Old-school news, just in time
by Dictionary Scoop They say that bad artists imitate, but it takes a great artist to make something new out of the work of others. In the world of music, the thin line between inspiration and plagiarism is often full of controversy, even when the similarities were not intended. Whether it’s a …
Continue reading “Stealing Grooves? Plagiarism or Coincidence?”
by Kevin Burton How would music history be different, had an invitation sent in 1972 been received favorably? The acrimony surrounding the Beatles’ breakup was not as fevered as Beatlemania itself – nothing else in music has ever been – but it was white hot. But some two years after the split, John …
Continue reading “Lennon’s 1972 Peace Overture To McCartney”
by Kevin Burton There would come a time, in a year or so, when you could not escape disco. But at its inception 50 years ago, you couldn’t have seen it coming. “Disco snuck up on America like a covert operation,” wrote Alice Echols in her book “Hot Stuff, Disco and the Remaking …
by Kevin Burton When Paul McCartney was 14 he wrote a whimsical song called “When I’m Sixty-Four.” As of today he’s 82. Can you believe that? On that pivotal night, Feb. 9, 1964, when the Fab Four Beatles first appeared on the Ed Sullivan show, their collective age was 86. A …
by Kevin Burton I have read maybe two dozen books about the Beatles on talking book. But I didn’t know this. In books by and about other contemporary artists, the Beatles emerge, as a yardstick, a cultural happening, a turning point. But not so much as a syllable about this. Until very …
Continue reading “A Female Version Of The Beatles? Who Knew?”
by Kevin Burton Is it just that easy, like flipping a switch? Guess we’ll find out Thursday, when Columbia Records drops the first new Billy Joel single in 17 years, a song called “Turn The Lights Back On.” “In a press release from his label, Columbia Records, the song is said to …
by Kevin Burton Think of the individual Beatles’ colossal talents, with egos to match. Think of the group putting together an album. It’s John Lennon trying to get his songs on the record, Paul McCartney doing the same and George Harrison fighting to be heard at all. There is creativity, artistry, but …
by Kevin Burton I’m guessing the final Beatles song, to be released later this week, will be neither a bang, nor a whimper. Or maybe it will be a bang, and a whimper and everything in between. That would be fitting for a band that was and is “ way beyond compare” to …
by Kevin Burton You can take the boy from Carolina but you will never extract Carolina from James Taylor. That’s how it works. Our inner compass points toward home. When we can’t be there physically, our minds take us there. Sometimes it’s better that way. Just as Penny Lane is in the …
by Kevin Burton The musical catalog of lyricist Jerry Lieber and pianist Mike Stoller has been described as “some of the most authentic rhythm and blues that white Jewish guys ever wrote.” Eight years before Norman Mailer published “The White Negro,” these two transplanted easterners submerged themselves in the LA black culture and began …
Continue reading “Lieber & Stoller’s “Kansas City” A Classic”
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