Bob Dylan wants you to embrace Mono

Ray Davies to release collaborations album, 'See My Friends'

Ray Davies, one of the UK's finest songwriters, releases 'See My Friends', an album of classic Kinks songs turned into unique collaborations on Universal on November 1st.

On this one of a kind album, Ray collaborates with a formidable selection of artists on tracks from his incredible songwriting career, revisiting his back catalogue and crafting new versions of his classic songs. Everyone from Bruce Springsteen to Metallica features on this diverse collection of material.

Highlights include 'Days'/'This Time Tomorrow' with Mumford amp; Sons, 'Better Things' with Bruce Springsteen, 'You Really Got Me' with Metallica and 'Tired of Waiting For You' with Snow Patrol's Gary Lightbody.

"This project came about almost by accident," says Davies of the project, which was kick-started when he recorded a version of 'Till The End Of The Day' in the summer of 2009, with the late, great Big Star singer Alex Chilton.

"With some tracks I had to appreciate the style of the other artists, otherwise it would have sounded unbalanced. And I wanted the album to work as an entire listening experience but each track had a life of its own," explains Ray.

Ray was happy to go where the music took him, in every sense: Oslo via Denmark, Germany and Belgium to record with Metallica, New York to record with Jon Bon Jovi, New Jersey for Bruce Springsteen, Chicago for Billy Corgan from Smashing Pumpkins and his own north London base, the legendary KONK studios, for much of the rest. "This record is well-travelled already," explains Ray.

Paloma Faith, Jackson Browne, Black Francis of the Pixies, Lucinda Williams, Amy Macdonald and Spoon also feature on the record, which follows Ray's acclaimed tour of North America and the UK plus a stand out set on Glastonbury's Pyramid stage this summer.

The tracklisting for 'See My Friends' is:

1. Better Things - Ray Davies & Bruce Springsteen
2. Celluloid Heroes - Ray Davies, Jon Bon Jovi & Richie Sambora
3. Days/This Time Tomorrow - Ray Davies & Mumford amp; Sons
4. Long Way From Home - Ray Davies, Lucinda Williams & The 88
5. You Really Got Me - Ray Davies & Metallica
6. Lola - Ray Davies & Paloma Faith
7. Waterloo Sunset - Ray Davies & Jackson Browne
8. 'Til The End of The Day - Ray Davies, Alex Chilton & The 88
9. Dead End Street - Ray Davies & Amy Macdonald
10. See My Friends Ray Davies & Spoon
11. This Is Where I Belong - Ray Davies & Black Francis
12. David Watts - Ray Davies & The 88
13. Tired Of Waiting - Ray Davies & Gary Lightbody
14. All Day And All Of The Night/Destroyer - Ray Davies & Billy Corgan

Blues Icon Buddy Guy Set to Release New Album 'Living Proof' on October 26th

Five time Grammy winner and Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee, Buddy Guy, will release his new album, Living Proof on October 26th. His 11th Silvertone/Jive studio release marks an historic first as it brings together the incomparable B.B. King and Guy on the introspective and moving lead single, "Stay Around A Little Longer." The landmark single represents the first time that these two blues titans have ever joined together on a studio release.

Asked what he considers himself Living Proof of, Buddy Guy answers modestly. "Do you know how many guys I started out with who just threw up both hands and quit?" he says. "My first wife said to me, 'It's me or the guitar,' and I picked up my guitar and left. We still laugh about that. But I'm still picking away at it, I don't know nothing else." In addition to the collaboration with B.B. King, Guy recruits fellow guitar legend Carlos Santana, who joins him on the slinky tune "Where the Blues Begins."

At 74-"years young," he's been a major influence on rock titans like Jimi Hendrix, Eric Clapton, and Stevie Ray Vaughan, a pioneer of Chicago's fabled West Side sound and a living link to that city's halcyon days of electric blues. In a career than spans nearly 50 years he has received 23 W.C. Handy Blues Awards (the most any artist has received), the first annual Great Performer of Illinois Award, the Billboard magazine Century Award for distinguished artistic achievement, and the Presidential National Medal of Arts. Rolling Stone ranked him in the top 30 of its "100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time."

Recently, Buddy Guy wrapped shooting the "Stay Around A Little Longer" video with B.B. King in Las Vegas and just held "An Evening With Buddy Guy" at the Gammy Museum's theater in Los Angeles where he discussed his storied career and performed a selection of songs. Right now the indefatigable musician is on tour throughout North America.

www.buddyguy.com

Hip-O Select releases 'Tammi Terrell - The Complete Solo Collection'

Available now, limited edition of 5000.

Tammi Terrell, the lovely ingénue who became best known as Marvin Gaye’s duet partner, the female voice in the Motown classics “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough,” "Your Precious Love” and more, also had a budding solo career – one cut tragically cut short by her premature death at age 24.

In 2010, as we mark the 40^th anniversary of Tammi’s death and celebrate what would have been her 65^th birthday, the singular person behind those immortal duets is being rediscovered. Come On And See Me: The Complete Solo Collection brings together for the first time all of Tammi’s solo recordings, from her earliest releases for Scepter/Wand, when she was still in high school, to her brief time with James Brown, her stint with Checker/Chess and, finally, her blossoming at Motown. That’s a total of 50 tracks on 2 CDs: every single, B-side, album track and stray cut from posthumous releases – plus an amazing treasure trove of newly discovered tracks: 10 unreleased recordings direct from the Chess and Motown vaults, including Tammi’s only known live recordings. And 11 songs previously available in mono are presented in brand new stereo mixes; most of those are extended as well.

Two of the unreleased tracks aren’t strictly solo: we found a duet version of Tammi’s otherwise solo Chess single, “If I Would Marry You,” in which she is paired with triple-threat Jimmy Radcliffe, more than three years before she worked with Marvin Gaye; and “Kissing In The Shadows,” a never-before-heard Motown track in which she is supported vocally by producer Johnny Bristol.

Additional unreleased tracks include two Chess recordings co-written by Radcliffe – “I Can’t Hold It In Any More,” a bluesy cover of an Etta James B-side, and “I’ve Got Nothing To Say But Goodbye.” On the Motown side, there are two previously unheard Ashford & Simpson compositions and productions, “Beware Of A Stranger” and “It’s Been A Long Time Happenin’.” Then there is the live set.

Tammi Terrell was, in September 1966, a 21-year-old rising star at Motown with two minor hit singles; her duets with Marvin Gaye were not yet a notion. She was tapped to open for Smokey Robinson & the Miracles at one of the company’s “Motown Mondays” performances at Detroit’s swanky Roostertail nightclub, the same venue where the Four Tops’ and the Temptations’ live albums were recorded. In a stirring 13-minute set, Tammi showcased her versatility, performing spirited versions of her two solo singles and a smartly arranged medley in which she sang snippets of songs associated with her favorite singers: Dinah Washington, Aretha Franklin, Nancy Wilson and the Supremes. It’s the only live recording of Tammi anywhere.

This unprecedented collection also features a beautiful booklet with rare photos, detailed annotations and an essay by Princeton professor Daphne Brooks.

Come On And See Me: The Complete Solo Collection celebrates the life and music of Tammi Terrell. Here is another way to celebrate: Tammi is the subject of a new one-hour documentary airing this fall on TV One, part of the second season of the channel’s acclaimed signature series, Unsung.

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