General Posts | Every Moment Has A Song

Roberta Flack has ALS, now ‘impossible to sing,’ rep says

20 Nov 2022 Leave a comment

by Ed Cyphers in General Posts Tags: roberta flack

(Photo by Matt Licari/Invision/AP, File)

(via ABC News and Associated Press)

NEW YORK — A representative for Roberta Flack announced Monday that the Grammy-winning musician has ALS, commonly known as Lou Gehrig’s disease, and can no longer sing.

The progressive disease “has made it impossible to sing and not easy to speak,” Flack’s manager Suzanne Koga said in a release. “But it will take a lot more than ALS to silence this icon.”

The announcement of the amyotrophic lateral sclerosis diagnosis comes just ahead of the premiere of “Roberta,” a feature-length documentary debuting Thursday at the DOCNYC film festival…

The Secret Inspiration Behind Warren Zevon’s ‘Werewolves of London’

09 Nov 2022 Leave a comment

by Ed Cyphers in General Posts Tags: warren zevon, werewolves of london

How ‘a dumb song for smart people’ became an unlikely hit

(via Cuepoint) by George Plasketes

From his 1978 album Excitable Boy, Warren Zevon’s terror trilogy — a ghostly, ghastly three-song sequence brimming with abandoned amusement — was comprised of “Roland the Headless Thompson Gunner,” “Excitable Boy,” and “Werewolves of London.” The latter was another “literally 15-minute song” that none of its co-writers — Zevon, LeRoy Marinell, and Waddy Wachtel — took seriously. The spontaneous composition, referred to by Zevon as “a dumb song for smart people,” defied the conventional attributes of songwriting such as labor, craft, and agonizing.

The idea originated with Phil Everly who, after watching the movie Werewolf of London (1935) on late-night television, suggested to Zevon that he adapt the title for a song and dance craze. When Wachtel heard the idea, he mimicked a wailing wolf — “Aahoooh” — which became part of the howling chorus. The trio frivolously alternated verses, beginning with what may be one of the all-time opening lines: “I saw a werewolf with a Chinese menu in his hand/Walking down the streets of Soho in the rain.” The romp is comic noir, featuring a stylish werewolf on his way to Lee Ho Fooks for a “big dish of beef chow mein” and another “drinking a piña colada at Trader Vic’s.”

Steely Dan’s Classic Catalog to be Remastered From Original Tapes

18 Sep 2022 Leave a comment

by Ed Cyphers in General Posts Tags: steely dan, steely dan remasters

Steely Dan’s classic catalog remaster & reissue from original tapes onto 180-gram vinyl starts with “Can’t Buy A Thrill” on November 4.

(via Markets Insider)

LOS ANGELES, Sept. 16, 2022 /PRNewswire/ — Led by the songwriting and virtuoso musical duo of Walter Becker and Donald Fagen, Steely Dan released an extraordinary run of seven albums on ABC Records and MCA Records from 1972 through 1980. Filled with topline musicianship, clever and subversive wordplay, ironic humor, genius arrangements, and pop hits that outshone the Top 40 of its day, their records, which were as sophisticated and cerebral as they were inscrutable, were stylistically diverse, melding their love of jazz with rock, blues, and impeccable pop songcraft.

Now at long last, Steely Dan’s classic ABC and MCA Records catalog will return to vinyl with an extensive yearlong reissue program of the band’s first seven records, which is being personally overseen by founding member Donald Fagen. The LPs, most of which haven’t been widely available since their original release, will be available on 33 1/3 RPM 180-gram black vinyl via Geffen/UMe, and as a limited-edition premium 45 RPM version on Ultra High-Quality Vinyl (UHQR) from Analogue Productions, the audiophile in-house reissue label of Acoustic Sounds. Analogue Productions will also release this series of titles on Super Audio CD (SACD)…

The Day Disco Died: Remembering the Unbridled Chaos of “Disco Demolition Night”

16 Jul 2022 Leave a comment

by Ed Cyphers in General Posts Tags: disco demolition

(via edm.com) by MIKALA LUGEN

On this day in 1979, a fun MLB promotional event quickly devolved into the most infamous and controversial event in disco history.

In the late 70s, dance-oriented disco was one of the most popular musical genres in the United States. Seminal films such as Saturday Night Fever and Disco Godfather greatly influenced the music scene, while artists like the Bee Gees, ABBA, KC and the Sunshine Band, and Donna Summer became repeated record plays for many.

While disco provided a fun, novel outlet and style of dress to many people, it sparked major backlash from fans of rock music. Critics at the time often feared that the rise of the disco would quickly lead to a decay in rock after disco albums dominated the 21st Grammy Awards in 1978.

When Chicago’s WDAI-FM switched from rock to disco and DJ Steve Dahl got fired in 1978, the moves sparked a paradigm shift. Quickly hired at rival Chicago rock station WLUP and playing off the publicity surrounding his firing, Dahl created a mock organization called “Insane Coho Lips” consisting of his group of anti-disco listeners…