Here's a new artist from Sweden who will make "Westcoast music" fans "Happy"! William Sikström just released "I Will Be Waiting", a collection of songs revisiting the sounds of 80's "westcoast" with many inspirations including David Roberts, Pages, Airplay, Gino Vanelli,...
You can now pre-order the CD. Just send William an email ([email protected]) with all the information he needs to ship. Payment via Paypal. Price: 24 $, shipping included. In sweden: 149 kr inkl frakt. (swish el. bankkonto)
It will also be available on Itunes and Amazon Music on September 1st.
The crowd funding for Michael Riesenbeck & Friends: Fanfields 2 – A Fans’ Tribute to Toto has started!
Over 65 musicians will pay tribute to Toto and the heroes that have left us, Jeff Porcaro, Mike Porcaro and Fergie Frederiksen. This will be done by recording breathtaking versions of our and their most favorite Toto songs.
The list of musicians is too long to mention, but here are a few names: Joe Vana (Mecca), Guus Willemse (Solution), Herman Furin (Work of Art), Peter Friestedt (Williams/Friestedt), Janne Stark (Grand Design), Michael Casswell (sessions), Nalle Pahlsson (Treat), Thomas Vikstrom(Therion), Tristan, Christian Fridh (solo), Christian Tolle (solo), Jan van Olffen (Kayak), Phil Vincent (solo) and Michael Riesenbeck (solo).
The album will be available in a 3 and 4 CD edition, and will be released in 2016.
Profits will be donated to three - Toto related - good causes: the Michael Porcaro Fund (Sweet Relief Musicians Fund), ALS foundation and Fergie Frederiksen Foundation (Liver Foundation).
"It’s the least we can do to give back something to the band that gave us so much pleasure and inspiration through their albums and live concerts."
Lava needs no new introduction, as it is a well-established band within the Westcoast/AOR scene. They have made 8 albums spanning from the late 70’s until today, and they still performs. Their albums are considered to be Westcoast essentials and several only exists on vinyl.
Preservation records has gotten access to the original mastertapes and is re-releasing it exclusively their essential albums on CD for the first time.
A 4 DVD box set, having a few flashbacks from the 1994 and 1996 actual concert footage, a fun and informational band reunion hang at Garden Rake Studios 20 years later, filmed by Todd Homme, and a lot of bonus material, such as for instance a complete explanation by Jay Graydon on how to play his "Peg" solo, as well as a very cool jam session in Jay's garden from 1989 with great musicians, including Steve Lukather, and so much more.
Record Label Funky Town Grooves will soon reissues Earth Wind & Fire's "Raise" & "Electric Universe" with bonus tracks.
"RAISE" tracklisting: 1. Let’s Groove  2. Lady Sun 3. My Love 4. Evolution Orange 5. Kalimba Tree 6. You Are A Winner 7. I’ve Had Enough 8. Wanna Be With You 9. The Changing Times
Bonus Tracks: 10. Wanna Be With You (Single Version) 11. Kalimba Tree (12” Version Long Version) 12. Let’s Groove (Special Remixed Holiday Version) 13. Let’s Groove (Single Version) 14. Let’s Groove (Instrumental) 15. I’ve Had Enough (7” Version) 16. The Changing Times (7” Version)
"ELECTRIC UNIVERSE" tracklisting: 1. Magnetic  2. Touch 3. Moonwalk 4. Could It Be Right 5. Spirit Of A New World 6. Sweet Sassy Lady 7. We’re Living In Our Own Time 8. Electric Nation
Bonus tracks: 9. Magnetic (Extended Dance Remix) 10. Magnetic (Instrumental) 11. Magnetic (7” Version) 12. Touch (7” Version) 13. Sweet Sassy Lady (7” Version) 14. Moonwalk (7” Version) 15. Electric Nation (7” Version)
After 20 years of silence, the westcoast-rockgroup PowerPlay, from Copenhagen, Denmark is together again and return with a new strong melodic AOR rock-album, inspired by the sound and feel of bands like TOTO, Journey, Supertramp and Starship.
PowerPlay was founded in a basement in Hellerup Copenhagen in 1987 by Simon Dalberg (Drums) Erik Thomsen (Vocal) Kurt Lundgaard (Guitarist) and Peter Gjedde (Keyboards). The music was heavily inspired by TOTO, Journey, Starship and other West Coast bands of that time and with a twist from Supertramp, but always with a twist of pure energy and the desire to play and perform with own composed music.
PowerPlay had various bass players in the first years, but after a while the young and talented Bass player Philip Stricker joined and brought new dimensions into the music. The band was constantly on the move and played in many underground places around Copenhagen like Umatic and Loppen, and became rather popular in those environments.
In 1991 The PowerPlay won the music award ”Let’s Rock” in Trommen as the best performing act and with that title also a contract for a record In Werner Studio in Copenhagen.Unfortunately, due to some very sad circumstances, the band never came to the point of making the record and as such The Powerplay stopped their activities in 1992
The PowerPlay is now back after 20 years rest, and in the original setup “We have never been better” they say and actually The PowerPlay is now ready to release a record with all new material – But for the fans from the good old days there will be one or two oldies in new flashy clothes. 20 years later they decided to start up again with a few shows, and the beginning of the album, which should have been out in 1993., but later is always much better than never !!!
MelodicRock Records is excited to announce a partnership with Swedish AOR favourites STREET TALK for a limited reissue of the band’s best three albums.
On August 30 and limited to just 500 units each, MRR will reissue the STREET TALK albums ‘Transition’ (from 2000); ‘Restoration’ (from 2002) and the AOR classic ‘V’ (from 2006).
All three albums are long out of print, highly sought after and when listed, fetch tidy sums on Ebay.
The new MRR reissues will feature exclusive ALL NEW artwork and each album will feature several bonus tracks.
The Coffis Brothers & The Mountain Men are five young men from the Santa Cruz Mountains. They play a style of music that is rock and roll in the most classic sense. Melodic, rootsy and heartfelt, the songwriting duo of Jamie and Kellen show an obvious love for a bygone era of music and for groups like the Beatles, Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers and Neil Young & Crazy Horse, as well as a sense of maturity and experience beyond their years.
Folksingers. Protestsingers. Troubadours. That’s what we used to call them before Jac Holzman’s Elektra Records put out ”The Singer Songwriter Project” in 1965. The album featured four different US singer songwriters, with a style completely their own. David Cohen (aka David Blue), Dick (Richard) Farina, Bruce Murdoch and Patrick Sky. It took a while until the phrase was commonly used, but when Jackson Browne, Carole King, Joni Mitchell, James Taylor and others came along, in the late 60’s, early 70’s, everybody knew what a ’singer songwriter’ was.
On September 4th, 2015, Hemifrån pays tribute to both the phrase and this classic and historic album with ”Hidden Treasures – Singer Songwriters From Home”, featuring Bob Cheevers, Greg Copeland, Keith Miles and Barry Ollman, four highly acclaimed US singer songwriters who’s been around for years, yet still are some what ’hidden treasures’.
Taking this full circle, on the very first song on the album, is Greg Copeland, from Los Angeles, CA, who managed to persuade Patrick Sky (one of four performers on the original ’singer songwriter project’!) to add some beautiful uilleann pipes. Other famous friends helping out on Greg’s tracks are Jackson Browne, Bob Glaub, Greg Leisz, David Lindley and Gabe Witcher.
Keith Miles, who had his tracks recorded in his hometown of Nashville, TN, by Jack Sundrud (Poco) and legendary producer Bill Halverson, are assisted by Music City’s best session musicians, such as Dennis Crouch, Russ Pahl and Tammy Rogers.
Bob Cheevers, formerly from Memphis, TN, now residing in Austin TX, has both Spooner Oldham, as well as Mike Botts and Larry Knechtel, both from Bread, backing him on his tracks. Last, but not least, is Barry Ollman, who recorded his contributions in his hometurf of Loveland, CO, with a little help from David Amram, John Fullbright, Tim O’Brien, James Raymond (the son of David Crosby), and Garry W Tallent of E Street Band fame.
Folksingers, protestsingers, troubadours, singer songwriters. 50 years, this year, we celebrate them all with 18 exclusive songs on a brand new album out on September 4th, 2015.
Famed songwriter Jack Tempchin is known for penning some of the most durable tunes in American music for a variety of artists that includes the Eagles, George Jones, Glenn Frey, Randy Meisner, Glen Campbell, Emmylou Harris, Trisha Yearwood and many others. He’s also co-written with a who’s who of American roots, rock and r’n’b composers that embraces Tom Waits, JD Souther, Bobby Whitlock, Jim Lauderdale and Beth Nielsen Chapman. Now Tempchin steps into the spotlight with two new solo releases, the EP ”Room To Run” that’s just been released, and the 11-song album ”Learning To Dance” out on August 21st, 2015, from Blue Élan Records.
Both discs span Tempchin’s breadth as a writer and performer, showcasing his flexible tenor voice, warm and intimate on the ballad “Living This Love”, soaring with unbridled joy on “Learning To Dance” and gracefully reflective in “Room To Run”, plus his powerful arranging skills and musicianship, which are strengthened by more than four decades of experience.
Despite his storied musical history, Tempchin says, “I’m looking at myself as a new artist. These are all new songs and I’d like to be accepted based on them. I don’t believe in living in the past. I have millions of songs rushing through my head today, and a real passion for recording them and playing them live”.
Tempchin’s also interested in sharing that passion with other songwriters and is simultaneously unveiling his new songwriter video series called Go Write One. “In these videos I talk about the spiritual and magical aspects of songwriting, not the techniques, because I’m trying to get people excited to ‘go write one’”, he explains. “For me, even after writing thousands of songs, that excitement has never gone away”.
In fact, it crackles throughout ”Learning To Dance” and ”Room To Run”. Both discs were produced by Joel Piper, whose experience as a musician and engineer extends from pop to punk to metal to electronic dance music. But Piper’s work as a video director initially brought him together with Tempchin, to collaborate on Go Write One. After Tempchin signed with Blue Élan, Piper expressed interest in producing his music, as well. Their combined perspectives give Tempchin’s new collections of songs a distinctive sound that balances the virtues of timeless narrative storytelling with the benefits of contemporary recording technology. Both men played all the instruments on the two sets’ 15 songs except for Jerry Peterson’s sinuous, soaring saxophone on “Learning To Dance”, which Piper transferred from an earlier demo recording of the song.
The numbers on ”Learning To Dance” all share the themes of love and romance, and weave a lush spell with their blend of electric and acoustic instruments wrapped around a spine of Tempchin’s guitar and Piper’s piano. From the giddy limerence of the title track to the heartbreak of “Love’s First Lesson”, to the warmly wistful “You Can Go Home” to the gentle conclusion, “Finally Found Me”, ”Learning To Dance” speaks volumes about the experiences of the heart.
The ”Room To Run” EP was sparked by the acerbically funny “The High Cost of Hate”, with features the refrain, “Since I’m a cheating bastard, and you’re a selfish bitch, let’s call it quits, and make some lawyers rich”.