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FlipsideMediaET brings the Billboard Hot 100 in the music industry record chart in the United States and across the World for songs, ablums & videos published weekly by Billboards, CMT, Jazz, Soul, Blues, Contemporary Christian and more.. Chart rankings are based on sales (physical and digital), radio play, and online streaming in the United States. #musiclovers.

  • Billboards Hottest Top 10 Countdown for March 23rd | Billboard News

    New entries enter the Hot 100 top 10 with Drake and Ariana Grande, Benson Boone and Teddy Swims hit new highs and we crown a new No. 1. This is the Billboard Hot 100 top 10 for the week dated March 23rd. Tetris KellyWith Ariana Grande’s new album out and monster tracks from Beyoncé and

    New entries enter the Hot 100 top 10 with Drake and Ariana Grande, Benson Boone and Teddy Swims hit new highs and we crown a new No. 1. This is the Billboard Hot 100 top 10 for the week dated March 23rd.

    Tetris Kelly
    With Ariana Grande’s new album out and monster tracks from Beyoncé and Teddy Swims, who’s going to end up on top? This is the Billboard Hot 100 for the week dated March 23rd.

    Back in the top 10 is “Yes, And?”.

    Zach and Kacey slip two spots to No. 9 as Tate McRae falls to No. 8.

    4Batz and Drake blast from No. 61 to No. 7.

    Beyoncé is down to No. 6.

    ” Lovin’ On Me” is in at No. 5.

    Ye and friends fall from No. 1 to No. 4.

    ” Beautiful Things” is up a spot to No. 3.

    While Teddy Swims stays locked in at No. 2.

    And with the release of Eternal Sunshine, Ariana Grande grabs her ninth No. 1 with “We Can’t Be Friends.”

    Watch the full video above!

    FlipsideMediaET Tampa Bay Music News • Live Music “Everything Music”

  • ROLLING STONES achieved hallmark moment accepting 14th #1 album in the United Kingdom

    This week, THE ROLLING STONES achieved a significant milestone by claiming their 14th Number 1 album in the United Kingdom with “Hackney Diamonds”, outperforming all other albums in the Top 5 in terms of sales.
    In its first week, “Hackney Diamonds” amassed an impressive 72,200 chart units, making it …
    This week, THE ROLLING STONES achieved a significant milestone by claiming their 14th Number 1 album in the United Kingdom with “Hackney Diamonds”, outperforming all other albums in the Top 5 in terms of sales.
    In its first week, “Hackney Diamonds” amassed an impressive 72,200 chart units, making it …

    https://youtu.be/KDKZUe5FKJo?si=AxXQcyg1qruAd4qi
    Tampa Bay Jazz Guitar – DAvidMoorejazzguitar
  • One Evening in Nashville– Consists of Star-Studded Superstars w/ Dolly Parton, Maddie & Tae, Jimmie Allen as well as Much More …

    Cheat Codes total stream tally eclipses a staggering 6 billion plays which reinforces their inescapable force in popular culture. The eclectic mix of artists and songwriters involved in the project is evidenced by the reveal of the full track list. […]

    FlipsideMediaET eMagazine

  • Nik Kershaw “The Works” todays Album Spotlight

    Nik Kershaw The Works cover

    He was the UK’s most successful solo artist during 1984 and 1985, but by 1989 Nik Kershaw’s star was on the wane. So how did he rally to produce The Works, arguably the pinnacle of his songwriting modus operandi? By Matt Phillips

    For many 80s artists it was the Holy Grail, but ‘doing a George Michael’ – gaining mainstream critical and commercial success after an early pop career as a heartthrob – was much easier said than done.

    By the end of 1985, Bristol-born, Ipswich-raised Nik Kershaw had enjoyed five Top 10 singles and two Top 10 albums, but then his 1986 self-produced collection, Radio Musicola, failed to set the charts alight.

    With celeb fans like Elton John and Miles Davis, his musical credentials were never in doubt, but it begged the question: who was actually buying his records? The contemporaneous NME headline said it all: When All The Little Girls Have Grown Up…

    So when the second half of Kershaw’s Musicola tour was pulled in April 1987, he had little choice but to plough on with his fourth, contract-fulfilling studio album for MCA Records.

    Austrian-born, Los Angeles-based producer-songwriter Peter Wolf – who had enjoyed a stellar career playing keyboards with Frank Zappa between 1977 and 1980 and crafted hits for Starship, Kenny Loggins, The Commodores and Wang Chung – headhunted an intrigued and somewhat flattered Kershaw.

    Over dinner in L.A., Wolf – in the broadest of Viennese accents – asked Kershaw who he wanted to play on The Works, as Nik recalled to Reg Webb in 2007: “Do you want Vinnie (Colaiuta), do you want Jeff (Porcaro)?’ He wheeled out all these names… but it became apparent that all you’ve got to do with these people is phone them up! I was like a kid in a candy shop.”

    Kershaw was delighted to discover that some of the greatest session musicians and singers in L.A. were aware of his work: horn players Jerry Hey, Gary Grant and Larry Williams, vocalists Michael McDonald and Siedah Garrett (most famous for co-writing Michael Jackson’s Man In The Mirror and performing on his I Just Can’t Stop Loving You) and percussionist Paulinho Da Costa.

    Recording commenced in August 1987. It was an exciting time to be in La La Land; Kershaw rented a house in Nichols Canyon and had a Mustang at his disposal.

    The only real threat was the occasional earthquake. Fellow Brits Roddy Frame, Prefab Sprout and Thomas Dolby were in nearby studios, as were some of Kershaw’s Stateside heroes: Joni Mitchell was finishing Chalk Mark In A Rain Storm, Prince was completing The Black Album, while Wolf and Colaiuta’s old boss Zappa was down the road rehearsing for his first world tour in four years.

    But sessions for The Works didn’t run smoothly, Kershaw and Wolf clashing repeatedly over musical direction. Wolf seemed hell-bent on crafting some kind of Anglicised version of AOR, while Kershaw was unwilling to jettison the quirks and melodic risk-taking that characterised his best work.

    He returned home to England just before Christmas 1987 with a nagging feeling of unease. Sure enough, listening back to the tracks after a few weeks’ rest, he was not happy.

    Kershaw made a number of quick decisions, bringing in engineer Julian Mendelsohn (Frankie/Level 42/Pet Shop Boys) to reformat the L.A. tracks and also co-produce three new songs (One Step Ahead, Elisabeth’s Eyes and When I Grow Up) at London’s Sarm East and Sarm West studios – Mendelsohn recently told the 80sography podcast that he rated Kershaw as the most talented artist he’s ever worked with.

    The Works was finally completed in October 1988. It had taken a big dent out of Kershaw’s bank balance and been over a year in the making but was well worth the wait, the apotheosis of his melodically complex, though always logical, songwriting style, resplendent with key changes and modulations, analysed these days in some detail on YouTube.

    Kershaw also had the uncanny knack of writing generally ‘happy’ music that wasn’t twee or cloying.

    Opener and lead single One Step Ahead lyrically hinted at the steeliness needed to stay successful in the cutthroat world of 80s pop. The Scritti Politti-influenced Elisabeth’s Eyes was written from the perspective of Willie Darden, then America’s longest serving Death Row prisoner.

    During his 14-year tenure, he corresponded with an Essex schoolteacher named Elisabeth Allen who professed his innocence and championed his cause – sadly to little effect as Darden was executed in March 1988.

    Read more: Nik Kershaw interview

    The second and final single from The Works, Kershaw performed Elisabeth’s Eyes on Wogan to little effect – it failed to chart.

    Cowboys & Indians was a meticulously crafted slice of pop-prog in 6/4 time while Don’t Ask Me was pure muso fun, a stunning mix of ZTT flash and 80s R&B in the Quincy Jones/Michael Jackson mode with a killer Jerry Hey horn arrangement.

    Burning At Both Ends foregrounded a beguiling Middle-Eastern motif, with Kershaw’s voice blending beautifully with Garrett’s and an exciting Da Costa percussion breakdown to boot.

    The memorable Lady On The Phone, co-written with Wolf, was boosted by a great turn from backing vocalist Michael McDonald.

    The album’s only misfires were plodding rocker One World, apparently written with US radio in mind, and Take My Place, a rather drab shuffle with an almost non-existent verse melody. It’s a shame When I Grow Up didn’t take its place on the LP.

    Kershaw was finally happy with The Works but his enthusiasm quickly fizzled out when it was released with very little fanfare in May 1989.

    Shockingly, it failed to even make the Top 100 in the UK, MCA seemingly focused mainly on its American roster of predominantly soul and hard-rock acts. Kershaw was also paired with a new A&R manager who knew nothing of his past history.

    Still, he jumped at the chance to join Elton John on a 120-date world tour (taking Sarah Greene on a tour of Berlin for Going Live!) but, returning to the UK, things were compounded when MCA’s new MD rang Kershaw to say they weren’t going to renew his option for a fifth studio album.

    It was time for a well-earned rest from the album/tour bandwagon. Kershaw wound up his publishing and management deals, and, with a young son to take care of, became more of a homebody, a period detailed in Giles Smith’s Lost In Music book.

    He came up with Old Friend for Elton’s Duets album and quickly penned Chesney Hawkes’ enormo-hit The One And Only plus further tracks for Bonnie Tyler, Let Loose, Ronan Keating, Cliff Richard and Elaine Paige. Kershaw returned to a solo career with 1999’s 15 Minutes and has toured regularly since.

    Sadly, he has rarely looked back to The Works – Cowboys & Indians is the sole track that gets a regular live airing at the time of writing.

    Want more from Classic Pop magazine? Get a free digital issue when you sign up to our newsletter!

    The post Album Spotlight – Nik Kershaw: The Works appeared first on Classic Pop Magazine.

    FlipsideMediaET eMagazine

  • ‘Austin City Limits Hall Of Fame Honors Sheryl Crow’ to Premiere Jan. 7
    Sheryl Crow performs and gets her flowers in the upcoming second half of the 48th season of Austin City Limits, which returns Jan. 7, 2023. The special episode of the long-running live-music program will feature Crow’s induction into the Austin City Limits Hall of Fame and is highlighted by a duet on “Every Day Is a Winding Road” with recent Saturday Night Live musical guest Brandi Carlile. Backed by the ACL All-Stars band including Lloyd Maines and David Grissom, plus Crow’s guitar player Peter Stroud, the performance begins with Carlile singing the 1996 hit from Crow’s eponymous second album. By the conclusion of the first chorus, Crow is onstage and singing, exuding the same unaffected cool that made the song irresistible 25-plus years ago. Additional artists who pay tribute to Crow during the episode include Jason Isbell, Jess Wolfe of Lucius, and Brittney Spencer. The second half of the season will feature a range of top-notch performers, including indie-rock favorites Spoon, the War on Drugs, and Pavement. Additionally, Adrian Quesada and guests will perform songs from his album Boleros Psicodélicos on Jan. 21 and Nathaniel Rateliff & the Night Sweats will share the Jan. 14 episode with Adia Victoria. On Feb. 11, Maren Morris will make her ACL debut, playing some songs from her latest album, Humble Quest.

    FlipsideMediaET eMagazine

  • Peter Gabriel new single Panopticom announced – 2023

    Peter Gabriel has unveiled the first song from his forthcoming album i/o.

    Written and produced by Peter Gabriel, Panopticom was recorded at Real World Studios in Wiltshire and The Beehive in London.   

    “The first song is based on an idea I have been working on to initiate the creation of an infinitely expandable accessible data globe: The Panopticom,” says the singer. “We are beginning to connect a like-minded group of people who might be able to bring this to life, to allow the world to see itself better and understand more of what’s really going on.”

    Gabriel decided to release the song today (6 January) as it’s the first full moon of the year. The lunar phases will guide the release plan of i/o in 2023, with a new song revealed each full moon.  

    Some of what I’m writing about this time is the idea that we seem incredibly capable of destroying the planet that gave us birth and that unless we find ways to reconnect ourselves to nature and to the natural world we are going to lose a lot,” he says. “A simple way of thinking about where we fit in to all of this is looking up at the sky… and the moon has always drawn me to it.’”

    Each new release of music will come with a specific piece of art: “We’ve been looking at the work of many hundreds of artists,” says Gabriel, and Panopticom features the work ‘Red Gravity’ by David Spriggs.  

    It was the theme of surveillance that connected me with the work of David Spriggs because he’d done a piece relating to that,” says Gabriel. “David does this amazing stuff using many layers of transparencies so you get these strange creations with a real intensity to them. Part of what he does is imagine what art might look like a few years in the future and then try and create accordingly and I think he’s done that very successfully in this particular piece.”

    As well as new music, Peter Gabriel will embark on a tour later this year.

    Dates in the UK and Europe are already on sale, with shows on North America to be announced soon.

    Tickets are available from livenation.com and petergabiel.com

    Read more: Making Peter Gabriel’s So

    i/o The Tour – Europe 2023 

    Thursday 18 May      Krakow, Poland                   TAURON Arena 

    Saturday 20 May       Verona, Italy                         Verona Arena 

    Sunday 21 May          Milan, Italy                          Mediolanum Arena 

    Tuesday 23 May        Paris, France                         AccorHotels Arena 

    Wednesday 24 May Lille, France                         Stade Pierre-Mauroy 

    Friday 26 May            Berlin, Germany                  Waldbuehne 

    Sunday 28 May          Munich, Germany                 Koenigsplatz 

    Tuesday 30 May        Copenhagen, Denmark                   Royal Arena 

    Wednesday 31 May Stockholm, Sweden            Avicii Arena 

    Friday 2 June             Bergen, Norway                    Koengen 

    Monday 5 June         Amsterdam, Netherlands               Ziggo Dome 

    Tuesday 6 June         Antwerp, Belgium               Sportpaleis 

    Thursday 8 June      Zurich, Switzerland             Hallenstadion 

    Saturday 10 June      Cologne, Germany              Lanxess Arena 

    Monday 12 June       Hamburg, Germany              Barclays Arena 

    Tuesday 13 June       Frankfurt, Germany              Festhalle 

    Thursday 15 June    Bordeaux, France                Arkea Arena 

    Saturday 17 June      Birmingham, UK                  Utilita Arena 

    Monday 19 June       London, UK                            The O2 

    Thursday 22 June     Glasgow, UK                          OVO Hydro 

    Friday 23 June           Manchester, UK                    AO Arena 

    Sunday 25 June         Dublin, Ireland                                3Arena 

     

     

    The post Peter Gabriel unveils new single Panopticom appeared first on Classic Pop Magazine.

    FlipsideMediaET eMagazine

  • George Klein’s Memphis Sounds interview with the great Teenie Hodges a “Spot on Guitarist” & Songwriter
    https://youtu.be/y4KuDdeyDOA
    Teenie Hodges responsible for many R&B Hits such as Al Green’s “Take me to the River” and many more.. Teenie Hodges along with many artists, such as Elvis, preferred head sessions. He was introduced and taught the studio approach called ‘Head Sessions’ by the great master Reggie Young. ‘Head Session’ keeps the music fresh by listening to the song and charting it out. Teeniie Hodges admired Reggie Young as the best. What is the Memphis Sound? Teenie explains the Memphis sound as a mixture of W.C. Handy, Little Walter and the delta blues and the important bass lines that Willie Dixon provided. Years later, the same question was asked of the Philadelphia sound. What is the Phillie Sound? The reply was very inspirational and impactful. The Philadelphia sound was a mixture of the Memphis Blues & New York Jazz. ~”Chitlins & Champagne” Motown was views as bubble gum by the industry and players.

    “I’ll take a shot of “Chitlins & Champagne” with a Memphis sound chaser any day of the week” ~ FlipsideMediaET by David Moore

    https://youtu.be/7NRI9qGbG4Y
  • Belinda Carlisle Go-Go’s interview remembering Heaven On Earth

    Photo (c) Jill Furmanovsky

    From the groundbreaking Go-Go’s to a globally successful solo career, Belinda Carlisle has lived life in the fast lane and overcome substance abuse with meditation, mantras and yoga. In 2017, Classic Pop met the iconic Californian singer as she marked the 30th anniversary of her classic Heaven On Earth LP …

    ” I may not look like it, but I have a punk rock heart. I always give Iggy Pop total credit for who I am. When I saw the cover of Raw Power– that completely changed my life.” 

    So, for Belinda Carlisle it all starts with the eyelinered visage of James Newell Osterberg Jnr glaring menacingly out from The Stooges 1973 landmark album. Perhaps we can see more synchronicity, too.

    Like the iconic frontman, Carlisle has struggled to conform to music biz stereotypes, battled various addictions and now emerged in later years as someone far more at peace with themselves. 

    When I meet the star in a swanky London hotel, she’s simultaneously looking back at her storied career and to the future.

     

    A 30th anniversary reissue of Belinda’s much-loved LP Heaven on Earth is being released the same day as her first new solo record in a decade, Wilder Shores, a chant album linked to her 20-year practice of Kundalini yoga.

    But first, let’s hit the rewind button. Everything for Carlisle begins with punk, and in the nascent gritty Los Angeles scene to be exact.

    Belinda was a major player in the compact yet bijou LA punk landscape of the late-70s. After running away from home in her teens and dabbling in drugs, she found a focus in the burgeoning punk scene at clubs like the Whisky A Go Go and The Masque.

    Casting herself as Dottie Danger, she flirted with playing drums in The Germs alongside Pat Smear (ex-Nirvana and now plying his trade in the Foo Fighters) but left the band due to ill health without making a significant contribution.

    Is there an alternative universe where Carlisle is still playing spit and sawdust club gigs in a punk outfit?

    ” Oh my God, that’s my core. I’m contrary by nature,” she explains. “That’s just who I am. It’s funny that when I was in the LA punk scene we used to see the white Sikhs with their turbans and think that was totally punk rock– and that’s kinda where I’ve now ended up.” 

    TEENAGE KICKS

    Despite seeming like a typical teenage act of rebellion, Belinda was actually drawn into the scene by the music rather than the parent-baiting lifestyle.

    ” When I was in high school we ‘d go to the record store on the Boulevard and wait for the twice-monthly NME and Melody Maker to see pictures of the Sex Pistols and the whole scene in London. That record store changed my life.

    Photo (C) Lisa Borgnes Giramonti

    ” I grew up with Californian radio and then it really changed– it started playing The Doobie Brothers, Seals and Crofts and the Eagles– I love them now but didn’t have an appreciation for them then– it was a drag.

    ” Then Roxy Music arrived– I saw pretty much everyone who came through LA in those days when I was in my late teens. 

    ” The LA punk scene was just 50 kids or so. When The Police— who were punk back then– came to town there was hardly anybody there. Nobody knew about that kind of music at all. It grew really quickly with places like The Masque and other little clubs. Then the Whisky started booking punk bands. 

    ” That was at the time when Van Halen was playing the Whisky. I remember Eddie Van Halen and his brother Alex crashing punk shows and jumping on stage yelling: ‘Fuck you! You’re all a bunch of losers!’ and we were shouting ‘Fuck you!’ back at them. They were saying our music was shit etc. 

    ” The LA punk scene was more about art– it was a bit lighter than in New York. New York is a tough place, it certainly was in the late-70s.

    There was a certain degree of anger there but it wasn’t of a political kind. We were trying to be English with this faux anger. 

     

    ” There was nothing to be angry about in California in the late-70s except if you came from a dysfunctional family.”

    Ahh, that word ‘dysfunctional’. Carlisle’s family life was indeed far from idyllic and her teenage decision to leave home left her searching for a new direction.

    After that brief dalliance with The Germs, she was to find her calling by forming a band with Jane Wiedlin on guitar, bassist Margot Olavarria and Elissa Bello behind the drum kit.

    The Misfits, soon became The Go-Go’s and the story of the most influential girl band of all time was off and running.

    GOING TO A GO-GO

    Support for the band as a live act was instantaneous but securing a record deal was far trickier; Belinda experiencing for the first time an ingrained sexism and conservatism in the US record industry that was hard to shake off.

    ” We had no idea what to do, how to even plug our guitars into amps. We started from nothing,” Carlisle adds with a shrug. “We rehearsed at The Masque and shared a rehearsal room with The Motels. All the bands would give us lessons: ‘Oh those poor pathetic little Go-Go’s’. We rehearsed every evening after work.

    ” The first show we did, we played three songs– the first song twice. We never had any problem right from the beginning. There was always an audience, I guess because we were a curiosity, we had a big following. Nobody would sign us although you couldn’t get a ticket to a Go-Go’s show.

    ” Early on, we toured in the UK with Madness and The Specials Then we went back to the States all of a sudden because Madness insisted on Stiff Records releasing We Got The Beat. The label didn’t want to– they hated The Go-Go’s. They only did it because Madness kinda forced them to.

     

    ” Then it became an import dance hit and that changed everything. And still nobody would sign us– they ‘d say there’s been no track record of an all-female band that has been successful. We love you, but sorry …

    ” Those first UK shows were scary. It was really violent at times. We had no money and were eating leftovers from other bands and lived on ₤ 3 a day. If we wanted to get high we ‘d drink cough syrup as we couldn’t afford beer.

    ” Then we ‘d go on stage and open for these bands in front of a bunch of scary skinheads gobbing on us. Of course, being the frontperson I was covered in all this gob. We paid our dues! We worked really hard. 

    ” There was lots of racial tension, lots of fight, lots of blood. I remember this really violent gig in Coventry. Really bad. The racial thing over here [in the UK] was scary. Back home, the tension came from the establishment not understanding what the kids were doing.” 

    MILES AHEAD

    Enter Miles Copeland (father to tubthumping Police member Stewart). Copeland’s IRS Records brought to the world the likes of R.E.M, The Bangles, Berlin, The Cramps, The Dead Kennedys, his son’s band (naturally) and The Go-Go’s.

    ” Miles saw the potential. We had all these dreams of being on CBS or EMI but no, it was on IRS. It actually turned out to be a great thing. They weren’t expecting us to sell so many records. 

    ” We had to settle an agreement for our royalties as they couldn’t handle it, it was such an explosion. It was all good in the end but there was a lawsuit. 

    ” It was kind of a blur. We didn’t have any time off. We didn’t know we could say no to things and were on the road for two-and-a-half years straight. We were here for like three months in the UK on that original tour. Then we went back to New York to record Beauty and the Beat.”

    Belinda Carlisle– Heaven On Earth cover

    One of the most successful debut albums of all time, Beauty and the Beat topped the US charts for six weeks in 1981, shifting an impressive two million copies in the process.

    Classic hits came thick and fast including We Got The Beat and a co-write with Terry Hall on Our Lips Are Sealed. The darkness begins to descend as chaos ensues.

    The Go-Go’s soon racked up a dubious reputation as out-of-control party animals, more than holding their own against male contemporaries on the drink and drugs front. Carlisle was an unapologetic ringleader.

    Read more: Jane Wiedlin interview

    Despite inter-band squabbling and substance abuse taking its toll, a fractious follow-up Vacation arrived a year later but by 1984’s Talk Show album, the wheels had well and truly come off.

    ” The band started falling apart after Jane decided to leave. She was one of the founding members and main songwriters. There was no Go-Go’s without Jane,” adds Carlisle.

    ” There were lots of drugs around which is well documented. Lots of publishing issues and splits within the band, too. We tried to replace Jane but it didn’t work so we split up.”

     

    Part of the original acrimony in the band was the amount of attention Carlisle received as frontperson. After a show at the Rock in Rio festival in 1985, Carlisle and guitarist Charlotte Caffey decided to call time on the band.

    Naturally, the world was waiting for Belinda to go it alone. Just over a year later, the stylists were wheeled in and a freshly-minted pop-friendly solo artist was born.  

    Read more: Belinda Carlisle– album by album

    ” It was very intimidating going solo. I had to really find my feet. It took a long time, now it’s like riding a bike, I can switch gears and just do it– it’s a blast. I was really insecure about being out there as the complete focus. I couldn’t bounce things off of other people on stage.”

    Carlisle’s opening gambit as a solo artist was her 1986 debut Belinda. The record, buoyed by the Top Three success of Mad About You featured a collaboration with Fleetwood Mac’s Lindsey Buckingham on Since You’ve Gone and a continued relationship with Charlotte Caffey.

    ” She’s an amazing songwriter and was a great support to me when the band broke up. We were always close friends and also bonded in early sobriety. I was trying to get sober and so was she. 

     

    ” There were a lot of different reasons why it made sense to work together. We get each other. We were both born and raised in California so we have that same sensibility. We have the same musical tastes and our relationship is really intuitive. We’ve known each other for 40 years now.” 

    If Belinda was a manageable taste of solo success then it was its follow-up, 1987’s Heaven on Earth that fired Carlisle into the pop stratosphere where she began going toe-to-toe with the likes of Madonna and Whitney Houston as one of the 80s biggest female solo stars.

    The stardom was magnified, but the self-doubt remained. Belinda was still struggling with addictions and added body image issues to her other demons.

    Read more: Belinda Carlisle 2021 interview

    ” It was really complex but I was asking ‘Am I really worthy of this?’. I felt like an imposter for years particularly on my first few solo albums,” Carlisle explains. “I remember doing a show in Manchester on the Heaven on Earth Tour and looking out the window of the arena and thinking ‘why the fuck are they here to see me?’.

    ” I still have the potential to do that to myself but not as much as I used to. I’ll still do a show and focus on the one person that isn’t having a good time, though. In the past 15 years I’ve finally felt, ‘yep, this is what I’m meant to be doing!'” 

    A CHANGE IS GON NA COME

    Carlisle’s imperial pop phase saw continued success with 1989’s Runaway Horses and fourth solo album Live Your Life Be Free two years later.

    But struggling to live up to the California beach babe stereotype imposed on her by the record industry and media, the pop game was beginning to lose its lustre for Carlisle.

    ” Right after A Woman and a Man (her album from 1996), I was dropped from my record company. It was on my 40th birthday! It was the best thing that could have happened to me, though. I ‘d been on that treadmill since I was 18 years old. I was in the throes of addiction, too.

    ” That last album is terrible– I can’t even listen to it. I think there’s a couple of decent songs but for the most part it’s not very good. I was going through a lot of personal stuff so I had to sort that out first. 

    Photo (C) Sheila Rock

    ” My family and I moved to France in 1994. My son was born on the day of the LA Riots in 1992 and that planted a seed. My idea of having a successful life has never been driving a Mercedes or living in a big house– I have zero desire for that. I think my husband is on the same track. It’s more about freedom than anything else.

    ” My husband works at [Hollywood talent agency] William Morris and we went to the 40th anniversary of the top guy in the company at some country club and I thought to myself ‘Is this where it’s all going to end?’– that’s really depressing.

    ” We were reading a lot of Peter Mayle books [The Brit author behind A Year in Provence] and watching To Catch A Thief over and over again– so we thought South of France! We gave it six months and ended up staying for 22 years 

    FULL OF EASTERN PROMISE

    Belinda now calls Bangkok home. “It’s like Disneyland meets the Wild West! Really mental,” she says. “It’s a weird city because it’s a throbbing metropolis but also Buddhist and really chilled out.

    ” There’s none of the aggression and aggravation or that city ‘anger’ thing. We have the benefit of both worlds. I love Asia. It’s exciting and I love the energy there.”

    Ditching the pop world– at least in the studio, Carlisle still plays her back catalogue of hits for fans at live shows around the world– meant a change in musical direction. After 11 years away came Voilà, a French language album which saw her reinterpret classic songs from her adopted country.

     

    ” It’s 20 years since my last traditional pop album. Voilà made sense as I was living in France at the time and I always felt there was a little bit of a chanteuse lurking within me. Lyrically, that was like a character I was playing.

    ” The last 20 years of my life– and especially the last 15– has seen me chanting and getting into a whole other genre of music. Devotional music is pretty much all I listen to now plus Maria Callas, Fleetwood Mac and some Depeche Mode I still love them.”

    CHANTS IN A MILLION

    Now comes Wilder Shores. Carlisle’s most experimental work to date features seven mantras deftly moulded into traditional Western pop settings. “I tried doing this album five years ago and there was just no way it was going to work. I just wasn’t ready for it because it’s not just singing, it’s a whole other thing.

    ” In some ways, it was even more complicated than Voilà. I went through Kundalini teacher training twice and learned about the effects of mantra. Then I had to find the chants that were most effective for me– it’s been a three-year process. 

    ” The type of yoga and chanting that I do is pretty complicated because there are thousands of mantras and hand and arm positions that you use in combination with the mantras and breathing techniques. It’s a proven science. In pronouncing the words correctly you activate your glandular system by hitting the meridian points on the top of your mouth. 

     

    ” I could never be a traditional devotional music singer, I’m a pop singer, that’s all I know. The way the album was going to work for me was to take the repetitive mantras and put them into a pop song format where there’s a verse, a bridge, a chorus and sometimes a middle eight. 

    ” I never learned to play a musical instrument and I should have. I could have written a lot of songs. I just stopped at the F chord. That was the end of me! Over the years, my contributions have been mostly lyrics– on Wilder Shores, though, it’s all melodies. 

    ” The mantras have a lot of power behind them and have the ability to change the atmosphere energetically– that’s been proven. What I’m hoping– especially in this crazy world– is to bring more people to the practice.

    ” This is a pop album, though. I hope it tweaks peoples’ curiosity. Some fans will like it, others have already said ‘I hope this album will be in English’. This record is not for everybody and isn’t meant to be.”

    MEDITATIONS ON TRUMP

    Carlisle may not have lived in the States for more than two decades, but she remains a passionate and outspoken political advocate for the country.

    The rise of Donald Trump has been a particular cause for concern. “Having a gay son has made me a lot more socially and politically active. I don’t like where the US is going. I do think that Wilder Shores can help, I know that sounds corny, but I really think it can. 

    ” When you sit back and take everything for granted, it’s only when some monster gets into office that you realise how lucky you are and how you’ve got to fight to keep it. If it’s made people more socially and politically aware then that’s a really positive thing. 

    ” I got back into Transcendental Meditation again after Trump won the election. I thought ‘I need all the help I can get!’ With the yoga and chanting it changes your perspective on things, it changes your state of mind, it puts you in the rhythm of everything around you.”

    As well as calming political anger, Carlisle’s lifestyle changes have led her to turn her back on drink and drug addiction. The singer has been sober since the mid-00s.

    ” I don’t even think about it now. When I was done, I was done. I can be around people drinking or smoking pot, but I can’t be around those doing coke. That makes me really uncomfortable. I don’t miss it. It’s so far removed from me now. 

    ” I was heavy into the 12-Step programme, that got me sober but the yoga and chanting takes me to a whole new level. If you’re always pushing against the tide, it just keeps coming back at you.” 

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    The post Interview: Belinda Carlisle remembers Heaven On Earth appeared first on Classic Pop Magazine

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  • Irene Cara, the ‘Flashdance’ vocalist and also starlet that won hearts & an Oscar, dies at 63 years old

    Publicist Judith A. Moose announces on her official Twitter account the news of the passing away of the iconic “Flashdance” singer & actress in her Florida home of unknown causes on the account.

    “It is with profound sadness that on behalf of her family I announce the death of Irene Cara,” Moose wrote. “She was a beautifully gifted soul whose legacy will live forever through her music and films.” 

    “Sparkle” was Cara’s breakout movie role performing the title character in this 1976 film. In 1980, she was awarded her first nominations for both voice and acting as Coco in the1980 movie “Fame”. Later, Cara moves to. Grammy nomination for best new artist and pop vocal performance for the title song. 

    https://youtu.be/ChhCpSVrjvU

    And as musician, the movie “Fame” with Irene Cara impacted my life journey. Because of this movie and Irene Cara and others, I decided to study jazz at a conservatory in Chicago. ~ David Moore jazz guitarist

  • Norah Jones, Peter Gabriel, Gregory Doorperson – Homage to Leonard Cohen’

    Various Artists – Here It Is: A Tribute to Leonard Cohen  (Blue Note 4565996. 2 LPs. Album review by Richard Lee) Well, here it is…although, in a way, it isn’t. If seeing […]

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    https://youtu.be/hx-hZ6Qg8Hk
  • 17 Artists Who Recorded One-Man-Band Albums
    Making a memorable album along a gaggle of bandmates takes exhausting paintings, willpower, skill and a bit little bit of good fortune. Doing it totally on my own is even more difficult. Right through rock historical past, many musicians have attempted their hand at being a one-man-band, to various ranges of good fortune. Such an endeavor is rarer than you assume. Even if an artist ditches their bandmates and is going “solo,” they are continuously joined within the studio by way of consultation musicians, backing vocalists, particular visitors and any selection of employed weapons to assist their subject material shine. Nonetheless, there are some who’re courageous sufficient to take the whole thing on their shoulders, and it is the ones artists we are that includes under. Paul McCartney, Phil Collins, John Fogerty and Dave Grohl are simply one of the vital musical luminaries who’ve launched one-man-band albums during their storied careers. Prince used to be every other icon who famously sought to do the whole thing himself, going one hundred pc solo on two of his early LPs, whilst Wolfgang Van Halen proved prodigious skill does not fall a long way from the tree, recording his debut album totally himself. Some artists applied their one-man standing to embody new musical types or challenge into uncharted songwriting terrain. Others merely shouldered the musical burden with the intention to problem themselves. We check out 17 artists who’ve launched one-man-band albums, at the side of a handful of honorable mentions, under.