Wednesday, August 15, 2012

Sights and Sounds: The Doors, the Beatles

2012 has shaped up an an epic one when it comes to exciting new releases, especially for classic rock fans. Here are some exciting releases that landed in my inbox today...

The Doors' historic performance at the Hollywood Bowl in 1968 is coming to DVD, Blu-ray and digital video

The band’s legendary show has been restored from original camera negatives and remixed and mastered using original Multi-Track Tapes to create the definitive version

The concert will be released on DVD, Blu-ray and Digital Video from Eagle Rock Entertainment, and CD, Digital Audio and Double-LP from Rhino on October 23, 2012

The Doors supplied plenty of post-Independence Day fireworks on July 5, 1968 when the legendary quartet played the Hollywood Bowl, a concert that is considered to be the band’s finest on film. For the first time, the film from the historic performance has been painstakingly restored using the original camera negatives and the audio has been remixed and mastered from original multi-tracks by the group’s engineer Bruce Botnick. This new restoration offers a stunning visual upgrade from earlier versions and will give fans the closest experience to being there live along side Jim Morrison, John Densmore, Robby Krieger and Ray Manzarek, who opined, “You can hear it as if you were at the Hollywood Bowl, on stage with us.”




LIVE AT THE BOWL ’68 will include three previously unreleased tracks from the performance. Technical issues with the recording of “Hello, I Love You,” “The WASP (Texas Radio And The Big Beat),” and “Spanish Caravan” prevented them from being released in the past. Now, through meticulous restoration of the audio, all three will be included, marking the first time the concert has been available in its entirety.

LIVE AT THE BOWL ’68 – the definitive version of this concert – is coming October 23 in several formats. Eagle Rock Entertainment will present the concert on Blu-Ray ($19.98), DVD ($14.98), and digital video ($12.99). Rhino will release the remixed audio for the entire concert on CD ($18.98), digital audio ($11.99) and double-LP ($34.98).


The DVD, Blu-Ray and digital video each feature a 16x9 high-definition digital transfer with both a stereo and 5.1 audio soundtrack as well as over an hour of bonus material. Included in the additional content are “Echoes From The Bowl,” The Doors’ route to the Hollywood Bowl; “You Had To Be There,” memories of The Doors’ performance at the Bowl; “Reworking The Doors,” an in-depth look at how the film was restored; and three bonus performances: “Wild Child” from The Smothers Brothers Show in 1968, “Light My Fire” from The Jonathan Winters Show in December 1967 and a version of Van Morrison’s “Gloria” with specially created visuals.


Jeff Jampol, Doors manager and producer of the film said “The Doors’ live performances were a shamanistic journey into dark rock and roll psychedelic theater – a swirling mixture of rock ‘n’ roll heat, poetry, danger, drama and unbridled musical virtuosity. Captured at the height of The Doors’ magical powers, in one of the world’s greatest venues, this brand new restoration, edit and mix, corny as it may sound, made me fall in love a hundred times, all over again.”

Geoff Kempin, executive producer for Eagle Rock said “The Doors were one of THE most incredible live bands ever – we wanted to apply the top technology so that everyone can fully appreciate the phenomenon of The Doors captured at their height on 5 July 1968”.


LIVE AT THE BOWL ’68

Track Listing


1. Show Start/Intro

2. “When The Music’s Over”

3. “Alabama Song (Whisky Bar)”

4. “Back Door Man”

5. “Five To One”

6. “Back Door Man” (Reprise)

7. “The WASP (Texas Radio And The Big Beat)”

8. “Hello, I Love You”

9. “Moonlight Drive”

10. “Horse Latitudes”

11. “A Little Game”

12. “The Hill Dwellers”

13. “Spanish Caravan”

14. Hey, What Would You Guys Like To Hear?

15. “Wake Up!”

16. Light My Fire (Segue)

17. “Light My Fire”

18. “The Unknown Soldier”

19. The End (Segue)

20. “The End”

  "Still the Greatest: The Essential Songs of the Beatles' Solo Careers" hardcover and ebook from Scarecrow Press available now  
Fifty years ago, in August 18, 1962, a young drummer would officially join a fledgling musical group out of Liverpool, England solidifying what would become the greatest four-piece line up in the history of popular music, The Beatles. On October 5 of that same year the band would record their first single titled “Love Me Do” and the rest, as they say, is history!


In celebration of the Fab Four’s 50th Anniversary, author Andrew Grant Jackson has announced the release of his new book titled Still the Greatest: The Essential Songs of the Beatles’ Solo Careers from Scarecrow Press, a division of Rowman & Littlefield, available in stores and online (http://amzn.to/Pf4D5M). Read exclusive excerpts all this week on John, Paul, George and Ringo only at RollingStone.com: http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/book-excerpt-john-lennons-last-rebirth-on-the-stormy-seas-in-borrowed-time-20120815.


Not just another Beatles book, Still the Greatest celebrates the high points and often overlooked songwriting and recording achievements of John, Paul, George, and Ringo after each struck out on his own. Jackson creates ongoing, post-1970, Beatles albums mixing together the best of their solo careers, recounting the inspirations, circumstances, players, producers, friends and stories behind the music. Taken together, the chapters add up to an epic odyssey of four musicians who, after changing society, struggled with demons both in themselves and the world outside until finally finding their paths home, each in their own way.


Read stories from the book alongside audio/visual companions, browse conceptual playlists, and check out daily news items, song of the day/clip of the day and immerse yourself all over again in the band that you thought you knew everything about at: www.SoloBeatles.com.


Author Jackson has assessed the over 70 albums and 900 songs collectively released by the Fab Four since since they broke up forty-two years ago (remarkable the group was only together eight years). “There are a dozen brilliant Beatles albums to be carved out of their solo albums,” says Jackson. “We won’t be receiving any new music from the band, but you can create new Beatles albums simply by taking John’s five best tunes from each year, Paul’s five best, and a couple of George and Ringo’s. It’s the same album formula the band employed while together. Everyone from casual listeners to the most well versed of fans can still continue to ‘discover’ The Beatles. And theirs is a story that was only half told at the dawn of 1970.”

In this creative history, the book investigates their explorations of new genres like reggae, funk, disco, and the 80s big drum progressive sound before their later return to their Beatle-esque roots. Lennon brought a new level of soul-searing honesty to the singer songwriter tradition while McCartney filled the airwaves with lushly orchestrated rock operas. Harrison synthesized Indian music, gospel, and Southern blues, mixed it with Phil Spector’s wall of Sound, and conquered the charts with hymns to the Lord while inventing the rock charity concert. And meanwhile, for a stretch, Ringo was second only to McCartney for most consecutive Top 10 singles in the U.S.


Still the Greatest profiles their collaborations with artists like Jeff Lynne, Elvis Costello, Phil Spector, Eric Clapton, Elton John, Joe Walsh, Nashville session masters, their old mentor George Martin, and Radiohead’s producer Nigel Godrich. We see George’s one-two comeback punch of Cloud Nine and the Traveling Wilburys, Ringo’s later albums of sixties-esque jangle pop married to words of hard-won wisdom, and McCartney’s third act resurgence of raw emotion comparable to Dylan and as he turned to music again for catharsis, surprising those who had him pegged as a light pop craftsman.


Both a handy reference and an engrossing cover-to-cover read, Still the Greatest is an invaluable companion for those who thought it all ended with their 1970 album Let It Be.


About the author:

Andrew Grant Jackson has written for Yahoo!, music magazines Burn Lounge, Mean Street, and Dispatch, the Hollywood monthly magazine Ingenue, and Baseline’s Studio System, the leading online database and research service for the film and television industries. He directed and co-wrote the feature film The Discontents (2004) starring Perry King and Amy Madigan and served as a Development Associate at actor Jeff Bridges’ AsIs Productions.

Official website: www.solobeatles.com


Become a fan on Facebook: www.facebook.com/solobeatlebook

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