This sensational film shot by Tony Palmer in 1972 appeared to be lost when Leonard Cohen’s manager Marty Machat died, but 38 years later the film has been retrieved and painstakingly put back together by Marty’s son Steven Machat.
The film was shot over 20 concerts on Cohen’s 1972 European tour and represent a near mythical piece of music history featuring one of musics genuine geniuses.
The film will be premiered in the UK at the sold out Green Man Festival in Wales, where a 2,000 capacity cinema will be converted from the Far Out Tent.
Having gained recognition for his songwriting skills in the late sixties, most notably writing the song I’m A Believer that launched the career of The Monkees, Neil Diamond had to wait until 1970 and the release of Cracklin’ Rosie for his own US number one single.
The song taken from the album Tap Root Manuscript also presented Diamond with his personal breakthrough in the UK, where the single peaked at number three in the charts and set the rumours going about what the song was actually about.
The line ‘Cracklin’ Rosie you’re store bought woman’ had many believing that somehow this song was referring to a particular lady of the night or prostitute, but Diamond later enlightened fans with the truth behind the song.
It turned out to be a song about a Rosé wine, but of course no ordinary Rosé, Cracklin’ Rosie was a homemade alcoholic brew made and drunk by a native Canadian tribe.
As usual there are various stories about how Diamond came to write about the homemade brew, some say that the singer actually visited the tribe and the song is about his personal experience, but the story told in the book Neil Diamond: The Solitary Star says that Diamond heard the story from a reporter before writing the song.
Either way the story is that there is a native tribe in Canada whose men outnumber their women. Those single men that were unlucky enough not to have a date at the weekend would gather around the fire drinking Cracklin’ Rosé, which Diamond changed to Cracklin’ Rosie.
Enough of that! Here is Neil Diamond performing Cracklin’ Rosie live in 1970.
The UK music festival season is now well underway, T in the Park last weekend preceded by the big daddy of them all Glastonbury.
There appears to be more festivals than ever in 2010, something to suit all tastes for sure, but one of my personal favourites is the V Festival that takes place on August 21st and 22nd at Hylands Park in Chelmsford and Weston Park in Weston Under Lizard (what a great name!) in Staffordshire.
The organisors ofV Festival have recently announced that Cheryl Cole will not be performing this year as planned due to her illness and have wished her a speedy recovery as I am sure we all do.
There are however plenty of decent quality pop acts on show with Goldfrapp, Sugarbabes, Gabriella Cilmi and the like who should at least keep Cheryl’s fans interested.
For the more serious muso’s, headlining the Virgin stage are old favourites Kings Of Leon and Kasabian. They are well supported by the likes of Stereophonics, Paul Weller, The Editors, Faithless, The Kooks, Paolo Nutini and many more.
The 4 Music stage boasts an equally impressive line up featuring The Prodigy, David Guetta, Doves, Jamie T, Florence & The Machine, Scouting for Girls and way down the bill Plan B and The Magic Numbers.
One of the stand out moments for me at last year’s V Festival was this rendition of the Oasis song Wonderwall by Snow Patrol who covered the track following the break up of the Gallagher brothers band. It is preceded by the excellent Chasing Cars.
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It is almost forty years since the release of the single Maggie May, the song that would change Rod Stewart’s life forever and catapult the gravelly voiced blues singer into the contemporary music arena.
A true pop classic in every sense of the word the double A sided single Maggie May/Reason To Believe became the fist single ever to top both the UK and US charts simultaneously.
Although the single has been played to death on the radio in the many years since, it still retains a freshness particularly in the context of the album Every Picture Tells A Story from whence it came.
As well as his solo career Stewart was also frontman of one of the greatest rock bands of all time, the original good time band The Faces and during the early seventies both the band and singer enjoyed the time of their lives.
But it was Stewart’s solo career that really took off racking up hit after hit in the seventies and with the premature demise of The Faces, the singer veered from his early blues/rock leanings toward mainstream pop music.
Risking losing his hardcore fans, Stewart instead built an army of new admirers with his more polished vocals and catchy singalong melodies.
By the time he released Do Ya Think I’m Sexy in 1978, Stewart was appealing to a new fan base entirely, leaving critics and die hard fans gob smacked but selling more records than ever, appealing to worldwide audience.
To his credit Rod Stewart has maintained his position as one of the most original voices ever and even on his most recent American Songbook offerings, he has won over a new audience of listeners.
With such a rich and diverse history Rod Stewart’s live shows are not to be missed, a true entertainer who can call on an unprecedented back catalogue of hit songs, he remains at his best when up on stage performing to a live audience.
Rod Stewart kicks off his UK tour with the first of two nights at Edinburgh Castle Esplanade on July 14th and ends up in Belfast on July 30th, so be sure to book your tickets now.
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Unlike The Ramones, Kings Of Leon are real brothers. Well, three and one cousin. All share the same surname, Followill; and are known by their middle names: Caleb, Nathan, Jared & Matthew.
In the past seven years Kings Of Leon have produced four critically acclaimed albums and toured profusely to get to where they are today – one of the biggest rock groups on both sides of the Atlantic.
In 2003 they released their debut album, Youth and Young Manhood. I loved the album for its raw edgy, original rough country rock sound and Caleb’s manic vocal delivery. The following year cut their hair and released Aha Shake Heartbreak. Both albums helped Kings Of Leon to crack the UK market before doing so in the United States. Great live reviews helped to cement their popularity and with the release of their third studio album, Because of the Times in 2007, Kings Of Leon had moved from cult indie rockers to mainstream rock band.
But it was the fourth album, Only by the Night, released in 2008, and especially the hits singles Sex on Fire and Use Somebody that Kings Of Leon took centre stage. Commercial success was followed by headline gigs at prestigious festivals such as Glastonbury, VFestival and T in the Park.
This year they return once more for the UK summer festivals including V Festival on 21st and 22nd August. But by way of underpinning the size of their own success they will be playing Hyde Park, London on Wednesday 30 June.
Here’s a clip of Kings Of Leon playing Sex on Fire at V Festival in 2008.
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