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One of the UK’s most esteemed bands, The Charlatans, make their 10th studio album, You Cross My Path, available in its entirety as a FREE download from radio station Xfm’s website xfm and the Charlatans official site website from Monday 3rd of March 2008. The band have also just inked a worldwide distribution for the album to be released on CD and vinyl in 33 countries, through Cooking Vinyl, on May 19th.
 
The album is preceded by a free single download, through XFM and The Charlatans site, entitled Oh! Vanity, on February 25th. The first single from the album, also called You Cross My Path, was made available in October last year and received over 100,000 downloads. Prior to the release The Charlatans undertake a European tour in February to air the new material.

The Charlatans add: “due to the new way people are acquiring music, we decided last summer to give our music away free, something we feel very strongly about and felt couldn’t be ignored...”
 
“...After the free download of the last single, You Cross My Path, we realized that there was still a huge demand for a desired hard copy, something the band also wished-for. We signed with Cooking Vinyl, who we found to be very like-minded, earlier this month and the result of this will be a deluxe edition and strictly limited vinyl 45’s box set of the album which will be available in May.”
 
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Loose(d) Li(Zep)ps, sink sh(el)i(n)ps

I think that even the dead were aware that Led Zeppelin reformed recently for a very rare live performance that took place at London's O2 Arena in December. But the question that still remains the same is whether or not the legendary band will follow this so-called one off show with a tour later this year?

Well if you were to believe the Cult's Ian Astbury, who let it slip at the band's show at Cincinnati in November last year, you would be forgiven for thinking so. I mean it doesn't take an Einstein to work out that when announcing that they would be back opening for a band next year (meaning 2008) who "...you may have heard of. The name starts with an 'L' and has a 'Z' in it..." that this was maybe Led Zeppelin. Unless of course it wasn't known that Ian suffers from dyslexia and in fact what he was saying was they would be supporting The Spice Girls! (Now there's a thought, but really how horrible!)

Anyway I haven't brought you here to give you nightmares, I am in fact wanting to bring you news that the legendary and long sought-after Led Zep 'DVD' is back and that this live Led Zeppelin collection is nothing less than the rock music equivalent of the Holy Grail. Quite simply, this is what all the fuss was about.

So not only featuring performances from the Royal Albert Hall in January 1970, just one year after the release of their debut album, their triumphant five-night run at Earl's Court in May 1975 and their record-breaking shows at the Knebworth Festival in August 1979, just one year before the death of drummer John Bonham led to the band's dissolution. To cut to the chase this set has just about everything any fan could want (excepting of course Plant's sweaty jock strap from after the show).

But being serious for just a moment this collection has been painstakingly restored, remixed, and remastered in Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround - under the personal supervision of Jimmy Page and director Dick Carruthers and is brought to you as a 2 DVD set that show this "awesome live band…" up close and personal as you are allowed "...to delve deeper into the band’s history."

But more than that even as Robert Plant's crotch is held there for seconds in front of your face, well TV screen anyway. I have included playbacks here to get you in the mood (just a tip - to allow smooth playback and pause, use the 'play' symbol in the bottom left of the video image/s);

Had enough? I hope not as we now offer our readers the opportunity to own this slice of musical nirvana, so to enter our competition, click here.

Now here's a fun trick, if your internet connection will allow, why get these playback's running simultaneously and the cacophony it creates is something else (alright a bloody racket, but what's life about eh?).

"Worthless"

Oh dear, one description of the film 'Juno', an American comedy directed by Jason Reitman and written by Diablo Cody. However harsh a comment may be made, the film did in fact make over $52 million in its first month of release, $72 million so far and that was from a film with a budget of only $2.5 million, so who exactly is laughing now?

Although our opening tag may've been made by one pundit, the movie did in fact earn overwhelmingly positive reviews in the US media, making many critics' top ten lists for 2007. So with the film opening in the UK I am led to believe on the 8th of February, what's it all about?

Well I guess it may be worthwhile meeting the movies namesake first of all, in order to understand exactly "what's it all about?"

Juno McDuff (played by Ellen Page) is a confidently frank teenage girl who calls the shots with a nonchalant cool and effortless attitude as she journeys through an emotional nine-month adventure into adulthood. Quick witted and distinctly unique, Juno walks Dancing Elk High's halls to her own tune - preferably anything by the Stooges - but underneath her tough no nonsense exterior is just a teenage girl trying to figure it all out...

Ya-da ya-da ya-da, you get the picture, it's a teen flick, although as it would seem in this case, with less emphasis on the romp - and more the aftermath. I've not seen the film yet, although I don't think it's too hard to get a grip on the story from reading the notes available, the reviews, or catching the trailer, so I'm sure you will make your own minds up. But hey, it's not actually the film I'm here to talk about, not at all, although as you might expect from a film of this nature, directed at the audience it is evidently directed toward, this movie is going to sport one slamming soundtrack and guess what, it does.

The 19 track album includes numbers as diverse as Buddy Holly to The Kinks, Belle and Sebastian to Sonic Youth and Mott The Hoople to Velvet Underground, with a lead number from The Moldy Peaches in the form of 'Anyone Else But You'. But even with this evidently alternative listing, you get the idea of where the music compilers have taken their lead from. Enough of me, catch the trailer I've embedded here for you;

Alright it may look a little superficial, but I think the screen writer's own experiences has the ability to wet the appetite and bring definition to a film that is having the media gagging at the bit. So what's all the fuss about and who is Diablo Cody? She is the revelation that with her first script, seen here on celluloid, is currently engrossed in a world tour, promoting her flick that from life as what could well be described as a former "sex worker" is a revelation. Cody's central character in the film is both literate of real horror movies ("loves Dario Argento"), sassy, prefers Gibson guitar's to Fender and is pop-culturally aware beyond her years, hence the soundtrack's heavy weight listing. So the fact that the knocked up Juno should decide to take her pregnancy to full term, instead of following the option of termination, it is suggested, shouldn't be considered that this film is one with a "pro-life" leaning and that this only muddies the waters of what is apparently a far more complicated project.

Juno website - iTunes US store (requires iTunes to open) - Rhino Records retail link

So however this film is received over here when it opens on the 8th of February, it is certain that its writer is a far more involving proposition than the ad-agency secretary Brook Busey-Hunt, she left behind when deciding to pursue a career as an unlikely stripper, as detailed in her 2005 memoir 'Candy Girl: A Year in the Life of an Unlikely Stripper'. So from pole dacing, lap-dancing and "wet'n'wild nights", to the "Porky's for girls" teen flick 'Girly Stylee' and her recent work with director Steven Spielberg, with the television series 'United States Of Tara', this is one story it would seem for now is only going to blossom.

Now having seen the film, read our review.

Jean Michel Jarre's 'Oxygene' - marks its 30th Anniversary

This most famous of albums, complete with those recognisable electronic chimes, recently celebrated its 30th anniversary and saw a remastered dual CD and DVD edition released by EMI. I have gathered here an interview to mark the occasion, where the artist spoke to David Frost and talks about the album, his live work and part in music today.

First released in 1977, Jean Michel Jarre's album 'Oxygene' and later singles were to sell over 12 million copies worldwide (although some sources make this much higher). An artist who had originally found it hard to get the record released, due to the albums entirely instrumental composition and lack of a clear single, his music was in contrast with his contemporaries.
 
Jean Michel Jarre is one of the most important figures ever in electronic music. This debut album, upon its release 30 years ago, took the world by surprise not only by its avant-garde musical genre, but also with its audacious album cover art-work (planet earth peeling away to reveal a human skull). With Oxyene, Jarre’s unique musical style, universally renowned signature melody and panoramic sound brought a breath of fresh air that captured the masses’ imagination and remains today a benchmark in contemporary music history.

With the international success of Oxygene, Jean Michel Jarre also gained his reputation as an environment-conscious citizen of the planet and an active militant for its safe-guard, a legacy for future generations; UNESCO invited him over 15 years ago to lend his talent to their mission in this field, a role he has proudly exercised for the United Nations since and is none more relevant a role than it is today.
 
But this wasn't just an album of music and true to his spirit of creating an event out of all endeavors, Jarre decided to unearth his collection of vintage synthesisers and perform his original masterpiece for a new recording, with FOUR extra brand new tracks. These can be seen and heard 'Live In Your Living Room' as part of the set on the DVD, where as Jarre talks about, he recreates the original sound with 3 other musicians, as we are able to hear a "premiere" of the whole work, as the 4 musicians perform this in one take and as we are told "Live In Your Living Room". The three musicians Jean Michel was accompanied by for this live performance, were Francis Rimbert, Claude Samard and Dominique Perrier.

The set was also released in one which includes a 3D edition and is the first concert to be filmed in stereoscopy, which is the next giant step in audiovisual entertainment: Philips have developed a new plasma screen that delivers a 3D stereoscopy image visible without glasses - the film director James Cameron (Titanic) has patented a new stereoscopic movie camera and is to release his next movie in stereoscopic 3D .
 
So with the artist fast approaching his 60th birthday (August 24th for those of you keeping a diary) it is official that his next project is on the cards and most likely will feature some of those dinosaurs of the digital age, as seen on his recent performance of this very album.

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Dispatch meets Sideshow Bob (sort of)

I have heard this band talked of in the past tense as an "American indie/roots folk jam band formed at Middlebury College in Middlebury, Vermont". But in contradiction to this I have news of this Boston-based band releasing to DVD “Dispatch: Zimbabwe – Live at Madison Square Garden”, a concert film exploring the trio’s on-going efforts to raise money for the frightening situation in Zimbabwe and their work with the 'Dispatch Foundation', its efforts in Zimbabwe, to whom a portion of the proceeds from this will be given.

Dispatch’s Concert DVD "Zimbabwe – Live At Madison Square Garden", features the entire sold out performance at Madison Square Garden, behind the scenes interviews with the band and an exclusive documentary on the African Country. A video playback is featured here to get you in the mood for this very worthwhile project.

A band who experimented with a variety of genres, and as such, they are known as a very difficult band to categorise. But one thing is for certain is that they were instrumental in the creation of the non-profit organisation, The Elias Fund, a nonprofit organization providing hope and opportunity to Zimbabwean youth. This has been seen through community development and education while empowering the American youth culture to embrace their global role and make it an active one - sounds like a certain someone may've missed this message while in office.

Their music is seen to draw upon several influences, such as acoustic folk-rock, reggae, and funk. One thing is for sure from the playbacks I've seen of this concert, and that is a - fun time is to be had by all - whilst working in a positive way to enact their message. This includes 2 hours of live concert footage, while never forgetting the situation that has brought about its being, that of the frightening situation in Zimbabwe and what we can all do help, what's more you can catch a memorable head of hair into the bargain.

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