5.29.14 Adam on Postmodern Music, Bryon Cooke Interview

Source of image in banner: @grrrr_girl : LOL This picture!!!! Adam us in museum? pic.twitter.com/AfIgJksL9L







Adam Lambert on Queen, Pharrell.. & New Material!
Published on May 28, 2014

Q3 note: If you haven’t listened to this interview, I recommend it. It is fun and Adam explains at bit about “postmodern music”. You may recall Adam already reveal that his album would be a “postmodern affair”.

In the lead up to the 2014 Queen Australian tour, Adam Lambert catches up with his mate Byron Cooke!

youtu.be/YPH0dK8T0Nw

Promo Tweet:

“@byroncooke: #MusicGeek with @adamlambert is HERE! Adam & I talk @queenwillrock Aussie tour, @pharrell....& his NEW ALBUM! www.youtube.com/watch?...



Adam Lambert takes on the haters,
promising Queen tour will be ‘one hell of a show’
• Cameron Adams National music writer
• News Corp Australia
• May 28, 2014 10:00PM

ADAM Lambert has a simple message to the haters who have a problem with him fronting a reformed Queen on tour: stay home.

“There were a few negative whispers the first time I did shows with Queen,” Lambert says.


Adam Lambert performing with Queen.

“If I focused on that what would be the point? If there’s somebody out there that feels really strongly that this isn’t the same Queen then don’t come.

“But if you don’t come you’re going to miss one hell of a show.

“Obviously at the start I was apprehensive of what I was about to do,” Lambert adds.

“Freddie Mercury was one of my heroes. There will only ever be one Freddie Mercury. There’s no comparing. I can’t get close to some of the things he did.


Queen & Adam Lambert

youtu.be/EEHxRRtV8pg

“But it’s not necessarily about that to me. It’s about getting on stage and singing amazing music and continuing the legacy of the band.”

This week Lambert puts his third album on hold to head to London to start intensive rehearsals with Queen’s guitarist Brian May and drummer Roger Taylor for a US and Australian tour.

After auditioning for American Idol with Queen’s Bohemian Rhapsody, he wound up performing with the Queen duo on the show.


Singer and American Idol finalist Adam Lambert in Sydney.

That led to his first gig fronting Queen in Kiev in June 2012. It was a trial by fire.

“There were 250,000 people there,” Lambert recalls. “That’s the biggest audience I’ve ever been in front of. I remember thinking how surreal it was — how did this happen? The rush I felt with Brian and Roger in that moment was priceless. I’ll never forget that.”

There’s been a handful of TV and radio showcase performances since, but Lambert said the opportunity for a full tour with Queen was one he’d regret later in life if he turned it down.

“It’s such an honour and a great experience to be on stage and singing these amazing tunes and getting to connect with new fans. I could never pass it up. It’s very nostalgic.

“No, it’s not going to be the same as it was when Freddie was alive. None of us expect it to be, but it’s a lot of fun and we have a great time on stage. We laugh a lot, the audiences we’ve performed before loves it. That’s what it comes down to; it’s about celebrating the band.”

Back on Idol, Lambert was often compared to Mercury, as much for his flamboyance as well as his vocal prowess and stage persona.

2014 tour press conference

youtu.be/APKDf0GYeh0

“Me out front of Queen does feel like a pretty good fit,” Lambert admits. “What really resonates with me is that Queen is known for the theatrics, the music, some of it is very dramatic, lots of big melodies, very grand.

“That’s part of my DNA coming from the theatre world, some of the stuff people have seen me do over the years is also theatrical and over the top. The music is fun to step into. The catalogue isn’t just that. What’s genius about Queen and a testament to how musical and creative they were is that they went in and out of a bunch of different styles and made it work. That to me is really exciting, to get on stage and sing all these different vibes.”


Adam Lambert on stage with Queen.

Lambert says the new Queen tour will include all the band’s biggest hits, including two he notes are the most difficult for him to sing.

“The ones that are most challenging are the big power ballads like Who Wants to Live Forever and The Show Must Go On. They feel like they take it out of you because emotionally they’re very intense, they’re just big. Bohemian Rhapsody is quite a work out, for sure. But not as hard as those other two.”

With 50-per-cent of the original line-up (bassist John Deacon is retired), Lambert admits it’s hard to move beyond being just the world’s most authentic Queen tribute act.


Adam Lambert says Freddie Mercury was one of his heroes.

“It’s a balancing act,” he says. “If you go too far away from the original it’s a little indulgent. But if I got up there and just copied Freddie I feel that’d be disrespectful to him.

“If I can’t quite figure out where the balance is I look (at) what the emotional intention of the song is, what were they trying to say with this lyric, what are they trying to make the audience feel. When you boil it down to that it’s not as hard as it sounds.


Adam Lambert on the red carpet for a Britney Spears event in Las Vegas.

“Plus I’ve got Brian and Roger on either side of me, I can ask them ‘Did that sound good, should I try something different?’.

“Freddie was so many different things — a great vocalist, a great showman and an amazing songwriter. I do my best interpreting the songs with the original intent. Brian and Roger are the icons here; I look to them for a lot of guidance.”

The 32-year-old has also done some intensive Freddie research, adding to pre-existing knowledge from growing up loving Queen.

“I’m one to really dive into the whole world when I do something. I’ve watched countless documentaries about Freddie; I’ve asked questions of Roger and Brian. It makes it feel more real, I’m creating a world for myself to exist in on stage.

“I can watch a DVD of Queen in Montreal and listen to the interesting things they did musically that might be different to the record. There are so many ins and outs; it’s a real challenge and a treat.”

Lambert is also living the fantasy of most music fans — getting to front one of his favourite bands. He’s even throwing his favourite obscure Queen song, Dragon Attack (“it’s so funky and minimal”) into the mix when they start working out the tour set list.


Adam Lambert was in Sydney in 2010 to be the closing act at the Mardi Gras Party.

“I realise how lucky I am,” Lambert says. “The stories Brian and Roger tell are priceless. They come from a time when rock and roll was legend. There are myths and stories they were involved in. This is before we had photos of everything and Instagram and Twitter. It’s like folklore. That’s what makes classic rock so romantic, and Queen are the crown jewels of that for me.”

Lambert is tight-lipped about his third solo album. He left his post-Idol deal with Sony (they’ll release a compilation of his work with them shortly) after they wanted him to make a covers album.

Ironically he’s putting his new originals album on hold to sing covers with Queen. He won’t reveal details of his new label but says his new music will “surprise and impress people — some of it is unexpected, which I love”.

However there is a chance he may write with his Queen band mates.

“It could happen,” Lambert says. “This will be the longest we’ve spent together so I’m sure we’ll get to the point where we want to do something creative. Now we know the show let’s do something new. It could happen.


Adam Lambert performs a free gig at Federation Square in Melbourne in 2012.

“The best thing about working with Brian and Roger on this tour is that they certainly don’t need to do it, they’re choosing to. That feels good. It’s a natural thing that came together to bring these songs back to life.”

Queen with Adam Lambert play Perth Arena August 22, Allphones Arena Sydney August 26, Rod Laver Arena Melbourne August 29 and 30 and Brisbane Entertainment Centre on September 1. Tickets from Ticketek.

Link: mobile.news.com.au/entertainment/music/adam-lambert-takes-on-the-haters-promising-queen-tour-will-be-one-hell-of-a-show/story-e6frfn29-1226934223899



Avicii’s Showcases “Lay Me Down” For His “True” Tour Documentary
by Chris Wood on May 28, 2014



The native to Sweden Dj and producer, Avicii, has over the years of his career in the Electronic music scene charted within the top five billboard spots, conservatively, three times. We’ve seen “Hey Brother” and “Wake Me Up‘ reign over the competition holding on to number one and two positions consecutively for weeks at a time, and it’s an on going tradition. This ex-bedroom producer has gauged success through a plethora of endeavors in the music industry ultimately placing him respectfully ranked as a icon in the scene even when matched against some of the forefathers.

With such an upbeat persona and demeanor in his person and also portrayed in his music, it is no suspicion as to why Avicii has had such global success in this booming market. Like his latest single release off of Tim’s newest album, “True“, “Lay Me Down” meshes a pop vocalist that has been buzzing about ever since his appearance on the eighth season of American Idol, Adam Lambert, and recent guitar collaborator on Daft Punk’s album, Nile Rodgers. The three in accordance with each another produced such an exhilarating song comprised of both piercing and powerful vocals from Lambert, groovy guitar rifts from Rodgers and while taking into account that at the end of the day an “electronic dance music” genre label was slapped on the front of this record, Avicii ties all the puzzles pieces together by infusing his EDM roots we’ve come to love.

Now “Lay Me Down” is an older track but the “True tour” is in full swing and just a few days ago, a music video slash documentary for the tour was uploaded onto Avicii’s official Youtube page. Showcasing the track and a performance in Tim’s homeland, the video takes an aerial view around the auditorium as balloons and lasers fill that defined space with upwards of 50,000 Swedes dancing their hearts out.

If you liked the song, you’re going to enjoy the video! Give it a watch below and let us know what you think!

youtu.be/ISiGtxsN5d0

Link: www.youredm.com/2014/05/28/aviciis-showcases-lay-true-tour-documentary/




The 2014 Queen + Adam Lambert Tour Countdown


#21 “Keep Yourself Alive” (1973)
Written by Brian May.
Released as a single on July 6, 1973 (UK), October 9, 1973 (US) and as the first track on Queen July 13, 1973 (UK), September 4, 1973 (US).

This is Queen’s first release.

“Keep Yourself Alive” is the opening track on Queen (1973). It was released as Queen's first single with "Son and Daughter" as the B-side. The track length was edited for release in the US, from 3:47 to 3:30. Both the UK and the slightly shorter US version of "Keep Yourself Alive" were largely ignored and failed to chart anywhere.

A promotional version of the single was issued in 1973 for radio station play with "Keep Yourself Alive" on side one (stereo mix) and "Keep Yourself Alive" on side two (mono mix). It was largely ignored everywhere. According to Queen biographer Mark Hodkinson, although on "five separate occasions EMI's pluggers attempted to secure it space on [Britain's Radio 1] play list", they were denied each time, reportedly because the record "took too long to happen". "Keep Yourself Alive" remains the only Queen single not to have charted in the UK.

The single received mixed reviews from the British music press. New Musical Express praised the "cleanly recorded" song, as well as the "[g]ood singer", and quipped that if Queen "look half as good as they sound, they could be huge". The reviewer for Melody Maker felt that Queen "[made] an impressive debut with a heavily phased guitar intro and energetic vocal attack"; however, he thought the song to be unoriginal, and unlikely to become a hit. On the other hand, Disc magazine's critic believed the single "should do well". The review praised "Keep Yourself Alive"'s drum solo, as well as its "attractively stilted, vaguely Hendrix-y lead riff". The South Yorkshire Times rated the single as "good"; the newspaper predicted that "if this debut sound from Queen is anything to go by, they should make very interesting listening in the future." In his album review of Queen for Rolling Stone magazine, Gordon Fletcher hailed "Keep Yourself Alive" as "a truly awesome move for the jugular".

Retrospectively, "Keep Yourself Alive" is cited as the highlight of Queen's superb debut album. Stephen Thomas Erlewine of Allmusic wrote that while Queen "too often . . . plays like a succession of ideas instead of succinct songs", "[t]here is an exception to that rule — the wild, rampaging opener 'Keep Yourself Alive,' one of their very best songs".

In 2008, Rolling Stone rated the song thirty-first on its list of "The 100 Greatest Guitar Songs of All Time". The magazine dubbed "Keep Yourself Alive" as "Brian May's statement of purpose: a phalanx of overdubbed guitars crying out in unison, with rhythm and texture from over-the-top effects. . . . an entire album's worth of riffs crammed into a single song."


Background


According to Mark Hodkinson, author of Queen: The Early Years, "Keep Yourself Alive" was conceived on acoustic guitars during Queen's practice sessions at Imperial College and the garden at Ferry Road in 1970. At the time Queen had not yet found a permanent bassist; the group consisted of guitarist Brian May, singer Freddie Mercury and drummer Roger Taylor. In a radio special about their 1977 album News of the World, Brian said he had penned the lyrics thinking of them as ironic and tongue-in-cheek, but their sense was completely changed when Freddie sang them.

The first version of "Keep Yourself Alive" was recorded in summer 1971 at De Lane Lea Studios. It was produced by Louie Austin and includes the intro played on Brian's Hairfred acoustic guitar. All of the song elements were already present, including call-and-response vocals by Freddie (verses) and during the break, where Roger sang a line and Freddie answered it. This demo version remains Brian's favorite take of the song.

Q3 note: This is an essential……

Keep Yourself Alive (De Lane Lea Demo)

youtu.be/V1ykD1kbIb4

Subsequently they did several attempts to "recapture the magic" when they went on to do the "real" version at Trident Studios. The one mixed by Mike Stone was the only one moderately accepted, and it's the one released as single. It includes Freddie doing all of the harmony vocals in the chorus (multi-tracking himself) and Brian singing the "two steps nearer to my grave" line instead of Freddie (who did it live and in earlier versions). This recording does not use acoustic guitar; the printed transcription on EMI Music Publishing's Off the Record' sheet music lists at least seven electric guitar parts, one of which uses a prominent phasing effect. It can also be noted that this recording includes the line "Come on and get it, get it, get it boy, keep yourself alive," which was not in the original version.


A third version of the song also exists; the so-called "Long-Lost Retake", recorded in 1975, was originally intended for an American single release and features what could now be considered a more 'traditional' Queen sound, with tight, layered vocals and extensively overdubbed guitar parts. However, a slightly shortened version of the original UK single version was eventually released in the US, and the Long-Lost Retake remained officially unreleased until the 1991 Hollywood Records US-only remastered version of the band's debut album, and again later on the 2011 2-disc remaster of A Night At The Opera.

Keep Yourself Alive [Long-lost Retake]

Album: A Night At The Opera (2011 Deluxe Edition, Disc 2)
Year: 1975 (2011 Re-issue)

youtu.be/LPUbiqD4L5o


Personnel

Musicians:
Freddie Mercury - lead and backing vocals
Brian May - guitars, backing vocals
John Deacon - bass guitar
Roger Taylor - drums, tambourine, backing vocals

Produced by: Queen, Roy Thomas Baker, and John Anthony


Releases

Albums:
Queen, 1973
Live Killers, 1979
Queen At The Beeb, 1989
Classic Queen, 1992
Queen At The BBC, 1995 USA
Queen Rocks, 1997

Singles:
Keep Yourself Alive, 1973 A-side
Keep Yourself Alive, 1975 A-side (reissue)
Now I'm Here, 1976 Japanese B-side
The Show Must Go On, 1991 B-side
Heaven For Everyone, 1995 CD single

Alternate Versions:
US 7" Edit (3:29)
De Lane Lea Original Demo (3:40)
BBC Sessions (05.02.1973) (3:51)
BBC Sessions (25.07.1973) (3:40)
Long Lost Re-take (4:05)
Long Lost Re-take Edit (Acetate promo only) (3:29)
Karaoke Instrumental Edit (3:15)
Karaoke Instrumental (Unreleased)

Compilations:
21 Years of Alternative Radio 1, CD, 1988
Harley-Davidson Cycles: Road Songs, Vol. 2, CD, 1998
Forever Changing: The Golden Age of Elektra 1963-1973, CD, 2006


“Keep Yourself Alive” Live

The newly formed Queen quickly added "Keep Yourself Alive" to their live set. Mercury commented that the song "was a very good way of telling people what Queen was about in those days" (RAM, May 21, 1976, p 17). Indeed, the number included a drum solo by Roger and one line sung/spoken by him.

"Keep Yourself Alive" was part of the band's live set until the early 1980s. On the 1980 and 1981 tours, the band would play an improvisational jam before the start of the song then after the drum solo, it would morph into Roger’s tympani drum solo followed by Brian's echo-plexed guitar solo spot before either segueing into the "Brighton Rock" finale or a drum and guitar climax or segued into a Flash Gordon medley (which consisted of "Battle Theme"/"Flash's Theme"/"The Hero"). The band would not play it again until 1984 on The Works tour as part of a medley of old songs (with "Somebody to Love", "Killer Queen", "Seven Seas of Rhye", and "Liar").


In live performances, Freddie would often sing the line "all you people keep yourself alive" (which is sung only two times in the studio version) in place of the more-repeated line "it'll take you all your time and a money honey you'll survive".

There are many, many, many recordings of KYA, but these are three very interesting ones....

“Keep Yourself Alive” Live At The Hammersmith, December 24, 1975

youtu.be/giPMOUecBrs


“Keep Yourself Alive” Live In Rio. 1985

youtu.be/3Ay0MBP048M


Queen + Adam Lambert “Keep Yourself Alive” Hammersmith, July 12, 2012

Q3 note: The audio on this is not the best but the video is great, a fan edit, multicam.

youtu.be/2f6IHFoe9P0


“Keep Yourself Alive” Lyrics

Keep Yourself Alive - Lyrics (1973) HQ

This is the UK single and Queen album track version.

youtu.be/XodjCZhPMhM

Keep Yourself Alive

I was told a million times
Of all the troubles in my way
Tried to grow a little wiser
Little better every day
But if I crossed a million rivers
And I rode a million miles
Then I'd still be where I started
Bread and butter for a smile
Well I sold a million mirrors
In a shop in Alley Way
But I never saw my face
In any window any day
Well they say your folks are telling you
To be a superstar
But I tell you just be satisfied
To stay right where you are

Keep yourself alive keep yourself alive
It'll take you all your time and a money
Honey you'll survive

Well I've loved a million women
In a belladonic haze
And I ate a million dinners
Brought to me on silver trays
Give me everything I need
To feed my body and my soul
And I'll grow a little bigger
Maybe that can be my goal
I was told a million times
Of all the people in my way
How I had to keep on trying
And get better every day
But if I crossed a million rivers
And I rode a million miles
Then I'd still be where I started
Same as when I started

Keep yourself alive keep yourself alive
It'll take you all your time and a money
Honey you'll survive

Keep yourself alive
Keep yourself alive
It'll take you all your time and a money
To keep me satisfied
Do you think you're better every day?
No I think I'm two steps nearer to my grave
Keep yourself alive
Keep yourself alive mm
You take your time and take more money
Keep yourself alive
Keep yourself alive
Keep yourself alive
All you people keep yourself alive
Keep yourself alive
Keep yourself alive
It'll take you all your time and money
To keep me satisfied
Keep yourself alive
Keep yourself alive
All you people keep yourself alive
Take you all your time and money
Honey you'll survive

Keep you satisfied
Keep you satisfied



The Adamtopia Guidelines

The Adamtopia guidelines are quite simple. To be a member of Adamtopia...

1. You must be an Adam fan.

2. You must be respectful of other members. Feel free to express your opinion, but be glitterier and golden.

3. Strive to be funny, entertaining or informative when you post. Avoid posting something that has already been posted.

4. Never question anyone's right to post, the appropriateness of a topic or define the proper way for an Adam fan or Adamtopia Member to behave. Let the moderators do their job.
,
More rules will be added if the need arises but, if everyone follows these rules, we will not need a lot of rules.

Read more.


[/i]