Mary Whitehouse

The queen of clean on the scene!

Mary Whitehouse may not be as well known in the US as she was in the UK but she led a decades long campaign against indecency (also see our sister blog).  Her musical targets included The Beatles (the Boxing Day film Magical Mystery Tour was slated and did have an X certificate scene snuck in), Chuck Berry ("My Dingaling"), Pink Floyd [I possibly heard of missus in "Pigs (Three Different Ones)"], Jimi Hendrix, The Doors and Alice Cooper to name a few.  PMRC (30th Anniversary this year) may have been indirectly influenced by her.  Whitehouse would be appalled by hip-hop, EDM perhaps, death metal, Miley Cyrus and other current trends today.  Whitehouse and Sir Cliff Richard co-founded the Nationwide Festival of Light back in the late '60s.  Sometimes it's a good thing she's not around anymore to have to see what's going on right now.

Pennsylvania: The Prog State?

From Harrisburg with Love: The state flag.

For some reason if there's one state in the union that knows prog it's Pennsylvania, the Keystone State.  One may be the late DJ Ed Sciaky from the Philadelphia radio market promoted it (mainly Yes and Renaissance).  Another could possibly be a colonial connection, who knows?  It's not that Commonwealth.  I had been in touch with someone in Lycoming County who knew a lot of these (sadly he is no longer with us), and another from there now in Huntingdon County also is a bit of an expert.  I went to a shop in Luzerne County and found Steve Hackett and Mike Oldfield CDs.  ROSfest in Gettysburg (Civil War capital) and the now-defunct NEARfest in the Allentown-Bethlehem area brought in bands from around the globe.  Annie Haslam from Renaissance now lives in Bucks County.  I may have to head that way again once the weather is better and a trip in my time frame and price range is available.
Indie labels MVD Audio have had their offices in Philly suburb Oaks but moved not too far off in Pottsville, and InsideOut Music had their US offices in Pittsburgh but moved them west to LA when they were taken over by indie metal label Century Media.
Philly native Sherman Hemsley boasted of listening to bands like Gentle Giant, Eloy, Gong and Nektar when he was alive despite being even older than the band members themselves and had recorded with Jon Anderson.
While prog will always have fans far and wide, the land of pretzels and cheesesteaks will always hold a special place in America for it all.

Phil Collins remasters

The first solo album from 1981.

Phil Collins's solo catalogue has yet to be remastered with bonus tracks.  Here's how they may look:

Face Value**
In the Air Tonight (live, demo and 1988 remix)
I Missed Again (I Miss You, Babe) (demo)
Please Don't Ask (demo)

Hello, I Must Be Going!***
I Cannot Believe It's True (live)
And So to F (live) (Brand X track)
The Man with the Horn (from these sessions but not released until 1985)

No Jacket Required
I Like the Way
We Said Hello Goodbye (original and Playing for Keeps edits)
Sussudio (12")
Only You Know and I Know (12")
One More Night (12")
Don't Lose My Number (12")
Who Said I Would?
Take Me Home (12")
Separate Lives (w/Marilyn Martin from White Nights)
Easy Lover (w/Philip Bailey of Earth, Wind and Fire)
Against All Odds (Take a Look at Me Now) (from the 1984 film)

...But Seriously
I Wish It Would Rain Down (demo)
Another Day in Paradise (7" and demo)
You've Been in Love (That Little Bit Too Long)
A Groovy Kind of Love
Two Hearts
Big Noise
Broadway Chorus
Against All Odds (Take a Look at Me Now)" (Live)
Doesn't Anybody Stay Together Anymore" (Live)
The Roof Is Leaking" (Live)
Inside Out" (live)
Hang in Long Enough (mixes)
Around the World in 80 Presets
That's How I Feel

Serious Hits... Live!
Always
Sussudio (live at the 1990 Silver Clef Festival in Knebworth Park)
Turn It On Again medley (Genesis and Serious Band combined at Knebworth)

Both Sides**
Hero (solo version)
Don't Call Me Ashley
Both Sides of the (Story) Demo
Rad Dudeski
We Wait and We Wonder (edit)
Everyday (demo)
Take Me with You
I've Been Trying (Curtis Mayfield cover)
Stevies Blues
For a Friend
Burn Down the Mission
Deep Water Town

Dance Into the Light***
It's Over
Somewhere
I Don't Wanna Go
Another Time
It's Everywhere
True Colours
Golden Slumbers/Carry That Weight/The End
Head Held High
Let It Run Free
(This is the only album here not originally released by Virgin EMI/UMC in the UK and Ireland whose rights in the Isles have now expired.  Otherwise they will all be released by Rhino/Atlantic/Warner Music yet nothing has been announced by Tony Smith Personal Management about these or any Genesis-related reissues not already released in recent memory.  As you can see most of these would turn into 2 CD releases.  Tracks that don't make it onto the deluxe editions could possibly go into a boxed set instead which was done with the band proper in the past.)
** Released already 29/1/16.
*** To be released 26/2/16 but track lists not confirmed yet.

Myzuka.ru / Myzuka.org

No translation necessary!

As Swedens The Pirate Bay walks the plank, another Russian mp3 site is in proverbial purgatory itself.  Myzuka.ru hasn't been running in the past few weeks.  Either the servers crashed or IFPI made them pull the plug whichever came first.  Like rival site musicmp3 one could upload mp3s (though musicmp3 are not taking submissions now either).  I found myzuka last year while looking up a Roger Hodgson bootleg and I recognised the cover I drew as someone else downloaded it from here or somewhere else.  I keep getting a 403 but it may as well be a 404 or 500.  IQ founding ex-member Martin Orford, the Mary Whitehouse of piracy, will be relieved that both these sites are taken off (he already slated the torrent site).  No ones knows what happened here.  An e-mail to the site has not been answered.  Could be the end of the road for places like this as the industry fights back.

UPDATE: Site is back online after a months time; now a .fm.

The Bee Gees remasters

Already available from Capitol.

Haven't posted in a while but I found something different to write about.  The Bee Gees have a number of albums that have yet to be reissued or even released at all officially.  Solo included.

Bee Gees
Bee Gees' 1st (1967)

Cucumber Castle
2 Years On
Trafalgar
To Whom It May Concern (one I sent away which led to this post)
Life in a Tin Can
A Kick in the Head is Worth Eight in the Pants*
Mr Natural
Here at Last (live)
Living Eyes
Staying Alive soundtrack
Size Isn't Everything

Barry Gibb
The Kid's No Good*
Now Voyager
Hawks soundtrack
Moonlight Madness/Original Hawks*
In the Now

Robin Gibb
Robins Reign (now part of new posthumous solo boxed set Saved by the Bell)
Sing Slowly Sisters (also in new compilation)
How Old Are You?
Secret Agent
Walls Have Eyes
Magnet
My Favourite Christmas Carols

Maurice Gibb
The Loner*
Strings and Things*
A Breed Apart soundtrack*

Andy Gibb (although he never lived to formally join the band)
Flowing Rivers
Shadow Dancing
After Dark

*previously unreleased except on bootleg

The solo albums for each brother could appear as respective boxed sets.
Universal Music handle all distribution except In the Now by Sony save Russia where Warner happen to distribute them anyway.

Two Years On: The ancillary rights have just moved to Capitol Records/UMC bringing them back to Universal (which bought much of EMI in 2013).  Reissues are likely set to appear in 2017 in time for the 50th anniversary of the bands international breakthrough.  Sister label Polydor could possibly be attached as a result like my LP copy of Milk & Honey from John & Yoko.

WogBlog: Icon Lennon and Starr releases

WogBlog: Icon Lennon and Starr releases

THE WORLD OF KATE BUSH: The Red Shoes: Shoedance - UK CD Single (Part 2)

THE WORLD OF KATE BUSH: The Red Shoes: Shoedance - UK CD Single (Part 2)