AMERICANA is the first album from Neil Young & Crazy Horse in nearly nine years.

Crazy Horse is: Billy Talbot, Ralph Molina, Poncho Sampedro, and Neil Young. As you’ll see from the track-listing, AMERICANA is collection of classic, American folk songs. In their day, some of these may have been referred to as “protest songs,” “murder ballads,” or campfire-type songs passed down with universal, relatable tales for everyman. Some of these compositions which, like “Tom Dooley” and “Oh Susannah,” were written in the 1800s, while others, like “This Land Is Your Land” (utilizing the original, widely misinterpreted “deleted verses”) and “Get A Job,” are mid-20th-century folk classics.

It’s also interesting to note that “God Save The Queen,” Britain’s national anthem, also became the de facto national anthem of sorts before the establishment of The Union as we know it until we came to adopt our very own “The Star Spangled Banner,” which has been recognized for use as early as 1889 and made our official national anthem in 1931.

Each of these compositions is very much part of the fabric of our American heritage; the roots of what we think of as “Americana” in cultural terms, using songs as a way of passing along information and documenting our past. What ties these songs together is the fact that while they may represent an America that may no longer exist, the emotions and scenarios behind these songs still resonate with what’s going on in the country today with equal, if not greater impact nearly 200 years later. The lyrics reflect the same concerns and are still remarkably meaningful to a society going through economic and cultural upheaval, especially during an election year. They are just as poignant and powerful today as the day they were written.

The legendary band Chicago triumphantly returns to its namesake town. Set against the stunning background of Lake Michigan, Chicago wows a sold-out crowd at the Charter-One Pavilion with an evening of hits including “Saturday in the Park,” “Make Me Smile” and “You’re the Inspiration.” To end the night, the hometown headliners are joined onstage by the Doobie Brothers for an unbelievable music encore, which includes “25 or 6 to 4” and “Does Anybody Really Know What Time It Is?”

BACK IN the 1980s the female musical domain was mainly restricted to disco or pop... exactly where you would have found Teri. Signed to the flamboyant Casablanca label, her recorded output had consisted of two thoroughly unremarkable albums before the label and new management had the vision to rethink this approach. Focussing on her phenomenal vocal range she was soon cutting one of the great, if undiscovered, melodic rock albums of the era. Recruiting some of the best west coast rock musicians, including Steve Lukather, Steve Porcaro, Mike Landau, Ritchie Zito, and Mike Baird, the album explodes with pure melodic mayhem. Sharp, yet ballsy, every track is pure dynamite just like Pat Benatar and Heart.

Rock Candy Records is pleased to re-released 2 FM masterpieces in its catalogue.

"INDISCREET", FM's debut album, originally released in 1986, was instantly hailed as a genre classic.  A work so carefully crafted and expertly executed that it was immediately identified as an equal of, if not even better than, the majority of US acts that had dominated the AOR scene. Containing gorgeously melodic songs and benefitting from precise arrangements, the results were breathtaking.
Of course, many of the accolades were attributed to Steve Overland’s wonderful vocal delivery. With a one-in-a-million rasp, his voice evokes classic British singers such as Paul Rodgers, Robert Palmer and Rod Stewart in addition to American soul masters such as Otis Redding and Marvin Gaye. Truly, he is one of the world’s greatest, yet unheralded, vocalists. 

"TOUGH IT OUT": FM’s DEBUT album, ‘Indiscreet’, set the scene perfectly. This was a British band with their eyes set firmly on the American market, playing music equal to, if not superior, than masters of the craft such as Foreigner, Journey and Survivor. That they had not earned a significant sales foothold was shocking but it only fuelled their resolve to come back out swinging with the stoically titled, ‘Tough It Out’.

For their second album FM were taking no chances. Arming themselves with new management and a real producer in Neil Kernon (Autograph, Michael Bolton) and topping off their determination by collaborating with some great songwriters (including Desmond Child) they constructed an album of serious potential.
Originally issued in 1989, it takes all the excitement of their first album but infused with top notch production and an energy that suggested they weren’t going to take any prisoners. Mixed by Nigel Green (Def Leppard), the album contains eleven stunning slices of melodic AOR, including such crowd pleasers as ‘Don’t Stop’, ‘Bad Luck’ and ‘Burning My Heart Down’. As always, Steve Overland must be credited for his superlative performance.

The former Waltons frontman Jason Plumb has figured out the key to sustaining a career in the Canadian music industry — write engaging pop songs, accumulate a stellar list of musician friends, and remain dedicated to your craft. With 25 years under his belt, the Regina, Saskatchewan-based singer and songwriter has amassed an impressive body of work that has taken him across Canada and around the world.

Winning a Juno, gold-selling records, and doing major tours with the Barenaked Ladies and Blue Rodeo have all contributed to his longevity. Plumb has consistently created music that is accessible and unique, identifiable, and pop- friendly with edgy honesty. He engages his listener and rewards them for their faithfulness by keeping audiences spellbound with soulful performances. It’s not surprising that he has been embraced by Canadian audiences and acclaimed by the industry and his peers. His latest album with his band, The Willing, All Is More Than Both, is about coming full circle, recognizing the power of getting back to basics, and letting the repetitive nature of life just do its thing. “Whatever is, once was, and will always be.” He’s not talking Buddhism, but more of the rite of passage journey he’s been on in the past few years. With the end of a marriage, the beginning of a new relationship, and the birth of his son, Henry, he’s content with letting life decide where it will take him.

“Living the same lives over and over again and being comfortable about that. We can’t really do much about the hands that we’re dealt. Play them the best that you can and in the end everything works out the only way that it can.” Having written in three separate phases, there’s a cyclical arc to the album.

Beginning with the 10 days he spent in a hotel room in Amsterdam, running away from reality. Then after the breakup, he spent a summer at the lake healing and writing. And ending with a newfound relationship and a newborn son back home. “There’s a real optimism in the songs,” he explained. “It’s a pretty mature record with playful rock songs.” “My son’s arrival while we were recording had a positive influence on my state of mind and my performance,” he explained. “It’s such a big change in life. I began the album a different person than when it was done because of him.” Plumb wanted to make an album that was upbeat, accessible, and easy to perform live. “I really wanted to have songs that would go over in a smaller venues. The attitude of these songs was about having a more upbeat record without a string section. Sort of the antithesis of my last studio record, [Beauty In This World] which was really ballad-heavy and lovey-dovey. I went into this one wanting it to be upbeat.”Plumb assembled an impressive guest list that includes Steven Page and Ed Robertson (Barenaked Ladies), Alex Lifeson (Rush), Serena Ryder, Chic Gamine, Ian LeFeuvre (Starling, The Hundreds and Thousands), Todd Lumley (Mr. Lonely, Waltons), and Richard Underhill (Shuffle Demons). And of course, his homeboys, the exceptionally tight and talented band, appropriately dubbed, The Willing.

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Thanks to Peter Holmstedt at HEMIFRAN

Like many musicians in the Sixties, Penny Nichols started her career as a folksinger in coffeehouses around Orange County, CA. She shared stages with many legendary artists such as Jackson Browne, Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, Linda Ronstadt, Jennifer Warnes, Mary McCaslin and many others. In 1964 & 1965 she sang in a bluegrass band with John, Bill & Alice McEuen (John then took Jackson Browne's place in the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band and the rest is history) and then formed a duo with Kathy Smith called the Greasy Mountain Butterballs which toured Vietnam in the fall of 1966. Upon returning, she opened the show for numerous artists at the Troubadour and the Ash Grove in Hollywood.

In the spring of 1967, Penny rode up to San Francisco on the back of a Harley motorcycle and decided to stay in the bay area for a while. She performed in concerts and clubs all over the bay area including: the Fillmore, the Avalon, the Matrix and opened for bands such as Big Brother & the Holding Co, Steve Miller, Quicksilver Messenger Service, 13th Floor Elevators, Chocolate Watchband, Jefferson Airplane and others. During the "Summer of Love", Penny played at the Big Sur Folk Festival and recorded her first album, "Penny's Arcade", for Buddha Records. (It eventually sold over 50,000 copies) After touring the U.S. promoting her album in the fall, she toured Europe in the winter of 1968, staying with George & Patty Harrison and recording at Apple Studios while in London.

On her return to the U.S., she decided to devote her time exclusively to songwriting for a number of years and studied voice with noted vocal coach, Florence Riggs. In 1975, she began to perform around Los Angeles with her jazz band, the Black Imp, and opened the show for Little Feat in concert. She wrote and performed commercials for Toyota's campaign to plant a tree for every car bought, Carnation Dairies, and produced a public service announcement for the Navajo Nation called "Black Mesa" to protest the misuse of the land around the Four Corners power stations in Arizona.

In 1977, while working with Emitt Rhodes on a record for Elektra, Penny joined Jimmy Buffett & the Coral Reefers. She appeared in the movie 'FM' with the band, toured the US and earned a platinum album for her singing on "Son Of A Son Of A Sailor".

In the late 70's & early 80's, Penny went back to school and earned degrees in Music & Psychology from Antioch University, and then went on to Harvard University to do research in music & psychology eventually earning a doctorate in Education there. During the same time, she recorded and toured with many performers including: Art Garfunkel, Suzi Quatro, Danny O'Keefe, Yvonne Elliman, Jennifer Warnes, Albert Brooks, The Credibility Gap, Steve Gillette and earned a Grammy nomination for her work on Arlo Guthrie's "The Power Of Love".

In 1990, Penny co-produced her second album, "All Life Is One". In 1993, she released another record, an album of songs based on the 1000-year-old Buddhist stories, "The Jataka Tales". In 1997, Penny and Molly Mason collaborated on the song "The Unbroken Thread" which is included on the CD, "The Catskill Collection".

She currently lives and teaches in the Hudson Valley of New York and is building a small studio in her house. Her most recent ventures include a new album of songs by Jackson Browne called "Colors Of The Sun: Penny Nichols Sings The Early Songs Of Jackson Browne", based on her long friendship with Jackson. The new CD features a virtual 'who's who' from the music scene in Southern California in the late 60's, early 70's; Jackson Browne himself, his brother Severin Browne, Rosemary Butler, Greg Copeland, Ned Doheny, Kenny Edwards, Steve Noonan, Pamela Polland and many others.

Thanks to Peter Holmstedt at HEMIFRAN

Every nighs, on RTL, the number One radio in France, Radio DJ Georges Lang offers us the best of music via his radio show "Les Nocturnes". After the successful 4 cd set released last year, Warner France offer us the very best of "Les Nocturnes" 2 in this 4 cd set just released this month.

Emily Rath, a 23 year old singer/songwriter based in the beautiful Bay Area, recently graduated from UC Santa Barbara and is well on her way into an exciting musical career. She was a member of UC Santa Barbara’s only co-ed a cappella group for all four years of college and previously a member of the Marin based a cappella group ‘Til Dawn in high school, directed by the critically-acclaimed singer/songwriter Austin Willacy.

Throughout her teens until now she has performed at songwriter showcases on her own, opened for musicians such as Jason Reeves, Lissie, Delta Rae, The Miles Schon Band, and more. She has performed at venues such as the Hotel Utah in San Francisco, George's Night Club in San Rafael and 19 Broadway in Fairfax to name a few. Emily’s music is of a contemporary pop/rock/country sound with powerful melodies & lyrics. Her second EP will be available for purchase in May 2012 with her new originals, featuring Miles Schon.

Visit her website for videos, music and more at www.emilyrathmusic.com.

Robert Lamm Songs: The JVE ReMixes, was released on June 1 on CD and vinyl via Blue Infinity/Chicago Records II.

It’s like nothing you’ve ever heard before! Dance floor remixes are one thing. What producer John Van Eps does to such iconic rock classics by Chicago—all written by Robert Lamm—is another. You might call it deconstructing the songs and rebuilding them from the ground floor up using their DNA. Eps even snipped lyric lines, juxtapositioning words to change meanings. You might even say Eps eviscerated these songs, gutted them like fish. The weirder Eps got, the more Lamm loved it. Eps even told Lamm: “Thank you for letting me ruin your songs.” When you’re talking about songs like “25 Or 6 To 4” “Beginnings” “Does Anybody Really Know What Time It is” “Saturday In The Park” and “Questions 67 And 68,” you’re talking the stuff upon which a generation took to their heart and soul.

“It’s supposed to be quirky and fun,” says Van Eps. “My fear is that the Chicago website is going to be rife with complaints about what I’ve done!” Lamm, always adventurous, “a purely musical kinda guy,” according to Van Eps, is ready for the response, no matter what it is.

As Lamm says, “this group of remixes were created by John Van Eps. They are more than remixes: they are new compositions based on my songs, using ‘stems’ from various recordings. John and I first started discussing remixing just after the release of The Bossa Project. He did a few remixes on that album that were amazing, and stayed true to the concept of an organic album of Brazilian music.“Initially,” he continues, “we wanted this album to be a Chicago project, but we got no encouragement from that quarter. So in changing it to Robert Lamm Songs, it comes from me, and John, to you...with a wink. No doubt, you will recognize at least the source of these re-imagined pieces of music. We worked strictly through email and file sharing, actively reviewing, refining, and some ways I was the Producer, and John was the Artist. I have so much respect for him as a person and a musician."

Obviously, there have been many remix projects of artists as far-ranging as Dean Martin, Yes, Nina Simone, Elvis Presley and Michael Jackson but none of them had the okay of the artist to literally change the lyrics and the meaning of the source material. “Artists don’t usually say, ‘sure, cut up my words, change the storyline,’” says Van Eps. “Robert is—and has been throughout his career— unbelievably creative. He’s still writing songs every day. He’s up on contemporary technology. He’s got great ears. He’s really quite something. You don’t need to be in a club to get it. If you grew up with this music, something inside you will click when you hear it.”

Almost four years in the making, Robert Lamm Songs: The JVE ReMixes will blow people’s minds.

CD Track Listing: 1. Beginnings 2. Saturday In The Park 3. 25 Or 6 To 4 (latin) 4. Does Anybody Really Know What Time It Is? 5. Questions 67 & 68 6. It’s A Groove, This Life 7. Another Rainy Day In New York City 8. You’re My Sunshine Everyday 9. On The Equinox 10. 25 Or 6 To 4 (dance)

Thanks to Peter Holmstedt at HEMIFRAN

Thirty years after its eponymous debut album, ASIA ascended to the top of the Billboard Top 100 chart (where the album remained No.1 for 9 consecutive weeks). The legendary British classic rock band returns with a new studio album, the third after the reunion of the original lineup featuring Geoff Downes, Steve Howe, Carl Palmer and John Wetton.

Produced again by Mike Paxman (who also worked on the band’s latest effort “Omega), “XXX” (pronounced Triple X) is being hailed as ASIA’s best album since its classic early 80s releases. The original artwork the album was specifically designed by the acclaimed artist Roger Dean.

The first single taken from the highly anticipated new album is entitled “Face On The Bridge”, released digitally worldwide on Monday May 14th. A videoclip of the song is also available.

“We’re very pleased with, and confident about, XXX,” says John Wetton. “It encapsulates, lyrically and instrumentally, the essence of the band today. However, it is the very same four people that gave you the original, iconic album 30 years ago. If you loved it then, you will love it now.”

Says Asia’s guitarist, Steve Howe; “We wanted to recapture the energy of the first album, ASIA has always been about great songs, fantastic musicianship and I am sure fans of the first album, will fall in love with XXX.”

Formed at the dawn of the MTV era, Asia’s first release was the best selling album in the world in 1982 and sat at the number 1 spot in the USA for 9 weeks, powered by the classic rock anthem, “Heat Of The Moment,” and four other radio hits. Asia’s 1983 sophomore album, Alpha, also went multi-platinum and enjoyed several hit singles, including the #1 smash, “Don’t Cry”. During the recording of its third disc, the band splintered, and by the 1990s, only Geoff Downes remained from the original line-up.

The reunion came to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the band, but morphed itself into an ongoing endeavour.

 Asia will be touring in Europe, Japan and USA in the fall of 2012.