BRIT WEEK ON THE RADIO

Jeff Lynne and Peter Asher made a radio appearance on K-Earth 101FM yesterday talking about Brit Week.  Here are some snippets of the broadcast from  their web site.  There were a few short references to Jeff's new material before he changes the subject...

27 tracks, huh?

For those interested in Brit Week in LA: http://www.britweek.org

M*A*S*H*U*P*S

This mash-up remix of Telephone Line (Instrumental) and Oasis' Wonderwall is getting a lot of thumbs up from the fans.  May I also suggest a mash-up from a few years ago I also thought was excellent.  Electric Avenue vs. Don't Bring Me Down from Nemozob.  And DBMD makes that remix work.

FAB PIC DISC

I was doing a bit of eBay browsing today and saw these: 7" vinyl picture discs of Free As A Bird and Real Love.  I've never knew these existed and judging from the bids they're getting, they might be real and quite rare.  Any of you guys have or seen these before??

THE PORTFOLIO

Here's a little more info on the Traveling Wilburys: A Limited Edition Portfolio, which is quietly available for sale. GeorgeHarrison.com lists the portfolio as:

Curated by acclaimed art director David Costa, this limited edition portfolio of 250 numbered lithographs includes photographs by Alberto Tolot during the making of the “Handle With Care” video, Neal Preston’s iconic photos for the first album, Caroline Greystock’s capture of early rehearsals, as well as Polaroids by the Wilburys themselves.

So, all of the lithographs appear to be pictures from the book.  Turns out, select James Perse Stores in California are offering the deluxe portfolios, but nowhere else. They are $350 and the store will make arrangements to ship one if you can't visit a store in person.

UPDATE: The Traveling Wilburys online store just added the portfolio for $300 as well as the Genesis Publications book for $319.

OFF TOPIC: SHE AND HIM

Again, just a recommendation...

She and Him Volume 2:   (Zooey Deschanel and M. Ward)

It's a bit of a '50s girl groups/Nancy Sinatra-retro theme. What hooked me first is track 2 - called In The Sun.  The chorus confuses me and I keep disconnecting from it.  But you know, M. Ward is really getting the hang of this record-making thing.

ONE INSTANCE WHERE 'XANADU' WAS BETTER

I wish I can take credit for finding this, but the credit goes to a fellow fan/collector who wishes to remain anonymous for the sake of his peaceful household.  I don't know if this info was already out there among fans, but this is the first time I've heard this.

Perhaps unbenounced (or not) to ELO or their management, several ELO songs were used in an adult video from 1976 called Ecstasy In Blue.  As is the case with many films of its genre, Ecstasy In Blue is this hilariously bad account of some scary-looking freaky guy who has magic powers over women, or something like that.  The plot kind of escaped me.  And according to the description on the box, the cinematography is great.  I, er, beg to differ.

The video apparently made its way to DVD a few years ago.  I'm told it wasn't terribly uncommon in those days for adult movie directors to use music by popular artists.  But what makes this juicy bit of info even more odd is the ELO songs (among others) they decided to use:

Fire On High
In The Hall Of The Mountain King
Daybreaker
Ocean Breakup/King Of The Universe
Manhattan Rumble (49th Street Massacre)
Dreaming Of 4000

Yes, indeed, ladies and gentlemen, you heard it here.  Manhattan Rumble was used in an old porn movie.  Now, if that's not good trivia, I don't know what is.

SUNDAY EXPRESS

There was a feature on Jeff Lynne in last weekend's Sunday Express newspaper in the UK... with an offer for a free ELO's Greatest Hits Volume 2 CD.  There's an online version of the article here.  The interview was done to help publicize the new Traveling Wilburys book from Genesis Publications.  There's really nothing in the article that most of us didn't know already.  Next up: 'writing a couple of albums under his own name' and working on an album with Joe Walsh.

The free CD, despite the word 'live' in the description is likely the 16 track CD from 1992 featuring Wild West Hero, tracks from Discovery and later.  Regardless, it's another way ELO is staying on the radar...

A WILBURY BOOK BASH

Jeff Lynne and Tom Petty were on hand last night in LA for the book launch of The Traveling Wilburys by Genesis Publications. Much of the Wilbury family and extended family packed a Beverly Hills clothing store to celebrate.

Here's more on the party (including a few more pictures) from George Harrison's website...

Uh, what's in the "A Limited Edition Portfolio" and how can I get one...?
:-)

OUT OF THE BLUE PROJECT

Attention Facebookers: Here's a fun little group dedicated to ELO's Out Of The Blue. The admins of the page want to see a picture of you with a copy of Out Of The Blue; could be on vinyl, CD, iPod, whatever. Just grab your digital camera, snap a shot anyway you'd like and upload it to the Wall. They are aiming for a 1,000 pictures.

I think it would be kind of fun to spread the word about this...

POOR LITTLE FOOL

An old favorite of ELO fans is finally released on CD.  Helen Reddy's We'll Sing In The Sunshine from 1978 is paired with another album, Ear Candy, for this 2-on-1 CD on Raven Records.  The Jeff Lynne-composed Poor Little Fool is included on CD for the first time.  What on Earth took so long?  It had been available digitally for a few years.

OFF TOPIC: TOM PETTY STRIKES AGAIN...

A big announcement has come from Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers.  New album, Mojo and new North American tour.  Both will be happening this spring and Tom Petty's website is streaming a new song already.

Makes you wonder when someone else will be making his announcement.

SOME THOUGHTS FROM #124

Yes, $600 is excessive for a book and you can bet this particular one will not be propped up next to the encyclopedia set.  Yes, I still have a encyclopedia set.

Genesis Publications shipped this book as you would expect for that kind of money: (ahem) carefully.  It's wrapped in custom brown paper exactly like the original Handle With Care single, and held together with a 'Handle With Care' sticker. The deluxe edition box is as described, fully encasing the entire book and clasping closed magnetically.  Nice start.

Now, for double the price of the Collectors Edition, you got a faux leather book cover, the fully encasing book cover with felt lining, and an 8x10 color photo of the Wilburys with the signatures of all 5 embossed at the bottom.  Is it worth the jump in price?  Well, I'll let you all be the judge.  The signed copies from Jeff were actually cards that were glued into one of the front pages.  There are other glued cards in the book, so I suppose that was a good way to do it.  I had this mental picture of dozens of boxes in Jeff's living room filled with books for him to sign.

The book content of both versions is apparently exactly the same.  That turns out to be a good thing.  The book layout is good for jumping around as opposed to reading it cover to cover.  If there's anything the Traveling Wilburys Collection DVD documentary left off of the Wilbury story, it's in the book.  Replicas of sheets of paper with lots of unused lyrics and studio notes are bound between the pages.  An interesting idea I've not seen before.  Then again, this is my first multi-hundred dollar book.  There's even sketches and drawings for album and single artwork ideas, some were ultimately not used.

You get a better sense of how these guys put these tracks together.  Some of these songs took more twists and turns than we were probably aware.  Would I have liked for there to be a 4 track CD inside with some of these later abandoned ideas for Margarita and Not Alone Any More?  Sure!  Why not?  Bring the reader of these expensive books even closer to the studio experience.  

My only other gripe?  Volume 3 is still pretty under-represented, mostly (used and unused) promotional photos with a few quotes.  

On the whole, though, the book effectively relays the fun these guys had making these records.  The entire book is pictures and quotes from the Wilburys (sans Bob Dylan) and "Sideburys."  Some of the quotes in it are priceless including one from Barbara Orbison.  She had an interesting bit about how flummoxed some reporters were when they tried to interview The Wilburys.  

"I can see all the questions prepared over sleepless nights, the questions every interviewer always wanted to ask those guys but never could.  And they walked in and they saw five guys without a serious bone in their body.  They didn't want to talk about the music, they just wanted to talk about how they were interrelated!"  

Go back and listen to/watch their vintage interviews, she's right!

#124 is pretty happy with the book, but he should probably spend another $10 for art collector white cloth gloves to thumb through it.

IT'S HERE...

For the record, my Wilbury book just arrived.  More when I get a chance to look through it...

DURING THE SUPER BOWL

In case you missed it...

HONORING ROY...

Roy Orbison is getting a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame today.  Jeff Lynne and Joe Walsh will be in attendance for the ceremony as well as a host of other Orbison celebrity admirers.  His star will be next to the ones for John Lennon and George Harrison.

A link to watch the ceremony is available at RoyOrbison.com.  It begins at 11am US Pacific Time, 2pm US Eastern Time.

A NEW DEL SHANNON BEST-OF.

A new 30 track comp CD for Del Shannon was released this week in the UK.  The tracks cover his entire career including the Jeff Lynne co-written Cry Baby Cry (1975) and co-written and produced Walk Away from 1989.

One development here is that this is the first time Cry Baby Cry is available for digital download in case you're interested in building a rarities library and don't have this one yet.

Otherwise, this CD is the leading Del Shannon beginner's collection.

(Hat Tip: Euan)

SHE DARED TO GO THERE...

Many fans saw (Texas singer) Sharleen Spiteri's rather faithful live cover of Xanadu on the Graham Norton Show and since then on YouTube.  Now, you can download the video on this blog.

Turns out, Ms. Spiteri is releasing a covers album of movie songs and Xanadu will be the lead single.  The album is titled The Movie Songbook and is expected to be released on 1 March 2010.

(Hat Tip: Andy)

THE BOOK OF WILBURY - ANOTHER UPDATE

Genesis Publications has updated photos of the (sold-out) Deluxe Edition of The Traveling Wilburys book.  They're supposedly shipping this month.

GETTIN' WOOD...

Props to ELO Discovery for catching this little ditty from the Birmingham Mail.  The story is from over a month ago when Roy Wood opened for Status Quo.  Roy talks a little about his future plans including live shows, a possible autobiography, record company launch, and finally releasing at least one of the tracks he recorded with Jeff Lynne in the late 1980s. There are at least two tracks that we know of: Me And You and If You Don't Get What You Want.

“Some years ago I recorded a track with my old mate Jeff Lynne and I’m hoping to include it on a new compilation I’d like to put together next year,” he reveals.

“I’m gonna put together some of the tracks I particularly like, along with some unreleased songs.”

...AND MEREDITH VIEIRA TURNS 56.

Happy 62nd Birthday, Jeff.