The XX Return In Mighty Fashion, U2 For The Pairc??????, And The Top 10 of 2016 (Voted By You!)

Hey everyone,

Hope ye all are well and had a good week.

Quite a bit happened I suppose in the last week with U2 announcing Croke Park and the Choice Music Prize nominations.

Pairc Ui Chaoimh next for the U2 boys on their Joshua Tree tour….???

The Joshua Tree concept seems to have really hit a nerve…. Savage interest in it on the shop floor all week….. Tempted myself i must say.

The rep tells me there’s another gig to be announced lunchtime Monday but it looks like Dublin again but is there a third night somewhere else.. I wonder…. No pressure builders to get the Pairc done…. Be nice wouldn’t it…. I grew up with U2 and will always have huge time for them.

I have a tip for tickets which people generally overlook in Cork… I’m giving away a state secret here now, so some of you may want to shoot me… Again this week… Pro Musica on Oliver Plunkett Street has been a Ticketmaster outlet for about 30 years i’d say….. 8.15 monday morning, hot cup of tea…. 45 minute wait.. I think you’ll get two U2 tickets…. Think i said…. Sorry to those whose secret i’ve spoiled…. Maybe it wasn’t a secret at all… It’s not now anyway!!

Couple of nice ones in the shop for today including THE XX (STANDARD or DELUXETHE FLAMING LIPS and Brazilian metallers SEPULTURA..

As usual you  can check out the video this week, a nice little story in this week’s one for you as well..

THE XX and THE FLAMING LIPS are two nice listens from what I heard yesterday and today… Could be wrong (didn’t read the sleeve notes) but I think there is a voice over on the Lips album by Darth Vader.

UNIVERSAL

On so to releases for the 20th of jan… We will get back to the choice nominations a little later on…. First up this week is the reissues of the first two PAUL WELLER solo albums… The self titled debut and “Wildwood”…. Pity folks about the pricing… A new level again really…only a single LP with a poster i think some colour stickers and the lyrics…. But it will be on the shelf at 38 euro… Same or worse everywhere else I think.. I asked why it was so expensive but I did not get a reply… I don’t know why it’s so dear… Pity two nice ones and all.

Universal also have a reworking of the third MIKE OLDFIELD album “Ommadawn” aptly called “Return to Ommadawn”.

Ommadawn,  was released in 1975, and remains one of his favourite of all his releases. Connecting with his Irish roots, the original 40-minute suite has long been much-loved by his fans.

From his studio in the Bahamas, Mike has crafted two suites of music that incorporate the past and the present, recording with acoustic, analogue and faithful reproductions of 1970s instruments all together in sweet harmony. For the first time in many years, Mike has hand-played every instrument (22 in total) on the recording himself, and in a nod to its 42-year old predecessor, crafted new vocal sounds and effects from the original Ommadawn. With its fabulous fantasy gatefold illustration by Rupert Lloyd-Smee, who designed the sleeve for Mike’s critically-acclaimed The 1984 Suite, for an artist truly synonymous with progressive rock, it all marks a return home. A Return To Ommadawn. FORMATS: HALF-SPEED MASTERED BY MILES SHOWELL AT ABBEY ROAD. 180GM HEAVYWEIGHT VINYL. GATEFOLD SLEEVE. 24”x 24” POSTER • CD/DVD SET: DVD INCLUDES EXCLUSIVE MIKE OLDFIELD 5.1 MIX; FOLD-OUT SLEEVE, 12 PAGE BOOKLET• CD: JEWEL CASE: 12 PAGE BOOKLET.

 

UNIVERSAL have quite a few more reissues on LP for next week, also including the brilliant PORTISHEAD with the self titled album from 1997 and the reforming album “THIRD” from 2008…

Image result for Portishead Portishead

A couple also from DUSTY SPRINGFIELD including “In Memphis” and “The Silver Collection” compilation.

Uni also have the GARY MOORE reissue of “Wild Frontier” on LP, and the LP release of the score from “ASSASSINS CREED” done by Jed Kurzel… Brother of the director i’m told, and they have a new album by metallers A.F.I, and a live MARILLON album called “Marbles In The Park”.

 

PROPER

Proper Music have the reissue and limited, deluxe and numbered edition of T- REX “The Slider”…. Coloured as well actually… Silver and red.. They also have the new record by ALEJANDRO ESCOVEDO “Burn Something Beautiful”… Great star studded band with him…. Produced by Peter Buck.

 

Quick little story… You will only find this funny if you listen to this song first.. Well the first twenty seconds is all you need to hear…… I thought this story was a beaut, hence i’m sharing it….

 

I was playing Swoon in the shop during the week….. Random choice i know….. Great pop record I think, you might agree, when a regular lad came in….. ‘Ah christ i loved that album’ he said…. ‘I used play it and play it…on tape’ (tape was the tipple of choice at the time), ‘great album’ he said and then he told me how he walked into his bedroom to find his two and a half year old son with the tape wrapped around himself, ala DANIEL DAY LEWIS In The Name Of The Father (I added that for effect)… My man wasn’t too happy and gave a small giving out….  You can’t do that type of thing, to which the two and a half year old replied… .’NO MORE Bo Bee…No More Bo Bee’…..

 

No more Bowie (separate to above) … It’s still hard to believe really…. I think we all probably played some Bowie in the last week or watched some Bowie TV…. My five year old asked me to play Starman again last sunday morning as Ziggy was on the record player… Ah the wheel will turn forever there my friends.

SONY

Sony for the 20th have EURYTHIMICS ‘Greatest Hits’ LP reissue.. MEAT LOAF ‘Bat Out OF Hell’ reissue on LP, and the new album by FIREWIND ( GUS G’s band… Gus was OZZY’s guitarist in recent years), as well as some FIREWIND reissues…

 

ESSENTIAL have the new RUN THE JEWELS record out next Friday also… ‘3’ it’s called and on CD and DLP….

WARNER

Warner have the second and last pressing im told of the KATE BUSH  “Before The Dawn” 4 LP set…. Out next friday also the 20th..

Warner also have some cracking reissues… Good, young folk reading this ramble.. Ye would not go far wrong with these next few reissues if you like, rock, punk, alternative rock… First up is the masterpiece by THE STOOGES “FUNHOUSE”, and to entice ye even more it’s on limited Orange and black vinyl and it’s 20 bucks… not far wrong at all…. Also there are some reissues by a really underrated band called THE REPLACEMENTS from America in the late 70s…. Alternative rock, punk band… Great songs…. “Tim” is a fine album.

WARNER also have a Picture Disc 50th Anniversary of THE GRATEFUL DEAD’s debut .

PIAS

Pias have MICK HARVEY “Intoxicated Woman”, the next in his series of SERGE GAINSBOURG songs, a NIGHTWISH live 2CD from Wacken and lastly a VISAGE compilation called “WILD LIFE”…

Moving back to the Choice Nominations and every single person will have their own opinions…. I’m saying it a long time… It’s a game of opinions… One mans meat yada yada yada…. 

We would know 7 of the ten albums reasonably well to very well and we could not fault their inclusion… Fine records… Great to see WALLIS and ALL TVVINS  on it.. Both friends of the siopa… Fully deserved as well (WALLIS is  upstairs in the OLIVER PLUNKETT Friday Jan  27th)….. There is lots of fine music being made on these shores and it is a really positive note in my opinion that RTE, the state broadcaster has got involved…. Maybe it can move to a live TV show for a couple of hours next year to showcase the talent.. Live on radio this year with a one hour highlights show a week later on TV…. So that is a great step…. Forgive me while I put my blood and bandage hat on for a few minutes and gush about THE FRANKS (fine album…My top five of year…) JACK O’ ROURKE, BRIAN DEADY and MICK FLANNERY’s albums which would not have been at all out of place on that list…. All of them ! (Lucky im not a judge!!) …. But every lad or lady in every county probably would have their own lists… Four really fine albums though in my opinion…. The Franks are an institution…. Deady and O’ Rourke are two talented dudes where hopefully the sky is the limit…. And Mick…  Sure Mick is Mick… In my opinion one of the most talented singer-songwriters this country has ever produced and five albums in, and to my knowledge no nomination…. Consistent, high quality stuff …… I’m sure it doesn’t require it, but Mick wouldn’t want or know how to kiss any bums……. Anyway all in all the Choice are a great thing…. More exposure please for our talent.

 

And sticking with brilliant Irish talent, we have now uploaded the brilliant DECLAN O’ ROURKE in-store to our website video page.. What a day in the shop that was, Declan played his hits from ‘In Full Colour’ with a string quartet, and a huge crowd of ye made it a very special day… Check it out!


We hope to have THE RIPTIDE MOVEMENT In-Store uploaded for next week for you all, which should be in the newsletter again!

 

Sin e for this week from me…

As always,

Thanks for listening….

Ray
(I think Bobby might have the competition results written up under here for me…..)

Thanks to all of you for entering our Top 10 Albums of 2016, the results are finally in! First up, a congrats to Ronan Condon on winning the 25EUR voucher, which will be in the shop for you next time you’re in. And how we worked it, any album which was voted #1 received three points, #2 got two points, and #3 got one point..  So here are the results..

  1. David Bowie – Blackstar

  2. Radiohead – A Moon Shaped Pool

  3. Nick Cave – Skelton Tree

  4. The Frank And Walters – Songs For The Walking Wounded

  5. Leonard Cohen – You Want It Darker

  6. Iggy Pop – Post Pop Depression

  7. Bon Iver – 22, A Million

  8. Jack O’ Rourke – Dreamcatcher

  9. Mick Flannery – I Own You

  10. Julia Jacklin – Don’t Let The Kids Win

 

Big ups for Donny McCaslin for the top spot there, Black Star Liberation Front, ye must be delighted… Ray says ‘ouuuuchhh’…

Well that’s it for today guys,

 

Thanks again,

Bobby

State of the Nations, New One From The XX, And Time For Us To Get Out From Under The Quilt

Hey Everyone,

How’s the form…

Guess who’s back… Back again….

Happy new year to ye all.

December was a bit iffy in the siopa but its a new dawn, its a new day, its a new life…  Fooor meee…. And i’m feeling… I think thats my fourth year in a row using that new year opening followed up with stop me oooohhh ho ho stop me, stop me if you think that you heard this one before…. Maybe that could be shoot me…

Anyway welcome back tolerant readers… Really hope it all passed off OK for ye all….

Only settling gently back on the horse after the season …. Stressful enough time every year in the shop… Chasing 4 months business in 3 weeks… Caught in a bubble a bit with regards sales targets.. In the greater scheme of life, it don’t matter a shite…. But i care deeply about it so in the bubble it matters…. if that makes any sense at all…… Was down 19% this Christmas… Twas a lot… Matt Cooper had bits on the radio during the week about retail here being down quite a bit in December… Amazon are reported to be way up according to some dude on the show and have now purchased a fleet of planes to improve deliveries and to also take on the delivery boys like Fed Ex and UPS at their own game…. No stone unturned with the Amazon boys and girls…. Anyway no killer release and a shop move , Two big factors for me (I hope) behind it…. Calendar year exact same turnover as 2015 so after shop move in 2016 to keep same turnover is a result I suppose…. So onwards anyway and upwards hopefully.

One quick side note on the massive online players…. Must be a serious dent to the government’s coffers…. All that missed VAT….. They say only 23% of Irish retailers are online.. And tis so hard to get seen there even if you are competitive…. Drop the vat rate to 12% on .ie sites…. dot.ies can pass on the saving and be super douper competitive….12% of something is better than 12% of nothing… Our website grew by 68% in December on the previous one but from a small start… A normal Saturday sales, to a Saturday and a Sunday takings…. And I pay Google for the privilege to be seen anyway but sure Rome wasn’t built in a day or two years either for that matter or was it?

Anyway enough Raymond… Ye folks will be running to find yer duvets to climb back under like the start of the week so move on…

Out today in the shop is the BOWIE ‘Legacy‘ compilation on Long Player…. Fine double LP compilation spanning the great man’s long and remarkable career …. It’s hard to believe it has been 12 months since the terribly sad, bizarre but classy hollywood style release and passing…. Seminal moment in lots of our lives.. As I said before one of the strangest days in the record shop I ever had was Monday January the 11th 2016… All of it was simply incredible…. Fitting of an incredible man… RIP Daithi Macseoin.

Image result for BOWIE LEGACY

Also in the shop today is the LP release of the new NEIL YOUNG record, the hip-hop record of the year with A TRIBE CALLED QUEST on vinyl, the new BRIAN ENO record as well as new albums from YOU ME AT SIX, GONE IS GONE and THE DROPKICK MURPHYS.. 

Or check out the first video of the year, which also has a bit of the sale stock in it! Give it a like, share and be sure to subscribe!

PIAS

Moving on to a few releases for next Friday the 13th which include the third and new album from the wonderful THE XX via the Young Turks label…. Should be a cracker of a release… Standard CD, Limited indies only clear vinyl, ( 22 euro) and a limited boxset which includes the LP, a 12” only available via the set and two CDs ( 47 euro) …. I like this band , male/female vocal contrast is great normally… Looking forward to it.

Pias also have a live release by ACCEPT as a 2CD/DVD or a 4LP set and also on Nuclear Blast is the new SEPULTURA album ‘Machine messiah” as a CD/DVD or DLP.

Lastly from PIAS is the the new album from THE FLAMING LIPS “Oozy Mlody” as CD, LP or fancy LP set with a rare 7 “ included.

UNIVERSAL

Universal for the 13th have a duet covers album by FLO MORRISSEY and MATTHEW E WHITE called Gentlewoman Ruby Man, where they tackle songs by Cohen, velvet underground, frank ocean and james blake.
Image result for GENTLEWOMAN RUBY MAN

UNIVERSAL also has 5 album sets by TRAFFIC and FAIRPORT CONVENTION as well as some EMPEROR reissues.

 

WARNER

Warner for the 13th have  JEFF HEALYs LP holding on via provogue.

 

SONY

Sony have the new album by PAIN OF SALVATION out for next friday the 13th called “ in the passing light of day” ….a return to their heavier sound i believe ..on a deluxe CD, STANDARD CD and LP.

Sony also have the soundtrack to “The Book of Love” which features Justin Timberlake i think.

 

Thats about it for releases for next week but will get warmer as the year goes on…

The British Phonographic Industry ( BPI) who are the watchdog among other things for the UK music industry released its figures a few days ago for 2016…some interesting reading if you are that way inclined…or else head for the duvet id suggest….

Vinyl saw an increase of 53% to 3.2 million units sold , the highest since 1991 but still only 4.7 % of all music consumed.

Streaming saw an increase of 68% ….over 45 billion tracks were streamed in the UK last year amounting to over 42 % of all music consumption ( they have some way to correlate it)  and yes thats Billion WITH a B.

CD was down 12% but still has 39% of music consumption…47 million CDs sold in UK last year…

Downloads/MP3 the biggest loser down 30% and now accounts for just 16% of all music consumed.

Another interesting fact, ADELE 25 was the biggest selling album of 2016 even though it was released in november 2015….

What a topsy turvy industry….

The talk is and has being that streaming and physical can cohabit well together….everyone interested in music streams…and if they really like what they hear they may buy a physical copy….i dont think the artists like the streaming that much as id say they get feck all out of it….contrary to all other beliefs…going to gigs and buying physical music and merch is the best way to support an artist/band…end of sceal.

A lot of acts are getting slower and slower putting themselves up on streaming services….you need about 1 million streams for a tenner or something daft i think….if anyone knows please would love to know the real sceal….

Also, final chance to get your 3 albums of the year (2016) into us, only a few names in so far, and if you do you could be in with a chance of winning a 25EUR voucher for your favourite shop!

Sin e for the first time this year…

Thanks for listening… ( and for those that didn’t, ye can come out from under the duvet now…its over!)

Ray
www.musiczone.ie