Sunday, February 24, 2008

Savage Garden

Savage Garden was an Australian pop duo that enjoyed major international success between 1997 and 2000. The band was composed of Darren Hayes (vocals) and Daniel Jones (keyboards, sequencing, and guitar). They had a string of hits in the late nineties, and are best remembered today for their ballad "Truly Madly Deeply", which is considered their signature song and songs "To the Moon and Back", "I Knew I Loved You", "I Want You and "Affirmation".

Formation
In 1993, multi-instrumentalist and producer Daniel Jones placed an advertisement in Brisbane newspaper Time Off seeking a vocalist for his five-piece band Red Edge. Darren Hayes, who was studying at a university in Brisbane at the time, responded and was asked to join immediately after his first audition.
In June 1994, Darren and Daniel left Red Edge to pursue a career together. The new duo was named "Savage Garden" – a name taken from The Vampire Chronicles by Anne Rice ("The mind of each man is a savage garden...") of which Darren was a fan.
By the end of that year, the pair had penned enough songs for a demo tape, which they sent to various record companies around the world. In 1995, they entered the studio to work on their eponymous debut album.

Truly Madly Completely
The greatest hits package Truly Madly Completely: The Best of Savage Garden was released on November 7, 2005 – with a US release following in early 2006 – and included a new single by Darren Hayes entitled "So Beautiful". The collection contained the hits from both studio albums, alongside five B-Sides and two new songs by Darren Hayes. Several variations of the release also included a bonus DVD featuring several music video clips, as well as the Parallel Lives documentary, which was earlier released as a bonus feature of the Superstars and Cannonballs DVD/VHS

Tours
The Future of Earthly Delites
The Future of Earthly Delites tour was called the To the Moon and Back Tour in the US. Some footage from this tour can be seen in the international music video for "Break Me Shake Me", as well as the music video for "Tears of Pearls".

Affirmation World Tour
The international music video for the song "Affirmation", as well as the music videos for "Chained to You" and "The Best Thing", were filmed during the Affirmation World Tour. During the Australian leg of the tour, a camera crew also filmed both on-stage and backstage for what would later be the Superstars and Cannonballs DVD/VHS.

Recognitions
In 2005, Savage Garden was ranked #120 on the list of Top Pop Artists of the Last 25 years (1980-2005), placing immediately after Sarah McLachlan, and ahead of such artists as Oasis, Spice Girls, Coldplay, Blink-182, The Pretenders, and Ricky Martin.

(Some)Awards and achievements
Sold over 23 million albums around the world.
Sold more than 15 million singles around the world.
Spent five years in the UK album charts despite only two albums released.
Had ten Top 40 chart singles in the UK. Of these, nine charted Top 20 and four went Top 10.
Performed "Affirmation" as part of the 2000 Sydney Olympic Closing Ceremony.
On average, Savage Garden have sold 12.5 million copies per album. This is more than any other Australian act ever.
In the Guinness Book of World Records for winning an unprecedented number (10) of Australian Recording Industry Association Music Awards in one year (1997).
-History;
-Discography;
-Awards and achievements(all);
Thanks to wikipedia and YouTube for this information.








Monday, February 18, 2008

Joan Osborne

Joan Elizabeth Osborne (born July 8, 1962) is an American singer-songwriter, best known for her song "One of Us".
Biography
Originally from the Louisville suburb of Anchorage, Kentucky, Osborne moved to New York City in the late 1980s, where she formed her own record label, Womanly Hips, to release a few independent recordings before signing to Mercury Records. Her second (and first major label) album is Relish (1995), which became a hit on the strength of the single "One of Us." The song was much more pop-oriented than the rest of the album, which was steeped in country, blues and folk music. "Right Hand Man" and "St. Teresa" were minor hits following the success of "One of Us".
Her audience grew significantly with her appearance at Lilith Fair, which placed her in the same school of female singer-songwriters as Tori Amos and Sarah McLachlan. Her third studio album was Righteous Love, a long-delayed release, which fell off the charts quickly.
She was featured in the 2002 documentary film Standing in the Shadows of Motown and toured with legendary Motown sidemen the Funk Brothers. She and her band accompanied the Dixie Chicks for a national tour in the summer of 2003, during which time she also joined veteran San Francisco jam-rockers the Dead as a vocalist, and released her fourth album, titled How Sweet It Is, a collection of classic rock and soul covers.
During 2005 and 2006, Joan Osborne performed on numerous occasions with Phil Lesh and Friends. In February 2007, she appeared on the Grand Ole Opry.
In November 2006, she released Pretty Little Stranger, her self-described "Nashville album." It includes one song "After Jane" about a relationship with a woman (Osborne herself is bisexual).
In May 2007, she issued Breakfast in Bed, a return to the soul music that she had covered on How Sweet It Is. Breakfast in Bed also featured the two songs ("Heatwave" and "What Becomes of the Brokenhearted") that she had covered for the film Standing in the Shadows of Motown.
She sings lead vocals on the cover of "Spoonful" on Vivian Campbell's solo album Two Sides Of If. She also provided some vocals for "Wayfaring Stranger" on Spearhead's 1997 album Chocolate Supa Highway. She is featured on the Holmes Brothers 2007 collection State of Grace performing Those Memories of You, an old Allan O'Bryant and Bill Monroe bluegrass tune.
Personal life
In a 2003 interview, Joan talked about her bisexuality. "I definitely have had far more encounters with men, but I’ve had a few erotic encounters with women. I always kind of thought of myself as straight, but then there were exceptions to that of women who I thought were particularly sexy and attractive and they felt the same about me. So I thought ‘Why not?’ I will say that the women I’ve been attracted to have been on the more voluptuous side of the curve."

-Discography;
-External links;
Thanks to wikipedia for this information: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joan_osborne






Saturday, February 2, 2008

Pink Floyd

Pink Floyd are an English rock band that initially earned recognition for their psychedelic rock music, and, as they evolved, for their progressive rock music. They are known for philosophical lyrics, sonic experimentation, innovative cover art, and elaborate live shows. One of rock music's most successful acts, the group have sold an estimated 74.5 million albums in the United States alone.

Pink Floyd had moderate mainstream success and were one of the most popular bands in the London underground music scene in the late 1960s as a psychedelic band led by Syd Barrett; however, Barrett's erratic behaviour eventually forced his colleagues to replace him with guitarist and singer David Gilmour. After Barrett's departure, singer and bass player Roger Waters gradually became the dominant and driving force in the mid-1970s, until his eventual departure from the group in 1985. The band recorded several albums, achieving worldwide success with The Dark Side of the Moon (1973), Wish You Were Here (1975), Animals (1977), and The Wall (1979). In 1985, Waters declared Pink Floyd defunct, but the remaining members, led by Gilmour, were sued by Waters for rights to the name; they continued recording and touring as Pink Floyd and enjoyed commercial success with A Momentary Lapse of Reason (1987) and The Division Bell (1994), eventually reaching a settlement with Waters over the use of the name.
Waters performed with the band for the first time in 24 years on July 2, 2005 at the London Live 8 concert, playing to Pink Floyd's biggest audience ever.
Pink Floyd have influenced rock music artists of the 1970s such as David Bowie, Genesis and Yes; and various modern artists such as Dream Theater, Tool, Radiohead, Porcupine Tree, The Orb and Nine Inch Nails.

Syd Barrett–led era: 1964–1968
Pink Floyd evolved from an earlier rock band, formed in 1964, which was at various times called Sigma 6, the Meggadeaths, Tea Set and The Abdabs. When the band split up, some members — guitarists Rado "Bob" Klose and Roger Waters, drummer Nick Mason, and wind instrument player Rick Wright — formed a new band called "Tea Set". After a brief stint with a lead vocalist named Chris Dennis, guitarist and vocalist Syd Barrett joined the band, with Waters moving to bass.
When Tea Set found themselves on the same bill as another band with the same name, Barrett came up with the alternative name The Pink Floyd Sound, after two blues musicians, Pink Anderson and Floyd Council. For a time after this they oscillated between Tea Set and The Pink Floyd Sound, with the latter name eventually winning out. The Sound was dropped fairly quickly, but the definite article was still used regularly until 1968. The group's UK releases during the Syd Barrett era credited them as The Pink Floyd as did their first two U.S. singles. David Gilmour is known to have referred to the group as The Pink Floyd as late as 1984.
The heavily jazz-oriented Klose left after recording only a demo, leaving an otherwise stable lineup with Barrett on guitar and lead vocals, Waters on bass guitar and backing vocals, Mason on drums and percussion, and Wright switching to keyboards and backing vocals. Barrett soon started writing his own songs, influenced by American and British psychedelic rock with his own brand of whimsical humour. Pink Floyd became a favourite in the underground movement, playing at such prominent venues as the UFO club, the Marquee Club and the Roundhouse.

At the end of 1966 the band were invited to contribute music for Peter Whitehead's film Tonite Let's All Make Love in London; they were filmed recording two tracks ("Interstellar Overdrive" and "Nick's Boogie") in January 1967. Although hardly any of this music made it onto the film, the session was eventually released as London 1966/1967 in 2005.

As their popularity increased, the band members formed Blackhill Enterprises in October 1966, a six-way business partnership with their managers, Peter Jenner and Andrew King,issuing the singles "Arnold Layne" in March 1967 and "See Emily Play" in June 1967. "Arnold Layne" reached number 20 in the UK Singles Chart, and "See Emily Play" reached number 6, granting the band its first national TV appearance on Top of the Pops in July 1967. (They had earlier appeared, performing "Interstellar Overdrive" at the UFO Club, in a short documentary, "It's So Far Out It's Straight Down". This was broadcast in March 1967 but seen only in the UK's Granada TV region.)

Released in August 1967, the band's debut album, The Piper at the Gates of Dawn, is today considered to be a prime example of British psychedelic music, and was generally well-received by critics at the time. It is now viewed as one of the best debut albums by many critics. The album's tracks, predominantly written by Barrett, showcase poetic lyrics and an eclectic mixture of music, from the avant-garde free-form piece "Interstellar Overdrive" to whimsical songs such as "The Scarecrow", inspired by the Fenlands, a rural region north of Cambridge (Barrett, Gilmour and Waters's home town). Lyrics were entirely surreal and often referred to folklore, such as "The Gnome". The music reflected newer technologies in electronics through its prominent use of stereo panning, tape editing, echo effects and electric keyboards. The album was a hit in the UK where it peaked at #6, but did not do well in North America, reaching #131 in the U.S., and that only after it was reissued in the wake of the band's state side commercial breakthrough in the 1970s. During this period, the band toured with Jimi Hendrix, which helped to increase its popularity.

Barrett's decline
As the band became more popular, the stresses of life on the road and a significant intake of psychedelic drugs took their toll on Barrett, whose mental health had been deteriorating for several months. Barrett's strange behaviour has often been attributed to his drug use. In January 1968, guitarist David Gilmour joined the band to carry out Barrett's playing and singing duties, though evidently Jeff Beck was considered.
With Barrett's behaviour becoming less and less predictable, and his almost constant use of LSD, he became very unstable, occasionally staring into space while the rest of the band performed. During some performances, he would just strum one chord for the duration of a concert, or randomly begin detuning his guitar. The band's live shows became increasingly ramshackle until, eventually, the other band members simply stopped taking him to the concerts. The last concert featuring Barrett was on January 20, 1968 on Hastings Pier. It was originally hoped that Barrett would write for the band with Gilmour performing live, but Barrett's increasingly difficult compositions, such as "Have You Got It, Yet?", which changed melodies and chord progression with every take, eventually made the rest of the band give up on this arrangement. Once Barrett's departure was formalised in April 1968, producers Jenner and King decided to remain with him, and the six-way Blackhill partnership was dissolved. The band adopted Steve O'Rourke as manager, and he remained with Pink Floyd until his death in 2003.

After recording two solo albums (The Madcap Laughs and Barrett) in 1970 (co-produced by and sometimes featuring Gilmour, Waters and Wright) to moderate success, Barrett went into seclusion. Again going by his given name, Roger, he lived a quiet life in his native Cambridge until his death on July 7, 2006.
-Band history;