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Rocking with The Beatles
Beatlemania is set to return – in digital form at least – when The Beatles: Rock Band game is released next week.
The format may not be unique, but the content is. It will be the first time that music by the Fab Four has appeared in a video game.
And as a newcomer to music gaming, it was astonishing how quick and easy it was to step from the 21st Century into the Swinging Sixties.
The game places the band in both real and fantasy environments
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Within a minute of a walking into the Rock Band preview room, I had a plastic guitar around my neck and was in the shoes of a Paul McCartney avatar on the Ed Sullivan Show in 1964.
Luckily, you don’t have to play left-handed.
Keeping time
For the uninitiated, Rock Band is a karaoke-style game that uses adapted game controllers – lead guitar, bass guitar and drums – to play along to various songs.
For someone whose first tune on the guitar was Paperback Writer, aged 11, it quickly became clear that my decades of chord practice were no advantage.
The game is all about keeping in time with colour-coded blobs that scroll along the on-screen fretboard. It works in a similar way if you are Ringo on the drum pads.
And it’s curiously addictive.
The not-so-Fab Four: getting better all the time
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Having formed a not-so-Fab Four with three others, we concentrated furiously as we tried to improve our musicianship score during several stabs at I Want To Hold Your Hand.
If one of the band is not up to scratch, you’ll get kicked off stage – though there’s a family-friendly override setting.
Beatles brand
The Beatles: Rock Band game is part of a wider marketing campaign that also sees the release of newly-remastered versions of the band’s back catalogue on CD.
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 When you bring The Beatles into the mix you’re opening up the opportunity to a big cross-section of the consumer population  Piers Harding-Rolls, games analyst
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It comes at a time when the music industry is looking for new ways to recover some of its dwindling revenue as CD sales decline.
Of course, music video games are nothing new – Guitar Hero 5 was released this week in the US featuring tracks by Nirvana, Muse and Iron Maiden.
But getting a brand like The Beatles is a significant step in an industry worth hundreds of millions of dollars.
According to Piers Harding-Rolls, senior games analyst at Screen Digest, the Beatles catalogue is a powerful licence to have in gaming.
The graphics can get quite psychedelic
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“It’s an iconic collection of songs for the first time in the music game genre,” he says. “When you bring The Beatles into the mix you’re opening up the opportunity to a big cross-section of the consumer population.”
He added that the peripheral kit involved in music games add a significant amount of revenue on top of software sales.
“Music games have really helped to grow the size of the market – and you’re playing it with other users which helps expand this opportunity.”
He says The Beatles game also targets a different audience to more rock-focused music games – like Guitar Hero.
“We’re now seeing some experimenting from Activision with DJ Hero – an extension of the same kind of genre.
“With The Beatles you’re introducing older players into the space – people who don’t consider themselves ‘rock’. A huge cross-section listen to the songs and they know the songs.
“The Beatles game does go beyond anything that has gone before.”
All you need is cash
The game, which goes on sale on 9 September, will feature 45 songs, along with a bonus track – All You Need is Love – which can be bought online.
The albums Abbey Road, Sgt Pepper and Rubber Soul will be released for download later in the year.
The game allows players to follow The Beatles through their career in environments such as The Cavern Club and the Shea Stadium. It also features “imaginative environments” known as Dreamscapes.
Screaming teens
One irony of the game is that with so much effort poured into the visuals by developers Harmonix – the attention to detail is stunning – they are largely lost on the players as they stay focused on their instruments.
Another challenge will be whether this game will reach out to those screaming teens from the Beatles era, who will now be in their 50s and 60s.
And will they want to play it eight days a week?
The TV advert – which cleverly re-imagines the events on the Abbey Road album cover – clearly aims for cross-generational appeal.
As for my own efforts with George Harrison’s replica Gretsch Duo Jet, (available for an extra £89.99), it was more a case of the audience – and not my guitar – that was gently weeping.
Source: BBC NEWS
Michael Jackson buried tonight in hidden monument
GLENDALE, Calif.–Michael Jackson will finally be buried this evening in a private ceremony that will be a stark contrast to a life played out on a world stage, with headlines screaming his every move and frenzy following his footsteps.
His death, memorial and investigation amplified the delirium and prolonged the anguish of family and fans. Ten weeks after he died June 25, he is scheduled to be interred in what will be a hidden monument in a mausoleum made of marble and mortar.
There will be only silence. No marquees, no spotlights, no paparazzi.
His burial was delayed by police and coroner investigations, which concluded his death was a homicide. Investigators focused on sleep medications and other drugs administered to the pop singer at his Los Angeles mansion. No charges have been laid.
The funeral was eventually scheduled for Aug. 29, which would have been Jackson’s 51th birthday, but it was delayed until today at the request of some family members who did not want to mark his birthday that way.
Jeryll Cohen, an attorney for the administrators of Jackson’s estate, said his debt-ridden estate has enough cash to pay for the funeral and a judge authorized the payment after a hearing yesterday.
“The expenses are extraordinary, however, Michael Jackson was extraordinary,” Cohen said.
Few details about the service have been disclosed. Cohen told the judge that part of the reason it will be so expensive is because 12 burial spaces are being bought.
Jackson is scheduled to be interred in a mausoleum at Forest Lawn Glendale, which is about 13 kilometres north of downtown Los Angeles. He will be placed in the Great Mausoleum, where he’ll join Hollywood legends such as Clark Gable, Jean Harlow, W.C. Fields and Red Skelton.
Cemetery websites and blogs have been buzzing ever since Jackson’s family announced the Forest Lawn plan. Hits to Lisa Burk’s blog at
www.gravehunting.com have gone through the roof, she said. Interest in him “blows everything else out of the water because he was so internationally known.”
Jackson’s burial will not stop the tributes, however. Oprah Winfrey’s Sept. 16 show will be dedicated to Jackson and will feature “never-before-revealed personal details” from her 1993 interview with him.
Source: thestar.com
Michael Jackson Dies
We’ve just learned Michael Jackson has died. He was 50.
Michael suffered a cardiac arrest earlier this afternoon at his Holmby Hills home and paramedics were unable to revive him. We’re told when paramedics arrived Jackson had no pulse and they never got a pulse back.
A source tells us Jackson was dead when paramedics arrived. A cardiologist at UCLA tells TMZ Jackson died of cardiac arrest.
Once at the hospital, the staff tried to resuscitate him but he was completely unresponsive.
We’re told one of the staff members at Jackson’s home called 911.
La Toya ran in the hospital sobbing after Jackson was pronounced dead.
Michael is survived by three children: Michael Joseph Jackson, Jr., Paris Michael Katherine Jackson and Prince “Blanket” Michael Jackson II.
Source: TMZ
Spinal Tap reveal new album details
Spinal Tap have revealed details of a forthcoming new album, set for release next month.
The spoof metal band, stars of the 1984 “rockumentary” ‘This Is Spinal Tap’, will release ‘Back From The Dead’ on June 15.
Guests on the album include Def Leppard‘s Phil Collen, John Mayer, guitarist Steve Vai and keyboardist Keith Emerson.
It will be accompanied by an hour-long DVD featuring insights from the band members about the songs.
The album will contain 19 tracks, including new versions of ‘Hell Hole’ and ‘Big Bottom’, which appeared on the 1984 flick’s original soundtrack, reports Billboard.
Also set for inclusion are ‘Jazz Odyssey’, a three-part song, and a reggae version of ‘(Listen the) Flower People’, which also appeared on the original soundtrack.
Newer songs ‘Warmer Than Hell’, ‘Celtic Blues’, ‘Rock’N'Roll Nightmare’ and ‘Saucy Jack’ will also feature.
Bassist Derek Smalls, aka actor Harry Shearer, revealed that there were plans to release further new material.
He said that there were: “about four or five new songs that weren’t completed in time to make this record, so we’ll do something digital with them on the download side or something like that”.
Spinal Tap celebrate the 25th anniversary of ‘This Is Spinal Tap’ by playing London‘s Wembley Arena on June 30.
To check the availability of Spinal Tap tickets and get all the latest listings, go to NME.COM/GIGS now, or call 0871 230 1094.
Source: nme.com
Abba pair unveil new pop tracks
Abba duo Benny Andersson and Bjorn Ulvaeus have unveiled their first new pop songs for more than 15 years.
One track, Second Best To None, has been recorded by employees at the hotel Andersson owns in Stockholm.
It was written for the staff as a treat and has been released as a single in Sweden. “We all had some fun doing this. They can sing,” Andersson said.
A second track, Story of A Heart, will appear on the first English-language album from Andersson’s current band.
Andersson and Ulvaeus enjoyed huge global success as the songwriters in Abba in the 1970s and early ’80s. The band’s popularity has enjoyed a resurgence thanks to the hit Mamma Mia movie last year.
The pair have continued to work together over the years, including the Chess musical in the 1980s, and Andersson said their last pop collaboration was on songs for an album by singer Josefin Nilsson in the early 1990s.
“We haven’t done any pop songs for a long time,” the musician said.
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Andersson had the idea to record Second Best To None last September at the Hotel Rival’s fifth birthday party, where the workforce had gathered.
“I realised that at least 20 of them were singing in amateur choirs in Stockholm,” he said. “I asked them, do you want me to write a song for you and we can put it on our homepage? They said yes so that’s what I did.
“And I asked Bjorn if he would like to write the lyrics, and we recorded it with the staff. We released it as a single as well. It’s just a lot of fun and it’s taking care of the staff at the hotel more than anything else.”
Story of A Heart, meanwhile, will feature on an album of the same name by The Benny Andersson Band.
The new track has been recorded by one of the group’s vocalists, Helen Sjoholm, and will sit alongside folk tunes that have previously been released in Sweden.
Ulvaeus wrote Swedish lyrics for the originals, and has translated them into English for the UK release on 6 July.
“It’s a nice prospect to be able to release music I’ve been doing for the last 10 years, which is folk oriented,” Andersson said.
The group will also play their first English concert on Hampstead Heath on 4 July.
Source: news.bbc.co.uk
Bob Dylan at Sheffield Arena
Quite why there should be so much excitement surrounding the current European leg of Bob Dylan’s “Never Ending” tour is something of a mystery. Yes, he has a new album, Together Through Life, released next Monday, and he remains one of the pre-eminent surviving superstars from the 1960s. But that doesn’t altogether explain why he has become such a hot ticket again.
Perhaps it is because we have learnt more about Dylan in the past four years than we did in the preceding four decades. He has published his memoirs. He has astounded with the grace and wit of his Theme Time Radio shows. He has given the first public exhibition of his artwork. He has even granted a handful of interviews.
However, the one area in which he remains as stubbornly enigmatic and uncommunicative as ever is in the manner of his live performance style. He offered not a word of greeting as he opened his British tour in the 13,500-capacity Sheffield Arena last night, nor an introduction to any of the songs — none of which were from the new album. His long-serving, five-man band were arranged in a semi-circle, as if for a rehearsal, with Dylan standing behind his keyboard facing the other musicians. Dressed in black with a black hat, he looked like a cross between a toreador and a Mafia don as the band kicked off with the lively R’n’B swagger of Cat’s In The Well followed by a drastically restructured It’s All Over Now, Baby Blue…Read More
Source: The London Time
Elton John’s Wealth Drops 26% in Crisis, Survey Says
Elton John leads British music millionaires whose fortune has shrunk in the financial crisis, according to the Sunday Times 2009 Rich List.
John saw his personal worth fall 26 percent, though he still ranked eighth wealthiest, the Sunday Times said in an e- mailed release today before the list’s April 26 publication. The knighted singer-songwriter is now worth 175 million pounds ($256 million), down from 235 million pounds last year, it said.
“John spends quite a bit: He’s given away 42 million pounds to charity, which is a considerable amount, and his Las Vegas tour is coming to an end,” Ian Coxon, editor of the Sunday Times Rich list, said in an interview. Music millionaires’ losses were “broadly in line with the overall pattern,” he said.
Billionaires and multimillionaires on the Sunday Times Rich List have seen their fortune eroded by the worst slump since World War II. The MSCI World Index tumbled more than 40 percent in 2008. The global economy will shrink 1.3 percent this year, according to an International Monetary Fund forecast.
Paul McCartney, the former Beatle who last year paid his estranged wife Heather Mills 24.3 million pounds in a divorce settlement, saw his wealth drop 12 percent from 500 million pounds to 440 million pounds.
Jagger, Clapton
Other decliners included: Mick Jagger of the Rolling Stones, down 16 percent to 190 million pounds; Sting, down 10 percent to 180 million pounds; and Eric Clapton, down 14 percent to 120 million pounds.
The most wealthy person on the list was again Clive Calder, 62, who started Zomba Music Group in 1971 and built it with acts such as Britney Spears and the Backstreet Boys. He sold his remaining stake in the record label to Bertelsmann AG in November 2002 for $2.74 billion. His wealth was unchanged this year at 1.3 billion pounds, said the survey.
David and Victoria Beckham’s wealth was also unchanged at 125 million pounds.
On the other hand, Judy Craymer, producer of the Abba musical “Mamma Mia!”, saw her fortune surge 29 percent to 75 million pounds.
Music millionaires’ wealth is calculated by surveying the accounts of the companies that they and their bands run, and calculating royalties on recordings and ticket sales on tours. The Rich List has been compiled for the last 21 years, and individuals’ advisers are contacted, Coxon said.
To be one of the 1,000 people on the Sunday Times Rich List, you have to have been born in the U.K., to live in the U.K., or draw a major part of your wealth from the U.K., Coxon said. Last year, you had to be worth at least 80 million pounds to land the list. This year, 55 million pounds was enough to make you eligible, Coxon said.
Here is a table showing the ranking and wealth in pounds of the top 15 music millionaires, with the percentage change at the end. Figures in parentheses represent the 2008 rank and wealth.
Source: bloomberg.com
Pink Floyd to sue EMI over royalty payments
Rockers Pink Floyd are planning to take legal action against their record label EMI over pending royalty payments. The ‘Another Brick In The Wall’ hitmaker band will be suing the label because it miscalculated royalties owed to them from their back catalogue, reports The Daily Star.
The band, which has been in collaboration with the label since 1967, is seeking undisclosed damages. Meanwhile Pink Floyd is also a member of a body called ‘Featured Artists Coalition,’ which demands more power for the artists.
Source:entertainment.oneindia.in
The Russian Hottie Who Says She’s Mel Gibson’s Mistress
Mel Gibson has his own $42 million ultra-traditionalist Catholic church near Malibu. And the “other women” behind his divorce? Well, the tabloids are still sifting through at least four ladies on three continents.
So far, the front-runner among his purported mistresses is Russian pop singer Oksana Pochepa, who has been telling the press she’s in a “serious” thing with the movie star. From The Sun:
We are different people, but Mel is a grown man and knows precisely what he wants and me too – I know what I want.
There’s also some unidentified brunette in Costa Rica Gibson was spotted hugging on the beach. The Mail reports that Gibson’s womanizing began spiraling out of control after he filmed Apocalypto in Mexico more than two years ago and was drinking heavily in Veracruz. The tabloid added that his wife, who Gibson once told the New Yorker was “a much better person than I am,” got tired of setting him straight.
Maybe Gibson’s congregation can pick up the slack. Its members would probably like some sort of explanation for his behavior, too. Especially the ones set to live in the houses his construction company is building “inside the walled grounds.”
Source: gawker.com
