Former Spock’s Beard frontman Neal Morse confronts the triumphs and pain of his tenure and ultimate departure in 2002 from the band on Testimony 2. The forthcoming album, to be issued on May 24 by Radiant/Metal Blade, isn’t simply an epic sequel to his initial solo release; in many ways, its grace and striking honesty make Testimony 2 the better record.

Morse has crafted a moving meditation on acceptance, on managing change, on embracing the past even as you move on. And he’s done it without sacrificing anything musically. For all of its underlying messages on faith — a conversion to Christianity precipitated Morse’s decision to go solo — the record remains firmly rooted in the prog-rock tradition, from soaring keyboards to thrilling calculus-equation guitars to classically inspired compositional excursions.

The new set’s emotional crest can be found on “Crossing Over,” a track that focuses on his split with Spock’s Beard, before revisiting the album’s opening theme. Rather than descend into easy melancholy, though, Morse seems to genuinely relish those times. The tune, at first, plays like an idyllic memory, a quiet reverie.

But Morse goes on to reference a life-changing personal struggle – confiding, quietly, that God “gave me a new heart, just like my daughter.” Her miraculous healing from a birth defect, Morse says, led him to a renewed focus on his faith. As deeply as he so clearly cared for his former bandmates, Morse can’t escape – doesn’t want to, really – the voice calling him elsewhere. “I can’t describe how hard it was,” Morse admits, “or how much we loved each other. But to go on, I must surrender the fullness of my life. I will love you forever, but I must say goodbye.”

Looking back now, almost a decade later, he sounds utterly at peace — no easy thing. It’s hard not to feel a communal joy.

Testimony 2 features Mike Portnoy on drums and vocals, and Randy George on bass. Morse is also joined by members of Spock’s Beard, including Nick D’Virgilio, Alan Morse and Dave Meros, on “Time Changer,” a tune that celebrates his former band’s early successes. Guitarist Steve Morse is showcased on a three-song cycle that makes up all of the second disc. A special-edition package will also include a DVD on the making of album.

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Stevie Nicks is, I’ve always thought, one of those ingredients that only tastes completely right in concert with other things. Those things being the rest of Fleetwood Mac in general — and, more specifically, Lindsey Buckingham.

Sure, she’s had her own hits, away from the band. And, at one point, Nicks had almost constructed a cottage industry out of duets with people who were, in fact, not Lindsey Buckingham — from Tom Petty to Kenny Loggins to Don Henley. Each of those projects has succeeded, to admittedly varying degrees, in attracting notice from the record-buying public.

But they never could mimic the recipe of finish-their-sentence symbiosis, not to mention revenge-screw sexual tension, found in her best work with Buckingham.

Same here, despite a gristly new attitude in the songwriting and the presence of the really very talented Dave Stewart of the Eurythmics. In Your Dreams, the long-awaited follow-up to 2001′s Trouble in Shangri-La and first major work she’s done since Fleetwood Mac’s mid-2000s project, arrives on store shelves today. And despite the wait, it only serves to reteach this lesson.

Nicks brought along some old notes to her sessions with Stewart, and they co-wrote seven of the new disc’s 13 songs while recording at a house Nicks owns in Los Angeles. The results, to be fair, include a number of things that feel brand new, or at least like friends we haven’t seen in some time. This crunchy sexuality just bursts out of “Wide Sargasso Sea”; there’s a pissy little swirl of venom about “Ghosts Are Gone,” and a Beatle-ish orchestral sweep on “Italian Summer.” Most of it, too, finds her diving headlong into a choppy, thrillingly Dylanesque cadence, something that’s always sounded like a fight’s about to break out. Wait, a tough-talking Stevie Nicks? Utterly unexpected from a singer who for so long has crafted this faux-spook persona as a witchy woman.

Still, Nicks’ old band hangs like a cloud over the proceedings. Remember the part about the old notes? Two of the cuts on In Your Dreams, “Secret Love” and “Moonlight,” began as fragments during Fleetwood Mac’s triumphal mid-1970s period — and “Love,” the initial single, in particular, speaks to that soapy time in the group’s history, when friends became lovers who then became exes. (Mick Fleetwood, in a moment that’s almost too on the nose, appears in the video.) “Soldiers Angel” subsequently finds Nicks singing again with Lindsey, her original lover in the band.

So, while much has changed, not everything has. Nicks, it’s made clear over the course of the record, is no longer looking for something so sweeping as love ever after, just something that works. In pairing with Stewart — who provides some absorbing production touches, not to mention an oakenly barren duet vocal on “Cheaper than Free” — she’s found that. Yet, while the work with Stewart is interesting, something significantly more uncomplicated and thus more direct than the work either with Fleetwood or (in particular) Buckingham, that doesn’t make it better.

“Angel,” where Nicks’ voice interwines once more with Buckingham’s, then is pushed along by the clarion crinkle of his guitar — like an angry, insistent banjo, if there is such a thing — well, it’s still the most remarkable thing here. For all of the years that have gone by since they first met, for all of the years that they have spent apart, for the many things they have done for and to one another, for all of things that shouldn’t still be there in their collaborations, there is simply nothing on In Your Dreams that matches the hard-eyed truths — and the very real mystery — of this song.

In my dreams? They’re at work right now on Buckingham Nicks II.

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With a piano signature that mimics rain water trickling from a downspout, and an easy-going, almost confidential delivery that sounds like a softer Toad the Wet Sprocket (or a tougher Gin Blossoms?), P.J. Pacifico’s “Waiting” couldn’t seem more confectionary. At first, anyway.

Though his subject matter seems firmly ensconced in the golden crushes of summer, he sings like autumn, a fragile brown leaf tumbling end over end. Sure, there’s a youthful longing, but this tale of hoped-for passion doesn’t feel like the sweaty urgency of August, so much as the warm scratch of an old blanket on that first cool October night — something you pull close knowing it will take a while to warm up.

With “Waiting,” and really the bulk of his forthcoming CD Outlet (due June 7 on Viper Records), I’m struck by Pacifico’s willingness to be still. It reminds me of early Paul Simon, and his songs share the same gentle portent. There is, on the surface, a limitless innocence — “friendship first is the real prize,” Pacifico says of this young relationship — but underneath that, you hear real doubt. There remain the possibilities of darker outcomes.

“What is this before us?” Pacifico sings, later. “I guess I felt it since I first melted into you: You and I should begin. I’ll get around to telling you. I’m just waiting for the right time.”

Why wait? Well, that’s where the trepidation comes in. Unspoken, as T Bone Stone’s keyboard begins running past again in rivulets, is just why. But I think I have an idea. Though the details are different for everyone, I’m sure you do, too. It makes for a terrific piece of songwriting, the things not said.

In finding the tender disquiet between desire and fear, in accepting that feeling as its own place — rather than a signpost to be rushed past — Pacifico imbues “Waiting” with a welcome tension.

It’s not as sweet as it sounds at first. But then, nothing is, right?

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John Oates has always been more than the Other Guy in Hall and Oates. In fact, the mustachioed one co-wrote half of H&O’s six Billboard No. 1 songs, including “Out of Touch,” “I Can’t Go For That (No Can Do)” and “Maneater.” That’s to say nothing of his writing contributions to memorable sides like “Sara Smile,” “Adult Education,” “How Does It Feel To Be Back,” “You Make My Dreams” and “She’s Gone.” Oates even co-wrote and sang backup on Icehouse’s 1987 Top 10 hit “Electric Blue,” before starting a low-key parallel career on his own.

While personal efforts like 2002′s Phunk Shui and 2008′s 1000 Miles of Life were well received, neither garnered the critical praise and broad attention afforded his newest project, the gritty, cool-rocking Mississippi Mile, issued in April on PS Records/Elektra Nashville. He stopped by for an SER Sitdown to talk about the new album, as well as key moments from his career with Daryl Hall, the Temptations, Todd Rundgren and, yeah, the blues …

Nick DeRiso: You’re so closely associated with the Philly soul sound, yet the new album goes further back — all the way to the Mississippi Delta. What got you to thinking about those old songs?
John Oates: It’s really an autobiography of the musical influences and artists and songs, the guitar players and singers who made me want to be a musician way before I met Daryl. When you’re doing music like this, it has to be real. It has to be done in a certain way, starting with the recording technique. It was essentially a live album. What you are hearing with those vocals is exactly what I sang while we were cutting the tracks. I had never done that before. I had sung some pilot vocals, just to get through the track — then we would go back and redo the vocal. That’s always been the approach. But on this one, we kept the raw vocals. Really, it was what I wanted. It’s so real and so rough, and so unpolished. It suits the material. That’s what the whole album is about.

DeRiso: There is an intimacy surrounding Mississippi Mile, something so different from your late-career stuff with Daryl. That first- or second-take feel, almost like a jam session, seemed more in keeping with the group’s sound on 1973′s Abandoned Luncheonette.
Oates: Definitely. Abandoned Luncheonette was recorded in the same manner. We had great musicians sitting in a room, and when the track was done, you were done. That’s how music was made in those days. I felt it was essential that we did it that way again. Having the quality of musicians that we did, they are so amazing that it was effortless. The music just happened. It was pretty magical.

[ONE TRACK MIND: Tomorrow, John Oates talks about signature tracks from Hall and Oates and his solo career, including “She’s Gone,” “How Does It Feel To Be Back,” and a new take on “You Make My Dreams.”]

DeRiso: After a string of No. 1 hits in the 1980s, you seemed to come full circle, making a series of celebrated appearances with Eddie Kendrick and David Ruffins at Live Aid, the MTV Awards and on the legendary Apollo stage. What was it like to introduce the Temptations’ music to a new generation of listeners?
Oates: It was very important for Daryl and I to honor those guys, to bring those guys back — because they were so important to us. A lot of contemporary musicians, going into the early 2000s, kind of eschewed being associated with older artists. They thought it didn’t make them look hip. But these days, that’s changing. I’ve played with moe, and with Umphrey’s Magee. This summer, I’m doing shows with the Avett Brothers, too. The fact that those guys would put me on a show, it’s really interesting. It’s the way I thought when I was young. I was honored to have the Temptations playing with me. We really did come full circle. It’s cool and healthy for music in general, that bands are willing to make that kind of commitment again.

DeRiso: Your ’74 album War Babies, an experimental project produced by Todd Rundgren, was underrated from the start. I hear some of the edgier elements of your sound for the first time, things that will one day come together to form an artistic breakthrough around the time of Voices in 1980.
Oates: The record company was definitely shocked coming off of Abandoned Luncheonette, but it was really an indication of the kind of people that Daryl and I are. We were very experimental. If you take War Babies and Abandoned Luncheonette and put them together, that’s what we were able to do in the 1980s when we had so much success. That all became part of the palette that allowed us to make those hits. Although War Babies was not commercial, it was another step in expanding our musical scope — another step toward encompassing all of these styles. If there was a negative, it was that Todd Rundgren’s personal stamp was maybe too obvious. That was the mark of what he did in those days; everything Todd did sounded like Todd.

[‘MISSISSIPPI MILE’: John Oates growls and stomps through a country-inflected, grease-popping new record, featuring songs from Chuck Berry, the Coasters, Mississippi John Hurt, Curtis Mayfield and others.]

DeRiso: Your image in the 1980s was defined by a long-gone mustache. The online series “J.Stache” from the comedy Web site funnyordie.com seems to acknowledge that, even while poking fun at it.
Oates: That came from our publishing company. They are always looking for unique ways to promote the Hall and Oates musical catalog. Some people think it’s pretty funny. The mustache (voiced by comic Dave Attell) is definitely the villain in the cartoon. (Laughs.)

DeRiso: You continued to work with the late bassist T-Bone Wolk, who died in February 2010, even into your solo career. Describe what he meant to the Hall and Oates sound.
Oates: We made a joke all the time, but it wasn’t a joke: He was the ampersand in Hall and Oates. It was true. From the time T Bone joined our band in 1980, he grew as a musical force and a collaborator until he eventually became our musical director. The respect was always there. When you hear him play, there was no doubt he was head and shoulders above everybody else. Even before he passed away, when I was playing something, in the back of my mind I would say: How would T Bone do it? He’s the yardstick. I’ve never been around a better musician than him, on any level. He had the technical ability; he had everything. His references were so deep. He could integrate them into everything he did.

DeRiso: A spate of late-career awards — the BMI lifetime award for songwriting, and a Music Icon award at last month’s TV Land Awards — seem to point to a reevaluation of the Hall and Oates phenomenon. Do you think you guys are finally getting your due?
Oates: I think it’s great. It’s great to have a younger generation become acquainted with us, to rediscover our music. Really, in the end, if the music didn’t hold up, though, all of that wouldn’t happen. It would all just be a novelty. The genuine interest we’ve earned lately is because the songs resonate.

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Worship BG – He Is Lord


Image by bemky
Design based on a graphic on Creative MYK (link)

***FREE DONWLOAD FOR WORSHIP***

This background is an original piece that we created for worship at Longview Christian Church. Most of the time, we modify already created backgrounds, but this one we created from scratch.

**Please feel free to download and use for your own worship purposes. The only thing that we ask is that they be used in worship situations. If you would like to use otherwise please ask. Thanks!

He Is Lord by Ben Ehmke is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License.Permissions beyond the scope of this license may be available at http://www.bemky.com.

Country Music Singer Billy Arnold’s first national release off of his debut album, “Do You Remember”. Available worldwide on October 13th, 2009! Directed by: Dan Grumley Produced by: LAG Records or 4Lancemusic (A Subsidary of Event Technologies ) Co-Produced By: Mike Hamburger Edited by: LastCut.com Staring: Billy Arnold & Chasta Freeman Videography : Mike Hamburger Stage Hand & Scarf Guy : Charlie Make Up Artist: Find out more about Billy at: www.billyarnoldmusic.net
Video Rating: 4 / 5

plain-wrap–album-art-alt


Image by j@ys0n
Album art from an upcoming album, “Plain Wrap”, by Jay Perris ( jayperris.com )

Walk Tall (feat. Paul Simon)

First, before you even set out to sell your music online , determine if your music has selling power. Do you really believe that people will want to buy your music online. Selling your music online is very hard work. Ask yourself if you have a reality check as to whether or not you will sell big or nothing at all., because the reality is that some people do make it rich selling music online, while others don’t make anything, but typically people make in between. It is important to know that the internet is not a quick and easy way to success. Selling your music online is very competitive, so know for sure that you want to invest the time and money in doing so before you set out. Then, once you decide to begin selling your music online , it can be a very daunting task to try to make yourself and your music stand out.

With so many people using the internet all the time and an infinite number of websites to visit, merely creating your own website for selling your music online is not enough. Sales are typically not just going to roll in over night, you must decide to work very hard to market your business. In order to sell your music online , you must have a quality product and market it properly. Determine what is unique about your music and what type of people generally listen to and buy your music. Are there other music artists that people might compare your music or style to. This comes to the main question of just who is your target customer, what kind of information might they be looking for online, and just how can you get them to visit your website.

If you can figure out how to solve these questions, then you might just be on your way to making a steady income by selling your music online . If you are determined to sell you music online , then you will probably be just fine, but be aware that it may take a little while until you can really establish yourself selling your music online. You are not only competing with other musicians, like you a musician would typically be doing, but when you decide to sell your music online, you are now also competing with all of the other people trying to sell music online . You are essentially competing with other websites. So, remember to really use an inquisitive eye when looking at your particular group and music, in order to determine what sets your music a cut above the rest. This is of utmost importance when trying to be successful at selling your music online .

Top 10 Free Albums of 2010


Image by ‘Lil
here: djaubrey.tumblr.com/post/2573003640/top-10-free-albums-of…
all albums available for free download. (compiled by DJ Aubrey Beardsley)