Old Music Tuesday: 40 Years of Giving Peace A Chance

by Bob Boilen

This Saturday, July 4, 2009, the song "Give Peace A Chance" turns 40 years old.

John Lennon and Yoko Ono recorded this anthemic song with just four microphones and a four-track reel-to-reel tape recorder. It was released first in Europe, as a single, followed by a US release a few days later.

The phrase "give peace a chance" had come spontaneously to Lennon while answering a reporters question at a "bed-in," Lennon and Ono's way to protest war and promote peace by staying in bed all day. They held two, week-long bed-in sessions, one in Amsterdam and one in Montreal.

It was at a Montreal bed-in that the song was recorded. Those in attendance included Timothy Leary, Dick Gregory, Petula Clark, Derek Taylor, Murray the K and Allen Ginsberg. John Lennon played acoustic guitar and so did Tommy Smothers of the Smothers Brothers. Some of those names became part of the lyrics.

Though it may feel trite or be thought of as simply naive, there was always a joy in the early days of the song, to sing the song's refrain out on the streets with hundreds of thousands of other voices, with hopes of ending war and hate.

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3:15 PM ET | 06-30-2009 | permalink

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Old Music Tuesday: The Flaming Lips' 'The Soft Bulletin' Is Ten Years Old

by Michael Katzif

For many people around my age, the mid and late '90s seemed like a total black hole for good new music, especially on the radio. Nearly everything new was commercial and derivative, polluted by boy bands and rap rock. Sure there were unquestioned landmark albums and phenomenal bands during that era (Radiohead's OK Computer, Beck's Mutations, to name couple personal favorites), and with hindsight, I've discovered there was even more great music to like if you dug beneath the surface.

The Flaming Lips album The Soft Bulletin was one of those albums that became incredibly personal to me throughout my college years, and is still one of my all-time favorites that I frequently listen to.

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3:22 PM ET | 05-19-2009 | permalink

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Old Music Tuesday: Big Star

by Bob Boilen

Good news for power-pop fans: Big Star's first two albums are being remastered and reissued on June 16. I've not heard the remasters yet, so I'll save the praise/critique until then, but the good news is that it's a chance for another generation to hear simple pop in its purest, sweetest form.

I saw this and thought I'd share it while we wait for the reissues. It's footage of Big Star working on its first album, called #1 Record. You'll see founding member Chris Bell and Alex Chilton here.

Bell would eventually leave the band he started while Chilton carried on, and the song you hear while this old footage plays is one that Chilton recorded under the Big Star name, minus Chris Bell. Bell died shortly after this song was released in 1978; his funeral was on Alex Chilton's birthday.

3:56 PM ET | 05-12-2009 | permalink

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Old Music Tuesday: Lenny Kravitz's 'Let Love Rule'

by Robin Hilton

Yes, you are getting old. Lenny Kravitz's breakthrough hit, Let Love Rule, celebrates its 20th birthday this year.

The question is: Is this an homage to a bygone era, or a shameless rip-off?

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10:08 AM ET | 04-28-2009 | permalink

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Old Music Tuesday: Sinead O'Connor's I Do Not Want What I Haven't Got

by Robin Hilton

Capitol/EMI has been busy reissuing albums this year. There's all the Beatles recordings coming out in September, not to mention the "deluxe" reissues of Radiohead's first three CDs that just came out. Now, on top of reissued albums by Beastie Boys and Lenny Kravitz, EMI is dropping a new version of Sinead O'Connor's I Do Not Want What I Haven't Got.

O'Connor's 1990 album holds a couple of distinctions in my personal music library: First, it was the last vinyl LP I bought as my primary way of listening to an album. At the time, I was a poor college student, and a vinyl record was simply cheaper than a CD. Not long afterward, I got a new job and never bought a record again, except as a novelty.

The second distinction is that it was the first time in many years that I was able to truly love something from Top 40 radio. In fact, it was the beginning of a new period for me -- one in which I was able to turn on mainstream commercial radio and consistently find something I liked. We were coming out of the '80s (a period I really didn't care for) and into the '90s (a decade I absolutely loved), and I Do Not Want What I Haven't Got gave me hope for what might come next.

By the way, the job I got was at an NPR member station. I worked the morning news shift and had to be at work by 4:30 a.m. every day. One morning, while sorting through the day's top stories, I turned on the newsroom television and saw this video for the first time:

I'm not sure why that moment has stuck with me nearly 20 years later. But I've always remembered it as the moment I started to think we might finally be free from the ridiculously exaggerated aesthetic of the '80s.

We've been talking a lot about the value of reissues and remastered albums at All Songs Considered. I'm on the fence: I definitely think labels are trying to cash in on past classics, particularly as they struggle to find an answer to the devastating impact digital downloads have had on CD sales. At the same time, I love getting the extras -- outtakes, demos, videos of live performances -- that "deluxe" reissues offer, and remastered CDs are often much better than the original releases. I Do Not Want What I Haven't Got has some nice extras, including a second disc with some remixes and previously unreleased songs. And the remastered audio sounds much, much better than the original release. But what I'm happiest about is that it simply inspired me to remember an album that used to mean so much to me.

Tell us what you think in the comments below. And let me know what you think of Sinead O'Connor's album. Love it? Hate it? Does it hold any special meaning or memories for you?

1:29 PM ET | 04-21-2009 | permalink

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Old Music Tuesdays: Dylan's 'Great White Wonder'

by Bob Boilen

Streaming from our site today, a week before its release, is Bob Dylan's new The Tell Tale Signs: The Bootleg Series Vol. 8. It strikes me as nothing short of remarkable that previously unreleased recordings (and sometimes incomplete recordings released by a major label) are streaming live on the Web, but maybe that's because I remember the scandal of the first Dylan bootleg.

There was a time when you had to whisper to the guy behind the counter at a record store, "Do you carry bootlegs?" By definition, bootlegs were illegal, and Bob Dylan bootlegs were the first hot property.

In 1968, word got out that there was new music by Dylan, recorded with The Band in a basement in upstate New York. What came out in the spring of 1969, however, was Nashville Skyline -- a good record, but not the one we'd heard about. Then, in the summer of 1969, FM radio began playing pirated Dylan recordings.

The Great White Wonder was the first bootleg I'd ever heard from anyone. On the cheaply packaged double LP, you could hear Dylan singing with The Band on songs such as "I Shall Be Released," "Open the Door Richard," "Too Much of Nothing" and "Tears of Rage." There were also recordings on the LP rumored to be made in a Minneapolis hotel room in 1961. It was all so underground, and it was all so exciting. I still have my copy of The Great White Wonder. Want to hear a cut?

Columbia Records and the record industry as a whole were in a tizzy when the bootlegs surfaced. It was the first cracks we could see in an industry that was consolidating and controlling. Don't get me wrong; I bought all of Dylan's records on Columbia. They did a great job, but as a fan, I wanted more.

Here are two quotes from the day that are enlightening. First, from Columbia, regarding the two guys who were distributing The Great White Wonder:

"They are at one time defaming the artist and defrauding his admirers. For these reasons, Columbia Records, in cooperation with Bob Dylan's attorneys, intends to take all legal steps to stop the distribution and sale of this album."

Then there is this, from one of the two men who were distributing the records around Los Angeles:

"Bob Dylan is a heavy talent," he said, "and he's got all those songs nobody's ever heard. We thought we'd take it upon ourselves to make this music available.

"Do you know what will happen if you get away with it?" he added. "Why, if John Mayall or anybody opens at the Whisky tonight, there'll be a live recording of it on the stands by the middle of next week."

That last quote was prophetic. It wasn't long before someone stole tapes of The Beatles from the Let It Be sessions. Live recordings of bands began to fill the bins, not just in mom-and-pop record shops, but in chain stores. A cottage industry built around music-hungry fans grew. Columbia couldn't stop it; no one could.

These days, there are legal bootlegs, illegal bit torrents and podcasts filled with professionally recorded music. What fans want is access to the musicians they love. They've been saying it for so long and so loud. Sometimes, someone listens. Thanks to Bob Dylan and Columbia, for releasing Tell Tale Signs, and for making it available here first.

11:39 AM ET | 09-30-2008 | permalink

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