Category: Music

Wandering through Virgin Megastore yesterday, I came across two unlikely compilation albums – unlikely for very different reasons. First there was Cained. It’s a compilation of Michael Caine’s favourite chillout tracks. Yes – that Michael Caine. According to Caine’s “blog” he truly did pick these tunes, with the idea coming when he had dinner at…

I’ve just been listening to an amazing concert that I’m really annoyed I didn’t go to. I’m talking about the appearance of the Simon Bolivar Youth Orchestra of Venezuela under its 26 year old conductor Gustavo Dudamel. Now before you go scooting on believing that I’m getting all high falootin’ talking about classical music, you…

There was much excitement recently, when it was announced that a revamped Music Week would include a chart from Last.fm. This is the site, we’re told, that really discovered the Arctic Monkeys and so on. Now I must admit that I’ve never really persevered with Last.fm to the extent of using it properly. It might…

Do you follow the charts? No, me neither. But I couldn’t help noticing that Elvis is having something of a resurgence. Currently there are three singles in the Top 40: Blue Suede Shoes is a “new” entry at no. 13. My Baby Left Me is a “new” entry at no. 19. Suspicious Minds is at…

The coverage of the Government’s rejection of extending performance copyright in Music Week (the industry trade magazine – all behind a paywall) is surprisingly muted. There’s just a piece on page 6 indicating that the fight must now be taken to Europe, and an editorial that somehow saw this singular decision as a failure to…

The government has come out and rejected calls to extend copyright on music performances from 50 years as it currently stands. As I’ve said on a number of occasions, this is suddenly a hot potato because Elvis and Beatles tracks are suddenly falling out of copyright in this country, and a cash cow is finally…

Off to the Barbican to see Wynton Marsalis and his Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra perform pieces under the heading Full Steam Ahead. I saw him perform here a few years back and once again it’s a sold out crowd with just a couple more performances happening in the UK as part of the JLCO…

This Friday sees the start of the new Proms season, and I really must try to make time to get along to a few again. I actually quite fancy Saturday’s Music from Great British Films concert that ties in with BBC Two’s Summer of British Film, although being a Saturday will mean getting there early,…

I visted the O2 last night (previously the Dome) for a “secret” Snow Patrol gig that was an invitation only affair for many of the people who worked on the site, or had something to do with it. My involvement is minimal to non-existent – I supplied the odd piece of data to a friend…

And so to Hyde Park Calling – a festival that happens at the same time as Glastonbury, and so has an “old rocker” feel to it. Due to a bit of a cock-up on my part, one of the newer singers I wanted to see, Terra Naomi, who’d I heard on the cover CD of…

So I’m popping in to HMV after work to look for an album, and can’t help but notice all the special editions of albums that are on sale. It’s pretty typical these days for albums to be packaged in at least two different manners. It might be that one set comes with an additional DVD,…

To the Hammersmith Apollo to see a great Pet Shop Boys concert with all your favourites in a non-stop show. Great stuff, and more photos to be found here in my Flickr stream.