westcoastmusic

California CD, Westcoast Music / AOR compilation 4 CDs released in France!

"California Groove" (Warner Music France) is the title of a new digipack compilation of 4 CDs (75 songs) that will be released April 6, 2009 exclusively in France for the following French records shops: Virgin and Starter retail chains (Cultura, Gibert Joseph et Chapitre).

This new great project has been made possible because of the talent and hobby of David Dutreuil (Warner Music France). It features some rarities... What a great 4 CDs set that every fan of Westcoast Music / AOR can obtain! A must have! A truly gift!

Don't miss it!

Westcoast Rendez-Vous is a mediapartner of the release of "California Groove".

California Groove: tracklisting: 4 CDs - 75 songs

CD1

1. America - Ventura Highway

2. Daryl Hall And John Oates - Las Vegas Turnaround (The Stewardess Song)

3. Nicolette Larson - Lotta Love

4. Bread - Dismal Day

5. Orleans - Dance With Me

6. The Souther-Hillman-Furay Band - Border Town

7. John David Souther - Some People Call It Music

8. Seals & Croft - Summer Breeze

9. Carly Simon - You're So Vain

10. Wendy Waldman - Long Hot Summer Nights

11. Rickie Lee Jones - Chuck E's In Love

12. Linda Ronstadt - Easy For You To Say

13. Firefall - It Doesn't Matter

14. Boz Scaggs - I'm Easy

15. Danny O'Keefe - Junkman

16. Todd Rundgren - I Saw The Light

17. Little Feat - Willin'

18. Terence Boylan - Suzy

19. Poco - Ghost Town

20. Joe Walsh - Life's Been Good (Original Long Version)

CD2

1. Alessi Brothers - Oh Lori

2. Barnaby Bye - Damn You Girl

3. Jim Messina - Break The Chain

4. Gino Vannelli - Mama Coco

5. Felix Cavaliere - Future Train

6. Frankie Valli - Swearin' To God

7. Crackin' - Too Young

8. Warren Zevon - Nighttime In The Switching Yard

9. Ned Doheny - On The Swing Shift

10. The Doobie Brothers - What A Fool Believes

11. Marc Jordan - Survival

12. Vapor Trails - Night People

13. Kenny Loggins - This Is It

14. The Wilson Brothers - Ticket To My Heart

15. Andrew Gold - Genevieve

16. Dane Donohue - Casablanca

17. Bill Champlin - Gotta Get Back To Love

18. Jay Ferguson - Thunder Island

19. Christopher Cross - Ride Like The Wind

CD3

1. Bill LaBounty - Livin' It Up

2. Robbie Dupree - Hot Rod Hearts

3. Michael McDonald - I Keep Forgettin (Every Time You're Near)

4. Ambrosia - You're The Only Woman (You & I)

5. Roger Voudouris - Get Used To It

6. Larsen-Feiten Band - Who'll Be The Fool Tonight

7. Paul Davis - Cool Night

8. England Dan & John Ford Coley - I'd Really Love To See You Tonight

9. Leblanc and Carr - Falling

10. Peter Allen - Fly Away

11. Larry Carlton - Nite Crawler

12. Christine McVie - Got A Hold On Me

13. Con Funk Shun - California 1

14. Leon Ware - That's Why I Came To California

15. Chaka Khan - What Cha' Gonna Do For Me

16. Patti Austin - Stop, Look, Listen

17. George Benson - Please Don't Walk Awa

18. Al Jarreau - We're In This Love Together

19. Toto - 99

CD4

1. Michael Franks - When Sly Calls (Don't Touch That Phone)

2. Eye To Eye - Nice Girls

3. Chris Rea - On the beach

4. Nightshift - Ocean Bay

5. Michael Ruff - More Than You'll Ever Know

6. Randy Newman - I Love L.A.

7. Maxus - The Higher You Rise

8. Jay Graydon of Airplay - She Waits For Me (Early Airplay demo)

9. Peter Cetera Where - There's No Tomorrow

10. Stephen Bishop - The Big House

11. Michael Sembello - First Time

12. Lee Ritenour - Countdown (Captain Fingers)

13. Geyster - Sister's Beautiful

14. Chicago - Hard To Say I'm Sorry

15. David Pack - My Baby

16. Jar - Cure Kit

17. Week End Millionnaire - French Music Par Excellence

David Roberts, Better Late Than Never, a design made in Westcoast Rendez-Vous

Congratulations to Arnaud Leger (from Westcoast Rendez-Vous staff) who has designed the frontcover of David Roberts new album entitled "Better Late Than Never" just released on Vivid Sound label in Japan. It's David Roberts first LP since his legendary album "All Dressed Up" back in 1982 considered as a Westcoast Music/AOR masterpiece.

In early February 2008, Arnaud has imagined and designed the frontcover of Peter Friestedt "The L.A. Project II" LP for the Japanese release on Vivid Sound too.

Soon, new cover designs from Arnaud especially for another artistry in Westcoast Music. Stay tuned!

See here Arnaud's work in AOR/Westcoast Music.
You can contact him here: westcoastrendezvous@gmail.com

Pictures of the Chicago concert in Paris, July 29, 2008

Here we are! Please find at this address our special gallery of pictures about the band Chicago in concert in Paris on July 29, 2008 at The Casino de Paris. Enjoy the band (Robert Lamm, Bill Champlin, Keith Howland, Jason Scheff, Tris Imboden, Lee Loughnane...) and the amazing audience... The band was amazing and this evening is a wonderful souvenir. More than 40 pictures of Chicago in this gallery!

Stay tuned here at The Westcoast Rendez-Vous blog. We will put online very soon two exclusive video interviews of Bill Champlin and Jason Scheff shoot in Paris!

Photos : Copyright J.-L. Raymond.

Chicago concert in Paris (Casino de Paris): pictures and soon video interviews

The concert of the band Chicago on July 29, 2008 at the Casino de Paris, Paris, France was quite exceptional although James Pankow and Walter Parazaider weren't in the band for this European tour (Nick Lane and Ray Hermann replaced them). In The Casino de Paris, the concert was sold out with a real great ambiance and a lot of blasts from the past as well as more recent material (80s, 90s and the latest years). More than 135 minutes for a great gig. Let's imagine Chicago hasn't played live in Paris since 1976!! The audience was fabulous and quite expressive!

If you have assisted to this concert or one of the Chicago concerts in Europe, please put your opinion and reviews in the comments of this message.

More to come : pics of the concert of Chicago in Paris and two exclusive video interviews : Bill Champlin and Jason Scheff

More to come on this blog, albums pics of the concert of Chicago in Paris and two exclusive video interviews of Bill Champlin and Jason Scheff shoot in Paris on July 29 in which they talk about Chicago (especially about the album "Stone Of Sysyphus"), their solo career, new collaborations and projects! Stay tuned!

A very special thanks to Bill Champlin and Jason Scheff for their friendship and for making these interviews possible!

Photos : Copyright J.-L. Raymond.

Bill LaBounty in Paris... The pics on his website... and new songs

Bill LaBounty in Paris... The pics on his website... and new songs.

Bill Labounty has just posted a special photo gallery about the parisian concerts on his website: Casino de Paris...Bill and friends spend a glorious time in Paris. Casino de Paris photos by Pam Kidd........More to come!

Also, Bill LaBounty has added 3 more new songs in the music section of his website.

Robbie Dupree special message re. the Parisian concerts

Robbie Dupree has sent us this message regarding the Parisian concerts (also feat. Bill LaBounty, Larry Hoppen from Orleans). Enjoy!

"The concert at The Casino de Paris was an inspiring night for me and all the members of the band. We began this project three years ago, and have travelled with the show to many exciting places. Paris was certainly the highlight. I am very thankful for your continued support. It was a joy to have my old friend Bill join us this year for shows in Tokyo and Paris. We will plan on doing again in the near future. Thanks to all the people who worked so hard to make the show a success.
Peace, Robbie

Robbie Dupree
robbiedupree@earthlink.net"

Bill LaBounty: a special comment from Bill LaBounty

Here it is... A special comment written on this blog today by Bill LaBounty himself:

"All my thanks to everyone at the Casino de Paris on September 30! The feeling in the room was like a narcotic to me. So many soulful people in one place could have been dangerous. But we all handled it well. It is a night I shall never forget. As were my whole five nights in Paris. Thank you to so many who came from long distances. I hope we can return and perform nearer to you all.

My love to you. Bill"

Bill LaBounty and Robbie Dupree at The Casino de Paris past saturday: your pictures and videos...

Bill LaBounty and Robbie Dupree at The Casino de Paris past saturday: your reviews, your pictures and videos.

Boris Plantier has written a review in French about the Casino de Paris about the concert on this webzine Rock Highway: Robbie Dupree & Bill LaBounty.

French James Taylor fans website has put a thread here in french on their forum with the complete set-list of the concert, a review and two short videos you can show here at YouTube : Look Who's Lonely Now (1 minute) and Hot Rod Hearts (72 seconds).

Jean Agostini (HighwayFM, a website dedicated to New Country Music) has put on a gallery 43 pictures of the concert, in 3 pages : 1-15, 16-30 and 31-43 and has written a review in French of the concert.

TotoWeb french forum has also a thread about the concert here with a review of a fan named Nick.

More to come!

PS: In case, you had published pictures of the concert, please send us a message, we will add here links to pictures and reviews in English and French of the concert. And if you want to write an article about the concert, just drop us a line.
Our email box is:
westcoastmusic@club-internet.fr

Bill LaBounty and Robbie Dupree at The Casino de Paris... Another article about the concert written by Philippe Poudensan

Longtime french Westcoast music fan Philippe Poudensan sent us this report about the Bill LaBounty / Robbie Dupree concert last saturday at The Casino de Paris - Paris, France. Enjoy and thanks to him for this great review.

PS: In case, you had published pictures of the concert, please send us a message, we will add here links to pictures and reviews in English of the concert. And if you want to write an article about the concert, just drop us a line.
Our email box is:
westcoastmusic@club-internet.fr

From Philippe Poudensan:

"Yes indeed saturday was a very special night in Paris. I already had a chance to see Bill LaBounty and Robbie Dupree live and both shows were pretty good but saturday there was something different in the air. Everybody on stage and in the hall had a big smile on his face, there was a sort of magic in the Casino de Paris. The music itself was different. Of course we all knew the songs but I had never heard them played with so much soul and joy. I guess the rhythm section can explain that, Peter Bunetta and Rick Chudacoff smoking hard and giving a more soulful touch but the unique interaction between the band and us was incredible.

I had never realized also how much Bill LaBounty was a fantastic keyboard player, I heard a lot of influences in his playing, a lot of jazz (Bill Evans when he was playing soft) and a lot of rhythm and blues too, with a sort of Ray Charles or Michael McDonald in it, still sounding like nobody else.
Bill, when will you record an album of your songs with just you singing and playing Fender rhodes? And yes, Bill was kind enough to spend some time with my godmother, wishing her an happy birthday.

Then Robbie, obviously happy to be there and living a special moment like he told us.He talked a lot with the audience, played some smoking and bluesy harmonica soli, diving deep into the infectious groove that the whole rhythm section was creating.

David Sancious too was perfect, inspired at every moment, a top player, total respect for that men.
And what about "Livin'it up" and "Look who's lonely now", after the band stopped playing, we all kept on singing, we simply didn't want the songs, and the night, to end, and the band started again playing, laughing!!!

I'll never forget that night, a big thank you to the artists and a big one too to Richard Benhaïm for making that night possible. See you all next year, who will be the next on the bill?"

Amazing Bill LaBounty and Robbie Dupree (feat. Larry Hoppen from Orleans) concert at The Casino de Paris tonight!

Amazing Bill LaBounty and Robbie Dupree (feat. Larry Hoppen from Orleans) concert at The Casino de Paris tonight!

More than 2 hours live in France for the first time in 10 years for Robbie Dupree, for the first time in 14 years for Bill LaBounty and the dream came true again. First of all, thanks for the European audience. The Casino de Paris (in Paris, France) was nearly sold out (more than 800 tickets) and fans came across all over Europe to see this great concert (Belgium, Italy, Germany, Scandinavia...) and from all over France of course.

Could you imagine a standing ovation for the whole band: Bill LaBounty (Vocals, Keyboards), Robbie Dupree (Vocals, Harmonica, Rhythm Guitar, Percussion), Larry Hoppen (Vocals, Electric Guitar, Acoustic Guitar), David Sancious (Keyboards), Leslie Smith (Percussion, Vocals), Rick Chudacoff (Bass) and Peter Bunetta (Drums)?

Could you imagine the whole crowd singin' "Look Who's Lonely Now" and "Livin' It Up"? A moving "This Night Won't Last Forever"?

Could you imagine a duet version by Robbie Dupree and Bill LaBounty of "The Right Direction", "Mr O."?

All of our dreams came true and more like an extraordinary "Dance With Me" with Larry Hoppen on lead vocals and acoustic guitar, a groovy "What's Goin' On" (Marvin Gaye) and "Fragile" (Sting cover version) by Leslie Smith on leads and "I'll Be Around" and "Work to Do" covers by the whole band.

Also, on the playlist: "Saturday Night," "Talk To You," "Real World," "Steal Away," "Hot Rod Hearts"...

This concert was so cool and so great! Thanks to the french promoter Richard Benhaim for bringing this whole all-star band in Paris, this is clearly a chance to have him here in France. And this is so great to see all these European fans still singing by heart the songs and the hits!

A very special thought on this special day to a female fan of Bill LaBounty based in the South of France. She is native from Manchester (UK) and it's her birthday today: she is 83 years old. She was at the concert and met Bill backstage. Happy birthday!

More to come here : pictures of the concert... To follow... Your comments about the concert are welcome!