"Easy Rider," the 1969 directorial debut of the late Dennis Hopper, did more than establish the above-the-title careers of its star-writer-helmer and actor Jack Nicholson -- it also spawned one of the first soundtrack albums comprising contemporary songs.
The anti-establishment biker movie sported a first-rate song-score featuring tracks by the Jimi Hendrix Experience, the Byrds, Steppenwolf, the Holy Modal Rounders and the Fraternity of Man, among others.The Byrds' Roger McGuinn co-wrote "The Ballad of Easy Rider" for the feature with Bob Dylan, but Dylan's name was removed from the song. McGuinn later explained to writer Johnny Rogan, "[Dylan] said, 'Take it off!' because he didn't like the movie that much. He didn't like the ending."
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Hopper's "Easy Rider" burned rubber on the charts
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The announcement on Monday that Sir Paul McCartney will be receiving the third Library of Congress Gershwin Prize for Popular Song might have initiated a collective shrug among those who read about some new showbiz kudo being dispensed on an almost daily basis in the trades. The fact that the Gershwin prize has only been given to two other artists — Paul Simon and Stevie Wonder — might make the distinction even more suspect. (At least the Library is batting a thousand.)
But the Gershwin laurel is not from a performing rights organization like ASCAP or BMI, which mostly honors commercial success, or from the Grammys, which never gave the Beatles their due when they deserved it the most, but from an advisory committee that includes Rhymin’ Simon himself, Carol Bayer Sager, Jimmy Webb and Paul Williams — all proven songwriters who know their way around a tune inside and out.
The fact that artists like Wonder, Elvis Costello, Jack White, Emmylou Harris and Herbie Hancock will perform McCartney tunes at the White House as part of the festivities June 2 makes this occasion more extraordinary than usual.
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Sir Paul's way with words
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Robert Johnson's "The Complete Recordings," issued in 1990 by Columbia/Legacy, is one of the most popular blues collections ever released, and is undoubtedly the biggest-selling album ever by a pre-World War II bluesman. The compilation of works by the late, legendary singer-guitarist -- originally released in two LP volumes, in 1961 and 1970 -- has been certified platinum.
A story published Thursday in the U.K. paper the Guardian now maintains that Johnson's dark, much-cherished blues have been reproduced for years at the wrong speed. Writer Jon Wilde claims in the piece that, based on examination of Johnson's guitar tunings, "the common consensus among musicologists is that we've been listening to
Johnson at least 20% too fast." Wilde also supplies a link to a British site that offers a CD, "Steady Rollin' Man," containing speed-corrected versions of 24 Johnson performances.
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Phonograph blues: Robert Johnson mastered at wrong speed?
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News earlier this week that the U2 concert juggernaut had been grounded until next year for the U.S. due to Bono’s back surgery has not only affected the bottom line for concert promoter Live Nation and the organizers of the Glastonbury Festival, where U2 was scheduled to headline in late June, but could make a significant dent in the 2010 concert business overall. "When you have an act like U2 (touring), it greatly inflates the (year’s) revenues," says Gary Bongiovanni, editor-in-chief of PollStar.
The Irish rockers, whose shows have become never less than gargantuan in scale, were the top draw in the U.S. last year, accruing $123 million in gross receipts, according to Pollstar. They were the only act to top the $100 million mark (Springsteen finished at No. 2 with $94.5 million) despite playing only 20 dates. The shows also contributed to an overall 12% boost in concert revenue ($4.4 billion) over the previous year and a 14% hike in attendance (73 million).
The long-running 360 Tour (which began in June, 2009) with a reported per-city overhead of $750,000 and advance ticket sales of one million in North America for the latest leg, was supposed to land in Anaheim on June 6-7. But with Bono’s recovery expected to take at least eight weeks, the band will skip the 16 stateside shows scheduled to culminate in New Jersey’s Meadowlands Stadium on July 19. Instead, the band will immediately segue into its European trek, beginning Aug. 6 in Turin, once Bono is mobile.
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U2's tour interrupted
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