Month: November 2024

ALBUM REVIEWSFEATURED

Melancholy Goes Up To 11 

Since 1978, when The Cure formed, they have always seemed older to me than they really were, but now they are older and the insight that they have ingested is recognizable more than ever.  It took 16 years to make this album because they wanted it to be right.  We know that Robert Smith craves perfection as do all the great artists and he didn’t want to just give the world “something”.  He wanted to give then “everything”, and in this album he showed us his heart.  He cares.  He always has.  However, over the last few years he has lost more than ever and it’s transparent in these eight songs.  

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B SidesFEATURED

THANK YOU MR. JONES

With producing credits for legends such as Michael Jackson, Frank Sinatra, Miles Davis, Lesley Gore, and Donna Summer, his impact on contemporary music is legendary. He embarked on a journey that had him starting a life as a touring musician, serving as Dizzy Gillespie’s musical director in the 1950s. Jones went on to arrange songs for Ray Charles, Count Basie, Dinah Washington, and others before incorporating synthesizers into his own practice.  In the 1960s, Jones began work as Mercury Records’ vice president. He concentrated on music for the small and big screen, eventually scoring nearly 40 films and hundreds of TV shows.  When you look at the vast scope of his career, accolades and accomplishments it’s hard to believe that this was done by one person. 

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B SidesFEATURED

PARENTAL ADVISORY EXPLICIT CONTENT

However, rather than determining whether albums would be labeled (nineteen record labels had already voluntarily added advisory stickers a month earlier), the Senate hearing would provide a chance to hear all sides. John Denver, for example, spoke about his own experience with censorship when his song “Rocky Mountain High” was thought to be about drugs. (“This was obviously done by people who had never seen or been to the Rocky Mountains,” he told the committee.) Ultimately, the PMRC won, and through a deal with the Recording Industry Association of America, labels were added to albums on November 1, 1985.  

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