Razorlight and Muse have released albums with dreams of world domination written all over them.

The title of best band in Britain could be up for grabs with Coldplay taking a break, though Radiohead may still return to take the crown. Pretenders such as Keane, Snow Patrol, Embrace, the Feeling and Kooks will also want to assert claims.

The battle is given extra bite with the Muse CD nominated for the Mercury Prize. The Arctic Monkeys and Editors are also on the list. Muse's "Black Holes and Revelations'' (Warner Bros/Wea) has huge production and is musically ambitious, while Razorlight's self-titled second album (Vertigo) is just ambitious. The rivalry recalls Oasis and Blur at their peak vying for the best of Cool Britannia.Razorlight's careerism is clear with the titles of two of the best tracks. The closer is "Los Angeles Waltz'' -- with a Springsteen-like gut wrench about getting what you deserve -- and there's a power ballad, "America,'' crafted for Stateside stadium stardom.

It's easy to picture an ocean of fans holding up lighters as Johnny Borrell sings that he has spent "all my life watching America.'' This leads to the grandstanding lament that there's nothing on TV or radio to believe in. Borrell obviously excludes himself from that statement. He should remember that the star who pontificates about pompousness in others runs the risk of having similar words applied to himself: be they poseur, portentous or something less polite.

Billy, Not Bob

Borrell isn't the new Dylan, isn't the greatest songwriter of his generation and does sound like Billy Joel as he asks "Who needs love? Who needs a heaven up above?'' After his self- hyping, some listeners might take pleasure if he went wrong. Sadly for them, fortunately for this album, the Joel moment is a rare lapse.

Producer Chris Thomas subtly enhances the garage sound of Razorlight's stripped-down 2004 million-selling debut "Up All Night,'' making the nervy guitars sound so brassy on "Hold On'' that they become Motown pop. Guitarist Bjorn Agren adds New Wave detail, making the single "In the Morning'' worth downloading. The 10-track, 35-minute album is the British equivalent of the third Strokes CD, with echoes of U2, David Bowie and Sting.

Muse is a trio, though the group makes a lot more noise than the Razorlight's foursome. Muse's sound palette has broadened beyond "the poor man's Radiohead'' to add hints of New Order, Elvis Presley, Philip Glass and Richard Wagner.

Burning in Hell

This turns the band's fourth album into a potent chemistry set. It starts innocuously, with a plinky synthesizer on "Take a Bow.'' Matt Bellamy enters to say "You cast a spell on the country you run,'' while behind him a musical storm is brewing up. The song turns nasty. "You will risk all their lives and their souls? You will burn in hell for your sins.''

The dance beat builds, the guitars tip into distortion and it explodes. There is a multitrack scream: "You must pay for your crimes against the earth!'' And this is just track one.

The listener might wonder what Bellamy is singing about half the time -- he seems to think a universe-size hole is set to swallow us up and aliens may well invade. The prog-rock influences get too much as he proclaims "We're invincible!'' in best Queen fashion at one point and follows this with "Knights of Cydonia,'' where galloping horses melt into the closing chorus "No one's gonna take me alive!''

The best way to listen to this CD is to put on headphones, say "whatever'' and let the sound wash over you. Along the way, there are some gems such as the simple melody "Starlight,'' which ditches the theatrics for a piano strain and the touching thought "I just wanted to hold you in my arms.'' Perhaps Bellamy is thinking of the Ramones song, "Today Your Love, Tomorrow the World.''

Both CDs are 9.99 pounds in the U.K. The Muse CD is $15.98 in the U.S. and the Razorlight $25.49 on import.

EMI and Kohlberg Kravis Roberts (KKR) have joined forces in the $1.5 billion (£822 million) auction for BMG, Bertelsmann’s music publishing business, and are through to the second round, The Times has learnt.

It is understood that Vivendi’s Universal Music arm and Warner Music have also passed the first hurdle, as has the venture capitalist BC Partners, but the final field is likely to be considerably larger.

Other likely survivors are Sony and GTCR Golder Rauner, the Chicago buyout firm, assisted by the veteran record executive Charles Koppelman, who once sold his music publishing operations to EMI.Bertelsmann is selling the business to help it to meet the €4.5 billion (£3 billion) expense of buying out its minority shareholder, Groupe Bruxelles Lambert. The auction is being run by JPMorgan and Citigroup.

Music publishers own the copyright to songs, which earn the owner and the writer a fee when they are played or later covered. Publishing, which is highly profitable, is considered to be the most stable part of the music industry.

KKR is expected to provide most, if not all of the capital for the BMG bid, while EMI provides the management expertise, generating a modest stream of fees. The structure is intended to avoid competition concerns because EMI is already the world’s leading music publisher, with a share of about 20 per cent. BMG’s 13 per cent puts in in third place.

Warner Music, owner of Warner/Chappell, the No 2 publishing business, is prepared to bid on its own, confident that its private equity backers would take on more debt, but it is not expected to bid as fiercely as Universal, which, despite its strength in recorded music, is weak in publishing and keen to gain share.

Bertlesmann said that it had received 14 expressions of interest, including a management buyout, led by Nicholas Firth, chief executive, and backed by Bear Stearns. Viacom, the US media group, was also keen.

The private German company is ploughing on with the auction despite last week’s shock European court ruling overturning regulatory approval for its Sony-BMG recorded music joint venture. It has insisted that buyers take on any risk of dealing with European regulators and it hopes simply to take the highest price.

BMG last year generated revenues of €372.4 million and unspecified double-digit sales. Bankers value it at between $1.5 billion and $2 billion.

BMG, built through 250 acquisitions over the past two decades, owns copyrights to songs by Coldplay and Robbie Williams, both of whom are also signed to EMI’s recorded music division. It also claims to be the world leader in contemporary Christian and classical music.

Source: http://business.timesonline.co.uk

LONDON (AFX) - EMI Group has cut a deal with Vodafone Group, making 200,000 of the music label's songs available to the mobile giant's 3G subscribers.

The agreement will allow subscribers in Europe, the Middle East and Africa to download tracks from the likes of Robbie Williams and Coldplay onto their phones, in addition to EMI-licensed ringtones and realtones.

Source: Various

The 2006 Mercury Music Prize shortlist has been announced, and the twelve albums chosen by the esteemed judges, ain’t exactly a bunch of happy choons.

Announced by dear old Jools Holland in London yesterday, the finalists were whittled down from more than 250 entries and the lucky beggars going head-to head include Thom Yorke, the Editors, Richard Hawley, Muse, Arctic Monkeys and newcomers the Guillemots.

Despite most of them being a tad on the miserable side, the biggest ‘shock’ is the lack of women on the shortlist.The popular Lily Allen and Corinne Bailey Rae have been snubbed in favour of the lesser-known Lou Rhodes, Zoe Rahman and Isobel Campbell (and Mark Lanegan).

Those cheeky Arctic Monkeys are favourites to bag the prize on September 5 for their album, Whatever People Say I Am, That’s What I’m Not. But the talented Sway or likeable Hot Chip could also pull it out of the bag.

“It’s true some of the albums are gloomy. But there has been gloom in British pop from Morrissey onwards. And they are gloomy but uplifting,” judging panel chairman Simon Frith tells the Sun.

“It was an interesting year. There seemed to be much less dance music. And there were no big British albums which have done well abroad - like Oasis or Coldplay last year. There seemed to be a big rise in singer songwriters - lots of boys with guitars.”

Considering Antony and the Johnsons beat Coldplay and the Kaiser Chiefs last year, expect someone you’ve never heard of to walk away with the gong.

Source: http://megastar.co.uk

In NPR music critic Ken Tucker's head, big Britrock band Coldplay's mega-seller stature belongs a whole lot more to Denver-bred indie power-pop (and significantly less money-logged) band Dressy Bessy.

In reviewing both bands' most recent releases (Coldplay's X&Y and Dressy Bessy's Electrified) on air, Tucker marked the British band's piano-driven pop as uninspired, unexciting pap and the American counterpart's power-pop as the kind of energizing, trend-bucking material arenas full of people really ought to be listening to.

Whether that's all true or not, Dressy Bessy eclipsing Coldplay's sales is still probably a long shot.Electrified's power-pop is solid stuff, sure enough, all gritty, fuzzy power chords and upbeat rhythms. But the overriding aesthetic and singer Tammy Ealom's sultry sing-talk style is still left-of-center enough that being an indie niche favorite seems the most comfortable space.

Being a Technicolor power-pop standout in the indie-rock scene isn't exactly a bad place to inhabit, really, and it's a corner the band's stomped strongly into with its recent music, having grown into that from a pretty decent cutesy indie-pop act on its earlier discs.

Dressy Bessy heads into Nashville tonight, playing The Basement (1604 Eighth Ave. S., 254-1604) with psych-rock band The Living Blue. The show starts at 9, and the cover is $7.

Source:

http://www.rctimes.com

Wigan born singer-songwriter Richard Ashcroft is to perform at the M.E.N. Arena on November 30 as part of a nationwide tour.

The former Verve frontman has already performed two sell-out tours this year, including a gig in front of a 30,000 capacity audience at Old Trafford cricket ground.

His new album, Keys To The World, has recently gone platinum and includes the hit singles Break The Night With Colour, Music Is Power and Words Just Get In The Way. The Verve met at Wigan's Winstanley Sixth Form College in 1989.The band's third album, Urban Hymns, released in 1997, spawned a series of global hits, including Bittersweet Symphony and The Drugs Don't Work, and sold seven million copies.

He reinvented himself after the band split in 2000 and his solo career has flourished ever since.

Live 8

Last year, he sang a duet with Coldplay's frontman Chris Martin at the Live 8 concert in Hyde Park. But Ashcroft still maintains he is not driven by either fame or success. "I'm quite a shy, introverted person and I could easily melt away into the background," he said. "But I am driven to write tunes - creativity for me is almost like therapy, my songs take you into the underbelly of my mind and there's some dark stuff in there."

Richard Ashcroft will play the M.E.N. Arena on Thursday, November 30. Tickets cost £23.50 and £25. They will be available from Friday, July 21. Call the Box Office on 0870 060 1768 or click here.

Source: http://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk

The Top 100 Tours of 2006 grossed a combined $1.012 billion, which was a whopping 38.5 percent above the $730.9 million generated in the first half of last year. The increase is also up a healthy 14.5 percent over the same period in 2004.

It’s no secret that the modern concert industry has consistently been fueled by artists that have been around for decades. The biggest earners are the acts the Baby Boom generation grew up with. But rock stars who are now in their 50s and 60s physically won’t be able to keep feeding the industry for too much longer.

Country music has done a better job of building new headliners that appear to have some degree of staying power. Of the 12 acts that made the Top 100, nearly all are relative newcomers. Even the “old timers” in that group, with the exception of Willie Nelson, are not that old when compared to their rock brethren.Fall Out Boy is the one new rock artist that has successfully made the jump to headlining arenas. The band grossed $11 million to finish at No. 29 on the chart. More importantly, they sold nearly 400,000 tickets, which was more than all but 8 acts on the Top 100.

Live Nation’s new touring Cirque Du Soleil show “Delirium” also proved to be a winner at the box office. New Latino teen pop act RBD made a major impression on its first big U.S. tour, but most of the chart is filled with familiar names we see every year.

The list below ranks the top 50 artists by gross in millions of U.S. dollars, indicated in bold. The number following the artist’s name is the total number of tickets sold by the artist in the first six months of 2006.

2006 Mid-Year Top 50 Tours:

1 54.3 Madonna 291,621

2 52.5 The Rolling Stones 309,554

3 47.2 Billy Joel 613,002

4 46.5 Tim McGraw / Faith Hill 574,605

5 43.3 Cirque Du Soleil - Delirium 473,378

6 42.4 Celine Dion 312,441

7 32.7 Bon Jovi 424,459

8 31.2 Kenny Chesney 523,226

9 27.6 Coldplay 457,483

10 23.1 George Strait 387,713

11 22.0 Luis Miguel 542,808

12 21.8 Aerosmith 233,824

13 17.5 Rascal Flatts 396,134

14 17.2 Pearl Jam 330,197

15 16.2 RBD 257,756

16 16.1 Dave Matthews Band 381,720

17 15.5 Nickelback 403,344

18 15.3 Elton John 89,069

19 14.9 U2 191,625

20 14.4 Jimmy Buffett 202,190

21 14.0 Larry The Cable Guy 334,768

22 13.9 INXS 278,278

23 13.4 Queen + Paul Rodgers 166,712

24 12.8 Brad Paisley 312,983

25 12.5 Motley Crue 234,643

26 12.5 David Copperfield 269,388

27 11.6 Bruce Springsteen & The Seeger Sessions Band 152,998

28 11.0 Toby Keith 181,563

29 11.0 Fall Out Boy 399,735

30 10.5 Kid Rock 309,460

31 10.0 Depeche Mode 191,502

32 10.0 Black Eyed Peas 278,209

33 9.6 Martina McBride 218,893

34 9.5 Willie Nelson 205,939

35 9.0 Andrea Bocelli 66,257

36 8.3 R. Kelly 141,805

37 7.8 Juan Gabriel 110,937

38 7.7 Michael Flatley’s Lord Of The Dance 166,631

39 7.7 Nine Inch Nails 208,784

40 7.5 Michael Buble 120,443

41 7.3 Il Divo 112,342

42 7.2 Gretchen Wilson 242,505

43 7.0 Brooks & Dunn 156,994

44 6.9 Andre Rieu 134,652

45 6.6 Hilary Duff 159,151

46 6.5 Keith Urban 184,391

47 6.4 Korn 173,281

48 6.1 Bob Dylan 100,129

49 5.8 Ricky Martin 86,759

50 5.5 Bill Gaither & Friends Homecoming 199,301

Source: http://www.pollstar.com

FRANKFURT/LONDON, July 18 (Reuters) - German media conglomerate Bertelsmann said on Tuesday that a European court ruling that annulled approval of the Sony BMG merger would have no implications for the ongoing auction of its music publishing business.

The company said both strategic and financial bidders would participate in a second round of bidding. Fifteen prospective buyers have been sent information about BMG Music Publishing, which owns the copyrights to songs by Coldplay, Nelly and others.

A Bertelsmann spokesman declined to comment on a newspaper report that independent record labels, who successfully challenged the Sony BMG deal, plan to oppose the sale of the music publishing arm to one of the major music companies.

A reminder that he actor/director has announced the track listing for the soundtrack to his upcoming film, The Last Kiss. Will it be as highly regarded as the one for Garden State?

Actor/director/producer Zach Braff is at it again with the announcement of the track list for his upcoming flick, The Last Kiss. Braff announced the track list for the album on his official website and Coldplay ['Warning Sign'], Snow Patrol, Athlete, Aimee Mann, Imogen Heap, Fiona Apple, Amos Lee, and a crooning crew of others are on the roster.

Back in 2004, Braff won critical acclaim for compiling the soundtrack to his film, Garden State, which featured tracks by the Shins, Iron & Wine, Zero 7, Frou Frou, and Nick Drake, among others.Here's the track list for The Last Kiss:

1. "Chocolate" - Snow Patrol

2. "Star Mile" - Joshua Radin

3. "Pain Killer" - Turin Brakes

4. "Warning Sign" - Coldplay

5. "Ride" - Cary Brothers

6. "El Salvador" - Athlete

7. "Hide and Seek" - Imogen Heap

8. "Reason Why" - Rachael Yamagata

9. "Hold You In My Arms" - Ray LaMontagne

10. "Prophecy" - Remy Zero

11. "Paper Bag" - Fiona Apple

12. "Today's the Day" - Aimee Mann

13. "Arms of a Woman" - Amos Lee

14. "Cigarettes and Chocolate Milk (Reprise) " - Rufus Wainwright

15. "Paperweight" - Joshua Radin and Schuyler Fisk

Source: http://www.spin.com

Following in the footsteps of straight-laced, big-sound Brit-rock outfits like Travis, Keane and Coldplay, Scottish collective Snow Patrol are well and truly on their way to establishing their mark on the scene with this fourth album.

Which is to say, more of the same stadium-sized anthems and overwrought, emotive singalong vocals, and no such artistic adventurism on the order of, say, prime-era, incendiary Primal Scream, or the perennially, restlessly innovative Flaming Lips.

However conservative Snow Patrol’s sound might be to some ears, there is still a ready pool of fans who would attest to the band’s accessible sense of artistry and big-hearted melodies.

Read the full article here

Call it an occupational hazard, I suppose. When you write about music, you find you have a whole group of New Best Friends and an ever-growing collection of demo discs from bands who, for the most part, will never go any further in their music careers.

I still have what they called "tapes" in the 1980's from local "new wave" bands who went on to pursue brilliant careers in retail management, banking and law. It wasn't that they were terrible musicians-- they just didn't understand that jamming and recording are separate entities.

Every once in a very great while, when going through your one-offs, you stumble upon a disc that demands you pay attention. The freshman effort from the Dallas-based Wishlist, Life's Design of Mind, is such a disc. Produced by Casey Diiorio ( Bowling For Soup), this five-song EP is piano-driven pop balladry reminiscent of Keane, or Coldplay in their lighter moments.

Read the full review here

Professional Wireless Systems (PWS), a division of Masque Sound, introduces the Antenna Kit ($1,850).

The kit is comprised of two HA-8089 helical antennas, two LPDA (bat wing) antennas and two pairs of 25-foot and 50-foot low loss cables, and is designed to provide drop-out free performance for in-ear monitors, wireless microphones and intercom installations.

Packaged in a road-worthy black (or optional yellow) storm case outfitted with latches and custom foam inserts, the PWS Antenna Kit is ideal for use in live concerts, large and small performance venues, broadcast, sports, corporate and houses of worship use. Rugged storm cases are roomy enough for stowing extra Chesboro mounts and additional gear.“We recognized the potential for marketing antenna kits after providing leading touring artists and major sporting events with self-contained rental units,” says PWS GM Carl Cordes. “Fifteen units performed flawlessly for Stevie Wonder and Mick Jagger at Super Bowl XL earlier this year, and they are in use regularly by such major acts as Diamond Rio, Death Cab for Cutie, Coldplay and Nickelback.”

The PWS HA-8089 helical antenna delivers 14 dBi of forward gain and covers a bandwidth from 490 MHz to more than 900 MHz, with an overall estimated beamwidth of 57 degrees. PWS states that the antenna can provide up to twice the range of a log periodic paddle.

A lightweight, 8.5-foot Antenna Mast including special mounting brackets and an additional two-foot extension is available for $295. Individual HA-8089 helical antennas may be purchased for $499.

For more information, visit www.professionalwireless.com.

Source: http://mixonline.com

Don't tell anyone about this, said Alain Levy, boss of EMI’s recorded-music division, as he unlocked a black Hermès briefcase and took out an unmixed, copy-protected CD of Robbie Williams’s new album, Rudebox 1974, which will be released this autumn.

The 59-year-old Frenchman cranked up the volume and grinned like a proud father. “This track’s mixed by William Orbit, who did Ray of Light with Madonna,” he boasted. “Robbie sings in French at the end of this one, y’know.” Levy and Williams are not related, but they do have a lot in common. A few years ago each was confronting disaster.

Williams was battling drug addiction. Levy was struggling to save a firm that was so badly run it was nicknamed “Every Mistake Imaginable”. What a difference a few years make. Robbie Williams is “clean” and Rudebox 1974, which marks a Madonna-style conversion from rock to electronica, looks a sure-fire No 1. Levy, too, has his eye on the top spot, in the business charts. EMI’s bid to take over Warner Music is designed to create a company with the best new artists and the best back catalogue. “It’s a fantastic way to build a future . . . and become the best music company in the world,” he said.

The proposed Anglo- American outfit would boast Madonna, Coldplay, Robbie Williams, Kylie Minogue, Norah Jones, Green Day and the Pet Shop Boys. The back catalogue would include the collected works of the Beatles and the Eagles.

The only problem is that ever since Levy and EMI chairman Eric Nicoli unveiled the bid, it has created enough angst to inspire a Coldplay box-set. Last week’s unexpected ruling by the European Court of First Instance that annulled the decision by the European Commission, Europe’s competition regulator, to approve the creation of Sony BMG two years ago is just the latest in a long line of setbacks.

Almost immediately after EMI launched its bid, Warner responded by making a counter offer of its own for EMI, which rejected the bid and raised its offer. Warner rejected the revised bid and raised its offer.

As the transatlantic bidding war intensified, rumours began to spread that Warner boss Edgar Bronfman had offered EMI’s chairman, Eric Nicoli, a job in any combined company but had frozen out Levy. The two men had fallen out almost a decade ago when Bronfman led the acquisition of PolyGram, Levy’s former firm.

But however bad it gets — Levy conceded that the European ruling could make it impossible to convince the European Commission to approve a deal — he refuses to give up. In his Kensington office last week, only minutes after the European court ruling was published, he set about trying to smooth relations between EMI and Warner.

He dismissed as “utter nonsense” reports that Nicoli would stay on after any US takeover, while he would be forced to quit. “There has been no discussion like that,” he said. When he first heard the rumours he thought they were so funny that he e-mailed Nicoli to tell him he’d heard that he, Nicoli, had got a job as Bronfman’s chauffeur.

Levy pooh-poohed claims that he and Bronfman could not work together after the latter’s 1998 purchase of PolyGram. “To see it as a big fight of two egos, that’s total nonsense.”

He conceded that the personal chemistry between the pair had “not been right” after the PolyGram sale. They had “hours of discussions” after the deal was signed and Bronfman offered him a job, as the head of music in the new joint company. “But I felt that I would be miserable and he probably would be miserable and it would end in tears.”

Levy quit instead and joined EMI’s recorded-music division in 2001.

He insisted that his relationship with Bronfman was amicable. “He might have changed since. I might have changed since. I see Edgar socially at functions and we talk, absolutely. Have we ever said anything bad about each other? No.”

Far from quitting, Levy hinted that he would like to be head of music in any new Anglo-American outfit.

“Would I like to be here for the next five years continuing to build what I have built out of something that was in pretty bad shape? I have a total passion for my job.”

Although EMI made the first move in the transatlantic takeover battle, tabling a bid for Warner at $28.50 a share, later revised upward to $31, valuing the company at £2.5 billion, Levy said that if a Warner takeover of EMI created greater shareholder value than an EMI takeover of Warner, he would support it.

“I am paid to create shareholder value, but the price has to be right. What Warner can’t do is try to buy us on the cheap.”

EMI directors are said to have dismissed Warner’s offers of 310p and 315p a share, that value EMI at £2.6 billion, as laughable. “We certainly would not write that word but it might have been said,” Levy said with a smile.

Five years ago EMI looked like it might have to merge with the likes of Warner to stave off bankruptcy. In common with the music industry as a whole, it was struggling to cope with illegal digital downloads, CD piracy and falling CD and singles sales. It was overstaffed, and budgets were, by Levy’s own admission, bloated. Between January 2000 and September 2001 the company lost 65% of its market value.

After firing 1,800 staff and 400 artists, slashing £150m off the company’s annualised fixed costs and cracking down on illegal downloading while embracing new legal digital distribution systems — notably Itunes and Napster, ringtones for mobile phones and soundtracks for computer games — EMI’s revenues returned to growth last year for the first time since 2000.

Like the music industry in general, EMI is now, Levy said, out of the woods. “We have taken the lesson that you cannot ignore the consumer. There is a business model. People want more music. But they want the music in different ways. We have to find ways to monetise it.”

A Warner/EMI deal would speed the company’s recovery by cutting £200m of back- office costs from the new business and expanding the artist repertoire, particularly in the US where EMI has been weak until recently. But even if the deal with its new dance partner does fall through, Levy insists that EMI will still thrive.

“A deal would create value but, if it doesn’t happen, we’ll create value in a different way to become the best music company in the world. There’s nothing structurally wrong. We have a 14% market share, so we are sitting at the top table.”

And EMI can bring some of the world’s best talent to that table. Last month Levy took Kylie to Elton John’s White Tie and Tiara Ball to celebrate the Australian singer’s comeback after successfully battling breast cancer.

“She is back in the studio recording and is starting her tour where she left it. I told her I might go, but her manager said he might not be able to get me tickets.” Does he have a secret CD of Kylie’s he can play, like that of Robbie Williams? “It’s too early,” he said. “She’s gone through a hell of an experience but she is at the top of her form, I can tell you.”

Whatever happens in the transatlantic takeover saga that has already had more comebacks than The Who, you get the feeling that Levy will still be sitting in his Kensington office playing his Robbie and Kylie CDs and grinning like a doting dad.

Source: http://timesonline.co.uk

“I don’t understand the thing about this bloody commercialism,” says Michael Eavis, founder of the Glastonbury festival, as cows moo in the background.

“We’re charging £130 for something we could charge £400 for and it would still sell out.” He’s talking about the self-appointed guardians of the Glastonbury gate, for ever warding off real or imaginary snake-oil salesmen, and crying foul.

“The old hippie argument was that it wasn’t free any more. But water alone is half a million, electric’s half a million, the fence is a million, the police are a million. There’s £3m gone straightaway. You can’t tell me that we don’t have to do those things in order to cover the costs and to give about £1.25m away to all the charity stuff we do. It’s absurd talk. It really is ridiculous.”The release next month of Music from Glastonbury the Film, a CD of choice live cuts to complement Julien Temple’s recent documentary, looks likely to pour further fat on the flames. The fact that it’s being put out on the festival’s own label, and that a chunk of the profits will, as usual, go to charity, will presumably be ignored.

There was no Glastonbury this year, of course. If there had been, we’d all still be discussing it now. Memories — many of them hazy at best, and horribly vivid at worst — would be swapped and sifted. The hole that Glastonbury leaves in the summer music schedules with its one “fallow” year in every five is a talking point in itself.

The last year that the festival took off was 2001, when the local council refused to renew its licence after the gate-crashing debacle of th previous year. Then, as now, talk revolved around which festival would use Glastonbury’s absence to stake its own claim as the summer’s defining musical happening. The release of Temple’s film was seen as a bid to quash such talk. Was this Eavis’s attempt to mind the gap (year)? Eavis had, in fact, commissioned Temple back in 2002. He was worried that the steel fences he had been forced to erect that year would mean the free-spirited festival could not survive in any acceptable form. It did, as it turned out (though some view the arrival of cash machines, CCTV and Ben & Jerry’s Glastonberry ice cream as marking the death of the original ethos). And, try as they may, rival attractions just cannot compete.

In part, that is because there are so many stories surrounding Glastonbury that it has developed a psychological, symbolic and commercial resonance. The value attached to the live CD must, in that case, be high, mustn’t it? Well, yes and no. Yes, because, for those who watched, say, Coldplay at last year’s festival and heard Chris Martin change the words to the second verse of Politik (“Give me mud up to my knees/The best festival in history”), the CD will zap them back to that moment. No, because the festival experience is about so much more than the bands that appear, the songs they perform and how they play them. A collective yearning in the crowd — for better weather, for a warmer vibe, for something to banish the memory of the previous act — can play a greater part. The way a sudden shaft of sunlight through the clouds strikes the ride cymbal, just as the alcohol you’ve imbibed is kicking in and the person you’ve been clocking turns to you and smiles, can be as, if not more, crucial.

So, is the CD a must-have? Probably not in the way a ticket for 2007 is. But it’s a faithful and suitably eccentric document. “I’ve never slept in a tent,” Eavis muses at one point. “Oh dear, what an admission. I suppose I’ve got a house in the right place.”

Any hints about next year’s line-up? “One of the best bands in the whole world, who haven’t played for 35 years. I’m not saying another word.” And will Kylie close the Sunday night, as was the plan before she fell ill? Eavis is hopeful. Which he isn’t about Glasto’s annual no-shows, U2. “I don’t know what’s wrong with them. They get upset whenever I mention them, you see,” he says, mentioning them. Then, as if with those keepers of the festival’s flame in mind, he adds provocatively: “We’re too big for U2.” Bloody commercialism? Sounds like the simple truth to me.

Source: http://www.timesonline.co.uk

It's not released on DVD until Monday, but if you live in the Uk you can watch director Julien Temple's film tonight. According to ITV.com, Glastonbury will air on BBC2 at 22:30 GMT.

The 2-disc DVD contains plenty of extras including an interview with Coldplay.

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I think I'm going to hug an SUV driver. As David Cameron said of hoody-wearers this week, they need our love and understanding. Indeed these two urban tribes — the skulking teenager brimming with attitude and the tiny stressed mother encased in her monster vehicle — are manifestations of the same mindset. Both are, as Mr Cameron put it, “more defensive than offensive”, trying to stake out space, to keep the scary, maddening, overcrowded city at bay.

Such is my prejudice I never, ever let SUV drivers in at junctions. I scowl at their drivers at the lights. I’d never key their bodywork, but I might smirk if I saw a scratch. When I heard that Coldplay’s Chris Martin recently crashed his BMW X5 — a muscular, black-windowed SUV nicknamed “The Intimidator” — every fair-trade, forest-planting word he ever uttered was rendered void.

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The Glastonbury Festival has set up his own record label.

The Glastonbury Phonographic Society has been put together specifically to release classic live Glastonbury performances on CD and DVD.

The first album - 'Music From Glastonbury The Film' - is the live soundtrack to the recently released Julien Temple-directed 'Glastonbury' film. Over the coming months there are plans to release a number of live albums and DVDs of performances from the festival - the label is currently in talks with Doves, Manic Street Preachers, Orbital, Feeder, Ian Brown and The Killers.All future releases from The Glastonbury Phonographic Society will made a donation of 25% of all profits to three charities: WaterAid, Greenpeace and Oxfam.

The movie soundtrack, out August 4, features the likes of Coldplay, Orbital , Primal Scream, The Prodigy, Bjork, Pulp and Radiohead. The compilation comes with a 'Glastonbury Times' booklet and is packaged in eco-friendly card.

Source: http://nme.com

The modernist house where Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie posed as man and wife for a 60-page photo spread last year (05) is for sale.

The Kenaston Residence in Rancho Mirage, California, has been put on the market for $2.9 million (GBP1.6 million). The four-bedroom home wraps around an outdoor pool and boasts floor-to-ceiling glass walls and mountain views.

The estate is a favourite location with art directors and has been used in photo shoots for James Blunt, Madonna and Coldplay.

Source: http://contactmusic.com

Oxfam yesterday announced plans to channel the spirit of last year's Live 8 concerts into a month-long event which is in many ways its polar opposite.

In contrast to the enormous gigs of last summer, the charity unveiled Oxjam, the umbrella title for thousands of small-scale gigs and events across the country. Franz Ferdinand, Kaiser Chiefs, Goldfrapp, Magic Numbers and the Automatic have signed up. The charity is in talks with dozens of other acts to perform alongside local bands in community halls and back gardens as well as at established venues.

Oxfam, which has been supported by Coldplay and other big names in its Make Trade Fair campaign, hopes ordinary people will come forward to stage more than 2,500 events. Kaiser Chiefs lead singer Ricky Wilson said Oxjam participants could "keep up the momentum" of the Live 8 anti-poverty concerts. "Whether it's shaking a tambourine for hours, dancing till the break of dawn or forming a band on the spot - big or small, it doesn't matter," he said.

Source: http://society.guardian.co.uk

Shares in music giant EMI tumbled today after a European court ruling cast doubt over a possible trans-Atlantic merger with US rival Warner.

The European Court of First Instance annulled previous EU approval of a 2004 tie-up between Sony and BMG which created the second largest music company in the world behind Universal.

The ruling sparked fears in the City today that a combination of London-based EMI and Warner could also be blocked. The pair are currently locked in a takeover tug-of-war as both companies battle to take control of each other.They were closely watching the Sony BMG case to assess how consolidation in the industry would be received by regulators.

EMI said today the judgment will require “detailed study” as its shares plunged more than 8%.

A merger between EMI and Warner would create the third largest music company in the world and would bring together EMI's stable of artists including Coldplay and Robbie Williams with the likes of Madonna and Red Hot Chili Peppers from the Warner camp.

Source: Various

Brit rock has been on a sappy, melodic overload since Coldplay’s X&Y last year, culminating in the double whammy of Snow Patrol and Keane recently.

But the band that doesn’t know how to play without distortion pedals are back with what looks like an absolutely storming release.

Muse’s Black Holes & Revelations was officially released in its native Britain on July 3, and it’s headed straight to number one there and in Ireland and also number two in Holland and six in France. The US got its copies on Tuesday and the album is now in stores here.

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Late country legend Johnny Cash has topped the US album chart for the first time in 37 years.

A total of 88,000 copies of American V: A Hundred Highways were sold in its first week of release, according to music magazine Billboard. The album is Cash's first to reach the number one spot since the 1969 album Johnny Cash at San Quentin.

It features material Cash was working on in the months leading up to his death in September 2003.Cash also tops the country album chart, knocking the Dixie Chicks' Taking the Long Way to number two after seven weeks on top.

In 1957, Cash became the first artist to release a full album on the influential Sun record label, ahead of Elvis Presley.

Singing in a gruff, baritone voice, he went on to have hits in the 1960s with Ring of Fire and A Boy Named Sue.

Source: http://news.bbc.co.uk

Music group EMI is to reshuffle its digital music operations in the midst of its bid and counter-bid battle with rival Warner Music.

The company, which is home to artists including Coldplay and Robbie Williams (pictured), aims to decentralise decision making in the digital arm and shift more power to local managers. As part of the restructure, it has parted with executive vice-president for strategy and business development Adam Klein, who oversaw EMI’s digital strategy.

Digital music sales have been growing steadily with CD sales levelling out or even falling. And while latest figures suggest that only six per cent of EMI’s revenues were digital sales, the group’s digital strategy is regarded as crucial for its future growth.EMI is currently involved in a bid and counter-bid battle with rival Warner Group. EMI last month rejected a £2.5 billion bid from Warner Music, the company it had itself been pursuing.

Warner Music had turned the tables on EMI by making a 320 pence-per-share offer. Previously Warner Music was tipped to accept an offer from EMI despite rejecting a $4.2 billion (£2.3 billion) bid, but this bold counter-bid suggests otherwise.

A tie-up between the world's third and fourth largest music groups is seen as an inevitability by many in the music industry.

Source: http://www.mad.co.uk

Without even trying, White Light Riot have kicked my ass at one of my specialties.

"Hi, sorry we're late," Mike Schwandt says as he, bassist Dan Larsen, and guitarist Joe Christenson bound up to the table in front of the Nicollet Mall Caribou Coffee where I've been waiting like a fool for nearly three minutes.

"No problem," I say, sinking into my chair a bit. "I'm just pissed at myself. I'm never on time. I pride myself on it. It was an accident, I swear."

Read the full review here

With 6.1billion people on the planet, climate change is something that should be on everybody's mind. Melting ice caps, rising tides and expanding deserts are just some of the ways the environment is reacting to the tons of daily toxins released into the atmosphere.

But what you may not know is that most of the damage being heaped on our planet is caused by our own hands. Running a car, using central heating and even going on holiday all produce harmful gases and use large amounts of energy.

Everyone has a carbon footprint, which is calculated through how much waste we produce on a daily basis. On average, each person in the UK produces 5.1 kilos of carbon dioxide in a year - releasing millions of tons of damaging waste into the atmosphere. The best way to calculate your personal carbon footprint is to visit

carbonfootprint.com

It won't take long to tell you how friendly your lifestyle is to the planet.

But with a few basic changes, we could offset the impact of our carbon emissions and help reduce the rapid rate of climate change.

Below are some of the best ways to help cut out waste and give something back to the planet, before it's too late.

HOW TO REDUCE YOUR CARBON FOOTPRINT

1 CUT OUT PACKAGING. Buying loose fruit and veg, not wrapped in plastic helps to reduce your carbon levels as does reusing plastic shopping bags.

2 UK HOLIDAYS. Jetting off to sunny climes adds 1.3 tons to your yearly ratings. Stay at home and find out more about your home country.

3 WALK, DON'T DRIVE. Most of the 12,000 miles we drive annually are from runs of less than five miles. Ditching the car will not only help you get fit, it will also cut car emissions and the energy used to maintain the roads.

4 EAT SEASONALLY. One of the easiest ways to cut back carbon levels is to stop eating out of season food. Air and ship miles clocked up transporting things like kiwis, mangoes and bananas all add to your footprint.

5 USE PUBLIC TRANSPORT Opting for the train or the bus instead of using the car or even catching a flight can dramatically reduce your carbon limit by reducing the amount of fuel burned up and traffic volume.

6 IS IT REALLY NECESSARY? Going for a smaller car or becoming a one-car household is good news for the environment. Your car could also be converted into a vehicle that uses Liquefied Petroleum Gas - a cheaper and kinder fuel than petrol or diesel.

7 LOCAL IS BEST. Visiting local farmer's markets and delis not only reduces your transport and secondary carbon levels through food shipments but also supports local businesses too.

8 WASTE NOT. Five tons of everybody's carbon footprint is caused by consumer waste. Cola cans, plastic bottles and even cardboard all end up in the bin when they could be recycled.

HOW TO OFFSET YOUR CARBON FOOTPRINT

1 PLANT A TREE. This is the most common way to offset your carbon footprint. KT Tunstall and Coldplay plant trees to offset the environmental damage involved in producing their CDs.

Trees breathe in carbon dioxide and in return release oxygen and produce wood - essential for both humans and animals.

2 INVEST IN SUSTAINABLE TECHNOLOGY. Renewable energy like wind, wave, solar and geothermal power are all worth supporting either through donations or investment.

Recycling on a regular basis, being aware of waste-to-energy projects in your area and even investing in an LPG-running car will also help to offset your carbon rating.

You could also give green-rated technology, such as low energy light bulbs to projects in developing countries such as Africa and Asia.

3 CARBON DIOXIDE CREDITS. These are the result of energy reduction projects that have taken place over the years where some companies buy in large volumes from a Climate Exchange Programme and are then sold on again.

By buying credits and not using them, no one else can use them which, in turn, offsets your carbon footprint.

Source: http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk