Kraftwerk Box Set in German!!!

Amazing but true. Fed up with hearing Kraftwerk singing their classics in English?

Interestingly, you can order their new digitally remastered Box set of albums on CD from Amazon.de - with Kraftwerk singing in their native German tongue? It's entitled "Kraftwerk - Der Katalog."

Why order the English edition from Amazon.co.uk when you can order the real thing, the way the band was meant to be heard - in German.

Click here to order the German box set of reissues and forever hold your DAF record collection.

http://www.amazon.de/Katalog-German-Box-Set/dp/B002LYC29A/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1256151166&sr=1-1

OMD and Simple Minds Pay Tribute to Kraftwerk

News today broke that OMD and Simple Minds will perform Kraftwerk's 'Neon Lights' which originally appeared on Kraftwerk's 1978 album 'The Man Machine'.

The two British bands will perform the Kraftwerk song on their forthcoming UK tour which starts at the Metro Arena in Newcastle on November 30th.

According the NME.com, OMD will join Simple Minds during their set to perform the Kraftwerk staple. OMD's Andy McCluskey is a big Kraftwerk fantatic and recently appeared on a BBC 4 TV music documentary entitled 'Synth Britannia'.

Both Simple Minds and OMD share a passion for early industrial and electronic German music which includes Neu!, Can and Kraftwerk. Although both bands drew from the German electronic sound, throughout their careers they seemed to follow different paths.

OMD became more of a commercial pop syth band with guitars and lost their original synthetic and minimalistic sound from the early singles 'Electricity' and 'Messages' while Simple Minds veered into the stadium rock arena.

The forthcoming Minds/OMD UK tour promises to recapture the electronic flame that used to burn brightly within the heart of both of these seminal bands, whose lasting influence is quite apparent on a lot of today's sound-a-like bands that include White Lies, Editors and Coldplay.

Europe Back On The Map With Stunning New Album

Sweden's hard rock band, Europe, best known for their 1986 global anthem 'The Final Countdown', have returned with an exhilarating new hard rock album that radiates an energetic blues rock and swagger.

Fans of Deep Purple, Journey, Bon Jovi, Van Halen - run for cover, because believe it or not, this could be the rock and roll album of the year.

Entitled 'Last Look At Eden', the album rips up vintage blues, R&B, hard rock, 70's funkin' rock grooves and merges it together with pounding drums and John Norum's signature guitar riffs.

Vocally, lead singer Joey Tempest exudes masterful tones and a conviction not heard since Robert Planet yelped his hear out with Led Zeppelin. Although the title track 'Last Look At Eden' is a majestic sexy rocker, with the lyric - "I've seen the truth, modified for you... and we just can't buy it," it's the power ballad, 'New Love In Town', that puts Europe back on the map.

'New Love' is a classic power ballad of the highest order. It reminds me of Journey's 'Don't Stop Believin' which has become something of a modern day anthem (thanks to the exposure the song had on the final episode of The Sopranos). 'New Love' is the kind of song Aerosmith and Bon Jovi would kill for. If rock and roll is supposed to be everlasting, this is the song to make it a reality. It’s Europe’s one way ticket to salvation.

With an imminent UK tour in February on the cards, and a whole new generation of hard rock fans looking for a classy return, Europe looks like they around going to be around for another 12 rounds of pure rock and roll mayhem.

The Award-Winning SXSW winners "The Black and White Years" to open for KanYe West and Basement Jaxx at London's Wireless Festival

Austin indie electro dance rockers, The Black and White Years, will make their debut performance in London at the Wireless Festival in Hyde Park. The band is scheduled to play both dates of the two-day festival with headliners Basement Jaxx on July 4th and KanYe West on July 5th.

The Black and White Years were the standout band at 2009's South by Southwest with four outstanding showcases including a performance with Devo, Tricky and Datarock; plus a relentless week that kicked off by winning five major awards at the 27th Annual Austin Music Awards, the ceremony which marks the beginning of the SXSW Music Festival.

When revealing the band's achievement to the capacity audience at the Austin Music Hall, acclaimed journalist and Austin DJ, Andy Langer, who hosted the Austin Music Awards, announced, "The Black and White Years are tonight's big winners with five awards... a SWEEP!"

The Austin, Texas four-piece were presented with SXSW trophies for Best New Band and Best Song for their single, Power to Change, Best Performing Band - Rock and Best Bass Player (John Aldridge). In addition, Jerry Harrison (Talking Heads, Modern Lovers) won the award for Best Producer of the Year for his work on The Black And White Years' eponymous debut album.
Jerry Harrison first saw The Black And White Years' live performance in a parking lot amongst a handful of people during SXSW 2007 and was immediately taken by the quirky arrangements and lyrical themes. Soon after, Harrison produced the band's debut album in Sausalito Sound Studios.

The single, "Power to Change," became a hit song in Austin after the city's key rock station, KROX-FM, added it into full-time rotation after nearly a year of airplay on their weekly new music program, Next Big Thing. The song became one of the station's most requested favorites, while garnering airplay in other U.S. markets, most notably, Albany, were it spent four weeks at #1 on WEQX.

The band has become a fixture in Austin's legendary club scene via its high-energy sets that are true to the "electro-dance-rock" label that has often been used to describe them and the "wild-eyed, compulsive shuddering" performance of lead singer and writer, Scott Butler. The band has also taken this live experience out of the clubs and to the masses, performing at Austin City Limits Music Festival, CMJ Music Marathon, MIDEM, and now, London's Wireless Festival in July.

The album, The Black and White Years, was released nationally in the U.S. in September 2008 through ADA/Adrenaline after gaining momentum over the year as an "Austin-only" release on the Texas-based independent label, Brando Records.

The album is available in the UK on iTunes. A UK edition of their debut album, featuring five brand new tracks, will be released throughout the UK and the rest of Europe in early 2010. Meanwhile, the band is currently recording its second album and planning their first American tour in September.

Todd Rundgren revisits his psychedelic masterpiece: A Wizard, A True Star

It was inevitable. Brian Wilson started the trend a few years ago when he performed the album "Smile" for the very first time. Recently, Van Morrison performed the entirety of "Astral Weeks" to rave reviews, as did Lou Reed with the "Berlin" album last year and the year before that.

So it was only a matter of time until the enigmatic pop raconteur, Todd Rundgren, re-visited his 1973 psychedelic masterpiece "A Wizard, A True Star", and decided to perform its British Premiere at the London HMV Hammersmith Apollo on 6th February 2010.

This is the album that literally defied the law of gravity when it was initially released on an unsuspecting public. The album clocked in almost an hour's worth of running time, and back in those days, vinyl albums, on average, lasted 35 minutes.

But forget about the running time shenanigans, think about the music.

It was insane but melodic, pretty but subversive, poptastic but bombastic, sexy but banal, exciting and futuristic, progressive and intuitive.

At the time, Rundgren encapsulated everything glam rock and prog rock, pop and soul couldn't fathom - a reason to live, and a reason to believe.

From the Technicolor "Zen Archer" to "You Need Your Head", "You Don't Have to Camp Around", "Just One Victory", "Just Another Onionhead", "Never, Never Land" to the essential "International Feel" ("I only want to see if you'll give up on me"), this was the album that made David Bowie do a re-think, and also made every half decent rock star throw the rulebook out the window.

So with great applause, I congratulate the Philly Soul boy for having the sheer guts to dust off the sonic extravaganza and let the new generation of fans get a taste of what they missed out the first time around.

If Empire of the Sun and MGMT really want to trip the light fantastic, this will be the concert that will help them trip the day-glo light fantastique.

Interstellar appeal just got more appealing.

New York Dolls Should Get A Grammy For 'Cause I Sez So

The new album from the New York Dolls - 'Cause I Sez So - continues to fascinate and entertain. The band have release what potentially could be their finest album of their career.

After 36 years since their 1973 debut album, the band have roped in their original producer, Todd Rundgren, to helm the new album. The results are incredible; with some of the best blues and R&B embellished rock and roll songs of their rollercoaster career.

Stand out tracks include 'Cause I Sez So, Ridiculous, My World, Exorcism of Despair, Muddy Bones and a slow bluesy rendition of Trash. So far, this year, there is no other album that comes close to the new Dolls album.

if you love albums like Raw Power by Iggy and the Stooges, Television, the Heartbreakers and Suicide, this album is right up your rock and roll street.

If the Dolls don't get a Grammy nomination for this album, there is no justice.

Oh, and bring back Creem magazine - all is forgiven!!!

With raw photographs of rock's greatest stars and insightful prose by the legendary rock journalists who were stars in their own right, CREEM magazine stood at the forefront of youth counterculture from 1969 to 1988 as "America's Only Rock 'n' Roll Magazine."

A product of Detroit's revolutionary counterculture, CREEM cultivated an incredibly gifted staff of iconoclastic scribes, editors, photographers, and graphic artists whose work continues to resonate today, including: Lester Bangs, Dave Marsh, Richard Meltzer, Nick Tosches, and a not-so-famous Cameron Crowe.

They invented a raucous new form of journalism, where the writing and photographs were as much an expression of rock 'n' roll as the music itself. CREEM embraced and abused the best and the worst of the era: MC5, Led Zeppelin, the Rolling Stones, the Faces, Lou Reed, the Stooges, T.Rex, Kiss, Mott the Hoople, the Who, the New York Dolls, Bob Seger, Ted Nugent, Aerosmith, the Ramones, Cheap Trick, the Clash, and Van Halen, among many others.

Now the Mouth of the Motor City presents a retrospective of the beautiful haze that was rock's golden age—from the end of the hippie days through glam and punk and into '80s metal.

New York Dolls sell out London's 100 Club in 4 minutes

The legendary New York Dolls recently announced a rare, intimate concert at London's celebrated punk rock venue "The 100 Club" on May 14th. The concert coincides with the release of the band's fourth studio album in 36 years - 'Cause I Sez So'.

Tickets went on sale on Tuesday April 4th at 9am, but by 9:04, the show was completely sold out. Apparently UK Dolls fans are not happy. Could this be their only UK show or will there be a full-blown UK tour planned for later in the year?

And what of the new album that reunites the band with their first producer, Todd Rundgren? Make no mistake, the Dolls have not lost their rock and roll bluesy edge on this album. If anything, the new album could very well be their best "sounding" album of their career. What's notable is David Johansen's impeccable vocals and lyrics, but the real highlight is Steve Conte's guitar playing. This guy is really amazing and has been kicking around the circuit for years.

So far, this year, there is no other album that comes close to the new Dolls album. It commands a wild energy, a looseness and a swagger that no other album released this year can ever hope to compete with. What's more, it sounds like a collaborative effort, not just a trademark Rundgren produced album. One wonders if Syl and David locked Todd in a cage, twiddled the knobs on the mixing desk, to get it just like they wanted to.

Somewhere in the tracks you can see the Runt trying to put his all into the overall production. So they meet halfway and come up with the best album of their career. From the title track to 'Muddy Bones', 'Ridiculous', 'Nobody Got No Bizness' and the half-assed slowed down re-hash of 'Trash' - this is an addictive collection of nicotine stained gems that just won't let go.

The Dolls are back with a vengeance.