1.
Parlophone
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Parlophone Limited is a German-British record label that was founded in Germany in 1896 by the Carl Lindström Company as Parlophon. The British branch of the company was formed in 8 August 1923 as The Parlophone Co. Ltd. which developed a reputation in the 1920s as a jazz record label. In 5 October 1926, the Columbia Graphophone Company acquired Parlophones business, name, Columbia Graphophone later merged with the Gramophone Company in 31 March 1931 to become Electric & Musical Industries Limited. George Martin joined EMI in 1950 as assistant label manager, taking over as manager in 1955, Martin produced and released a mix of product including comedy recordings of the Goons, the pianist Mrs Mills, and teen idol Adam Faith. For a long time Parlophone claimed the best-selling UK single She Loves You, peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band, both by The Beatles. The label also achieved placement of seven singles at No.1 during 1964, Parlophone continued as a division of EMI until it was merged into the Gramophone Co. Ltd. on 1 July 1965. On 1 July 1973, the Gramophone Co. Ltd. was renamed EMI Records Limited, on 28 September 2012, regulators officially approved Universal Music Group s planned acquisition of EMI, on condition that its EMI Records Ltd. group would be divested from the combined group. EMI Records Ltd. included Parlophone and other labels to be divested and were for a time operated in a single entity known as the Parlophone Label Group. Warner Music Group later acquired Parlophone and PLG in 7 February 2013, making Parlophone their new third flagship label, alongside Warner Bros. Records, PLG was renamed as the Parlophone Records Limited group in May 2013. Parlophone is now the oldest of WMGs three flagship record labels, Parlophone was founded in Germany in 1896 by the Carl Lindström Company as Parlophon. The name Parlophon had been used for gramophones before the company began making records of their own. The labels ₤ trademark is a German L that stands for its original founder Lindström and it has coincidentally been said to resemble the British pound sign, which itself is derived from the letter L for the Ancient Roman unit of measurement Libra, which means pound in Latin. During World War I, the Transoceanic Trading Company was set up in the Netherlands to look after its overseas assets, on 8 August 1923, the British branch of Parlophone was established, led by artists and repertoire manager Oscar Preuss. Parlophone established a leasing arrangement with the co-owned United States-based record label Okeh Records. The CLPGS has published a list of Parlophone titles issued between the years of 1923 and 1956, in 1927, the Columbia Graphophone Company acquired a controlling interest in the Carl Lindström Company and in Parlophone. In 31 March 1931, Columbia Graphophone merged with the Gramophone Company to form Electric & Musical Industries Ltd, under EMI, Parlophone initially maintained its status as a jazz label. In about 1929 or 1930, the Rhythm Style Series started, besides the Okeh recordings, Parlophone also issued recordings from Columbia Records and Brunswick Records, as well as a few sessions produced at Decca Records. As time went on, the label also released speciality recordings of word and comedy recordings, including the comedy recordings of the Goons and Flanders
2.
Vocoder
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A vocoder is a category of voice codec that analyzes and synthesizes the human voice signal for audio data compression, multiplexing, voice encryption, voice transformation, etc. The decoder applies these control signals to corresponding filters for re-synthesis, since these control signals change only slowly compared to the original speech waveform, the bandwidth required to transmit speech can be reduced. This allows more speech channels to share a single communication channel, by encrypting the control signals, voice transmission can be secured against interception. Its primary use in fashion is for secure radio communication. The advantage of this method of encryption is that none of the signal is sent. The receiving unit needs to be set up in the same filter configuration to re-synthesize a version of the signal spectrum. The vocoder has also used extensively as an electronic musical instrument. The decoder portion of the vocoder, called a voder, can be used independently for speech synthesis, the human voice consists of sounds generated by the opening and closing of the glottis by the vocal cords, which produces a periodic waveform with many harmonics. This basic sound is filtered by the nose and throat to produce differences in harmonic content in a controlled way. There is another set of sounds, known as the unvoiced and plosive sounds, the vocoder examines speech by measuring how its spectral characteristics change over time. This results in a series of signals representing these modified frequencies at any time as the user speaks. In simple terms, the signal is split into a number of frequency bands, thus, the vocoder dramatically reduces the amount of information needed to store speech, from a complete recording to a series of numbers. Information about the frequency of the original voice signal is discarded. It is this aspect of the vocoding process that has made it useful in creating special voice effects in popular music. Analog vocoders typically analyze an incoming signal by splitting the signal into a number of tuned frequency bands or ranges, a modulator and carrier signal are sent through a series of these tuned bandpass filters. In the example of a robot voice, the modulator is a microphone. There are usually between eight and 20 bands, the amplitude of the modulator for each of the individual analysis bands generates a voltage that is used to control amplifiers for each of the corresponding carrier bands. The result is that components of the modulating signal are mapped onto the carrier signal as discrete amplitude changes in each of the frequency bands
3.
Pet Shop Boys
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Pet Shop Boys are an English electronic pop duo, formed in London in 1981 and consisting of Neil Tennant and Chris Lowe. Pet Shop Boys have sold more than 50 million records worldwide, Other hit songs include a cover of Go West, Opportunities and What Have I Done to Deserve This. in a duet with Dusty Springfield. At the 2009 Brit Awards in London, Pet Shop Boys received an award for Outstanding Contribution to Music, in 2016, Billboard magazine named Pet Shop Boys the No.1 Billboard Dance duo/group over the 40 years since the charts inception in 1976. In 2017 the duo received NMEs Godlike Genius Award, Neil Tennant and Chris Lowe met in an electronics shop on Kings Road in Chelsea, London, in August 1981. Recognising a mutual interest in music, they began to work together on material, first in Tennants flat in Chelsea and from 1982. It was during early years that several future hit songs were created, including Its a Sin, West End Girls, Rent. Their big break came in August 1983, when Tennant was assigned by Smash Hits to interview The Police in New York, the duo were obsessed with a stream of Hi-NRG records made by New York producer Bobby Orlando, simply known as Bobby O. According to Tennant, I thought, well, if Ive got to go and see The Police play, in April 1984, the Orlando-produced West End Girls was released, becoming a club hit in Los Angeles and San Francisco. On 2 November, it was voted Screamer of the Week by listeners of Long Island and it was a minor dance hit in Belgium and France, but was only available in the United Kingdom as a 12 import. In March 1985, after negotiations, Pet Shop Boys cut their contractual ties with Bobby O. Hiring manager Tom Watkins, they signed with the London-based Parlophone label, in April, Tennant left Smash Hits and in July, a new single, Opportunities, was released, reaching number 116 in the UK. The B-side to this single, In the Night, later resurfaced, in a remixed version, as the opening track to the duos first remix album, Disco. This version was used as the theme for the UK television series The Clothes Show. Unperturbed by the low position, the band returned to the studio in August to re-record West End Girls with producer Stephen Hague. Released in October 1985, this new version entered the charts at a similarly low position. It was subsequently number one in the United States, Canada, Finland, Hong Kong, Lebanon, Israel, New Zealand and Norway and it remains the most-heard Pet Shop Boys song to date. After the success of West End Girls, Pet Shop Boys released a single, Love Comes Quickly. The single reached number 19 in the UK Singles Chart and was followed by their album, Please
4.
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
5.
Dance Club Songs
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The Dance Club Songs chart is a weekly national survey of the songs that are most popular in U. S. dance clubs. It is compiled by Billboard exclusively from playlists submitted by nightclub disc jockeys who must apply, the current number-one song on the Dance Club Songs chart for the issue dated April 15,2017, is Lick Me Up by Tony Moran and Dani Toro featuring Zhana Roiya. Dance Club Songs has undergone several incarnations since its inception in 1974, originally a top-ten list of tracks that garnered the largest audience response in New York City discothèques, the chart began on October 26,1974 under the title Disco Action. The chart went on to feature playlists from various cities around the country from week to week, Billboard continued to run regional and city-specific charts throughout 1975 and 1976 until the issue dated August 28,1976, when a thirty-position National Disco Action Top 30 premiered. During the first half of the 1980s the chart maintained eighty slots until March 16,1985 when the Disco charts were splintered and renamed, two charts appeared, Hot Dance/Disco, which ranked club play, and Hot Dance Music/Maxi-Singles Sales, which ranked 12-inch single sales. Only Hot Dance Club Songs still exists today and these stations are also a part of the electronically monitored panel that encompasses the Hot 100. Radio airplay is not limited to that counted on the Dance/Mix Show Airplay chart, during this time, Billboard rival publication Record World was the first to compile a dance chart which incorporated club play on a national level. Noted Billboard statistician Joel Whitburn has since adopted Record Worlds chart data from the weeks between March 29,1975 and August 21,1976 into Billboards club play history. For the sake of continuity, Record Worlds national chart is incorporated into both Whitburns Dance/Disco publication as well as the 1975 and 1976 number-ones lists, with the issue dated August 28,1976, Billboard premiered its own national chart and their data is used from this date forward. For the full list of all 100 All Time Top Dance Club Artists, both Enrique Iglesias and Dave Aude are tied with 14 number-ones on the chart, the most among male artists. Iglesias, however, is the male vocalist to accomplish this feat, while Aude is the only producer to achieve this milestone. Four acts have attained thirteen number-one songs, Whitney Houston, Kylie Minogue, Yoko Ono, Kylie Minogue became the first act to have two songs in the top three on March 5,2011. Her song Better than Today was number-one while Higher, a song by Taio Cruz on which Minogue features, was number three, the first 12-inch single made commercially available to the public was Ten Percent by Double Exposure in 1976. The first number one on Billboards Disco Action chart was Never Can Say Goodbye by Gloria Gaynor in 1974, the first number one on Billboards National Disco Action Top 30 was You Should Be Dancing by the Bee Gees in 1976. Beginning with the February 23,1991 issue, the dance chart became song specific, in all scenarios this was due to the tracks being included in film soundtrack albums. In 1978, four tracks from Thank God Its Friday, in 1980, madonna holds the record for the most chart hits, the most top-twenty hits, the most top-ten hits and the most total weeks at number one. The Trammps are the act to replace themselves at number one. The longest running number-ones on the Hot Dance Club Songs chart are Bad Luck by Harold Melvin & the Blue Notes2 in 1975, both entries spent eleven weeks in the top spot
6.
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
7.
Eurobeat
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Eurobeat is either a form of the British dance-pop variant of Eurodisco or Hi-NRG-driven Italo disco music that both developed in 1980s. In the United States, Eurobeat was sometimes marketed as Hi-NRG, Italo disco was often referred to as Eurobeat, probably due to the negative connotations of the word disco in the minds of the United States population in the 1980s. Eurobeat is also related to the Japanese Para Para dance culture as it influences many song. The term Eurobeat was first used in the UK when Ian Levines Eastbound Expressway released their single Youre a Beat in recognition to the tempo of Hi-NRG music emerging from Europe. The majority of Hi-NRG songs tended to be from 124 to 138 BPM whereas the European releases tended to be from 108 to 120 BPM. Many European acts managed to break through under this new recognition, namely the likes of Modern Talking, Bad Boys Blue, Taffy, Eurobeat was also applied to the first hits from the Pet Shop Boys and other UK-based dance music and electropop groups of the time. Those Eurobeat hits had a European beat, topped the UK charts, braun European Top 20 on MTV Europe also aired on MTV USA during summer 1987 to 1989, spreading the UKs Eurobeat sound. But after the summer of 1988, the style lost popularity, with the exception of Kylie Minogue, by the summer of 89 the term Eurobeat was replaced by other labels and the music changed to 90s Eurodance and mostly Euro house. The term Eurobeat was also used only in the UK during 1986–1988, for specific Italian 80s Euro disco imports, such as Sabrina Salerno, Spagna, meanwhile, in Japan in 1985, the term Eurobeat was applied to all continental-European dance music imports. These were mainly Italian and German-produced Italo disco releases and that sound became the soundtrack of the Para Para nightclub culture, that has existed since the early 1980s. Japan experienced Italo disco through the success of the German group Arabesque and this did not prevent the release of two Italo disco-sounding singles in 1985 and 1986, produced and mixed by Michael Cretu. The later solo success of Arabesques lead singer Sandra further introduced this sound to Japan, in Japan, this music is called Eurobeat, Super Eurobeat, and Eurobeat Flash. Despite its European origins, the Eurobeat styles main market has always been Japan and it appeals to open-minded Italo disco fans and some Euro-house fans. Eurobeats sound is its link to its Italo disco origins. These sounds are layered with vocals and natural instruments into complex, in 1998, Bemani, a branch of the video game company Konami made a hit video dance machine, Dance Dance Revolution. The game acquired Eurobeat songs from the Dancemania compilation series from Toshiba EMI, over time, DDR has featured Eurobeat songs on-and-off in their songlists. However, their number has dwindled due to efforts to make DDR more marketable to North American markets. Currently, there has been a push to add more Eurobeat into DDR, most recently with the addition of Super Eurobeat tracks in the latest arcade release, other music games in Konamis lineup feature a large number of Eurobeat tracks, including Beatmania, Beatmania IIDX, and jubeat
8.
EMI
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EMI was a British multinational conglomerate founded in March 1931 and was based in London. At the time of its break-up in 2012, it was the fourth-largest business group and its EMI Records Ltd. group of record labels included EMI Records, Parlophone, Virgin Records and Capitol Records. EMI also had a publishing arm, EMI Music Publishing—also based in London with offices globally. The company was once a constituent of the FTSE100 Index, other members of the Sony consortium include the Estate of Michael Jackson, The Blackstone Group, and Abu Dhabi–owned investment fund Mubadala Development Company. The new vertically integrated company produced sound recordings as well as recording, the companys gramophone manufacturing led to forty years of success with larger-scale electronics and electrical engineering. He was killed in 1942 whilst conducting flight trials on an experimental H2S radar set, post-war, the company resumed its involvement in making broadcasting equipment, notably providing the BBCs second television transmitter at Sutton Coldfield. It also manufactured broadcast television cameras for British television production companies as well as for the BBC, the commercial television ITV companies also used them alongside cameras made by Pye and Marconi. Exports of this piece of equipment were low, however, the company was also for many years an internationally respected manufacturer of photomultipliers. This part of the business was transferred to Thorn as part of Thorn-EMI, in 1958 the EMIDEC1100, the UKs first commercially available all-transistor computer, was developed at Hayes under the leadership of Godfrey Hounsfield, an electrical engineer at EMI. In 1973 EMI was awarded a prestigious Queens Award for Technological Innovation for what was called the EMI scanner. After brief, but brilliant, success in the imaging field, EMIs manufacturing activities were sold off to other companies. Subsequently, development and manufacturing activities were sold off to companies and work moved to other towns such as Crawley. Emihus Electronics, based in Glenrothes, Scotland, was owned 51% by Hughes Aircraft, of California, US and it manufactured integrated circuits electrolytic capacitors and, for a short period in the mid-1970s, hand-held calculators under the Gemini name. Early in its life, the Gramophone Company established subsidiary operations in a number of countries in the British Commonwealth, including India, Australia. Over 150,000 78-rpm recordings from around the world are held in EMIs temperature-controlled archive in Hayes, in 1931, the year the company was formed, it opened the legendary recording studios at Abbey Road, London. During the 1930s and 1940s, its roster of artists included Arturo Toscanini, Sir Edward Elgar, during this time EMI appointed its first A&R managers. These included George Martin, who brought the Beatles into the EMI fold. When the Gramophone Company merged with the Columbia Graphophone Company in 1931, at this point RCA had a majority shareholding in the new company, giving RCA chair David Sarnoff a seat on the EMI board
9.
Very (Pet Shop Boys album)
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Very is the fifth studio album by English electronic duo Pet Shop Boys. It was released in September 1993, nearly two and a years after the duos previous studio album, Behaviour, and the compilation album Discography. Very exhibits one of many turning points the Pet Shop Boys would make to their music, the content and lyrics led to Very being called their coming-out album, since it was during this time that Neil Tennant had publicly discussed his long-rumoured homosexuality. Very has sold more than five million worldwide, and contains five UK singles. After the Performance Tour of 1991, Pet Shop Boys elected to take a break, with that compilation many fans thought they were splitting because 1992 saw no new original works. However, in 1993, Pet Shop Boys came back together and this therefore, by many critics, is considered their Upper album as many thought Behaviour was a downer album. A limited edition of Very was also released as an album titled Very Relentless. The second disc, Relentless, was a dance album containing tracks that are more experimental and instrumental. There were plans to expand upon Relentless in 1994 by releasing the six tracks along with others, making a dance album. The six tracks on Relentless have not been released elsewhere since, the album was reissued in 1996 as a mid-price release, this time in a standard jewel case with a new sleeve showing an image of the original case. Very was re-released on 3 July 2001 titled Very, Further Listening 1992–1994, the re-released version was digitally remastered and came with a second disc featuring B-sides and previously unreleased material. The unreleased songs were recorded during the Very recording sessions, but Tennant, on 9 February 2009, the album was re-released yet again, still remastered, under the title Very, Remastered but this time containing only the 12 original tracks. Following the 2009 re-release, the 2001 2-disc remastered version was deleted and it can only be purchased second-hand or MP3 digital download. Some of the B-sides are also on Alternative, their 1995 album of B-sides, the original release of Very was packaged in a unique orange jewel case with raised bumps, designed by Daniel Weil of Pentagram in London. Very Relentless was similarly unique, with the two CDs housed in card sleeves with both of these housed in a translucent rubber case with raised bumps, in June 2000, Q magazine placed Very at number ninety-one on its list of The 100 Greatest British Albums Ever. The album was included in the book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die. All songs except Go West written by Neil Tennant and Chris Lowe, not the version featured on PopArt. Neil Tennant Chris Lowe Additional Pete Gleadall – programming J. J, with thanks to Graeme Perkins and Jaqueline Pierce – choir on track 121993 interview with Daniel Weil, designer of the Very package
10.
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
11.
Yesterday, When I Was Mad
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Yesterday, When I Was Mad is a single by English synthpop duo Pet Shop Boys released as the fifth and last single from their 1993 album Very. The single peaked at number 13 on the UK Singles Chart, the song was remixed by Jam & Spoon for its single release, among other things removing a compression effect applied to Tennants voice during the verses. The B-sides included a cover of the Noël Coward song If Love Were All, Tennant has said that many of the lines in the song, such as And someone said, Its fabulous youre still around today—youve both made such a little go a very long way. Euroboy, a track written by Neil Tennant and Chris Lowe in the Eurodance mould of such bands as Cappella and Livin Joy, was released as one of the B-sides on Yesterday. It later appeared on the US release of the album Disco 2, the B-side collection Alternative, the track includes Chris Lowe in one of his rare lead-vocals performances, singing through a vocoder. The Boys claimed to have been unaware at the time of release that Euroboy was also the name of a gay pornographic magazine. It was occasionally performed live on the Asian leg of the bands 1994 Discovery tour, Yesterday, When I Was Mad If Love Were All Can You Forgive Her
