09.27.05 (MusicPortal.com) The UK's Sony BMG Music Entertainment Limited have announced what's positioned to be one of that company's most extensive album reissue campaigns to date, with one of Britain's most influential and successful recording duos in music history, EURYTHMICS. The duo's eight original studio reissue albums will coincide with the CD release "Eurythmics Ultimate Collection," a "Best Of" compilation of all EURYTHMICS hit singles which have all been digitally remastered. "Eurythmics Ultimate Collection" will also include the brand new single 'I've Got A Life,' and the song 'Was It Just Another Love Affair?,' both recorded in 2005. EURYTHMICS are the UK's most successful musical duo ever. Annie Lennox and Dave Stewart have sold over 75 million records and had over 20 international hits worldwide. They have achieved unparalleled global commercial and critical success with No. 1 singles and albums on both sides of the Atlantic and all over the world - the holy grail of any UK act. On top of the sold out world tours, EURYTHMICS have won innumerable awards and played a large part in shaping the landscape of 80's and 90's music - their influence spread much wider than being just innovators of the Synth Pop genre they are often credited for. In August, post a critically-acclaimed and emotive Live 8 appearance, Lennox and Stewart returned to the studio for the first time in five years to record new material together since the 1999/2000 album "Peace" and the tour of the same name, which they dedicated to Greenpeace and Amnesty International, to whom they donated the tour's profits. 'I've Got A Life' will be released as a single on October 31st, with "Eurythmics Ultimate Collection" as well as all eight original Eurythmics studio albums slated for simultaneous release on November 7th. Each EURYTHMICS studio album will feature the original track listing, plus between 4-7 bonus tracks per album. Over the eight reissued albums, a grand total of 44 bonus tracks have been digitally remastered, 11 of which are songs that have been previously unreleased. As with the studio tracks, the bonus tracks have also been digitally remastered by Dave Stewart and engineer Ian Cooper at Metropolis Studios in London. The final bonus track featured on each reissue album is a cover performed and recorded by the band, some of which are previously unreleased on disc, or in some cases, into the commercial market. 1983's "Sweet Dreams (Are Made Of This)" album features a rare cover of Lou Reed's 'Satellite of Love', while 1983's "Touch" album includes a previously unreleased version of David Bowie's 'Fame,' with 1988's "Savage including a moving rendition of THE BEATLES' 'Come Together.' All eight albums will also be released in deluxe 6-panel digipak packaging, with each reissue having been been meticulously redesigned by Laurence Stevens of LSD Studios - the same creative design agency responsible for all the original EURYTHMICS album and singles covers since the release of the group's debut album, 1981's "In The Garden."
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09.23.05 (MusicPortal.com) After a chilly excursion into the artscape, Iceland's SIGUR ROS have come in from the cold to talk about their latest release, "Takk...." "There is nothing clever about Sigur Ros and how we write songs, it's just mucking about really. It's all very spontaneous," says SIGUR ROS keyboardist Kjartan Sveinsson. Easy for him to say - most musicians could muck about for millennia and never come up with anything even remotely approaching the elegance and depth of "Takk...," the fourth album from Iceland's glacially cool Art Rock quartet. In Iceland, "Takk" translates to a simple "thanks" - which begs the question: What are SIGUR ROS thanking us for? Perhaps it's for sticking by them during what for many fans has been the band's baffling excursion into the far-distant realms of sonic art. In 2002, SIGUR ROS confounded admirers of their breakthrough LP, "Agaetis Byrjun," (voted by the UK's Q Magazine as "the last great record of the 20th century") with a grimly atmospheric third album, "( )," a chilly compendium of titleless songs that sold over 600,000 copies but one suspects is not often played by people in a positive frame of mind. Writing music for the Merce Cunningham Dance Company, The Danish Royal Ballet, and composing a 70-minute orchestral work called "Odin's Raven Magic" didn't exactly enhance their reputation for easy listening, either. Looking back, the members of SIGUR ROS see "( )" as a retreat from the intense heat generated by their success. In the time between "Agaetis Byrjun"'s appearance in Iceland and its final release in Japan, the group toured relentlessly for three years. "( )" simply reflected their mindset. It was also a struggle to record, with the band chasing live-sounding versions of its darkest soundscapes in their newly built recording studio, a converted swimming pool 10 kilometers outside of Reykjavik. "This album sounds much more optimistic than the previous one," says Kjartan Sveinsson. "When we were doing the previous one, there was so much going on you know with us, as a band and as people. Things were going quite fast, and we were really tired. After we did 'Agaetis Byrjun,' everything went so fast - signing record deals and meeting all these new people in different countries. It was a scary thing really. (With) this album we had more time just to play around in the studio." "'Agaetis Byrjun' is sort of like a fairytale record and we really enjoyed (making) that," adds SIGUR ROS bassist Georg Holm. "But the last record was more like a Grimm fairytale -- very dark. So, yeah, I think we wanted to do it again, because it feels happy. I think we were a bit sick of this depression." A 65-minute suite of 11 linked pieces, "Takk..." came together relatively quickly, with recording starting in earnest in December of 2004 and mixing completed just six months later. According to the band -- with Icelandic tongue firmly wedged in Icelandic cheek -- "This is our rock 'n' roll album." True, on occasion they play loud and fast, but few of the cliches of the Rock genre emerge recognizably intact after being filtered through SIGUR ROS.
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09.19.05 (MusicPortal.com) THE DANDY WARHOLS have released their fifth album, "Odditorium Or Warlords Of Mars." A full U.S. tour to support the album will kick off in November, with confirmed dates to follow soon. The band performed lead single 'Smoke It' earlier this month on "Live With Regis And Kelly," with THE DANDY WARHOLS confirmed to be the musical guest on Fox's "Mad TV" in October. NME called the single "Bob Dylan joining forces with the Stones on a wacked-out trip down Route 66 with enough Jack Daniels to sink a ship." Named (at least partially) after the band's infamous Portland studio headquarters, "Odditorium Or Warlords Of Mars" finds the band venturing beyond the synthesized Pop/Rock of 2003's "Welcome To The Monkey House" into expansive new musical terrain, while frequently revisiting the stripped-down sound of their earlier years. "Odditorium Or Warlords Of Mars" was produced by frontman Courtney Taylor-Taylor with longtime band collaborator Gregg Williams and mixed by Tchad Blake (Elvis Costello, Latin Playboys, the Bad Plus) and Taylor-Taylor. Opening with a tongue-in-cheek introduction from A&E host Bill Kurtis, "Odditorium Or Warlords Of Mars" is full of THE DANDY WARHOLS' trademark heady mix of seamless Rock hooks and sonic experimentalism, spanning turned-on drone Rock, Country, Blues, Electronic Pop and deep Psychedelia -- all spun through the band's kaleidoscopic musical palette. 'Love Is The New Feel Awful' is a psyched-out mini-symphony of squalling guitars, whispered harmonies, tribal drums and intercepted satellite transmissions, while 'The New Country' is, yes, a countrified stomper with dreamy layered vocals and a deep-space hootenanny full of banjos, harmonicas, picking and -- quite likely -- grinning. 'Down Like Disco' sets off in a CRAZY HORSE-worthy gale of unbridled electric guitars and peaks with a sun-soaked chorus and a twisted trail of feedback, while lead single 'Smoke It' is THE DANDY WARHOLS at their classic best -- part classic Brit rave-up, part VELVET UNDERGROUND comedown, part blacklight Psychedelia, part workman-like Country/Western, and yet all their own. The song's video, viewable below, features the band performing 'Smoke It' in Odditorium Studios for 40 visibly impressed dogs. Prior to their November U.S. tour, THE DANDY WARHOLS will be playing the following scheduled live dates in Europe: 10/08 Brussels, Belgium [Rock Ternat Festival] • 10/09 Berlin, Germany [Columbia Club] • 10/11 Trondheim, Norway [UKA-05] • 10/12 Oslo, Sweden [Rockefeller] • 10/15 Luxembourg City, Luxembourg [Den Atelier] • 10/16 Munchen, Germany [Muffathalle] • 10/17 Vienna, Austria [Arena] • 10/19 Zurich, Switzerland [Xtra] • 10/20 Koln, Germany [Prime Club] • 10/22 Dublin, Ireland [Ambassador] • 10/23 Glasgow, Scotland [Academy] • 10/25 Manchester, UK [Ritz] • 10/26 London, UK Hammersmith [Palais] • 10/27 Paris, France [Elysee] • 10/29 Amsterdam, Holland [Max]
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09.15.05 (MusicPortal.com) Long-time British Electronic Rockers NEW ORDER are set to release the 2-disc "New Order: Item" DVD set on September 20th via Rhino Records. A 23-video collection that includes the hit singles 'Bizarre Love Triangle,' 'Blue Monday' and 'True Faith,' plus rare alternate versions and new videos for 'Temptation' and 'Ceremony' that have been created exclusively for this release on the first disc, the second disc in the "New Order: Item" set is a two-hour documentary with personal interviews, and interviews with musicians such as U2's Bono on the effect NEW ORDER's music has had over the band's 25-year career. After the demise of JOY DIVISION due to original band member and vocalist Ian Curtis' suicide in May of 1980, the three remaining members (guitarist/vocalist Bernard Sumner [guitar, vocals], bassist Peter Hook and drummer Stephen Morris) moved forward collectively as NEW ORDER. Sumner took over vocal duties, and the trio embarked on a low-key tour of the U.S., intent on continuing as an entity independent of the massive reputation JOY DIVISION had achieved shortly before their demise. Later that same year, NEW ORDER recruited Morris' girlfriend Gillian Gilbert on keyboards and guitar, after which the quartet wrote and rehearsed their debut, "Movement," which was released the following year. Having already cemented a solid place in Rock history with JOY DIVISION, NEW ORDER had very little left to prove. However, their influence was far from over. With their uninhibited use of Electronics, the group changed the way audiences forever would view Electronic music and its integration into traditional Rock genres. Over two decades later, their footprint is all the more palpable, as current bands like THE KILLERS, THE BRAVERY and BLOC PARTY consistently cite NEW ORDER's music as a key influence. NEW ORDER have also always treated the photography and video elements of packaging and promotion as an equally integral part of what they do. So, having continually turned to some of the brightest names in film and photography when working on videos to accompany their songs, a litany of photographers, choreographers, directors and producers have also contributed to "New Order: Item." Included in the collection is director Jonathan Demme's video for 'The Perfect Kiss,' famed photographer William Wegman and animator Robert Breer's vision for 'Blue Monday '88' and painter Robert Longo's personal vision of 'Bizarre Love Triangle.' Michael H. Shamberg, producer of many NEW ORDER videos, also contributes liner notes on "New Order: Item."
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09.07.05 (MusicPortal.com) Industrial Rock and Metal groundbreakers MINISTRY will release an album celebrating the 25th anniversary of the band on September 27th via Sanctuary Records. Entitled "Rantology," the new collection is MINISTRY mastermind Al Jourgensen's personal interpretation and reflection upon the music his iconic band has created over the years. Featuring 14 classic tracks hand-picked, produced and remixed by Jourgensen, over half of the collection has been updated, reworked, and reanimated by Jourgensen. In addition, "Rantology" features three live tracks along with a new never-heard-before song titled 'The Great Satan,' giving listeners a sneak preview of MINISTRY's upcoming studio album, due out in April of 2006. From tape loops and sampling to the punishing static of relentless guitars, MINISTRY forever changed aggressive music, and the influence of Al Jourgensen still resonates loudly to this day. Forming MINISTRY in Chicago in 1980, Jourgensen unwittingly kicked off what would become a pivotal turning point in music. In defiance of a music scene around him consisting of light-hearted Dance, New Wave and Punk, MINISTRY first dabbled in a combination of the three, but soon took a sharp left turn and never looked back. MINISTRY delved headfirst into a sound that was eruptive, abrasive, darker and heavier than anything before it. The new sound combined gritty in-your-face lyrics with aggressive noise, often using rare audio samples, fierce drumbeats, a wall of heavy guitars and unconventional items as instruments. The new musical genre was coined "Industrial," with Jourgensen at the helm. In the 25 years since MINISTRY's formation, Al Jourgensen has seen the ups and downs of success as a musician and battled personal demons, all while shaping an entire generation of modern music. His lyrics are colored with hope and despair, angst and rebellion; his music is the fortification against complacency. "Rantology" is the examination and celebration of that resolve. Al Jourgensen's evolution as a musician - and an individual - culminated in the critically-acclaimed 2004 release of "Houses Of The Mole," which served as a vehicle to re-energize the MINISTRY sound and decry the political imbroglio of the administration governing the United States. That album unleashed a political diatribe set atop a raging wave of music to aurally assail the figurehead and the chicanery of the Bush administration, which outraged Jourgensen to no end. "Old Bush, new Bush," he laughs. A year later, Jourgensen has harnessed his ire once again, revamping and reinterpreting the music of MINISTRY with a compilation of songs from his archives and inadvertently reminding us just how salient his music remains. With the addition of 'The Great Satan,' "Rantology" stands as a monument to the powerful legacy... [full story]
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[Electronic News: August 2005]
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