Jethro Tull - Beethoven's 9th (2nd Mvmt)

This video is interesting for two reasons. First, it's Jethro Tull doing some of the 2nd movement from Beethoven's 9th symphony... something that's never been released on any of Tull's live albums. Second, it's a video of a Jethro Tull performance without Ian Anderson in it (at least I didn't see him). This was July 31, 1976 in Tampa, Florida. Jethro Tull is in my top 3 favorite bands ever and the 2nd mvmt from Beethoven's 9th is in my top 10 or 20 of most favorite pieces of music ever. So this was a treat for me.

The Beach Boys, Opeth, The Carpenters and Morbid Angel

From an old interview with Steven Wilson of Porcupine Tree:

I love the Beach Boys and Brian Wilson is one of my great influences. I don't want to lose that element of Porcupine Tree.

I listen to everything from the Carpenters to Andy Williams to Morbid Angel to Opeth, and everything in-between. For me, musically, when I sit down to write music, very naturally, organically all these influences and ingredients mix up together. If you describe that mix on paper you'd think it's never going to work.

If you don't have any Porcupine Tree in your collection, you are really missing some fantastic music.

Led Zeppelin concert postponed

Led Zeppelin have postponed a one-off comeback concert in London because guitarist Jimmy Page has broken his finger, the promoters said on Thursday.
The concert will now take place on December 10 and all tickets for the original concert on November 26 will be valid, a statement said.

The injury happened last weekend and Page will not be able to play guitar for three weeks, a statement quoted a specialist as saying. "I am disappointed that we are forced to postpone the concert by two weeks," said Page, 63.

"We feel that this postponement will enable my injury to properly heal and permit us to perform at the level that both the band and our fans have always been accustomed to."

The concert venue takes up to 20,000 fans and many die-hard Zeppelin fans had organized trips from around the world to attend the concert this month. Tickets were allocated by ballot and more than 1 million fans registered for a chance to see the legendary rock group.

Page will be joined by singer Robert Plant and bassist John Paul Jones, and Bonham's son Jason will be the drummer. The show will be a tribute to the late founder of Atlantic Records, Ahmet Ertegun, who signed the group in 1968.

Halo Soundtrack

I've been a fan of film scores for 30 years. Since May 25, 1977 to be exact. Naturally, I've also paid attention to the way that the soundtracks for video games have improved as the industry has matured. There were some early standouts... remember the theme from "Skate or Die"? Awesome! One of the first games that really had me drooling to find a score CD was Medal of Honor: Allied Assault. It was scored by Michael Giacchino who went on to do Pixar's "The Incredibles" and some TV shows called "Alias" and "Lost".

With the hype around the recently released Halo 3, I decided a couple of months ago that I better get Halo 2 and catch up on the story. I was instantly hooked by the music (which I didn't remember standing out to me when I played the first Halo on the PC way back in the day). Two soundtracks have been released for Halo 2 alone. As you can imagine, they follow the same format that a multi-soundtrack release for a movie does. The first soundtrack contains mostly rock or pop songs, most of which aren't in the game/movie, but which are "inspired by" it. Then due to demand from fans (and usually a couple of years later), you might get a proper score CD released. Such is the case hear. You might guess that I prefer the Volume 2 Score (by Martin O'Donnell & Michael Salvatori) and you'd be right.

The music from Halo 2 stands out because, for an action game, this music is largely melancholic, slowly mysterious and at times even sad. It's a good contemplative soundtrack for late nights after a young man has just had an argument with his girlfriend. Or, more personally, a good mood piece after a hard day at work. Also, the level of quality is very high. It sounds like a real human choir and orchestra are used (it also sounds like synthesized ones are used in some parts, too, though). Crisp, sharp and clear, this music stands very well on its own even if you've never played or never intend to play the video game.

What? How?

How is it possible to play pinball by sense of smell?

Fun Lyric #1

"I don't know karate, but i know ka-razy!"

-James Brown "The Payback"

October Birthdays

It's October already... wow! Here are notable birthdays this month in the world of rock and/or roll. If you're a famous musician and you don't see your name here, that's because you're not notable... to me anyway. Sorry.

Mike Rutherford is 57 today. Happy Birthday, Mr. Rutherford!
Matthew Sweet will be 43 on the 6th.
David Lee Roth will be 52 on the 10th.
Bob Mould will be 47 on the 12th.
Marie Osmond will match Mould on the 13th.
Sammy Hagar will hit the big 60 on the 13th.
Also on the 13th, Paul Simon will be 66.
Richard Carpenter hits 61 on the 15th.
John Mayer will be 30 on the 16th.
Chuck Berry hits 81 on the 18th.
Weird Al Yankovic will 48 on the 23rd.
Jon Anderson will be 63 on the 25th.
On the 26th, Natalie Merchant will be 44.
Joey BellaDonna will be 47 on the 30th.
On the 31st, Vanilla Ice will be 39 and Adam Horovitz will be 41.

RTFO you old timers!