Tag Archives: 2017

Shinedown: Attention Attention

Leave a comment

On May 4, 2018, “Atlantic” label released “Attention Attention”, the sixth Shinedown studio album. It was recorded 2016 -2017, at “Ocean Industries Studios” in Charleston, South Carolina, and was produced by Eric Bass.

Personnel:

  • Brent Smith – lead vocals
  • Zach Myers – guitar, piano, backing vocals
  • Eric Bass – bass, acoustic guitar, backing vocals
  • Barry Kerch – drums
  • Eric Bass – engineer, mixing
  • Doug McKean – engineer
  • Eric Rickert – engineer
  • Ted Jensen – mastering
  • Mike Fasano – drum tech
  • HooGie J Donais – guitar tech

Track listing:

All tracks by Brent Smith and Eric Bass, except where noted.

  1. The Entrance
  2. Devil
  3. Black Soul
  4. Attention Attention – Brent Smith, Dave Bassett
  5. Kill Your Conscience – Brent Smith, Eric Bass, Dave Bassett
  6. Pyro – Brent Smith, Dave Bassett
  7. Monsters
  8. Darkside
  9. Creatures – Brent Smith, Eric Bass, Dave Bassett, Barry Kerch
  10. Evolve – Brent Smith, Zach Myers, Scott Stevens
  11. Get Up
  12. Special – Brent Smith, Zach Myers, Scott Stevens
  13. The Human Radio
  14. Brilliant

John Mellencamp: Sad Clowns & Hillbillies

Leave a comment

On April 28, 2017, “Republic Records” label released “Sad Clowns & Hillbillies”, the 23rd John Mellencamp studio album. It was recorded December 2015 – February 2016, at “Belmont Mall” in Belmont, Indiana, and was produced by John Mellencamp.

Personnel:

  • John Mellencamp – lead and backing vocals, guitar
  • Carlene Carter – duet and backing vocals
  • Andy York – acoustic and electric guitar
  • Mike Wanchic – acoustic and electric guitar
  • Izzy Stradlin – electric guitar
  • Troye Kinnett – keyboards, harmonica
  • John Gunnell – bass
  • Toby Myers – electric bass
  • Dane Clark – drums
  • Stan Lynch – drums
  • Kenny Aronoff – drums, percussion
  • Miriam Sturm – violin
  • Martina McBride – vocal
  • Carlene Carter – vocal
  • Lily & Madeleine – backing vocals
  • Christie Brinkley – backing vocals

Track listing:

All tracks by John Mellencamp, except where noted.

  1. Mobile Blue – Mickey Newbury
  2. Battle of Angels
  3. Grandview – John Mellencamp, Bobby Clark
  4. Indigo Sunset – John Mellencamp, Carlene Carter
  5. What Kind of Man Am I
  6. All Night talk Radio
  7. Sugar Hill Mountain
  8. You Are Blind
  9. Damascus Road – Carlene Carter
  10. Early Bird Café – Lane Tietgen
  11. Sad Clowns
  12. My Soul’s Got Wings – John Mellencamp, Woody Guthrie
  13. Easy Target

New Found Glory: Makes Me Sick

Leave a comment

On April 28, 2017, “Hopeless Records” label released “Makes Me Sick”, the ninth New Found Glory studio album. It was recorded in October 2016, and was produced by Aaron Sprinkle.

Personnel:

  • Jordan Pundik – lead vocals
  • Chad Gilbert – guitars, backing vocals
  • Ian Grushka – bass guitar
  • Cyrus Bolooki – drums, percussion
  • Aaron Sprinkle – engineer
  • Lee Unfried – drum engineer
  • Tom Lord-Alge – mixing
  • Troy Glessner – mastering
  • Brian Butler – artwork/layout
  • David Bean – photography
  • Aaron Mlasko – drum technician

Track listing:

All tracks by Jordan Pundik, Chad Gilbert, Ian Grushka and Cyrus Bolooki.

  1. Your Jokes Aren’t Funny
  2. Party on Apocalypse
  3. Call Me Anti-Social
  4. Happy Being Miserable
  5. The Sound of Two Voices
  6. Blurred Vision
  7. Say It Don’t Spray It
  8. Barbed Wire
  9. Short and Sweet
  10. The Cheapest Thrill

Ahmad Jamal

Leave a comment

On April 16, 2023, Ahmad Jamal died aged 92. He was musician (piano), composer, bandleader, and educator, one of the most successful small-group leaders and one of the most important artists in jazz history. For his work Jamal received many awards including:

  • 1959: Entertainment Award, Pittsburgh Junior Chamber of Commerce
  • 1980: Distinguished Service Award, City of Washington D.C., Anacostia Neighborhood Museum
  • 1986: Mellon Jazz Festival Salutes Ahmad Jamal, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
  • 1987: Honorary Membership, Philippines Jazz Foundation
  • 1994: American Jazz Masters award, National Endowment for the Arts
  • 2001: Arts & Culture Recognition Award, National Coalition of 100 Black Women
  • 2001: Kelly-Strayhorn Gallery of Stars, for Achievements as Pianist and Composer, East Liberty Quarter Chamber of Commerce
  • 2003: American Jazz Hall of Fame, New Jersey Jazz Society
  • 2003: Gold Medallion, Steinway & Sons 150 Years Celebration
  • 2007: Living Jazz Legend, Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts
  • 2007: Ordre des Arts et des Lettres, French government
  • 2011: Down Beat Hall of Fame, 76th Readers Poll
  • 2015: Honorary Doctorate of Music, The New England Conservatory
  • 2017: Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award, The Recording Academy
  • 2018: Leopolis Jazz Music Awards Leopolis Jazz Fest, Lviv

As leader, Jamal released 69 albums.

Scorpions: Blackout

Leave a comment

On March 29, 1982, “Harvest” label released “Blackout”, the eighth Scorpions studio album. It was recorded November 1981 – January 1982, at “Villa San Pecaire” in Saint Jacques, France, “Dierks Studios” in Stommeln, Germany, and was produced by Dieter Dierks. In 2017, “Rolling Stone” magazine ranked “Blackout” and number 73, on its list of “The 100 Greatest Metal Albums Of All Time”. The album was certified Platinum in US by the “RIAA”.

Personnel:

  • Klaus Meine – lead vocals
  • Rudolf Schenker – rhythm guitars, 6 & 12-string acoustic guitars, lead guitars, backing vocals
  • Matthias Jabs – lead guitars, rhythm guitars, 12-string acoustic guitars, backing vocals
  • Francis Buchholz – bass, backing vocals
  • Herman Rarebell – drums, backing vocals
  • Don Dokken – backing vocals
  • Dieter Dierks – engineer
  • Gerd Rautenbach – mixing
  • Bob Ludwig, Howie Weinberg – mastering 

Track listing:

All music by Rudolf Schenker, all lyrics as noted.

  1. Blackout – lyrics by Klaus Meine, Herman Rarebell, Sonja Kittelsen
  2. Can’t Live Without You – lyrics by Klaus Meine
  3. No One Like You – lyrics by Klaus Meine
  4. You Give Me All I Need – lyrics by Herman Rarebell
  5. Now – lyrics by Klaus Meine, Herman Rarebell
  6. Dynamite – lyrics by Klaus Meine, Herman Rarebell
  7. Arizona – lyrics by Herman Rarebell
  8. China White – lyrics by Klaus Meine
  9. When the Smoke Is Going Down – lyrics by Klaus Meine

Jack White: Boarding House Reach

Leave a comment

On March 23, 2018, “Third Man”, “Columbia” and “XL Records” labels released “Boarding House Reach”, the third Jack White studio album. It was recorded in 2017, at “Third Man Studio” in Nashville, “Sear Sound” in New York City and “Capitol Studios” in Los Angeles, and was produced by Jack White.

Personnel:

  • Jack White – vocals, acoustic and electric guitar, tambourine, bass, piano, organ, synthesizer, bass, acoustic and electronic drums

Track listing:

All tracks by Jack White, except where noted.

  1. Connected by Love
  2. Why Walk a Dog
  3. Corporation
  4. Abulia and Akrasia
  5. Hypermisophoniac
  6. Ice Station Zebra
  7. Over and Over and Over
  8. Everything You’ve Ever Learned
  9. Respect Commander
  10. Ezmerelda Steals the Show
  11. Get in the Mind Shaft
  12. What’s Done Is Done
  13. Humoresque – lyrics by Howard Johnson, music by Antonin Dvořák

Wayne Shorter

Leave a comment

On March 2, 2023, Wayne Shorter died aged 89. He was musician (saxophone) and composer. He was member of Art Blakey’s Jazz Messengers and  Miles Davis’s Second Great Quintet, and then co-founded the band Weather Report. Many of the Shorter’s compositions have become jazz standards and his work earned critical praise worldwide. In 1970, he won “Down Beat’s” annual poll-winner, winning the critics’ poll for 10 consecutive years and the readers’ poll for 18 consecutive years. Shorter recorded and performed with Donald Byrd, Billy Childs, Pino Daniele, Lou Donaldson, Benny Golson, Gil Evans, Toninho Horta, Norah Jones, J. J. Johnson, Don Henley, Wynton Kelly, Michael Landau, Lionel Loueke, Grachan Moncur III, Milton Nascimento, Michel Petrucciani, The Rolling Stones, Masahiko Satoh, John Scofield, Esperanza Spalding, Steely Dan, Bobby Timmons, Kazumi Watanabe, Buster Williams, Herbie Hacock, Tony Williams, Joe Zawinul, Freddie Hubbard, Joni Mitchell, Lee Morgan, Jaco Pastorius, Carlos Santana and McCoy Tyner. In 2008, “The New York Times” described Shorter as “probably jazz’s greatest living small-group composer and a contender for greatest living improviser”. In 2017, he was awarded the “Polar Music Prize”. As leader, Shorter released 28 albums.

Oleta Adams: Third Set

Leave a comment

On February 10, 2017, Oleta Adams self-released “Third Set”, her tenth album. It was recorded in 2016, at “Firehouse Studios”, in Chicago, Illinois, and was produced by Oleta Adams.

Personnel:

  • Oleta Adams – vocals, piano, keyboards, arrangements
  • James Harrah – guitar
  • John Pena – bass
  • John Cushon – drums, cajon
  • Matt O’Connor – percussion
  • Les D. Cooper – engineer, mixing
  • Josh Lewis – engineer assistant
  • Sadaharu Yagi – mixing assistant
  • Bernie Becker – mastering
  • Chevy Nash – art direction, photography
  • Erin Edwards – graphics
  • Robert Kopchak – photography
  • Steven Frazier – photography

Track listing:

  1. It’s Alright with Me – Cole Porter
  2. Only the Lonely – Jimmy Van Heusen, Sammy Cahn
  3. Don’t Interrupt the Sorrow – Joni Mitchell
  4. River – Joni Mitchell
  5. Do I Move You – Nina Simone
  6. Evolution (acoustic) – Brock Walsh, Ivan Lins
  7. Rhythm of Life (acoustic) – Nicky Holland, Roland Orzabal
  8. Blowin’ in the Wind – Bob Dylan
  9. Wilted Roses – Oleta Adams, Raina Bundy
  10. His Loving Eyes – Oleta Adams

Thunder: Rip It Up

Leave a comment

On February 10, 2017, “earMUSIC” label released “Rip It Up”, the eleventh Thunder studio album. It was recorded in 2016, at “Rockfield Studios” in Monmouth, Wales, and was produced by Luke Morley.

Personnel:

  • Danny Bowes – lead and backing vocals
  • Luke Morley – guitars, keyboards, backing vocals
  • Ben Matthews – guitars, keyboards
  • Chris Childs – bass guitar
  • Gary James – drums, percussion
  • Lynne Jackaman – tambourine, featured and backing vocals
  • Heather Findlay – backing vocals
  • Susie Webb – backing vocals
  • Josh Tyrell – studio assistance
  • Jon Constantine – studio assistance
  • Joe Coghlan-Allen – studio assistance

Track listing:

All tracks by Luke Morley.

  1. No One Gets Out Alive
  2. Rip It Up
  3. She Likes the Cocaine
  4. Right from the Start
  5. Shakedown
  6. Heartbreak Hurricane
  7. In Another Life
  8. The Chosen One
  9. The Enemy Inside
  10. Tumbling Down
  11. There’s Always a Loser

Nicolas Kummert: La Diversité

Leave a comment

On February 10, 2017, “Edition Records” label released “La Diversité”, the debut Nicolas Kummert album. It was recorded in 2016, at “Sunny Side Inc.”, and was produced by Nicolas Kummert.

Personnel:

  • Nicolas Kummert – tenor saxophone
  • Lionel Loueke – guitar
  • Nicolas Thys – double bass
  • Karl Jannuska – drums
  • Nicolas Lefèvre – engineer, mixing, mastering
  • Dave Stapleton – executive producer

Track listing:

  1. Rainbow People
  2. Le Vent Se Lève
  3. Harmattan
  4. Lighthouse
  5. Hallelujah
  6. Gnossienne
  7. Gnossienne à Deux
  8. Liberté
  9. Le Peuple De L’Arc-en-ciel
  10. La Terre Ne Ment Pas
  11. Diversity Over Purity
  12. We’ll Be Alright
  13. And What If We’re Not?
  14. Hallelujah Again – in memory of Leonard Cohen