Liner notes
Liner notes are the writings found on the sleeves of LP record albums and in booklets which come inserted into the compact disc jewel case or the equivalent packaging for vinyl records and cassettes. Liner notes are descended from the notes of text that were printed on the inner sleeve used to protect a traditional 12-inch vinyl record, i.e. long playing or gramophone record album. The term descends from the name "record liner" or "album liner". Album liner notes survived format changes from vinyl LP to cassette to CD; such notes contained a mix of factual and anecdotal material, a discography for the artist or the issuing record label. Liner notes were an occasion for thoughtful signed essays on the artist by another party a sympathetic music journalist, a custom that has died out. However, the liner note essay has survived in retrospective compilations in box sets, it is a tradition in Japan for foreign artist releases in Japan. Many CD liner notes include complete song lyrics for the album.
Liner notes now include information about the musician, lyrics, a personnel list, other credits to people the musicians want to thank and people or companies involved in the production of the music. They can give details on the extent of each musical piece, sometimes place them in historical or social context. Liner notes for classical music recordings provide information in several languages. Liner notes sometimes provide metadata that can help when cataloguing private or public collections of sound recordings. However, the information provided on liner notes varies depending on the studio or label which produced the record, and due to the rise of digital downloads, a digital booklet is being introduced to compensate for the lack of a physical booklet. Apple Inc. introduced iTunes LP which features interactive menus instead of simple pages. A Grammy Award for Best Album Notes has been given annually since 1964. Book-and-record set Dean Biron and Music: Album Liner Notes, Portal: International Journal of Multidisciplinary Studies, 2011.
Liner Notes in From Bach to Xenakis AlbumLinerNotes.com
Record producer
A record producer or music producer oversees and manages the sound recording and production of a band or performer's music, which may range from recording one song to recording a lengthy concept album. A producer has varying roles during the recording process, they may gather musical ideas for the project, collaborate with the artists to select cover tunes or original songs by the artist/group, work with artists and help them to improve their songs, lyrics or arrangements. A producer may also: Select session musicians to play rhythm section accompaniment parts or solos Co-write Propose changes to the song arrangements Coach the singers and musicians in the studioThe producer supervises the entire process from preproduction, through to the sound recording and mixing stages, and, in some cases, all the way to the audio mastering stage; the producer may perform these roles themselves, or help select the engineer, provide suggestions to the engineer. The producer may pay session musicians and engineers and ensure that the entire project is completed within the record label's budget.
A record producer or music producer has a broad role in overseeing and managing the recording and production of a band or performer's music. A producer has many roles that may include, but are not limited to, gathering ideas for the project, composing the music for the project, selecting songs or session musicians, proposing changes to the song arrangements, coaching the artist and musicians in the studio, controlling the recording sessions, supervising the entire process through audio mixing and, in some cases, to the audio mastering stage. Producers often take on a wider entrepreneurial role, with responsibility for the budget, schedules and negotiations. Writer Chris Deville explains it, "Sometimes a producer functions like a creative consultant — someone who helps a band achieve a certain aesthetic, or who comes up with the perfect violin part to complement the vocal melody, or who insists that a chorus should be a bridge. Other times a producer will build a complete piece of music from the ground up and present the finished product to a vocalist, like Metro Boomin supplying Future with readymade beats or Jack Antonoff letting Taylor Swift add lyrics and melody to an otherwise-finished “Out Of The Woods.”The artist of an album may not be a record producer or music producer for his/her album.
While both contribute creatively, the official credit of "record producer" may depend on the record contract. Christina Aguilera, for example, did not receive record producer credits until many albums into her career. In the 2010s, the producer role is sometimes divided among up to three different individuals: executive producer, vocal producer and music producer. An executive producer oversees project finances, a vocal producers oversees the vocal production, a music producer oversees the creative process of recording and mixings; the music producer is often a competent arranger, musician or songwriter who can bring fresh ideas to a project. As well as making any songwriting and arrangement adjustments, the producer selects and/or collaborates with the mixing engineer, who takes the raw recorded tracks and edits and modifies them with hardware and software tools to create a stereo or surround sound "mix" of all the individual voices sounds and instruments, in turn given further adjustment by a mastering engineer for the various distribution media.
The producer oversees the recording 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", like a director would a movie. Indeed, in Bollywood music, the designation is music director; the music producer's job is to create and mold a piece of music. The scope of responsibility may be one or two songs or an artist's entire album – in which case the producer will develop an overall vision for the album and how the various songs may interrelate. At the beginning of record industry, the producer role was technically limited to record, in one shot, artists performing live; the immediate predecessors to record producers were the artists and repertoire executives of the late 1920s and 1930s who oversaw the "pop" product and led session orchestras. That was the case of Ben Selvin at Columbia Records, Nathaniel Shilkret at Victor Records and Bob Haring at Brunswick Records.
By the end of the 1930s, the first professional recording studios not owned by the major companies were established separating the roles of A&R man and producer, although it wouldn't be until the late 1940s when the term "producer" became used in the industry. The role of producers changed progressively over the 1960s due to technology; 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 where the performance was recorded. With multitrack recording, the "bed tracks" (rhythm section accompaniment parts such as the bassline and rhythm guitar could be recorded first, the vocals and solos could be added using as many "takes" as necessary, it was no longer necessary to get all the players in the studio at the same time. A pop band could record their backing tracks one week, a horn section could be brought in a week to add horn shots and punches, a string section could be brought in a week after that.
Multitrack recording had another pro
Soul Train
Soul Train is an American music-dance television program which aired in syndication from October 2, 1971 to March 27, 2006. In its 35-year history, the show featured performances by R&B, dance/pop, hip hop artists, although funk, jazz and gospel artists appeared; the series was created by Don Cornelius, who served as its first host and executive producer. Production was suspended following the 2005–2006 season, with a rerun package airing for two years subsequently; as a nod to Soul Train's longevity, the show's opening sequence during seasons contained a claim that it was the "longest-running first-run, nationally syndicated program in American television history," with over 1,100 episodes produced from the show's debut through the 2005–2006 season. Despite the production hiatus, Soul Train held that superlative until 2016, when Entertainment Tonight surpassed it completing its 35th season. Among non-news programs, Wheel of Fortune surpassed that mark in 2018; the origins of Soul Train can be traced to 1965 when WCIU-TV, an upstart UHF station in Chicago, began airing two youth-oriented dance programs: Kiddie-a-Go-Go and Red Hot and Blues.
These programs—specifically the latter, which featured a predominantly African-American group of in-studio dancers—would set the stage for what was to come to the station several years later. Don Cornelius, a news reader and backup disc jockey at Chicago radio station WVON, was hired by WCIU in 1967 as a news and sports reporter. Cornelius was promoting and emceeing a touring series of concerts featuring local talent at Chicago-area high schools, calling his traveling caravan of shows "The Soul Train". WCIU-TV took notice of Cornelius's outside work and in 1970, allowed him the opportunity to bring his road show to television. After securing a sponsorship deal with the Chicago-based retailer Sears, Roebuck & Co. Soul Train premiered on WCIU-TV as a live show airing weekday afternoons. Beginning as a low-budget affair, in black and white, the first episode of the program featured Jerry Butler, the Chi-Lites, the Emotions as guests. Cornelius was assisted by Clinton Ghent, a local professional dancer who appeared on early episodes before moving behind the scenes as a producer and secondary host.
The program's immediate success attracted the attention of another locally based firm—the Johnson Products Company —and they agreed to co-sponsor the program's expansion into national syndication. Cornelius and Soul Train's syndicator targeted 25 markets outside of Chicago to carry the show, but stations in only seven other cities—Atlanta, Cleveland, Houston, Los Angeles, Philadelphia—purchased the program, which began airing on a weekly basis on October 2, 1971. By the end of the first season, Soul Train was on in the other eighteen markets; when the program moved into syndication, its home base was shifted to Los Angeles, where it remained for the duration of its run. Soul Train was part of a national trend toward syndicated music-oriented programs targeted at niche audiences. Though Don Cornelius moved his operations west, a local version of Soul Train continued in Chicago, he continued to oversee production in Chicago, where Clinton Ghent hosted episodes on WCIU-TV until 1976, followed by three years of once-weekly reruns.
The syndicated version was picked up in the Chicago market by CBS-owned WBBM-TV at its launch. Don Cornelius hosted every national episode of Soul Train during this era except for one: comedian Richard Pryor guest hosted the final episode of the 1974-75 season. In 1985, Chicago-based Tribune Entertainment took over Soul Train's syndication contract. Most of the stations that aired Soul Train during the final 13 years were either Fox affiliates or independent stations that would become WB or UPN affiliates. Don Cornelius ended his run as host at the end of the show's 22nd season in 1993, though he remained the show's main creative force from behind the scenes; the following fall, Soul Train began using guest hosts weekly until comedian Mystro Clark began a two-year stint as permanent host in 1997. Clark was replaced by actor Shemar Moore in 2000. In 2003, Moore was succeeded by actor Dorian Gregory, who hosted through 2006. Soul Train pulled into its last stop when production of first-run episodes was suspended at the conclusion of the 2005–06 season, the show's 35th.
Instead, for two seasons starting in 2006–07, the program aired archived episodes under the title The Best of Soul Train. This was because in years, Nielsen ratings dropped to below 1.0. The future of Soul Train was uncertain with the announced closing of Tribune Entertainment in December 2007, which left Don Cornelius Productions to seek a new distributor for the program. Cornelius soon secured a deal with Trifecta Media; when Don Cornelius Productions still owned the program, clips of the show's performances and interviews were kept away from online video sites such as YouTube owing to copyright infringement claims. C
Rhythm and blues
Rhythm and blues abbreviated as R&B, is a genre of popular music that originated in African American communities in the 1940s. The term was used by record companies to describe recordings marketed predominantly to urban African Americans, at a time when "urbane, jazz based music with a heavy, insistent beat" was becoming more popular. In the commercial rhythm and blues music typical of the 1950s through the 1970s, the bands consisted of piano, one or two guitars, drums, one or more saxophones, sometimes background vocalists. R&B lyrical themes encapsulate the African-American experience of pain and the quest for freedom and joy, as well as triumphs and failures in terms of relationships and aspirations; the term "rhythm and blues" has undergone a number of shifts in meaning. In the early 1950s, it was applied to blues records. Starting in the mid-1950s, after this style of music contributed to the development of rock and roll, the term "R&B" became used to refer to music styles that developed from and incorporated electric blues, as well as gospel and soul music.
In the 1960s, several British rock bands such as the Rolling Stones, the Who and the Animals were referred to and promoted as being R&B bands. Their mix of rock and roll and R&B is now known as "British rhythm and blues". By the 1970s, the term "rhythm and blues" changed again and was used as a blanket term for soul and funk. In the 1980s, a newer style of R&B developed, becoming known as "contemporary R&B", it combines elements of rhythm and blues, soul, hip hop, electronic music. Popular R&B vocalists at the end of the 20th century included Prince, R. Kelly, Stevie Wonder, Chaka Khan, Whitney Houston, Mariah Carey. In the 21st century, R&B has remained a popular genre becoming more pop orientated and alternatively influenced with successful artists including Usher, Bruno Mars, Chris Brown, Justin Timberlake, The Weeknd, Frank Ocean and Khalid. Although Jerry Wexler of Billboard magazine is credited with coining the term "rhythm and blues" as a musical term in the United States in 1948, the term was used in Billboard as early as 1943.
It replaced the term "race music", which came from within the black community, but was deemed offensive in the postwar world. The term "rhythm and blues" was used by Billboard in its chart listings from June 1949 until August 1969, when its "Hot Rhythm & Blues Singles" chart was renamed as "Best Selling Soul Singles". Before the "Rhythm and Blues" name was instated, various record companies had begun replacing the term "race music" with "sepia series". Writer and producer Robert Palmer defined rhythm & blues as "a catchall term referring to any music, made by and for black Americans", he has used the term "R&B" as a synonym for jump blues. However, AllMusic separates it from jump blues because of R&B's stronger gospel influences. Lawrence Cohn, author of Nothing but the Blues, writes that "rhythm and blues" was an umbrella term invented for industry convenience. According to him, the term embraced all black music except classical music and religious music, unless a gospel song sold enough to break into the charts.
Well into the 21st century, the term R&B continues in use to categorize music made by black musicians, as distinct from styles of music made by other musicians. In the commercial rhythm and blues music typical of the 1950s through the 1970s, the bands consisted of piano, one or two guitars, bass and saxophone. Arrangements were rehearsed to the point of effortlessness and were sometimes accompanied by background vocalists. Simple repetitive parts mesh, creating momentum and rhythmic interplay producing mellow and hypnotic textures while calling attention to no individual sound. While singers are engaged with the lyrics intensely so, they remain cool, in control; the bands dressed in suits, uniforms, a practice associated with the modern popular music that rhythm and blues performers aspired to dominate. Lyrics seemed fatalistic, the music followed predictable patterns of chords and structure; the migration of African Americans to the urban industrial centers of Chicago, New York City, Los Angeles and elsewhere in the 1920s and 1930s created a new market for jazz and related genres of music.
These genres of music were performed by full-time musicians, either working alone or in small groups. The precursors of rhythm and blues came from jazz and blues, which overlapped in the late-1920s and 1930s through the work of musicians such as the Harlem Hamfats, with their 1936 hit "Oh Red", as well as Lonnie Johnson, Leroy Carr, Cab Calloway, Count Basie, T-Bone Walker. There was increasing emphasis on the electric guitar as a lead instrument, as well as the piano and saxophone. In 1948, RCA Victor was marketing black music under the name "Blues and Rhythm". In that year, Louis Jordan dominated the top five listings of the R&B charts with three songs, two of the top five songs were based on the boogie-woogie rhythms that had come to prominence during the 1940s. Jordan's band, the Tympany Five, consisted of him on saxophone and vocals, along with musicians on trumpet, tenor saxophone, piano and drums. Lawrence Cohn described the music as "grittier than his boogie-era jazz-tinged blues". Robert Palmer described it as "urbane, jazz-based music with a heavy, insistent beat".
Jordan's music, along with that of Big Joe Turner, Roy Brown, Billy Wright, Wynonie Harris, is now referred to as jump blues. Paul Gayten, Roy Brown, others had had hits in the style now referred to as rhythm and blu
Alto Reed
Alto Reed is an American saxophonist best known as a long-time member of Bob Seger and the Silver Bullet Band. His most recognizable performances include the saxophone introduction to "Turn the Page" and the saxophone solo in "Old Time Rock and Roll". Reed has recorded the soundtracks for two of Jeff Daniels' films, has performed with many bands and musicians, such as Foghat, Grand Funk Railroad, Little Feat, Otis Rush, Jamie Oldaker, George Terry, Dave Mason, Spencer Davis, Tico Torres, Dan Aykroyd, James Belushi, The Blues Brothers, The Ventures, George Thorogood, Robin Gibb and in Romania with the band Holograf. Having been to a Rock & Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony with Bob Seger & the Silver Bullet Band in 2004, Reed performed with The Ventures in 2008, played at the Waldorf Astoria when the Ventures invited him to perform with them on "Hawaii Five-O", for their own induction into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. Reed and his band, The Blues Entourage, performed at the 2009 Jamaica Jazz and Blues Festival.
One of the members of the band, Steve Thorpe, died in August 2010. The Reed & Dickinson Band has released an album Tonight We Ride, with musicians Jimmy McCarty and Johnny Badanjek, Jimmy Bones, Stephanie Eulinberg, lead guitarist Bobby East, Roger Noonan, Bernie Palo and Jeff Fawlkes. Reed played at Canadian blues festivals including Windsor and London, with his Motor City AllStars, composed of musicians Bernie Palo, Steve Byrnes and vocalist Kathleen Murray and the rhythm section from the'Groove Council'. Reed has toured with Bob Seger and the Silver Bullet Band for 42 years starting with "Back In 72", "Seger 7", "Beautiful Loser", which led up to the Multi-Platinum, break through album, "Live Bullet", "Night Moves", "Stranger In Town", "Against The Wind", "Nine Tonight", "Like a Rock", "The Distance", "The Fire Inside", "A Very Special Xmas" and several more including most "Ride Out". On May 19, 2012, Reed was inducted into the Canadian Blues Hall of Fame in Windsor and headlined at blues festivals across Canada in summer 2012 including London, Ontario, on July 13 and Windsor, Ontario, on July 14, 2012.
Reed performed "The Star-Spangled Banner" before Game 4 of the American League championship series of Major League Baseball on October 12, 2011, before the Thanksgiving Day NFL game between the Detroit Lions and Houston Texans on November 22, 2012. Reed has most performed with Dave Mason, Steven Tyler, Pat Simmons & Michael McDonald, Lynda Carter, Alice Cooper & Band, at the December 31, 2016 New Year's Eve for the Shep Gordon Maui Food Bank Gala in Maui, HI, raising enough money for 300,000 meals and again for the World Whale Watch Day Fundraiser once again in Maui, HI and with Mick Fleetwood at Mick's Lahaina Club and in March 2017 as a Special Guest with Willie K. at the Willie K. Bluesfest on Maui, Hawaii. Official website Alto Reed Presents Reed discography Facebook.com Bobseger.com
Capitol Records
Capitol Records, Inc. is an American record label owned by Universal Music Group through its Capitol Music Group imprint. It was founded as the first West Coast-based record label in the United States in 1942 by Johnny Mercer, Buddy DeSylva, Glenn E. Wallichs. Capitol was acquired by British music conglomerate EMI as its North American subsidiary in 1955. EMI was acquired by Universal Music Group in 2012 and was merged with the company a year making Capitol and the Capitol Music Group both a part of UMG; the label's circular headquarter building in Hollywood is a recognized landmark of California. Capitol's roster includes Katy Perry, Sir Paul McCartney, Mary J. Blige, the Beach Boys, the Beastie Boys, Neil Diamond, Brian Wilson, Avenged Sevenfold, 5 Seconds of Summer, Don Henley, Sam Smith, Migos, NF, Emeli Sandé, Troye Sivan, Calum Scott, Tori Kelly, Jon Bellion, Niall Horan. Songwriter Johnny Mercer founded Capitol Records in 1942 with financial help from songwriter and film producer Buddy DeSylva and the business acumen of Glenn Wallichs, owner of Wallichs Music City.
Mercer raised the idea of starting a record company while golfing with Harold Arlen and Bobby Sherwood and with Wallichs at Wallichs's record store. On February 2, 1942, Mercer and Wallichs met DeSylva at a restaurant in Hollywood to talk about investment by Paramount Pictures. On March 27, 1942, the three men incorporated as Liberty Records. In May 1942, the application was amended to change the company's name to Capitol Records. On April 6, 1942, Mercer supervised Capitol's first recording session where Martha Tilton recorded the song "Moon Dreams". On May 5, Bobby Sherwood and his orchestra recorded two tracks in the studio. On May 21, Freddie Slack and his orchestra recorded three tracks in the studio. On June 4, 1942, Capitol opened its first office in a second-floor room south of Sunset Boulevard. On that same day, Wallichs presented the company's first free record to Los Angeles disc jockey Peter Potter. On June 5, 1942, Paul Whiteman and his Orchestra recorded four songs at the studio. On June 12, the orchestra recorded five more songs in the studio, including "Trav'lin' Light" with Billie Holiday, On June 11, Tex Ritter recorded " Jingle Jangle Jingle" and "Goodbye My Little Cherokee" for his first Capitol recording session, the songs formed Capitol's 110th produced record.
The earliest recording artists included co-owner Mercer, Johnnie Johnston, Morse, Jo Stafford, the Pied Pipers, Tex Ritter, Paul Weston and Margaret Whiting Capitol's first gold single was Morse's "Cow Cow Boogie" in 1942. Capitol's first album was Capitol Presents Songs by Johnny Mercer, a three disc set with recordings by Mercer and the Pied Pipers, all with Weston's Orchestra; the label's other 1940s musicians included Les Baxter, Les Brown, Jimmy Bryant, Billy Butterfield, Nat King Cole, Sammy Davis Jr. Dinning Sisters, Tennessee Ernie Ford, Mary Ford, Benny Goodman, Skitch Henderson, Betty Hutton, Stan Kenton, Peggy Lee, Billy May, Les Paul, Alvino Rey, Andy Russell, Smilin' Jack Smith, Kay Starr, Speedy West, Cootie Williams. Musicians on the Capitol Americana label included Lead Belly, Cliffie Stone, Hank Thompson, Merle Travis, Wesley Tuttle, Jimmy Wakely, Tex Williams. Capitol was the first major west coast label to compete with labels on the east coast such as Columbia, RCA Victor.
In addition to its Los Angeles recording studio, Capitol owned a second studio in New York City and sent mobile recording equipment to New Orleans and other cities. In 1946, writer-producer Alan W. Livingston created Bozo the Clown for the company's children's record library. Examples of notable Capitol albums for children during that era are Sparky's Magic Piano and Rusty in Orchestraville. Capitol developed a noted jazz catalog that included the Capitol Jazz Men and issued the Miles Davis's album Birth of the Cool Capitol released a few classical albums in the 1940s, some of which contained a embossed, leather-like cover; these recordings appeared on 78 rpm format released on the 33 format in 1949. Among the recordings: Brazilian composer Heitor Villa-Lobos' Choros No. 10, with contributions from a Los Angeles choral group and the Janssen Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Werner Janssen. In 1949, Capitol opened a branch office in Canada and purchased KHJ Studios on Melrose Avenue adjacent to Paramount in Hollywood.
By the mid-1950s, Capitol had become a huge company. The label's roster included the Andrews Sisters, Ray Anthony, Shirley Bassey, June Christy, Tommy Duncan, Tennessee Ernie Ford, the Four Freshmen, the Four Knights, the Four Preps, Jane Froman, Judy Garland, Jackie Gleason, Andy Griffith, Dick Haymes, Harry James, the Kingston Trio, the Louvin Brothers, Dean Martin, Al Martino, Skeets McDonald, Louis Prima, Nelson Riddle, Dinah Shore, Frank Sinatra, Keely Smith. Capitol began recording roll acts such as the Jodimars and Gene Vincent. There were comedy records by Stan Freberg, Johnny Standley, Mickey Katz. Children listened to Capitol's Bozo the Clown albums. Although various people played Bozo the Clown on television, Capitol used the voice of Pinto Colvig, the voice of Goofy in Walt Disney cartoons. Don Wilson released children's records. In June 1952, Billboard magazine contained a chronicle of the label's first ten years in business. In 1955, the British record company EMI ended its 55-year mutual distribution
Nine Tonight
Nine Tonight is a live album by American rock band Bob Seger & The Silver Bullet Band, released in 1981. The album was recorded at Cobo Hall in Detroit, Michigan, in June 1980 and at the Boston Garden in Boston, Massachusetts in October 1980. With the exception of three tracks - "Nine Tonight", "Tryin' To Live My Life Without You" and "Let It Rock" - the album is composed of songs drawn from Seger's three previous studio albums. Only "Let It Rock" was repeated from the previous live album Live Bullet. "Tryin' to Live My Life Without You" was a U. S. top 5 pop hit, peaking at #5. The album's title track was recorded for the Urban Cowboy soundtrack album; the 2011 remastered album has a bonus track called "Brave Strangers", released on his 1978 album Stranger in Town. This live version was released as the B-side of the "Tryin' to Live My Life Without You" live single. On release of the 2011 remastered version, fans were disappointed that it did not restore the full 10:30 version of "Let It Rock".
All tracks written except where noted. Track times based upon 2011 remaster. Tracks recorded in Detroit on 15 Jun 1980: 8 & 17 Tracks recorded in Detroit on 16 Jun 1980: 4 & 12 Tracks recorded in Detroit on 19 Jun 1980: 7 & 10 Tracks recorded in Detroit on 20 Jun 1980: 11 & 14 Tracks recorded in Detroit on 21 Jun 1980: 13 Tracks recorded in Boston on 5 Oct 1980: 5 & 9 Tracks recorded in Boston on 6 Oct 1980: 1 & 2 Tracks recorded in Boston on 7 Oct 1980: 3, 6, 15 & 16 Bob Seger - acoustic guitar, electric guitar, vocals Drew Abbott - electric guitar, acoustic guitar Colleen Beaton - vocals Chris Campbell - bass, background vocals Craig Frost - organ, keyboard, clavinet Kathy Lamb - vocals Pamela Moore - vocals Shaun Murphy - percussion, background vocals, harmony vocals Alto Reed - organ, horn, alto saxophone, tenor saxophone David Teegarden - drums, background vocals June Tilton - vocals Album - Billboard Singles - Billboard
