestess herself, the song
being sung in the third person i.e. Wendy is taking the role of one
of the sex junides who is at the mercy of the priestess/dominatrix.
The
fifth track - 12 Noon - is in many ways a prologue for the excellent
Maggots album that would follow some six years later. Wendy is
describing the corruption and pollution in modern society. The song
is very interesting because it takes the opposite line to the
stereotypical warnings of "destruction just around the corner".
For it is corruption and pollution - rather than civilised society -
which is about to be destroyed. Whether this destruction will result
in the restoration of morality, or simply the end of human life,
isn't clear. In a way, the priestess may be giving the world an
opportunity to confess sins and make peace with God before possible
annihilation, the suggestion being that the world has been given 24
hours or so to do this.
The
final song - Masterplan - is also on the Beyond the Valley of 1984
album and an analysis of the song is in the commentary on that album.
The song suggests that society had it made, but ruined everything.
This echoes the fall of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden.
Metal
Priestess is very clearly an album with a strong religious theme. It
can be interpreted as the priestess - Wendy - describing how mankind
has been given the power to choose between Good and Evil, but has
chosen Evil. She has summoned the forces of destruction to sweep the
corruption away, and has given the world time to make peace with God
and seek absolution of its sins.
III - "Coup d'Etat/Coup De Grace"(The Original Electric Lady Land Recordings ) 18 - Put Your Love In Me 19 - Stop 20 - Rock 'N' Roll 21 - Just Like On TV 22 - Uniformed Guards 23 - No Class 24 - Mistress Of Passion 25 - Lightning Breaks 26 - Path Of Glory 27 - Country Fairs 28 - The Damned
"Coup de Grace" is a posthumous release by punk / metal band The Plasmatics in 2002. The album is the original demo of the album Coup d'Etat.
During the spring of 1982, the Plasmatics were signed to Capitol Records and Dan Hartman offered to produce a demo of the album for Capitol with Rod at Electric Lady Studios, Jimi Hendrix's old studio, in NY. The whole album was arranged, recorded and mixed within a week. Dieter Dierks, who had just come off a number one album with the Scorpions, also expressed interest in producing. Dan Hartman was soon replaced by Dieter.
The Hartman demo was released in 2002 under the name "Coup de Grace". This rawer version of Coup d'Etat took less than a tenth of the time and a fraction of the budget of the original.
Reception to the album is generally positive. Many fans of the band have
stated that this version is the one they prefer due to its rawness.
"The Damned" lyrics
BLACK VISIONS FROM THE SATELLITE SKY
DEAF EARS HEAR NOT THEIR CRIES
FAT JACKALS HOWL AT THE MOON
FLIES BUZZING PLAYING DEATH'S TUNE
NIGHT ENDS BUT THE SUN IT DON'T RISE
TOMBS OPEN AND THE DEAD THEY WILL RISE
BLACK MARKET BUYS YOUR SOUL REAL CHEAP
NO ESCAPING WHAT YOU SOW YOU WILL REAP
PRISONERS OF THE DAMNED, FIND ANOTHER LAND
PLANET OF THE LOST, LAND OF FIRE AND FROST
PRISONERS OF THE DEAD, FEAR THE UNKNOWN DREAD
TIDAL WAVES AT SEA SET THE SERPENTS FREE
COUP D'ETAT ON A GLOBAL SCALE
OPOSITION LOCKED UP IN JAIL
DOMINATION THE GOONS ARE THE BOSS
HUMAN RACE NAILED TO A CROSS
Deathofarockstar: thesuicideofWendyO. Williams
Within
days of the death of
Frank Sinatra, record stores worldwide were full of Sinatra
merchandise. The industry had
been waiting for such an event: longstanding ill-health had given the
men in suits ample
opportunity to design the artwork and get everything ready for the word
go. Or, to be more
precise, the word goodbye. For, as in the case of so many deceased
singers and musicians,
death gives a massive boost to an artist with limited contemporary
appeal.
The death
of Wendy Orlean
Williams falls neither into the category of Sinatra, nor that of the
younger casualties
such as Kurt Cobain. Aged 48, her death was untimely yet, having
retired from the music
business ten years before, there is no sense of incompletion or of her
career not having
come to "full term" - Williams' work can be judged as a complete
entity, neither
dragged out into old age, nor cut short.
The Plasmatics' music
and live act has been
misconstrued a lot - in the actual music, and in its lyrics, themes and
sentiments. Thus,
the band laid the foundations for a music scene which would later serve
as a vent for the
hedonism of the disaffected, disenfranchised youth of the late 1980s.
Yet all too often,
people have tended to equate punk music with 'inability to play', for
the Plasmatics'
music can best be defined as thrash-punk - though it is and symbolises
many other things
besides. 'Coup d'Etat', the band's last recorded album (apart from the
Maggots
WOW/Plasmatics reunion album of 1987) showed a slightly more mature
rock edge than their
previous work, but the Plasamtics' punk ethic was never lost. Yet the
stereotypical punk
comparison does not hold - true, in the last few years there has been a
proliferation of
punk nouveau (most notably the early '90s grunge scene) influenced by
the archetypal
stroppy cartoon image brought to mind by the Adverts' "Gary Gilmore's
Eyes",
anything by the Ramones... but witness the lyrics, chord sequences and
Richie Stotts et
al's lead playing on many of the tracks...
Williams' solo work also
shows a more
melodic side, especially on tracks such as 'Opus in Cm7' and 'Legends
Never Die'. Critics
claim that these tracks are a 'non sequitur' on the otherwise decidedly
'don't fuck with
me' W.O.W. album, yet it is here that Rod Swenson's musical
sensibilites and Wendy's vocal
talents combine to best effect.
Though the Plasmatics'
songs are not best
known for subtlety, the theme of Maggots is unclear. Drawing together
many of the themes
expressed in the rest of the Plasmatics' work, at one level it seems to
relate to AIDS,
and the sleeve liner includes a message to practise safe sex. It can be
seen, in may ways,
as a continuation of 'Just Like On TV' from Coup d'Etat: the ultimate
horror story
scenario... the end of Maggots no doubt symbolises the end of
civilisation (many of
Wendy's songs deal with this). "As she looks down the ten flights to
the street
below, [Cindy] sees a scene of chaos and pandemonium. Feeding on the
people with
uncontrollable lust are giant maggots... the sun is setting in the sky.
It will be night
time soon." Now, one cannot know whether Wendy had AIDS in mind, but
many references
throughout the album suggest it. Though it is, of course, always
possible to see a
posthumous significance or relevance in music, especially in the
lyrics: see Hole's 1994
album "Live Through This".
The Maggots album, and
several of the
Plasmatics' other songs, can be seen as a condemnation of contemporary
Amerian
middle-class values. From the beginninng of Maggots, the atttitude is
obvious: "We
are in a middle class apartment in a middle class apartment building.
The decor is
shopping mall modern. The White family are sitting around a shiny
formaica kitchen table
eating dinner..." Fast Food Service and 12 Noon are also an expression
of this.
The
majority of the music press's reaction to Wendy's
suicide has been to concentrate on certain 'stereotypical rock star'
aspects of the band's
career and live shows - aspects which should almost certainly be taken
as, at least
partly, tongue in cheek on the Plasmatics' part. (Their act
"...featured chainsawing
guitars and smashing televisions - as their popularity increased, the
budget stretched to
blowing up Chevrolets..." according to the NME, the week after reports
came of
Wendy's death.) The band's destructive nature onstage has been much
misinterpreted - their
gestures can be variously interpreted as materialistic or anti-... in
many ways the
Plasmatics, and Wendy, were the antithesis of the 1980s mindless
materialism, especially
that in the music business.
One of Wendy's recurring
themes is 'the
rock star', what it is to be one, the trappings of rock stardom and her
portrayal of the
nature of our here worship is pretty accurate: in Opus in Cm7 she asks
"Why do our
heroes all vanish? Why are our heroes all dead?" Legends Never Die is a
paean to the
characteristics of fame generally; having "been to hell and back" (It's
My Life)
Wendy was in a position to be able to talk about it. (It makes one
wonder why, if Wendy
was so against stardom, she became famous in the first place. It would
seem that the
Plasmatics' success happened almost by accident...) Pig Is A Pig is an
exploration of
human cowardice in the context of fame, and is "dedicated to a special
kind of person
- the kind of person who's hiding... behind a guise of
repectability..." This desire
for the authenticity, for the "real thing" was, in the end, one of the
contributing factors in Wendy's despondency: she could not bear the
"hypocrisies of
life" (as she called them) and her suicide note spoke of "a place where
there is
no self, only calm".
Essays by Anna Sthetic
These recordings were remastered from the Original Sterling Masters in 2026.
To preserve the excitement, emotion and dynamics of the original performances this music video is intentionally quieter than some. For full enjoyment simply Turn Me Up! (www.TurnMeUp.org) Copyright Disclaimer Under Section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for "fair use" for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research. Fair use is a use permitted by copyright statute that might otherwise be infringing. Non-profit, educational or personal use tips the balance in favor of fair use. No copyright infringement intended. All rights to clips and music belong to their respective owners.
Assembled material not included in the official release KISSOLOGY Vol. 2
01 - Double Platinum Commercials
02 - The Solo Album Commercial
03 - Paul on Entertainment Tonight
04 - The Return of Kiss Commercials
05 - Dynasty Tour Technical Mini-Docu
06 - The Dynasty Poses
07 - Footage Don Kirchner's Rock Concert
08 - I Was Made For Lovin' You (Music Video)
09 - Sure Know Something (Music Video)
10 - King of the Night Time World (Largo '79)
11 - ABC News 20/20 "KISS and Sell"
12 - Seattle News Footage
13 - Veronica's Countdown
14 - Hot Hero Sandwich (Excerpt)
15 - Peter Criss Leaves Kiss
16 - Peter Criss Channel 4 Interview
17 - Kids Are People Too
18 - Is That You? (Music Video)
19 - SchulerExpress
20 - I (Solid Gold Performance)
21 - A World Without Heroes (Music Video)
22 - I (San Remo Performance)
23 - I Was Made For Lovin' You/Charisma (Applausos Mexican TV Performance)
24 - Creatures of the Night (Video Montage)
25 - Various Gene and Paul Creatures Era Interviews
26 - I Love It Loud/ Creatures Of The Night (RAI1 Italian Television Performance)
27 - I Love It Loud (3SAT German Television Performance)
28 - I Love It Loud (Top Pop Holland Television Performance)
29 - Night Flight Interview (Excerpt)
30 - Sao Paulo Video Montage (Last Show In Makeup)
31 - Rock And Roll All Night (Live Rio 1983)
Turn Me Up!™
To preserve the excitement, emotion and dynamics of the original performances this music video is intentionally quieter than some. For full enjoyment simply Turn Me Up! (www.TurnMeUp.org)
Copyright Disclaimer Under Section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for "fair use" for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research. Fair use is a use permitted by copyright statute that might otherwise be infringing. Non-profit, educational or personal use tips the balance in favor of fair use. No copyright infringement intended. All rights to clips and music belong to their respective owners.
Recorded live at The Troubadour, Los Angeles, CA, April 25th 1992
Picture is not great, some songs are cut half-through, but the concert is awesome.
01 - Introduction [00:00:00]
02 - Love Gun [00:01:01]
03 - Deuce [00:04:56]
04 - Heaven's On Fire / Shout It Out Loud [00:08:19]
05 - Calling Dr. Love [00:12:58]
06 - I Was Made For Lovin' You [00:15:31]
07 - Unholy [00:19:24]
08 - Take It Off [00:24:09]
09 - Lick It Up [00:27:10]
10 - I Love It Loud [00:31:44]
11 - Cold Gin [00:35:02]
12 - Detroit Rock City [00:40:54]
13 - I Want You [00:45:53]
14 - God Gave Rock And Roll To You II [00:49:38]
15 - Rock And Roll All Nite [00:49:38]
16 - Interview [01:00:14]
Turn Me Up!™
To preserve the excitement, emotion and dynamics of the original performances this music video is intentionally quieter than some. For full enjoyment simply Turn Me Up! (www.TurnMeUp.org)
Copyright Disclaimer Under Section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for "fair use" for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research. Fair use is a use permitted by copyright statute that might otherwise be infringing. Non-profit, educational or personal use tips the balance in favor of fair use. No copyright infringement intended. All rights to clips and music belong to their respective owners.
Recorded At The Palace of Auburn Hills, Auburn Hills, MI, USA, November 27th 1992
(Apparently this seems to be the Eric Singer monitor feed)
01 - Creatures Of The Night
02 - Deuce
03 - I Just Wanna
04 - Unholy
05 - Parasite
06 - Heaven's On Fire
07 - Domino
08 - Watchin' You
09 - Hotter Than Hell
10 - Firehouse
11 - I Want You
12 - Forever
13 - War Machine
14 - Rock And Roll All Nite
15 - Lick it Up
16 - Take It Off
17 - Strutter
18 - I Love It Loud
19 - Detroit Rock City
20 - Shout It Out Loud
21 - God Gave Rock 'N' Roll To You II
22 - Love Gun
23 - Star Spangled Banner
Turn Me Up!™
To preserve the excitement, emotion and dynamics of the original performances this music video is intentionally quieter than some. For full enjoyment simply Turn Me Up! (www.TurnMeUp.org)
Copyright Disclaimer Under Section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for "fair use" for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research. Fair use is a use permitted by copyright statute that might otherwise be infringing. Non-profit, educational or personal use tips the balance in favor of fair use. No copyright infringement intended. All rights to clips and music belong to their respective owners.
To preserve the excitement, emotion and dynamics of the original performances this music video is intentionally quieter than some. For full enjoyment simply Turn Me Up! (www.TurnMeUp.org)
"Ride" is a song by American singer-songwriter Lana Del Rey from her third extended play (EP), Paradise (2012). The song was written by Lana Del Rey and Justin Parker, while produced by Rick Rubin, the song served as the reissue's first single on September 25, 2012 through Interscope Records. "Ride" is a soulful ballad that thematically involves parental problems, alcohol consumption, and loneliness. The cover for the song depicts Del Rey on a tire swing, wearing cowboy boots and a denim jacket.
"Ride" is also a 2012 American short music film directed by Anthony Mandler. The film stars Lana Del Rey as Artist, a prostitute who leaves her opulent family and joins a biker gang on the open road. The film was also written by Del Rey, and is based on her song of the same name, from her extended play (EP) Paradise (2012). The film's supporting cast includes Ian Seeberg, Scott Marlatt, and Kevin Peterson as Artist's lovers, and Josh Kurlups, Brian Harlow, Shawn Donohue, Steve Buchanan, Will Thomas, and Del Rey's brother, Charlie Grant as members of a biker gang. Lasting a duration of over 10 minutes, the film serves as its title song's music video. Aside from featuring the song itself, the film also features "confessional monologues" spoken by Del Rey.
"Ride" premiered at the Aero Theater in Santa Monica, California on October 10, 2012. Two days later it was released onto the online video platform VEVO. It was distributed by Black Hand Cinema. The film's reception was mixed to positive, with critics complimenting Del Rey's acting, but generating controversy due to the film's portrayal of prostitution, adultery, gun violence, and cultural appropriation.
"Ride" received critical acclaim from music critics, who compared Del Rey's vocals with that of Adele and Brandon Flowers of the Killers. While only a modest hit in the United States, Switzerland, Ireland, and France, the song reached the top 10 in Russia. The accompanying music video for "Ride" was directed by Anthony Mandler, and was released on October 12, 2012. Del Rey's role in the video was compared to "Lolita" and "A Streetcar Named Desire". The monologue treatment at the start and end of the video met polarized opinion; some considered it "meaningless" and a "gibe to her critics", while others called it "moving".
Captured live on their 4th US Tour, The Dressed To Kill Tour, in Wildwood & Cleveland. A King Biscuit Flower Hour Radio Show. Recorded June 21st 1975, broadcast November 9th 1975.
In the past I have been distributing my work on various BitTorrent-portals. It can be a great community and for years it has been. But in the last year things have been changing and I have been looking for other ways to reach my audience and give them an opportunity to choose for themselves as to how loud they want their music to play.
After months of research and brainstorming I have made a decision, and opened this blogspot. In the coming months I'm going to try to make every past release available here and updates will be posted regularly too. This will mainly be commonly known music, classic albums that I feel deserve a better representation than those versions available in the store today. Next to that there will be out-of-print rarities as well as demo recordings from artists that faded from the scene years ago but made music too damn exciting to be lost in outer space.
Make no mistake about it, I do NOT support illegal downloading. But, if someone already has purchased a particular title and is not satisfied with the way the actual music is represented on the disc, I see no reason why downloading an alternative can't be or even shouldn't be an option. The key to 'supportive' and/or 'fair' downloading/sharing lies within the moral standards of the downloader. If you own a title I'm offering there's no reason to not download my remastered product. If you don't own it then no-one including me can force you to buy it afterwards. But the artists in particular will benefit if you do. See, it's them you hurt the most by downloading music for free without buying any of their products. And since all things circulate, you as the consumer will be hurt as well. Ending up with less and less choices.
In the last decade technology and in particular in this field has been evolving tremendously. Sadly, things have changed negatively too. The before mentioned 'Loudness Wars', and not less acknowledgable, (music)filesharing in an illegal unmoral fashion. Though rights representives have fought this trend, they have not been able to change this landscape. (Not all that is written is all there is, but that's another story). Again, copyright-infringement guardians are not able to get rid of illegal downloading. And the way I see it, they shouldn't have to. We, the audiences and the producing companies can. It's just a matter of giving and making the right choices. I honestly believe that if a (potential) customer has a choice and the product is truly worth it's pricetag, people will buy it. For too long we have been fed products that were too pricey with quality and choice dropping each passing year. Too much money ends up in the wrong pockets and the little competition to the giant multi-nationals is buthered by either them or the unaware and/or ignorent public.
Call me a dreamer but I want that all to change. And I'll devote all my free time to help and make that happen, and with all my pleasure! I have been reading, writing and discussing this subject for years and I know there's a crowd out there that feels just like me. Hundreds already know of my activities and standpoint. I'd like to see that number grow. Not because I'm in need of attention but the subject is! It's great to see that in the last few years more and more people and organisations are sharing my point of view and started similar activities. It only has fed me with more willpower and enthousiasm to take this 'crusade' to the next level.
So, use my services wisely but most of all enjoy! Enjoy life, music and all other things we can share and experience in this 21st century with all of it's technology and possibilities. It's your life and you make it!
Well, here we are. Ever since the Emonoid-portal closed I've been a wanderer and was looking for other ways to share my vinyltransfers for those of you who are interested in them. I have been considering The P-Bay and other portals but it was never going to be anything like the way it was at Emonoid. (You only know what you've got until it's gone, right?!)
Well, since someone whose work I admire a lot (PBThal, the Terminator Ripper) started with his own blog and it turned out to be very satisfactory for him (and for me as well as for hundreds of others, possibly even more...) I thought it was at least a good thing to try out. So, as of today I'm going to built this thing. If anyone has comments, ideas, tips or whatelse, feel free to contact me.
And before anyone is wondering or speculating I need to clarify something. I'm not a PBThal worshipper, wannabee or rip-off. I have been doing this transferring since 1999 and in analog form even long before that year. It's just that PBThal has a nasty tendency of busting my quality time after time. (:P) But seriously, he has been an inspiration ever since I first became aware of his activities. We do things both our own way but we've got one thing in common. The love for Music reproduced in the best faithful way possible. But to be honest he has learned me a few things too. The best example would be the way he dithers his high resolution recordings to standard red book format. I used the basic dithering in ProTools and later on Apogee's UV22 dithering algorithms. But he introduced me to the superior quality of RX's MBit dithering. (If you don't know what the heck I'm talking about but do care to know, google's you're guide...)
So, Sir PB, if you read this and didn't receive that message earlier, many thanks for all the input and all the lovely rips you've shared so generously!
Again, make no mistake about it, this in NOT intended as some sort of competition or battle. It's all about the love for music, the way it was supposed to sound. Well, in my perspective at least. Say NO to the Loudness Wars and support those who make the music by buying their music. It's not like I can force anyone to buy anything but think about it for a few seconds when you download something. If we all keep on downloading music for free and never buy anything of it retail, the artists will less and lesser be able to record anything in the future. I just wanted to say that.
To any rights representives that might have something against the point I'm trying to make here, (which is the only real reason because if the music I love was available in the quality of the old vinyls I wouldn't bother doing all this) just let me know and I'll see if something needs to be deleted. Thank you for reading and enjoy your stay here!
