Today marks the 50th anniversary of the first ever Peel Session, recorded for the ‘Top Gear’ show by the band ‘Tomorrow’ - The session was recorded on September 21st 1967 and first broadcast on October 1st.
Leonard Cohen, a Canadian singer-songwriter acclaimed for his poetic lyrics and poignant melodies, has died of undisclosed causes at the age of 82.
“It is with profound sorrow we report that legendary poet, songwriter and artist, Leonard Cohen has passed away,” an announcement on the musician’s Facebook page reads. “We have lost one of music’s most revered and prolific visionaries. A memorial will take place in Los Angeles at a later date. The family requests privacy during their time of grief.”
Cohen was one of the most distinctive voices in popular song, emerging in the 1960s and flourishing in the ‘70s, remaining active until the end of his life. His latest album, You Want It Darker, was released just last month.
Now it may surprise you that I would eulogize Janet Reno on this blog, but it being Election week and all, one thing I really need to commend her on is being a champion of the American songbook, diverse and changing as it is.
Reno won a Grammy for executive producing the expansive and wonderful Song of America collection released in 2007, spanning hundreds of years of American song: a Lakota dream song, Neil Young, Grandmaster Flash, Marvin Gaye, Woody Guthrie– they’re all represented, albeit covered by other artists.
It’s a wonderfully diverse collection of music and I highly recommend it. Here’s Paul Simon’s son taking on Yankee Doodle.
The Awful German Language is actually a satirical essay by Mark Twain, before Hendrick throws me off his site…
Alright, there’s no getting around it. The
topic that every Kraftwerk fan ultimately has to express Opinions! on, even
moreso than the usual sticking points like “Early Kraftwerk versus Late
Kraftwerk” or “Fritz and Henning versus Wolfgang and Karl (versus
‘Actually, I prefer NEU!’”). Are Kraftwerk better in English, or are they
better in the original German?
Woah! “What Amber explained was exactly what I’d feared: through the Apple Music subscription, which I had, Apple now deletes files from its users’ computers.”
After G.N.P., the quantity of books in one’s home was the most important predictor of reading performance. The greatest effect was seen in libraries of about 100 books, which resulted in approximately 1.5 extra years of grade-level reading performance. (Diminishing returns kick in at about 500 books, which is the equivalent of about 2.2 extra years of education.)
About books, but more about the digital experience of abstract things like music and story that were once accessible only through physical artifacts, and the social impact of losing the latter.
Music. History. Music history.
All music was once new. Much of what we now consider "old" was innovative, challenging, or even dangerous when it was composed, published, or released. Other music was created for fun or profit - pure entertainment. It all has its place in the history of human culture.
Here at Music History you will see and hear daily music posts, randomly selected from my eclectic collection, plus related artwork, and reblogs from any and all genres of music.
Like what you hear?
e-mail me at
musichistorytumblr [AT] gmail [DOT] com
