Monday, September 28, 2015

In Concert: Mark Knopfler

image from diffen.com

Venue: Midland Theater; Kansas City, MO
The Players: Mark Knopfler (vocals, guitar), Guy Fletcher (keyboards), Richard Bennett (guitar), Glenn Worf (bass), Jim Cox (piano, organ, accordion), Ian Thomas (drums), John McCusker (violin, Cittern), Michael McGoldrick (whistles, uilleann pipes), Nigel Hitchcock (saxophone)
Opening Act: none

The Set List:

1. Broken Bones 25
2. Corned Beef City 24
3. Privateering 24
4. Father and Son 6
5. Hill Farmer’s Blues 19
6. Skydiver 25
7. She’s Gone 16
8. Your Latest Trick 8
9. Romeo and Juliet 3
10. Sultans of Swing 1
11. Haul Away 24
12. Postcards from Paraguay 20
13. Marbletown 19
14. Speedway at Nazareth 17
15. Telegraph Road 4

Encore:

16. So Far Away 8
17. Going Home (Theme from Local Hero) 5

Album Discography:

1 Dire Straits (with Dire Straits, 1978)
2 Communiqué (with Dire Straits, 1979)
3 Making Movies (with Dire Straits, 1980)
4 Love Over Gold (with Dire Straits, 1982)
5 Local Hero (soundtrack, 1983)
6 Cal (soundtrack, 1984)
7 Comfort and Joy (soundtrack,1984 )
8 Brothers in Arms (with Dire Straits, 1985)
9 The Princess Bride (soundtrack, 1987)
10 Last Exit to Brooklyn (soundtrack, 1989)
11 Missing…Presumed Having a Good Time (with the Notting Hillbillies, 1990)
12 Neck and Neck (with Chet Atkins, 1990)
13 On Every Street (with Dire Straits, 1991)
14 Golden Heart (1996)
15 Wag the Dog (soundtrack, 1998)
16 Metroland (soundtrack, 1999)
17 Sailing to Philadelphia (2000)
18 A Shot at Glory (soundtrack, 2002)
19 The Ragpicker’s Dream (2002)
20 Shangri-La (2004)
21 All the Roadrunning (with Emmylou Harris, 2006)
22 Kill to Get Crimson (2007)
23 Get Lucky (2009)
24 Privateering (2012)
25 Tracker (2015)


Friday, September 25, 2015

Maroon 5: 2002-2015

Maroon 5

A Retrospective: 2002-2015

Overview:

The pop-rock band Maroon 5 formed in 2001 in Los Angeles, California. They were an outgrowth of Kara’s Flowers, a group formed in 1994 by Adam Levine, Jesse Carmichael, Mickey Madden, and Ryan Dusick. They were signed to Reprise Records and released the album The Fourth World in 1997. The band were dropped after the album did poorly. In 2001, they re-emerged as Maroon 5 and released their debut album, Songs About Jane, in 2002.


The Players:

  • Adam Levine (vocals: 1994-present)
  • Jessie Carmichael (rhythm guitar, keyboards: 1994-present)
  • James Valentine (guitar: 2001-present)
  • P.J. Morton (keyboards: 2010-present)
  • Matt Flynn (drums: 2004-present)
  • Sam Farrar (bass, multiple instruments: 2001, 2012-present)
  • Mickey Madden (bass: 1994-2020)
  • Ryan Dusick (drums: 1994-2006)


Links:

Awards:

Compilations:

  • S Singles (covers 2002-2014, released 2015)
Under each album snapshot, songs featured on the anthologies are noted. If the song charted, the date of the song’s release or first chart appearance and its chart peaks are noted in parentheses. Click for codes to charts.

Songs About Jane (2002):

  • Harder to Breathe (7/02, 18 BB, 4 RR, 15 AA, 31 MR 13 UK, 37 AU, 12 DF, sales: 1 million)
  • This Love (1/12/04, 5 BB, 1 RR, 3 AC, 1 A40, 14 AA, 3 UK, 2 CN, 8 AU, 23 DF, sales: 2 million) S
  • She Will Be Loved (6/21/04, 5 BB, 1 RR, 4 AC, 1 A40 4 UK, 10 CN, 1 AU, 21 DF, sales: 4 million) S
  • Sunday Morning (11/8/04, 31 BB, 21 RR, 15 AC, 4 A40, 27 UK, 27 AU, 34 DF, sales: 2 million)
  • Must Get Out (4/5/05, 39 UK)

It Won’t Be Soon Before Long (2007):

  • Makes Me Wonder (3/27/07, 1 BB, 1 DG, 4 RR, 9 AC, 2 A40, 2 UK, 1 CN, 6 AU, 34 DF, sales: 3 million) S
  • Wake Up Call (7/17/07, 19 BB, 9 RR, 19 AC, 3 A40, 33 UK, 6 CN, 19 AU, 34 DF, sales: 2 million) S
  • Won’t Go Home Without You (11/19/07, 48 BB, 26 RR, 14 AC, 3 A40, 26 AA, 44 UK, 16 CN, 7 AU, 35 DF, sales: 2 million)
  • If I Never See Your Face Again (with Rihanna) (5/2/08, 51 BB, 30 RR, 10 A40, 28 UK, 12 CN, 11 AU, 35 DF, sales: 1 million)

Hands All Over (2010):

  • Misery (6/22/10, 14 BB, 8 RR, 9 AC, 1 A40, 28 AA, 30 UK, 13 CN, 39 AU, 34 DF, sales: 2 million) S
  • Give a Little More (8/17/10, 86 BB, 35 RR, 10 A40, 91 CN)
  • Stutter (10/9/10, 84 BB)
  • Never Gonna Leave This Bed (1/24/11, 55 BB, 25 RR, 17 AC, 4 A40, 25 RR, sales: 1 million)
  • Moves Like Jagger (with Christina Aguilera) (6/21/11, 1 BB, 1 BA, 1 DG, 1 RR, 7 AC, 1 A40, 2 UK, 1 CN, 2 AU, 1 DF, sales: 10 million) S

Overexposed (2012):

  • Payphone (with Wiz Khalifa) (4/16/12, 2 BB, 1 BA, 1 DG, 1 RR, 2 AC, 1 A40, 1 UK, 1 CN, 2 AU, 7 DF, sales: 7 million) S
  • One More Night (6/19/12, 1 BB, 1 BA, 1 RR, 2 AC, 1 A40, 8 UK, 2 CN, 2 AU, 14 DF, sales: 6 million) S
  • Wipe Your Eyes (7/14/12, 80 BB)
  • Daylight (11/8/12, 7 BB, 1 RR, 2 AC, 1 A40, 63 UK, 5 CN, 19 AU, 35 DF, sales: 2 million) S
  • Love Somebody (5/14/13, 10 BB, 2 RR, 2 AC, 1 A40, 10 CN, 34 DF, sales: 2 million)
  • Lucky Strike (11/23/13, 33 A40)

V (2014):

  • Maps (6/16/14, 6 BB, 2 RR, 1 AC, 1 A40, 2 UK, 1 CN, 18 AU, 26 DF, sales: 4 million) S
  • It Was Always You (8/16/14, 45 BB)
  • Animals (8/25/14, 3 BB, 1 BA, 1 RR, 11 AC, 1 A40, 27 UK, 2 CN, 62 AU, 26 DF, sales: 1 million) S
  • Sugar (1/13/15, 2 BB, 1 RR, 2 AC, 1 A40, 7 UK, 2 CN, 6 AU, 16 DF, sales: 10 million) S
  • This Summer’s Gonna Hurt (5/15/15, 23 BB, 9 RR, 21 AC, 7 A40, 40 UK, 16 CN, 70 AU, 35 DF, sales: 1 million)
  • Feelings (9/20/15, 28 RR, 29 AC, 16 A40)

Singles

Maroon 5


Recorded: 2002-2014

Released: September 25, 2015


Peak: -- US, 32 UK, 35 CN, 14 AU


Sales (in millions): -- US, 0.6 UK


Genre: pop rock


Rating:

4.122 out of 5.00 (average of 9 ratings)

Awards: (Click on award to learn more).

Tracks: (1) This Love (2) Payphone (3) She Will Be Loved (4) One More Night (5) Moves Like Jagger (6) Wake Up Call (7) Misery (8) Maps (9) Makes Me Wonder (10) Animals (11) Daylight (12) Sugar


Total Running Time: 43:44


About the Album:

The first Maroon 5 compilation gathers up the band’s most familiar hits, although it could have included more, such as “Harder to Breathe” and “Love Somebody” given its short run time. Also, the collection featured nothing new.

Resources and Related Links:


First posted 12/7/2023.

Wednesday, September 23, 2015

Sept. 22-23, 1965: Junior Wells recorded his Hoodoo Man Blues album

First posted November 13, 2008. Last updated September 10, 2018.

Hoodoo Man Blues

Junior Wells

Recorded: September 22-23, 1965

Released: November 1965


Sales (in millions):
US: --
UK: --
IFPI: --
World (estimated): --


Peak:
US: --
UK: --
Canada: --
Australia: --

Quotable: “One of the truly classic blues albums of the 1960s” – Bill Dahl, All Music Guide


Genre: blues


Album Tracks:

  1. Snatch It Back and Hold It
  2. Ships on the Ocean
  3. Good Morning Little Schoolgirl
  4. Hound Dog
  5. In the Wee Small Hours of the Morning
  6. Hey Lawdy Mama
  7. Hoodoo Man Blues
  8. Early in the Morning
  9. We’re Ready
  10. You Don’t Love Me Baby
  11. Chitlin Con Carne
  12. Yonders Wall

Singles/Hit Songs:

Click here for the chart codes for singles/hit songs.

Review:

Junior Wells debut album, Hoodoo Man Blues, is “one of the truly classic blues albums of the 1960s, and one of the first to fully document the smoky ambience of a night at a West side nightspot in the superior acoustics of a recording studio.” BD

Bob Koester, the founder of Delmark Records, “liked Wells’ music enough to give the musician considerable freedom on the album in spite of concerns of commercial response.” WK “Wells was given the liberty to select his own…track list, without the usual limitation of songs two or three minutes long.” WK The result was Delmark’s best-selling album. WK

Wells was also allowed to select his own sidemen. WK The blues singer and harmonica player tapped “his usual cohorts,” BD including Jack Myers on bass and Billy Warren on drums. BD Guitarist Buddy Guy also appears, although he was originally billed only as “Friendly Chap” due to Koester’s incorrect assumption that Guy was contractually tied to Chess Records. WK

In 1993, Wells told the Chicago Tribune that the title cut nearly didn’t make the album. He’d recorded it as a single, but when presented to radio “for possible rotation they had rejected it violently, throwing it on the floor and stomping on it.” WK

The album established the blues singer and harmonica player’s career and is acclaimed “as being among the best albums Wells ever produced and even among the greatest blues albums ever made.” WK


Review Source(s):

Awards:


Related DMDB Link(s):


Tuesday, September 22, 2015

"Happy Birthday to You," the highest-earning song in history, entered the public domain

Happy Birthday to You

Patty S. Hill (words) & Mildred J. Hill (music)

Writer(s): Patty Hill & Mildred J. Hill (see lyrics here)


Composed: 1893


First Charted: --


Peak: -- (Click for codes to charts.)


Sales (in millions): 70.0 (royalties)


Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, 974.70 video, -- streaming

Awards:

Click on award for more details.

About the Song:

In 1893, a 25-year-old teacher named Patty Smith Hill wrote the lyrics for a song she called “Good Morning to All.” She spent most of her life teaching kindergarten at the Louisville Experimental School and is regarded as a leading pioneer in early childhood education. ST Mildred Jane Hill was a pianist, composer, and authority on Negro spirituals. She provided the melody for her sister’s tune. The intent was for the song to be sung as a greeting each morning for Patty’s students. CF It was designed as a simple song for kindergartners to learn. The teacher sang “good morning to all” and the students sang back “good morning to you.” EE It was published in Song Stories for the Kindergarten in 1893. GM

Nearly 20 years later HD Patty supposedly suggested changing the words to “Happy Birthday to You” after the sisters attended a birthday party. ST However, the earliest printed versions didn’t include songwriting credits or a copyright notice. It was first published in a 1912 songbook by a piano manufacturer. EE It started gaining popularity in the 1920s and ‘30s and was featured in the 1931 Broadway musical The Band Wagon. EE It really took off when Western Union started using the song in 1933 as the first singing telegram. ST

Jessica, another Hill sister, fought for her sisters to be compensated for the copyright on the song. The Clayton F. Summy Co. published six versions of the song in 1935, crediting her sisters as the songwriters. EE After that, a licensing fee had to be paid for any time the song was sung in public on on a recording. EE It has been estimated that the song then secured $2 million in annual royalties HD with fees as much as $5000 for a single use of the song. HD That’s why staff at chain restaurants sing unfamiliar birthday tunes and TV shows and movies often turn to public domain songs like “For He’s a Jolly Good Fellow.”

In 1988, Warner/Chappell Music purchased the rights to the song and earned an estimated $2 million in annual revenue. EE The Guinness Book of World Records lists it as as the most popular song in the English language. Why? The song has made an estimated $70 million in royalties, more than any other song in history. It has also been translated into at least 18 languages.

However, Warner/Chappell was sued in 2013 for copyright abuse. The case determined that the original copyright was only for a specific piano arrangement of the song and not the melody and lyrics. GM Also, while it seemed clear the Hill Sisters wrote “Good Morning to All” there wasn’t enough evidence that they actually penned the lyrics for “Happy Birthday to You.” EE In fact, they may have plagiarized other greeting songs from the 19th century such as “Good Night to You All.” GM On September 22, 2015, a U.S. Federal court determined that their copyright claim was invalid, effectively making the song public domain. Warner/Chappell had to pay $15 million to various people who’d paid rights for the song since 1949. EE

Unknown to many is that the song is more than just the familiar version universally sung at birthday parties. It actually has two more verses, which can be found here.


Resources:


First posted 9/4/2023.

Friday, September 18, 2015

Lukas Graham releases “7 Years”

7 Years

Lukas Graham

Writer(s): Lukas Forchammer, Stefan Forrest, Morten Ristorp, Morten Pilegaard (see lyrics here)


Released: September 18, 2015


First Charted: February 6, 2016


Peak: 2 US, 14 BA, 13 DG, 13 AC, 13 A40, 17 AAA, 26 MR, 15 UK, 14 CN, 18 AU, 1 DF (Click for codes to charts.)


Sales (in millions): 7.0 US, 1.71 UK, 10.4 world (includes US + UK)


Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, 1201.4 video, 1612.03 streaming

Awards:

Click on award for more details.

About the Song:

Despite the implication, Lukas Graham is not an individual but the name of a Danish soul-pop band. They were quite successful in their native Denmark, releasing two #1 singles and two more top-five hits from their debut album. However, they pretty much weren’t making a dent anywhere else. It was looking like they would experience the same fate with their second album – they’d released two songs which hit #1 in Denmark, but didn’t make a dent on the international market.

However, their fate would change with the third single from their second album. “7 Years” was an introspective song inspired by lead singer Lukas Forchhammer’s experiences growing up in a Copenhagen commune, smoking weed for the first time when he was 12, and dealing with his father’s death in 2012. SF The “piano-led, mid-tempo track” follows the progression of a lifetime, from age 7 to 60. SF Forchammer described the song as being “about his life so far and what he hopes to achieve in the future.” WK

He told Radio.com that “the song’s basically just about becoming a good father and being such a good father that your children would want to come and visit you when you’re an old, boring man. I had a really, really cool father, so that’s what I wanna be too.” SF Forchammer believed people connected with the song because, as he told ABC Radio, “I’m being blatantly honest about the mistakes I’ve made in my life.” SF

The song topped the charts in Australia, Austria, Canada, Denmark, Ireland, Italy, New Zealand, Sweden, and the United Kingdom. WK It was the highest-charting song in the U.S. by a Danish act since 1961’s “Apache” by Jørgen Ingmann. WK It was the best-selling song in the UK in 2016. WK It was nominated for Grammys for Record of the Year, Song of the Year, and Best Pop Duo/Group Performance. WK


Resources:


Last updated 7/21/2023.

Thursday, September 17, 2015

Justin Bieber debuted at #1 with “What Do You Mean?”

What Do You Mean?

Justin Bieber

Writer(s): Justin Bieber, Jason "Poo Bear" Boyd, Mason Levy (see lyrics here)


Released: August 28, 2015


First Charted: August 30, 2015


Peak: 11 US, 13 DG, 14 AC, 8 A40, 14 UK, 17 CN, 14 AU (Click for codes to charts.)


Sales (in millions): 7.0 US, 1.85 UK, 10.81 world (includes US + UK)


Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, 2225.1 video, 1435.9 streaming

Awards:

Click on award for more details.

About the Song:

“What Do You Mean?” was the lead single from Justin Bieber’s fourth album, Purpose. The song debuted at #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 making for Bieber’s first U.S. #1. It was also his first time to ascend to the top in the UK and Australia. The song also hit #1 in Canada, Ireland, New Zealand, and Norway. WK While the song only spent one week on top in the U.S., it logged 21 weeks in the top ten, tying Nicki Minaj’s “Starships” and Maroon 5’s “Sugar” for most weeks in top ten from its debut. Bieber surpassed himself when “Love Yourself” spent 23 weeks in the top 10. WK

The track was produced by MdL, who had collaborated with Beiber on his 2012 single “Boyfriend.” WK The tropical house song included “instrumentation consisting in light flourishes of panpipes, looped vocal samples, piano chords, fervent synths, bass and ‘slick beat’ elements…while Bieber uses a smooth, soulful vocal.” WK In an interview with Ryan Seacrest, Bieber’s manager, Scooter Braun, described the song as “fun” and “summery.” WK

Lyrically, the song focuses on not being able to comprehend the opposite sex. Bieber told Seacrest, “Girls are often like, they’re just flip-floppy…they say something and then they mean something else, you know? So it’s like, I want to, like, ‘What do you mean?’” SF Jason “Poo Bear” Boyd, one of the song’s co-writers, had also worked with Whitney Houston, Usher, and Pink. SF

USA Today’s Carly Mallenbaum described the song as “a catchy dance track for the club.” WK A writer for The Daily Beast said the track was “a slow-burner that…swells into a Bieber banger.” WK Vanity Fair’s Josh Duboff said “Bieber sounds more relaxed and confident than perhaps ever before.” WK MTV News’ Gil Kaufman said it was “seductive, earnest, pleading, and just the right amount of sexy.” WK Idolator’s Mike Wass said Bieber “has never sounded better.” WK NME named it “the perfect pop confection.” WK


Resources:


Related Links:


Last updated 7/21/2023.