1.
Single (music)
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In music, a single or record single is a type of release, typically a song recording of fewer tracks than an LP record, an album or an EP record. This can be released for sale to the public in a variety of different formats, in most cases, a single is a song that is released separately from an album, although it usually also appears on an album. Typically, these are the songs from albums that are released separately for promotional uses such as digital download or commercial radio airplay and are expected to be the most popular, in other cases a recording released as a single may not appear on an album. As digital downloading and audio streaming have become prevalent, it is often possible for every track on an album to also be available separately. Nevertheless, the concept of a single for an album has been retained as an identification of a heavily promoted or more popular song within an album collection. Despite being referred to as a single, singles can include up to as many as three tracks on them. The biggest digital music distributor, iTunes, accepts as many as three tracks less than ten minutes each as a single, as well as popular music player Spotify also following in this trend. Any more than three tracks on a release or longer than thirty minutes in total running time is either an Extended Play or if over six tracks long. The basic specifications of the single were made in the late 19th century. Gramophone discs were manufactured with a range of speeds and in several sizes. By about 1910, however, the 10-inch,78 rpm shellac disc had become the most commonly used format, the inherent technical limitations of the gramophone disc defined the standard format for commercial recordings in the early 20th century.26 rpm. With these factors applied to the 10-inch format, songwriters and performers increasingly tailored their output to fit the new medium, the breakthrough came with Bob Dylans Like a Rolling Stone. Singles have been issued in various formats, including 7-inch, 10-inch, other, less common, formats include singles on digital compact cassette, DVD, and LD, as well as many non-standard sizes of vinyl disc. Some artist release singles on records, a more common in musical subcultures. The most common form of the single is the 45 or 7-inch. The names are derived from its speed,45 rpm. The 7-inch 45 rpm record was released 31 March 1949 by RCA Victor as a smaller, more durable, the first 45 rpm records were monaural, with recordings on both sides of the disc. As stereo recordings became popular in the 1960s, almost all 45 rpm records were produced in stereo by the early 1970s
2.
Blondie (band)
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Blondie is an American rock band founded by singer Debbie Harry and guitarist Chris Stein. The band was a pioneer in the early American new wave, Blondie broke up after the release of its sixth studio album The Hunter in 1982. The band re-formed in 1997, achieving renewed success and a one single in the United Kingdom with Maria in 1999. The group toured and performed throughout the world during the following years, Blondie has sold 40 million records worldwide and is still active. The bands tenth studio album Ghosts of Download, was released in 2014, inspired by the burgeoning new music scene at the Mercer Arts Center, Chris Stein sought to join a similar band. He joined the Stillettoes in 1973 as their guitarist and formed a relationship with one of the bands vocalists, Debbie Harry. Harry had been a member of a band, the Wind in the Willows. In July 1974, Stein and Harry parted ways with the Stillettoes and Elda Gentile, originally billed as Angel and the Snake for two shows in August 1974, they renamed themselves Blondie by October 1974. The name derived from comments made by truck drivers who catcalled Hey, by the spring of 1975, after some personnel turnover, Stein and Harry were joined by drummer Clem Burke, and bass player Gary Valentine. Blondie became regular performers at Maxs Kansas City and CBGB, in June 1975, the bands first recording came in the way of a demo produced by Alan Betrock. To fill out their sound, they recruited keyboard player Jimmy Destri in November 1975, the band signed with Private Stock Records and their debut album, Blondie, was issued in December 1976 but was initially not a commercial success. In September 1977, the bought back its contract with Private Stock. The first album was re-released on the new label in October 1977 and it also noted that Harry was the possessor of a bombshell zombies voice that can sound dreamily seductive and woodenly Mansonite within the same song. Jimmy Destri later credited the shows Molly Meldrum for their initial success, Stein asserted that X-Offender was too crazy and aggressive, while In the Flesh was not representative of any punk sensibility. Over the years, Ive thought they played both things but liked one better. In retrospect, Burke described In the Flesh as a forerunner to the power ballad, the single reached number 2 in Australia, while the album reached the Australian top twenty in November 1977, and a subsequent double-A release of X-Offender and Rip Her to Shreds reached number 81. A successful Australian tour followed in December, though it was marred by an incident in Brisbane when disappointed fans almost rioted after Harry cancelled a performance due to illness, in February 1978, Blondie released their second album, Plastic Letters. The album was recorded as a four-piece as Gary Valentine had left the band in mid 1977, Plastic Letters was promoted extensively throughout Europe and Asia by Chrysalis Records
3.
Plastic Letters
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Plastic Letters is the second studio album by American rock band Blondie, released in February 1978 on Chrysalis Records. It was the second and final Blondie album to be produced by Richard Gottehrer. Denis, a cover of Randy & the Rainbows 1963 hit Denise, was a hit all over Europe, reaching #2 in March 1978 in the United Kingdom, presence, Dear was the second single from the album, reaching #10 in the UK in May 1978. The song was written by the original bass guitar player Gary Valentine. In fact, during recording, Blondie were still at their old label, the album peaked at #10 in the UK and has been certified Platinum by the BPI. The pink dress Debbie Harry wears in the art was designed by Anya Phillips. Plastic Letters has been remastered and re-issued twice. Rob Freeman - engineer Greg Calbi - mastering Phillip Dixon – photography Recorded at Plaza Sound Studio, New York, originally released on Chrysalis Kevin Flaherty -2001 reissue producer
4.
A-side and B-side
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The terms A-side and B-side refer to the two sides of 78,45, and 33 1/3 rpm phonograph records, whether singles, extended plays, or long-playing records. Creedence Clearwater Revival had hits with both A-side and B-side releases, others took the opposite approach, producer Phil Spector was in the habit of filling B-sides with on-the-spot instrumentals that no one would confuse with the A-side. With this practice, Spector was assured that airplay was focused on the side he wanted to be the hit side, the earliest 10-inch,78 rpm, shellac records were single sided. Double-sided recordings, with one song on side, were introduced in Europe by Columbia Records. There were no record charts until the 1930s, and radio stations did not play recorded music until the 1950s, in this time, A-sides and B-sides existed, but neither side was considered more important, the side did not convey anything about the content of the record. The term single came into use with the advent of vinyl records in the early 1950s. At first, most record labels would randomly assign which song would be an A-side, under this random system, many artists had so-called double-sided hits, where both songs on a record made one of the national sales charts, or would be featured on jukeboxes in public places. As time wore on, however, the convention for assigning songs to sides of the record changed. By the early sixties, the song on the A-side was the song that the company wanted radio stations to play. It was not until 1968, for instance, that the production of albums on a unit basis finally surpassed that of singles in the United Kingdom. In the late 1960s stereo versions of pop and rock songs began to appear on 45s. The majority of the 45s were played on AM radio stations, by the early 1970s, double-sided hits had become rare. Album sales had increased, and B-sides had become the side of the record where non-album, non-radio-friendly, with the advent of cassette and compact disc singles in the late 1980s, the A-side/B-side differentiation became much less meaningful. With the decline of cassette singles in the 1990s, the A-side/B-side dichotomy became virtually extinct, as the dominant medium. However, the term B-side is still used to refer to the tracks or coupling tracks on a CD single. With the advent of downloading music via the Internet, sales of CD singles and other media have declined. B-side songs may be released on the record as a single to provide extra value for money. There are several types of material released in this way, including a different version, or, in a concept record
5.
Phonograph record
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The groove usually starts near the periphery and ends near the center of the disc. The phonograph disc record was the medium used for music reproduction until late in the 20th century. It had co-existed with the cylinder from the late 1880s. Records retained the largest market share even when new formats such as compact cassette were mass-marketed, by the late 1980s, digital media, in the form of the compact disc, had gained a larger market share, and the vinyl record left the mainstream in 1991. The phonograph record has made a resurgence in the early 21st century –9.2 million records were sold in the U. S. in 2014. Likewise, in the UK sales have increased five-fold from 2009 to 2014, as of 2017,48 record pressing facilities remain worldwide,18 in the United States and 30 in other countries. The increased popularity of vinyl has led to the investment in new, only two producers of lacquers remains, Apollo Masters in California, USA, and MDC in Japan. Vinyl records may be scratched or warped if stored incorrectly but if they are not exposed to heat or broken. The large cover are valued by collectors and artists for the space given for visual expression, in the 2000s, these tracings were first scanned by audio engineers and digitally converted into audible sound. Phonautograms of singing and speech made by Scott in 1860 were played back as sound for the first time in 2008, along with a tuning fork tone and unintelligible snippets recorded as early as 1857, these are the earliest known recordings of sound. In 1877, Thomas Edison invented the phonograph, unlike the phonautograph, it was capable of both recording and reproducing sound. Despite the similarity of name, there is no evidence that Edisons phonograph was based on Scotts phonautograph. Edison first tried recording sound on a paper tape, with the idea of creating a telephone repeater analogous to the telegraph repeater he had been working on. The tinfoil was wrapped around a metal cylinder and a sound-vibrated stylus indented the tinfoil while the cylinder was rotated. The recording could be played back immediately, Edison also invented variations of the phonograph that used tape and disc formats. A decade later, Edison developed a greatly improved phonograph that used a wax cylinder instead of a foil sheet. This proved to be both a better-sounding and far more useful and durable device, the wax phonograph cylinder created the recorded sound market at the end of the 1880s and dominated it through the early years of the 20th century. Berliners earliest discs, first marketed in 1889, but only in Europe, were 12.5 cm in diameter, both the records and the machine were adequate only for use as a toy or curiosity, due to the limited sound quality
6.
Chrysalis Records
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Chrysalis Records /ˈkrɪ. sə. lɪs/ is a British record label that was created in 1969. The name was both a reference to the stage of a butterfly and a combination of its founders names, Chris Wright. It started as the Ellis-Wright Agency and this was after the single Sunshine Day/Aeroplane was incorrectly credited to Jethro Toe. Jethro Tull signed with Reprise Records in the United States, which led Chrysalis to an American distribution deal with Reprises parent company and this lasted from 1972 until U. S. Chrysalis switched to independent distribution in 1976. PolyGram handled international distribution and Festival Records covered Australia and New Zealand, towards the end of the 1970s, the label began to extend its range of music, incorporating acts from the Punk Rock scene such as Generation X. The Chrysalis offshoot 2 Tone Records brought in such as The Specials. In 1979 Chrysalis bought and distributed U. S. folk label Takoma Records, naming manager/producer Denny Bruce as president, jon Monday who was Vice President of Takoma Records prior to the acquisition continued as General Manager, later becoming Director of Marketing of Chrysalis Records. Chrysalis made history in 1979 by creating the first music video album, in the 1980s, Chrysalis was at the forefront of the British New Romantic movement with bands such as Gen X, Ultravox, and Spandau Ballet. The 1980s proved to be the most successful time for the label, whose roster then included Billy Idol, Pat Benatar, Blondie and Huey Lewis, Chrysalis also distributed Animal Records, the short-lived label founded by Blondie guitarist Chris Stein. In 1983 Daniel Glass moved to Chrysalis as Director of New Music Marketing, advancing later to Senior Vice President. The Chrysalis Records label was sold 50% in 1990, then the half in 1991 to EMI with catalogue. Chrysalis Records folded into EMI subsidiary and flagship label EMI Records in 2005, the British Chrysalis catalogue was put up for sale by Universal Music Group after its acquisition of EMI. In July 2013, Warner Music Group completed acquisition of Parlophone Label Group, when Universal Music Group purchased EMI in 2012 ownership of Chrysalis passed to UMG. In 2013 Warner Music Group acquired part of EMI from UMG, in May 2016, Blue Raincoat Music purchased Chrysalis Records Ltd and the artist catalogue from Warner Music Group. Blue Raincoat founders Jeremy Lascelles and Robin Millar brought in Robert Devereux and this reunited founder Wright with the company he set up 47 years previously. Chris Wright is now non-executive Chairman of Chrysalis Records Ltd, since the acquisition from Warner Music Group, Chrysalis has acquired the catalogues of Suzi Quatro, Steve Harley & Cockney Rebel, Athlete and Fun Lovin Criminals. Official site for Chrysalis Records UK at Blue Raincoat Music Ben Sisario, New York Times, Media Decoder blog,7 February 2013 Discogs page on Chrysalis Records
7.
Songwriter
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A songwriter is an individual who writes the lyrics, melodies and chord progressions for songs, typically for a popular music genre such as rock or country music. A songwriter can also be called a composer, although the term tends to be used mainly for individuals from the classical music genre. The pressure from the industry to produce popular hits means that songwriting is often an activity for which the tasks are distributed between a number of people. For example, a songwriter who excels at writing lyrics might be paired with a songwriter with a gift for creating original melodies, pop songs may be written by group members from the band or by staff writers – songwriters directly employed by music publishers. Some songwriters serve as their own publishers, while others have outside publishers. The old-style apprenticeship approach to learning how to write songs is being supplemented by university degrees and college diplomas, a knowledge of modern music technology, songwriting elements and business skills are necessary requirements to make a songwriting career in the 2010s. Several music colleges offer songwriting diplomas and degrees with music business modules, the legal power to grant these permissions may be bought, sold or transferred. This is governed by international copyright law, song pitching can be done on a songwriters behalf by their publisher or independently using tip sheets like RowFax, the MusicRow publication and SongQuarters. Skills associated with song-writing include entrepreneurism and creativity, songwriters who sign an exclusive songwriting agreement with a publisher are called staff writers. In the Nashville country music scene, there is a staff writer culture where contracted writers work normal 9-to-5 hours at the publishing office and are paid a regular salary. This salary is in effect the writers draw, an advance on future earnings, the publisher owns the copyright of songs written during the term of the agreement for a designated period, after which the songwriter can reclaim the copyright. In an interview with HitQuarters, songwriter Dave Berg extolled the benefits of the set-up, unlike contracted writers, some staff writers operate as employees for their respective publishers. Under the terms of work for hire agreements, the compositions created are fully owned by the publisher. In Nashville, young writers are often encouraged to avoid these types of contracts. Staff writers are common across the industry, but without the more office-like working arrangements favored in Nashville. All the major publishers employ writers under contract, songwriter Allan Eshuijs described his staff writer contract at Universal Music Publishing as a starter deal. His success under the arrangement eventually allowed him to found his own publishing company, so that he could. keep as much as possible, songwriters are also often skilled musicians. In addition to selling their songs and musical concepts for other artists to sing, songwriters need to create a number of elements for a song
8.
Gary Lachman
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Gary Joseph Lachman, also known as Gary Valentine, is an American writer and musician. He came to prominence in the mid-1970s as the bass guitarist for the punk rock/new wave band Blondie, since the 1990s, Lachman has written full-time, often about mysticism and occultism. Gary Valentine was one of the members of Blondie, having joined the band as bassist in April 1975 when Fred Smith left to join Television. He wrote the music to the bands first single, X-Offender, in 1977 he left the group to form his own band and was replaced by Nigel Harrison, just as Blondie were starting to gain recognition. His song Presence, Dear was a UK top ten hit in 1978, after Blondie, Gary moved to L. A. and in 1978 released a single, The First One/Tomorrow Belongs to You on Beat Records. Shortly after this he formed The Know, with Joel Turrisi, after a year and a half Joel left the band and was replaced by drummer John McGarvey. In 1980 The Know released a single I Like Girls/Dreams on Planet Records and were the only bi-coastal US power pop band, developing large followings in New York, failing to secure an album deal, he disbanded The Know and in 1981 played guitar with Iggy Pop. In 1996, after moving to London, he was asked to participate in the Blondie re-union, in 1997 he performed with Blondie at several major festival concerts in the US. Back in London Gary worked with former X-Ray Spex saxophonist Lora Logic, in 1998 he formed Fire Escape with violinist Ruth Jones and performed songs he had written for the Blondie reunion album. They released an EP to little fanfare and went on a permanent hiatus after two years, a compilation of Garys work in music entitled Tomorrow Belongs to You, was released in 2003 on the UK label Overground Records. In 2006, he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, because of his time with Blondie, Lachman moved to London in 1996 and became a full-time writer, contributing to The Guardian, Mojo, Times Literary Supplement and other journals. His first book, Turn Off Your Mind, The Mystic Sixties and the Dark Side of the Age of Aquarius, a revisionist history of the 1960s counter culture, appeared in 2001. It was followed in 2002 by New York Rocker, My Life in The Blank Generation, the Dedalus Book of the Occult, A Dark Muse charted the influence of the occult on western literature since the Enlightenment. D. Ouspensky, the Austrian spiritual scientist Rudolf Steiner, the Swedish religious thinker Emanuel Swedenborg, and he is a regular contributor to the Independent on Sunday, Fortean Times, and other journals in the US and UK, lectures frequently and occasionally broadcasts on the BBC. His work has been compared to Colin Wilson, and has translated into German, Finnish, Czech, Russian, French, Dutch, Spanish, Norwegian, Italian. In 2014 Lachman took part in the annual Engelsberg Seminar held in Avesta, Sweden, lecturing on gnosis, in 2015 Lachman lectured on Rejected Knowledge to the Marion Institute as part of their Living in the Real World seminar. Recent years have seen Lachman lecturing on a variety of esoteric and cultural topics in Germany, Denmark, Sweden, Norway, France, the Netherlands, Great Britain, and the United States
9.
Record producer
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A record producer or music producer oversees and manages the sound recording and production of a band or performers music, which may range from recording one song to recording a lengthy concept album. A producer has many roles during the recording process, the roles of a producer vary. The producer may perform these roles himself, or help select the engineer, the producer may also pay session musicians and engineers and ensure that the entire project is completed within the record companies budget. A record producer or music producer has a broad role in overseeing and managing the recording. Producers also often take on an entrepreneurial role, with responsibility for the budget, schedules, contracts. In the 2010s, the industry has two kinds of producers with different roles, executive producer and music producer. Executive producers oversee project finances while music producers oversee the process of recording songs or albums. In most cases the producer is also a competent arranger, composer. The producer will also liaise with the engineer who concentrates on the technical aspects of recording. Noted producer Phil Ek described his role as the person who creatively guides or directs the process of making a record, indeed, in Bollywood music, the designation actually is music director. The music producers job is to create, shape, and mold a piece of music, at the beginning of record industry, producer role was technically limited to record, in one shot, artists performing live. The role of producers changed progressively over the 1950s and 1960s due to technological developments, the development of multitrack recording caused a major change in the recording process. Before multitracking, all the elements of a song had to be performed simultaneously, all of these singers and musicians had to be assembled in a large studio and the performance had to be recorded. As well, for a song that used 20 instruments, it was no longer necessary to get all the players in the studio at the same time. Examples include the rock sound effects of the 1960s, e. g. playing back the sound of recorded instruments backwards or clanging the tape to produce unique sound effects. These new instruments were electric or electronic, and thus they used instrument amplifiers, new technologies like multitracking changed the goal of recording, A producer could blend together multiple takes and edit together different sections to create the desired sound. For example, in jazz fusion Bandleader-composer Miles Davis album Bitches Brew, producers like Phil Spector and George Martin were soon creating recordings that were, in practical terms, almost impossible to realise in live performance. Producers became creative figures in the studio, other examples of such engineers includes Joe Meek, Teo Macero, Brian Wilson, and Biddu
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