Music

An expanded version Zombies frontman Colin Blunstone‘s 1971 debut solo album, One Year, was released last month in honor.

The 50th anniversary reissue, which is available on CD, as a two-LP vinyl set, digitally and via streaming, features a newly mastered version of the original 10-track album, plus a 14-song collection of bonus recordings dubbed That Same Year.

Blunstone recorded One Year after The Zombies’ breakup, with his former band mates Rod Argent and Chris White co-producing the album and contributing three songs they co-wrote to the project.

“[I]t was a little bit like a Zombies reunion, really,” Colin tells ABC Audio, while noting that the members of Rod’s then-new band Argent were brought in to play on some of the initial tracks. As the sessions proceeded, a young classical British composer named Chris Gunning was tapped to create string arrangements for most of the songs.

While One Year had little success in the U.S., the album yielded a top-20 U.K. hit with Blunstone’s cover of the Denny Laine-penned “Say You Don’t Mind,” which Colin says was “a great song.”

The 14 bonus tracks have an interesting back story. Blunstone says White’s sons, while looking through their father’s archives recently, discovered some reel-to-reel tapes with demos Colin had written and recorded around the time of the One Year sessions but had completely forgotten about.

Studio versions of three of the demos appear on One Year, while Colin recorded another for his second solo album, 1972’s Ennismore, but most of tunes had never been released in any form.

“Hopefully, it will be illuminating to people to just see what I was doing in the way of songwriting at that time,” Blunstone says of the demos.

Here’s the One Year track list:

“She Loves The Way They Love Her”
“Misty Roses”
“Smokey Day”
“Caroline Goodbye”
“Though You Are Far Away”
“Mary Won’t You Warm My Bed”
“Her Song”
“I Can’t Live Without You”
“Let Me Come Closer to You”
“Say You Don’t Mind”

And here’s the That Same Year track list:

“Are You Ready”
“I’ve Always Had You”
“Sing Your Own Song”
“Caroline Goodbye”
“I’d Like to Get to Know You Better”
“Though You Are Far Away”
“Too Much Too Soon Last Night”
“I Wonder If You Know What You’ve Begun”
“I Won’t Let You Down”
“You Gave Me a Reason”
“I’m Coming Home”
“I Really Do Love You”
“Let Me Come Closer”
“You Really Were a Surprise”

Copyright © 2021, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

A never-before-heard full-length NFT “Always Love You” demo recording by 17-year-old Whitney Houston will be auctioned on December 13 with a starting bid of $117,000.

The winner of this “OneOf” item will have access to the recording in their OneOf Vault with a digital video utilizing archived photos of Houston created by 17-year-old artist Diana Sinclair.

“I’m excited to see Whitney’s legacy and her wonderful music expand into bold new technology of this era,” Whitney Houston Estate Executor Pat Houston says in a statement. “It was a joy partnering with 17-year-old Diana Sinclair and watching the artistry of Whitney’s music influence a new generation.”

Proceeds from the sales of the Houston NFT collection will go to the Whitney E. Houston Foundation, a non-profit which continues the work of the late six-time Grammy winner to empower, support, and inspire young people.

Interested bidders can apply on the OneOf website.

Copyright © 2021, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

A new edition of Cat Stevens‘ soundtrack to the 1971 cult classic Harold and Maude, in conjunction with the film’s 50th anniversary, will be released on February 11, 2022, on CD, digitally and as a 180-gram vinyl LP.

Harold and Maude tells the story of a suicide-obsessed teenager who learns to embrace life while falling in love with an eccentric, free-spirited 79-year-old woman. The darkly comedic film was directed by Hal Ashby, and starred Bud Cort as Harold and Ruth Gordon as Maude.

The movie’s soundtrack featured seven previously released songs by Stevens that first appeared on his then-recent studio albums Mona Bone Jakon and Tea for the Tillerman, and two new tunes Cat wrote specifically for the flick — “Don’t Be Shy” and “If You Want To Sing Out, Sing Out.”

A soundtrack album was not released in conjunction with the film because Stevens, who is now known as Yusuf Islam, says he was worried at the time that it would be perceived as a greatest hits collection, and he felt that it was too early in his career to issue one.

The original version of the Harold and Maude soundtrack album was released in limited quantities in 2007 on Cameron Crowe‘s independent label, Vinyl Films, but that soon went out of print.

The new version features the nine Stevens songs that appeared in the film, coupled for the first time with dialogue segments from the movie.

The audio for the soundtrack has been remastered at London’s famed Abbey Road Studios. The album will boast enhanced packaging that includes liner notes, song lyrics, movie dialogue transcriptions and photos from the film.

You can pre-order the Harold and Maude soundtrack now.

Here’s the album’s full track list:

Side 1
“Don’t Be Shy”
“Dialogue 1 (I Go to Funerals)”
“On the Road to Find Out”
“I Wish, I Wish”
“Tchaikovsky’s Concerto No.1 in B”
“Dialogue 2 (How Many Suicides)”
“Marching Band”/”Dialogue 3 (Harold Meets Maude)”
“Miles from Nowhere”
“Tea for the Tillerman”

Side 2
“I Think I See the Light”
“Dialogue 4 (Sunflower)”
“Where Do the Children Play?”
“If You Want to Sing Out, Sing Out” (Ruth Gordon and Bud Cort vocal)
“Strauss’ Blue Danube”
“Dialogue 5 (Somersaults)”
“If You Want to Sing Out, Sing Out”
“Dialogue 6 (Harold Loves Maude)”
“Trouble”
“If You Want to Sing Out, Sing Out” (ending)

Copyright © 2021, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Led Zeppelin bassist John Paul Jones, ex-Allman Brothers Band guitarist Derek Trucks and Trucks’ wife and Tedeschi Trucks Band mate Susan Tedeschi are among the latest musicians to join the lineup for Peace Through Music: A Global Event for the Environment, a virtual concert event scheduled to premiere December 15 at 9 p.m. ET at the Playing for Change YouTube channel.

The streaming event, produced by the Playing for Change organization and the United Nations Population Fund, will focus on raising funds and awareness for environmental issues.

More than 200 artists from over 35 countries will take part in the presentation, along with world leaders and influencers. Documentaries also will be shown displaying the beauty of the planet and looking at its vulnerability to pollution and other environmental hazards.

Previously announced performers include Slash, Yusuf/Cat Stevens, The Grateful Dead‘s Mickey Hart, No Doubt bassist Tony Kanal, Taj Mahal, Rosanne Cash, Jack Johnson, Jane’s Addiction drummer Stephen Perkins, Ben Harper, Sara Bareilles, The Lumineers and Keb’ Mo’. Additionally, The Band‘s Robbie Robertson will be making a “special appearance” during the stream.

Peace Through Music previously raised $1 million for social justice charities with its 2020 stream, which featured artists including Ringo Starr, Gary Clark Jr., and Carlos and Cindy Blackman Santana.

Copyright © 2021, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Sure, you’ve heard Rob Thomas‘ “Small Town Christmas” by now, but if you want to find out more about his latest album Something About Christmas Time, tune into Instagram Live tomorrow when he plans to spotlight another track on the album.

Rob will be joined by gospel music great Bebe Winans on Wednesday at 4 p.m. ET to discuss “That Spirit of Christmas,” the song they recorded together for Rob’s album.  The holiday tune, originally recorded by Ray Charles in 1985, is famously featured during the attic scene in the 1989 film National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation.

As for how Bebe ended up on Rob’s album in the first place, Rob told ABC Audio that the gospel star has been one of his best friends for more than 20 years — Bebe even sang at his 1999 wedding to his wife Marisol.

 

 

 

 

View this post on Instagram

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A post shared by Rob T (@robthomas)

Copyright © 2021, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.