The power of unexpected music

Music can be most effective when it is unexpected — as in this seemingly impromptu wedding performance. L’chaim!

Tom Petty guitarist Mike Campbell on his two loves

Here’s a fine little piece by my former colleague at the St. Petersburg Times, Sean Daly, on guitarist/producer extraordinaire Mike Campbell, of the Heartbreakers. Nice work, Sean. In my book Campbell is the all-time master of playing EXACTLY what the song needs — no more, no less.

Three ways to capture, edit audio on the go

Here’s a post from the excellent blog 10,000 Words on new tools to help you use your smartphone to capture, edit and share audio. Check it out!

New details on remastered John Lennon releases

EMI has just announced the full track listings and other details for the newly remastered John Lennon albums to be released in October.

EMI will release eight remastered John Lennon solo albums and new titles including Double Fantasy Stripped Down, Power To The People: The Hits, Gimme Some Truth and the John Lennon Signature Box. The Double Fantasy Stripped Down might be the most interesting, with new remixes of each song on Lennon’s 1980 release done by Yoko Ono and Jack Douglas, who co-produced the original album with John. The mixes pare back on the sometimes lush production of the original songs.

Here is a quite moving blog post from Yoko on the remastering/remixing process.

And here’s the text of EMI’s press release with the details on the track listings:

For the first time, Lennon’s classic solo albums and other standout recordings have been digitally remastered from his original mixes. Double Fantasy, 1980’s GRAMMY Award winner for Album of the Year, will be presented with a newly remixed ‘Stripped Down’ version produced by Yoko Ono and Jack Douglas, Lennon’s original co-producers for the album. Some Time In New York City has been restored to include the six ‘Live Jam’ recordings featured on the original album.

The deluxe 11CD and digital John Lennon Signature Box includes 13 previously unreleased home recordings, and Yoko Ono, Sean Lennon, and Julian Lennon have each written personal essays for the lavish collection.

The cover art for the new titles includes original drawings by Sean Lennon for Double Fantasy Stripped Down, while the cover of 1974’s Walls and Bridges is restored to its original artwork.

John Lennon’s life and music will be specially feted this fall with a variety of commemorative releases and events around the world. Please visit http://www.johnlennon.com for official announcements and updates.

POWER TO THE PEOPLE: THE HITS [CD; Digital]

1. Power To The People

2. Gimme Some Truth

3. Woman

4. Instant Karma! (We All Shine On)

5. Whatever Gets You Thru The Night

6. Cold Turkey

7. Jealous Guy

8. #9 Dream

9. (Just Like) Starting Over

10. Mind Games

11. Watching The Wheels

12. Stand By Me

13. Imagine

14. Happy Xmas (War Is Over)

15. Give Peace A Chance

POWER TO THE PEOPLE: THE HITS (EXPERIENCE EDITION) [CD/DVD]

CD

(tracklist same as above)

DVD

1. Power To The People

2. Gimme Some Truth

3. Woman

4. Instant Karma! (We All Shine On)

5. Whatever Gets You Thru The Night

6. Cold Turkey

7. Jealous Guy

8. #9 Dream

9. (Just Like) Starting Over

10. Mind Games

11. Watching The Wheels

12. Stand By Me

13. Imagine

14. Happy Xmas (War Is Over)

15. Give Peace A Chance

GIMME SOME TRUTH [4CD; Digital]

Working Class Hero

1. Working Class Hero

2. Instant Karma! (We All Shine On)

3. Power To The People

4. God

5. I Don’t Wanna Be a Soldier Mama I Don’t Wanna Die

6. Gimme Some Truth

7. Sunday Bloody Sunday

8. Steel And Glass

9. Meat City

10. I Don’t Wanna Face It

11. Remember

12. Woman Is The Nigger Of The World

13. I Found out

14. Isolation

15. Imagine

16. Happy Xmas (War Is Over)

17. Give Peace A Chance

18. Only People

Woman

1. Mother

2. Hold On

3. You Are Here

4. Well Well Well

5. Oh My Love

6. Oh Yoko!

7. Grow Old With Me

8. Love

9. Jealous Guy

10. Woman

11. Out The Blue

12. Bless You

13. Nobody Loves You (When You’re Down And Out)

14. My Mummy’s Dead

15. I’m Losing You

16. (Just Like) Starting Over

17. #9 Dream

18. Beautiful Boy (Darling Boy)

Borrowed Time

1. Mind Games

2. Nobody Told Me

3. Cleanup Time

4. Crippled Inside

5. How Do You Sleep?

6. How?

7. Intuition

8. I’m Stepping Out

9. Whatever Gets You Thru The Night

10. Old Dirt Road

11. Scared

12. What You Got

13. Cold Turkey

14. New York City

15. Surprise Surprise (Sweet Bird Of Paradox)

16. Borrowed Time

17. Look At Me

18. Watching The Wheels

Roots

1. Be-Bop-A-Lula

2. You Can’t Catch Me

3. Medley: Rip It Up/Ready Teddy

4. Tight A$

5. Ain’t That a Shame

6. Sweet Little Sixteen

7. Do You Wanna Dance

8. Slippin’ and Slidin’

9. Peggy Sue

10. Medley: Bring It On Home/Send Me Some Lovin’

11. Yer Blues (Live)

12. Just Because

13. Boney Moronie

14. Beef Jerky

15. Ya Ya

16. Hound Dog (Live)

17. Stand By Me

18. Here We Go Again

JOHN LENNON SIGNATURE BOX [11CD; Digital]

Original Albums [digitally remastered]

– John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band

– Imagine

– Some Time In New York City

– Mind Games

– Walls and Bridges

– Rock ‘n’ Roll

– Double Fantasy

– Milk and Honey

Home Tapes

1. Mother

2. Love

3. God

4. I Found Out

5. Nobody Told Me

6. Honey Don’t

7. One Of The Boys

8. India, India

9. Serve Yourself

10. Isolation

11. Remember

12. Beautiful Boy (Darling Boy)

13. I Don’t Wanna Be a Soldier Mama I Don’t Wanna Die

Singles

1. Power To The People

2. Happy Xmas (War Is Over)

3. Instant Karma! (We All Shine On)

4. Cold Turkey

5. Move Over Ms. L

6. Give Peace a Chance

ORIGINAL ALBUMS (REMASTERED) [CD; Digital]

John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band (1970)

1. Mother

2. Hold On

3. I Found Out

4. Working Class Hero

5. Isolation

6. Remember

7. Love

8. Well Well Well

9. Look At Me

10. God

11. My Mummy’s Dead

Imagine (1971)

1. Imagine

2. Crippled Inside

3. Jealous Guy

4. It’s So Hard

5. I Don’t Wanna Be A Soldier Mama I Don’t Wanna Die

6. Gimme Some Truth

7. Oh My Love

8. How Do You Sleep?

9. How?

10. Oh Yoko!

Some Time In New York City (1972)

DISC ONE

1. Woman Is The Nigger Of The World

2. Sisters, O Sisters

3. Attica State

4. Born In a Prison

5. New York City

6. Sunday Bloody Sunday

7. The Luck Of The Irish

8. John Sinclair

9. Angela

10. We’re All Water

DISC TWO

1. Cold Turkey (live)

2. Don’t Worry Kyoko (live)

3. Well (Baby Please Don’t Go) (live)

4. Jamrag (live)

5. Scumbag (live)

6. Au (live)

Mind Games (1973)

1. Mind Games

2. Tight A$

3. Aisumasen (I’m Sorry)

4. One Day (At A Time)

5. Bring On The Lucie (Freda Peeple)

6. Nutopian International Anthem

7. Intuition

8. Out The Blue

9. Only People

10. I Know (I Know)

11. You Are Here

12. Meat City

Walls and Bridges (1974)

1. Going Down On Love

2. Whatever Gets You Thru The Night

3. Old Dirt Road

4. What You Got

5. Bless You

6. Scared

7. #9 Dream

8. Surprise, Surprise (Sweet Bird Of Paradox)

9. Steel And Glass

10. Beef Jerky

11. Nobody Loves You (When You’re Down And Out)

12. Ya Ya

Rock ‘n’ Roll (1975)

1. Be-Bop-A-Lula

2. Stand By Me

3. Medley: Rip It Up/Ready Teddy

4. You Can’t Catch Me

5. Ain’t That A Shame

6. Do You Wanna Dance

7. Sweet Little Sixteen

8. Slippin’ And Slidin’

9. Peggy Sue

10. Medley: Bring It On Home To Me/Send Me Some Lovin’

11. Bony Moronie

12. Ya Ya

13. Just Because

Double Fantasy Stripped Down (2010) / Double Fantasy (1980)

Stripped Down

Original Album, Remastered

1. (Just Like) Starting Over

2. Kiss Kiss Kiss

3. Cleanup Time

4. Give Me Something

5. I’m Losing You

6. I’m Moving On

7. Beautiful Boy (Darling Boy)

8. Watching The Wheels

9. Yes, I’m Your Angel

10. Woman

11. Beautiful Boys

12. Dear Yoko

13. Every Man Has A Woman Who Loves Him

14. Hard Times Are Over

Milk and Honey (1984)

1. I’m Stepping Out

2. Sleepless Night

3. I Don’t Wanna Face It

4. Don’t Be Scared

5. Nobody Told Me

6. O’Sanity

7. Borrowed Time

8. Your Hands

9. (Forgive Me) My Little Flower Princess

10. Let Me Count The Ways

11. Grow Old With Me

12. You’re The One

Damn the Torpedoes, a Tom Petty masterpiece

Here’s a promo for the new “Classic Albums” DVD, this one on Tom Petty’s third album, Damn the Torpedoes. I especially like the story of the genesis for “Refugee,” which came from a bluesy lick that guitarist Mike Campbell came up with after listening to an old Albert King song.

Hearing Campbell’s lick and chords, Tom Petty came up with the melody and lyrics, an effort “that might have taken 10 minutes,” he says. Classic!

Four chords and you have a pop hit

Here’s a hilarious demonstration – courtesy Axis of Awesome – of just how many pop hits have been created with the C-G-Am-F progression. Enjoy!

Beatles “Red” and “Blue” compilations remastered

EMI and Apple Corps. have just announced that the Beatles’ 1973 greatest-hits compilation “Red” and “Blue” albums have been remastered for release in October. The remastering work has been done by the same Abbey Road/EMI team that handled the chore for 2009’s release of the remastered original catalog of albums. (For an interview with Allan Rouse, head of the remastering project, click here.)

I don’t know if you’ve heard the remastered versions of the original albums, but you need to do so if you haven’t. I know that I’ve relegated my old Red and Blue CDs to my young children’s CD players — which means, of course, they are not long for this world. The remastered versions of the songs are that much better. The engineers, headed by Rouse, did a fantastic job walking that fine line between improving the clarity and punch without hyping (that is, ruining) the original sounds.

So if you really just want the best-of-the-best in their best-possible-sounding digital form, the coming remastered Red and Blue compilations might be just the ticket!

Top 100 guitar riffs…. all in a row

My youngest son, aged 8, is learning guitar. I recently bought him an electric Strat copy and a small amp, and he almost instantly started playing the riffs to “Smoke On The Water” and “Iron Man,” along with the melody to the theme from Pink Panther. It got me to thinking about those classic rock guitar riffs all guitarists fumble around with at one point or another. The man above, named Brodie Cumming, managed to play what he’s calling the Top 100 guitar riffs of all time in a single take, over about seven and a half minutes. Check it out!

iPhone recording app

Here’s a nice look at one of a number of iPhone recording apps now available. This one is called NanoStudio.

How to add multimedia to your blog

Here’s a concise overview from Mashable about how to quickly add multimedia to your blog. I think it’s useful for novices, but I would add one strong warning: Make sure you have the right to use the music, photos and videos you find online. Generally “fair use” covers you if you are using samples in a journalistic context. But be cautious – and please don’t steal someone’s creative property!