Underlining their timeless appeal and unique status in music, The Beatles have broken multiple chart records around the world following the September 9, 2009 (9-9-09) CD release of their digitally re-mastered catalogue. In the major music markets of North America, Japan and the UK, consumers purchased more than 2.25 million copies of The Beatles’ re-mastered albums, individually and in two multiple-CD boxed sets, one in stereo and one in mono, during the first five days of release (excluding non-traditional retail outlets whose sales are not tracked by the chart compilers).
The Beatles’ original UK studio albums were re-mastered by a dedicated team of engineers at Abbey Road Studios in London over a four year period, carefully maintaining the authenticity and integrity of the original analogue recordings. The result is the highest fidelity the catalogue has seen since its original release.
The most popular band of the 20th century, The Beatles are beloved by music fans in the 21st century, as evidenced by their current unparalleled global chart performance:
US: During the first five days of release, consumers purchased more than one million copies of re-mastered Beatles titles, and the individual CD and boxed sets debuted strongly across multiple Billboard charts.
- On Billboard’s Comprehensive Albums chart, which lists the most popular album releases in the US, including current and catalogue titles, The Beatles set a new record for the most simultaneous titles by a single artist (18), including five of the top 10 and nine of the top 20.
- On the Pop Catalog chart, The Beatles achieved another new Billboard chart first for the most simultaneous titles in the top 50 (16), a record they previously set themselves with 12 titles in December 1995. The Beatles have nine of the chart’s top 10 titles, and all 14 re-mastered CDs are in the top 20, led by ‘Abbey Road’ at number one and ‘Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band’ at number two.
- On the Billboard Top 200 Albums chart, ‘The Beatles’ stereo boxed set debuted at number 15, and ‘The Beatles in Mono’ limited edition boxed set debuted at number 40.
UK: In last week’s chart, The Beatles had four titles in the top 10, seven in the top 40 and 16 in the top 75, including both the stereo and mono boxes, as well as 2000’s ‘Beatles 1’ compilation. This set a new record for the most simultaneous albums in the UK charts according to the UK Official Charts Company. In this week’s UK chart, The Beatles have 13 albums in the top 75. A further 84,000 CDs were sold last week, bringing their total sales of the re-masters to more than 354,000 in 11 days and their total UK sales this decade to 6,755,000.
Japan: All 14 re-mastered titles and boxed sets debuted in the top 25 of the international chart, including seven of the top 10, led by the stereo boxed set at number two, the mono boxed set at number three, ‘Abbey Road’ at four and ‘Let It Be’ at six. Across all titles and box sets, more than 840,000 albums were purchased by consumers in Japan in the first three days of sales.
Canada: The Beatles have 15 of the top 20 catalogue titles including all of the top 11. The stereo boxed set is a new entry in the current albums chart at number four, the highest debut for a boxed set in Canada since Nielsen SoundScan started tracking sales. Cumulative sales across all titles were just under 160,000 over the counter.
France: All 14 of the re-mastered titles and boxed sets entered the latest album chart, including three in the top 10, led by ‘Abbey Road’ at number four, a new record for the most original studio albums in the French album chart in one week.
Italy: The Beatles have 17 titles in the current chart – all 14 re-mastered titles, the two boxed sets, plus the ‘1’ compilation, a record for the most simultaneous entries in the album chart.
Belgium: With 17 entries in the current chart - the 14 re-mastered titles, two boxed sets and ‘1’ compilation – The Beatles have set a new record for the most simultaneous albums in the Belgian chart as confirmed by chart compiler Ultrapop.
Official Site:
This sucks, get well soon MCA. Read more below from Spinner:
The Beastie Boys revealed today that member Adam Yauch was diagnosed with a cancerous tumor in his parotid gland. The trio will postpone all tour dates and the release of its upcoming album, ‘Hot Sauce Committee, Pt. 1,’ as Yauch undergoes treatment.
Sitting alongside member Adam Horowitz, Yauch made the announcement in a video clip on the group’s official website. Yauch said that for the past two months, he’d been feeling a lump in his throat like he had a cold and consulted doctors two weeks ago. After undergoing tests, they found the tumor in his parotid gland, a salivary gland, as well as its lymph node, and he’ll be undergoing surgery next week. Fortunately, Yauch says they caught the cancer early, it hasn’t spread and should be easily treatable. He also notes that the surgery and treatment won’t affect his vocal cords.
Yauch goes on to apologize to all their fans and saysn “we’ll be back doing doing this soon.” In typical Beastie fashion, the two of them then go on to make a joke out of the situation, noting that Horowitz was home watching TV when he was called to the studio for the news. He even says to Yauch, “Thank you for the opportunity” to have the time to work on his solo stuff, saying it’s inspired by Kenny Rogers. The band was scheduled to perform at All Points West on Friday, July 31, and the album was set to be released September 15. Check out the entire video statement below.
In my opinion The Black Keys can do no wrong. Here’s more proof:
Drummer, the new band featuring Patrick Carney, drummer for the critically acclaimed duo The Black Keys, is poised for the release of their debut album, Feel Good Together. The album is set for release September 29 on Carney’s label, Audio Eagle. Carney, who plays bass for the group, joins up with four long time friends—all Ohio-based drummers—to bring the project to life. Drummer is rounded out by: Jamie Stillman of Teeth of the Hydra, formerly of Party of Helicopters (guitar), Jon Finley of Beaten Awake, also formerly of Party of Helicopters (vocals, guitar), Stephen Clements of Houseguest and Six Parts Seven (keys, vocals) and Greg Boyd of Ghostman and Sandman (drums). The band will embark on a fall tour in support of the new album. For more information about the band, please visit: www.myspace.com/drummertheband
Drummer took shape in early 2009 with one goal in mind—to have a good time. Carney says of the band’s incarnation, “We started playing together in February and within two months, we had a whole record. We have all been friends for a long time and decided that our time would be better spent making music than making snowmen and watching YouTube.” Feel Good Together was recorded and mixed in Akron, OH by Ben Vehorn (Love as Laughter) at his studio Tangerine Sound.
With his Black Keys bandmate Dan Auerbach, Carney has recorded five critically acclaimed full-length albums, beginning with 2002’s The Big Come Up. Feel Good Together arrives on the heels of The Black Keys’ 2008 album, Attack & Release, which debuted on the Billboard Top 200 chart at #14, marking the band’s highest position to date. The album earned praise from The Wall Street Journal, Rolling Stone, Pitchfork, The Los Angeles Times and The New York Times, which called it a “savage, bitter concoction built on a snarling punk-rock riff.” Carney has also been busy with Audio Eagle, which has recently released material from the Royal Bangs and Other Girls.
DRUMMER FALL TOUR DATES
*with The Royal Bangs
†with Other Girls
October 8 Southpaw* Brooklyn, NY
October 9 Johnny Brenda’s* Philadelphia, PA
October 10 Mercury Lounge* New York, NY
October 11 T.T. the Bear’s* Cambridge, MA
October 12 DC9* Washington, DC
October 13 The Ottobar* Baltimore, MD
October 14 Local 506* Chapel Hill, NC
October 15 The Pilot Light* Knoxville, TN
October 16 The Earl* Atlanta, GA
October 17 Mercy Lounge* Nashville, TN
October 19 Skull Alley* Louisville, KY
October 20 Spin Nightclub* Indianapolis, IN
October 21 High Noon Saloon* Madison, WI
October 22 7th Street Entry* Minneapolis, MN
October 23 Schubas Tavern* Chicago, IL
October 24 Beachland Ballroom*† Cleveland, OH
“His Way, Our Way” features 13 different artists including Maroon 5, The Kills, A Fine Frenzy, and The Kooks recording exclusive covers of their favorite Sinatra songs. All of the artists are listed below.
The 13 cover versions will sit alongside their classic Sinatra counterparts on the following page www.iTunes.com/hiswayourway. You can listen to the 13 original Sinatra versions on the following page http://www.sinatra.com/quicktime-listening-party. You can also Stream of The Kill version of “Willow Weep for Me” HERE.
Created with the support of Frank Sinatra Enterprises, “His Way, Our Way” pays tribute to the timeless quality of the Frank Sinatra songbook. For more information on Frank Sinatra, please visit www.sinatra.com.
The full track listing is here:
HIS WAY, OUR WAY
1. The Way You Look Tonight/Maroon 5
2. One For My Baby (And One More For the Road)/John Rich
3. The Things We Did Last Summer/A Fine Frenzy
4. Stormy Weather/The Kooks
5. Fly Me to the Moon (In Other Words)/Josh Radin
6. I’ll Never Smile Again/Priscilla Ahn
7. I’ve Got You Under My Skin/Seether
8. Something Stupid/The Fashion
9. London By Night/Greg Laswell
10. Strangers in the Night/The Morning Benders
11. All of Me/Meiko
12. The Impossible Dream (The Quest)/Republic Tigers
13. Willow Weep For Me/The Kills
Scarlett Johansson is really making a go of this music career I guess… This collaboration with Pete Yorn is a bit more understandable compared to her odd Tom Waits cover album of a few years ago.
LOS ANGELES — In 2006, critically acclaimed singer/songwriter Pete Yorn contacted actress and Atco recording artist Scarlett Johansson with the idea to record a duets album in the spirit of Serge Gainsbourg’s 1960s recordings with Brigitte Bardot. “I was having a strange week of insomnia and when I finally passed out, it came to me in a dream,” says Yorn. “I woke up and the whole thing was in my head, fully formed.” Johansson was intrigued by Yorn’s out-of-the-blue invitation. “It sounded like an interesting little adventure,” she explains. “The idea of two people vocalizing their relationship through duets.”
Check out the first single here
BREAK UP includes eight original compositions by Yorn, ranging in tone from the lilting opener “Relator” to the disarming, retro/futuristic “I Don’t Know What to Do” to the climactic “Someday.” Completing the collection is a powerful interpretation of the art-rock classic “I Am The Cosmos” by the late Chris Bell, co-founder of quintessential cult band Big Star. Produced by Sunny Levine, with Yorn and Max Goldblatt as executive producers, the album features contributions from guitarist Robert Francis; bassist Giuseppe Patane; and violinist Amir Yaghmai, with Goldblatt on banjo, synth bass and backing vocals, and Levine handling programming and mixing.
Predating Johansson’s debut album, Anywhere I Lay My Head, by nearly two years; BREAK UP was conceived and recorded in 2006, in Levine’s garage studio. “I always thought of it as just a small project between friends,” explains Johansson. “I’ve loved the album ever since I heard it completed. It perfectly captured where I was in my life at the time.” Yorn was as protective of BREAK UP as a father of his daughter, playing it for no one until last year. When those close to him finally heard BREAK UP, the overwhelming response convinced Yorn that it was simply too strong a work to remain under lock and key.
BREAK UP
Track Listing
1. Relator
2. Wear And Tear
3. I Don’t Know What To Do
4. Search Your Heart
5. Blackie’s Dead
6. I Am The Cosmos
7. Shampoo
8. Clean
9. Someday
MySpace Page:
will.i.am posted the official album cover to the E.N.D. on his Dipdive blog. Read what he has to say, watch his webcam and check out the larger image!
With the upcoming launch of The E.N.D., the Black Eyed Peas are migrating to a new home at dipdive.com! The Peas have already been living on Dipdive and the new BEP Channel will launch soon with the Boom Boom Pow music video.
If you haven’t already found Dipdive, register today to join the new community and take advantage of new features like media uploads, webcam recording, video messages, notifications and more.
If you’re already part of the blackeyedpeas.com community, Dipdive will be introducing migration tools very soon to help bring over some of your personal profile content and reconnect you with your Peabody friends. Stay tuned for updates…
Register here - http://dipdive.com/member/register/
Green Day will release 21st Century Breakdown, the long awaited follow-up to American Idiot, on Friday May 15th. The album, produced by Butch Vig (Nirvana, AFI, Smashing Pumpkins), features the single “Know Your Enemy.” While fans can buy the album in-stores on the 15th, those eager to hear the new record can do so now on Rhapsody.com where the album is streaming in its entirety.
Hear all 18 tracks plus 2 live exclusives now at http://www.rhapsody.com/green-day/21st-century-breakdown. For more information on Green Day, including tourdates, visit GreenDay.com.
EMI Music/Vector Recordings is set to release the highly anticipated recording Oh Happy Day: An All-Star Music Celebration on March 31. The album features performances by 3 Doors Down, Al Green, Patty Griffin, Heather Headley, Jon Bon Jovi, Jonny Lang, Queen Latifah, Joss Stone with Buick Audra and many more (see below for full track listing). For the project, these world-renowned musicians collaborated with Gospel artists and several of today’s top Gospel Choirs to record renditions of some of the most loved and recognizable inspirational songs. It’s been said you don’t just hear gospel music you feel it. It’s woven through the fabric of the American spirit and history and its influence can be felt and heard around the world today and in the background of many of today’s most talented artists and musicians.
The album’s concept resulted from a close partnership between EMI Gospel and Vector Recordings and was produced by Ken Levitan, Bill Hearn, Jack Rovner, Ken Pennell, Drew & Shannon, Johnny K, Sanchez Harley, Obie O’Brien, Keith Thomas, Tommy Sims, Cedric Thompson, Simon Climie, Michael McDonald, Joss Stone and Buick Audra. Of the project, Bill Hearn, CEO of EMI Christian Music Group comments, “We wanted to create an album that honored the legacy of gospel music—it’s the backbone of the American spirit—but also create unique artist pairings that fans could find no where else.” Vector’s Ken Levitan adds, “Gospel music has always been not only spiritually and musically uplifting but also a great American art form. With this project we’ve taken artists who have been successful in other genres and combined them with this great art form to create new powerful music.”
While recording the record at Ocean Way Studio in Nashville, Jonny Lang notes, “(Gospel music) is really all I’ve been listening to for the last few years…it’s my favorite form of music…at least for now…” Lang goes on to say, “it’s such an honor to record with the legendary Fisk Jubilee Singers, their very first take on the song just blew me away. They’re such pros…quite an honor…” Additionally, Heather Headley comments, “It’s not everyday that you get the opportunity to revisit a classic song like “People Get Ready,” record it with a great producer like Keith Thomas, and sing alongside a legend such as Rev. Al Green. It really was a pleasure, and I had a great time doing it.”
Track Listing:
1. Jonny Lang & the Fisk Jubilee Singers “I Believe”
2. 3 Doors Down & the Soul Children of Chicago “Presence of the Lord”
3. Robert Randolph & The Clark Sisters “Higher Ground”
4. Jon Bon Jovi & the Washington Youth Choir “Keep the Faith”
5. Al Green & Heather Headley “People Get Ready”
6. Mavis Staples & Patty Griffin “Waiting for My Child To Come Home”
7. Michael McDonald & the West Angeles COGIC Mass Choir “Storm Before The Calm”
8. Angelique Kidjo “Redemption Song”
9. Aaron Neville & the Mt. Zion Mass Choir “A Change is Gonna Come”
10. Queen Latifah & Jubilation “Oh Happy Day”
11. Joss Stone & Buick Audra “This Little Light Of Mine”
Head over to www.CrackTheSkye.com and get ready to have your mind blown! The new MASTODON micro site has just launched and features animation inspired by their upcoming album Crack the Skye. Like their previous releases, the new artwork was created by Paul Romano (Trivium, Godflesh). The site also features the world premiere of the sweeping instrumental, “Oblivion” plus a 60 second snippet of the track “Divinations.”
The new album was produced by Brendan O’Brien (Bruce Springsteen, Stone Temple Pilots, Neil Young) at Southern Tracks Studios in Atlanta, GA. Drummer/lyricist Brann Dailor described the album as more “focused” and told TheQuietus.com, “Maybe there was a deeper heart to this record that needed more exploring. We got more involved with feeling the vibe of the record and everything feels creepier and spaced out…something special is going on.”
Crack the Skye hits stores on March 24th.
The debut full-length from former Death From Above 1979 drummer/vocalist Sebastien Grainger, titled Sebastien Grainger & The Mountains, will be in stores October 21st.
Check out the new song:
American Names (right click, save as)
BIO:
Sebastien Grainger & The Mountains is a record that reflects the majesty its title suggests. Big chords, soaring choruses, and Sebastien’s voice paint the portrait of a man still climbing. While lyrically and musically, Grainger’s taken a sidestep away from the more aggressive approach of his past musical pursuits in favor of a more reflective and personal style, he still knows how to rock it when necessary. Pulling no punches, Sebastien’s crafted a muscular and smart rock record that will surprise people expecting him to relive his past.
Best known for his contributions as singer and drummer for Canadian dance-punk duo Death From Above 1979, whose decadently catchy anthems took the world by storm with the release of their breakthrough record You’re a Woman, I’m a Machine in 2004, Sebastien Grainger is soon to be even better known to the world as a singer and songwriter of sophis- ticated distinction via his new solo works. Fans of his prior music will likely be surprised by his new direction: delicately layered ruminations rich with energetic arrangements and deep melodic undercurrents. With his first full-length album Sebastien Grainger & The Mountains he further expands upon the well-received melodic endeavors of his digital EP American Names.
Grainger will modestly tell you “every song is a problem, or an equation that I have to resolve,” but it’s obvious that the results are richer and more soulful rather than calculated and math- ematical. Feeling like he is finally expressing himself on his own terms with the new record, Grainger is eager to hit the road once again and present these songs to the folks who’ve been curious about his next move after the dissolution of DFA 1979. Although he’s a self-described “domestic person,” Grainger’s penchant for singing loudly, playing as hard as possible, and getting sweaty is real–as real as people’s enthusiasm for him to keep doing so.
TRACK LIST:
1 Love Can Be So Mean
2 Who Do We Care For?
3 By Cover of Night (Fire Fight)
4 I’m All Rage (Live ‘05)
5 I Hate My Friends
6 (Are There) Ways to Come Home?
7 Niagara
8 (I Am Like A) River
9 Love Is Not a Contest
10 American Names
11 Meet New Friends
12 Renegade Silence (feat. The Rhythm Method)
OTHER LINKS:
www.sebastiengrainger.net
www.myspace.com/sebastiengrainger
www.saddle-creek.com
PLAY
