Top-hatted rock god Slash and the guys from Velvet Revolver are rumoured to be working on material for their third album. Apparently the band could begin work on the new album as early as April of this year, just after they complete their tour (which starts tomorrow, by the way).

“That’s the big thing right now,” Slash says. “I’m really jazzed about doing it. I’ve been working on new ideas, and we’ve had a couple times where the guys all got together and worked on some stuff. I’m itching to see what this third record’s gonna be, ’cause I think it’s gonna be fuckin’ awesome, and I think we don’t necessarily need to spend two years on the road like we did last time.”

According to Slash, the band have had plenty of freedom to experiment, and the forthcoming album will show the evolution of Velvet Revolver. Libertad producer Brendan O’Brien is highly likely to produce this effort as well.

In addition to the new VR project, Slash is also planning to release a solo album which will feature a host of guest vocalists. No doubt he’ll be calling up a few showbiz chums to appear on that album. I wonder if he’ll be using long-term bandmates like Duff McKagan or Matt Sorum as the band for this album? Maybe bring back Izzy for a song?

Presumably he won’t resurrect the ‘Snakepit’ moniker for this one…

• An excellent article over at The Trukstop that looks at the forthcoming Metallica album and how it might be received by fans. I wrote about this a while back, saying their style had drifted far from what we all originally loved about Metallica.
• Here’s a round up of folk and acoustic artists doing covers of hip-hop songs. The last thing we need is crazy singer/songwriters shooting each other up in musical turf-wars. Stop the madness!
• You know, rapping isn’t all about the bitches, hoes and bling. They gots da business to take care of too. Here’s what the excel spreadsheets and flowcharts of your average gangsta rapper look like.
• Scott Wharton over at Metal Martyr has some good advice for young metal fans. I know a lot of music fans can become blinkered to that genre. Back when I started listening though, people were excited about fusing metal with other types of music.
• Being a budding fatboy, I had an awesome session on the cross-trainer the other night to the Editors album. Then I came across this New York Times article about how music helps with exercise and how to choose the right kind. What kind of music do you listen to at the gym?

Remember, if you come across a good music article on another blog or website, let me know about it and I’ll feature it in the next episode!

Let’s face it, this reunion has had all the hallmarks of a sham since the news broke. The Spice Girls are – sorry to say – all fur coat and no knickers. They are, however, master manipulators of the media.

And that’s why it doesn’t matter that they’re lip synching. The kind of people who buy into this kind of pop charade don’t really care about the quality of their vocals. When the Spice Girls first broke the music scene in 1995/6, they were fresh, fun and had a handful of catchy tunes. Today, they’re a shambolic five-headed beast more used to being in the pages of Heat Magazine than in the pop charts.

What do you think, are you surprised that the Spice Girls are lip synching? Are you disappointed?

As well as being able to search for music via the website, you can download a piece of software that plugs into your iTunes or Windows Media Player and it’ll give you recommendations based on your MP3 collection.

I tried a random sample and chose some old Alice Cooper songs in iTunes and it trawled my music database and pulled out related material I’d forgotten I even had! And I have to say, the relevance was pretty good.

As well as determining the related music, The Filter helpfully creates a playlist for you in iTunes and it looks like it can export your music to an iPod or any connected USB storage device.

The interface has some neat tricks to help you find related artists, albums and reviews on the web. For music discovery it tied into my iTunes music store and found the albums I needed to complete my collection. All very neat tricks.

The Filter seems to avoid unsigned, non-mainstream bands though. That’s something I’ve like to see addresses at some stage, perhaps also with social voting to allow good quality music to rise to the top whether it has big label backing or not.

People in glass houses should never throw stones, Elton.

Yes, the man who wore some of the largest glasses in showbiz ironically claims that people sitting at home making their own records “doesn’t bode well for artistic vision”.

Bloody hell. Get a grip, Elton. The Internet has opened up a whole new avenue of content distribution, from peer to peer networks to YouTube to Pandora and Last.fm.

Advances in computing have leveled the playing field and allowed aspiring artists to lay down tracks on their home computers and distribute their tunes either via personal homepages or MySpace.

I will grant the rock dinosaur one thing: there’s an awful lot of dross out there. But dross doesn’t often float to the top. Only the best or most interesting artists will capture people’s hearts and receive those all-important word-of-mouth recommendations. Remember, pop music by its very nature is popular music. If the general public don’t like it, they don’t buy it, talk about it or sing it in the shower.

Frankly, I’m appalled that a man who publicly calls Victoria Beckham a friend can come out and criticize the Internet for propagating poor quality music. Perhaps Mr John should start wearing those oversized specs again…

The Internet was unavailable for comment when we were researching this article…

I’m not sure what to make of it all: is Winehouse simply tabloid target of the month, of is there something deeper going on here? Part of the attraction of Amy Winehouse – both as a tabloid ‘character’ and a singer/songwriter – is her emotional turmoil. The heavy makeup and towering beehive seem to accentuate her bizarre persona.

However, the tabloids seem to take exceptional glee in watching Winehouse self-destruct – look at the cutting incident during an interview with Spin magazine. But if you look at the video of that footage, both Amy and her husband Blake seem to be laughing off the whole thing. So is the whole thing being blown out of all proportion? I think maybe so.

Maybe it’s that Amy’s style conjures up memories of an era where pop stars regularly became overwhelmed by fame and it was commonplace to find overdosed celebrities dead in their beds the next morning. But we’re living in a far more media-savvy generation. Is Amy:

• immune to the tabloid coverage
• more likely to act up to get more of this type of attention, or
• is she in serious danger of hurting herself (or someone else)?

I’m not pretending to know what the answers are in this case, but I do worry about this constant hounding of and artist by the same press that frequently decry the death of their “Princess Of Hearts” at the hands of the paparazzi. What do you think?

1989 at was the tail end of some major rock music releases, Def Leppard had released Hysteria, Bon Jovi’s New Jersey, Alice Cooper’s Trash and many other stadium-fillers had filled the rock charts. There was certainly a market for Extreme’s music, but in retrospect it may have got lost among the noise of the larger acts.

Maybe for that reason, Extreme’s debut isn’t as adventurous an affair as their later albums would suggest – it’s more of a straight-ahead hard rock effort with a few hints at the band’s potential. Nuno Bettencourt’s amazing guitar work is the central feature of the album, but the band exudes unstoppable energy throughout.

Still, Extreme is an outstanding rock album, opening in an explosion of harmonica, thundering drums and intense riffing with Little Girls, one of the singles from the album. Little Girls is an excellent showcase for what this band can do, but I’ve always been uncomfortable with the lyric in the second verse:

Some may say I’m too old for her
Old enough to be her father
Incestual blood is thicker than water

There’s just something creepy about that, and I’ve never been able to rationalise the line. What do you think?

Wind Me Up is a passable second track, but it’s Kid Ego that has it all: Memorable guitar work, catchy chorus and the fantastic drumming that are the signature of Extreme’s best work.

Watching, Waiting is a definite low point – a too-slow attempt at a power ballad that doesn’t quite hit the spot, but again shows a taste of some of the vocal harmonies that would develop in later work, most notably III Sides To Every Story.

Another outstanding track is Mutha, Don’t Wanna Go To School, which (when I had the tape) rounded off side one of the record. It begins with some light fretwork from Nuno over the sound of a baby burbling and works into a screaming crescendo of feedback and distortion before Gary Cherone comes in for the first verse. Again, Nuno proves himself a worthy adversary for Eddie Van Halen on the solo for Mutha.

What I fondly recall as ‘Side B’ of Extreme is mostly filler material, which ends with an almighty bang in the shape of Play With Me, another frenetic guitar-driven tune that showcases the band at their tightest.

Summary

While widely acknowledged to be their weakest material, Extreme demonstrate the songwriting and playing styles that would evolve over the following two albums. Gary Cherone’s voice is powerful and the perfect counterpoint to Bettencourt’s guitar playing, and the rhythm section of Paul Geary (Drums) and Pat Badger (Bass) provides a fantastic launchpad for Nuno’s fiery soloing.

Overall, Extreme is a strong rock effort, let down by some less-than-inspired album tracks. At a time when the rock charts were flooded with strong material, Extreme could easily have been buried. Thankfully they got a second chance with Pornograffitti….

The Life Pursuit seemingly ignores the past twenty-odd years of music, setting it’s course on a 70’s glam vibe. Some reviewers are likening the album’s sonic approach to T-Rex and Glitter Band. When I first heard The Life Pursuit, my first comparisons were to Ziggy Stardust-era David Bowie. It’s almost as if the 80’s didn’t happen!

How much did I know about Belle & Sebastian before this album? Nothing. They came out of nowhere and suddenly they’re the most hyped-up band in the world (at the moment). Actually, this is their seventh studio album and they seem to be seasoned veterans of the gig circuit.

In a nutshell, The Life Pursuit is delicious. The Life Pursuit drips with honeyed harmonies and infectious melodies from start to finish.

Act Of The Apostle kicks off the album, a bouncy and retro-poppy tune sung by Sarah Martin. This sets you up for a series of classic-sounding songs. And by classic sounding, I mean you’d swear you’ve known them for years. Another Sunny Day, White Collar Boy, all beautiful material, musically upbeat. Everything is clean sounding and up-tempo, and you come away with your feet tapping and a wide grin on your face.

With the exception of the (very) odd turkey, Belle & Sebastian deliver the goods on this album, with memorable lyrics and singalong choruses galore. The songs sound fresh and fun, despite the retro vibe they give off.

I’m not afraid to admit that I was an early fan of Destiny’s Child. There was always something aluring about their ‘independent woman’ attitude, infectious tunes and skimpy clothes. Beyonce could kick my ass to the curb any day of the week…

That all changed when Beyonce seemed to become a parody of her sexy self and turned into a loathsome clothes horse as displayed on the pages of Heat magazine every week. Then came the gangsta’s moll phase, when she hooked up with Jay-Z. The girlie Beyonce was replaced by a horrible soft porn version. Not nice.

With the release of Irreplacable, Beyonce seems to have gone back to her roots. And a welcome return it is.

The instrumentation is stripped right back: basically just guitar and a simple drumbeat carrying the tune. A very simple verse/chorus arrangement is enhanced by Beyonce’s most honest vocal performance in recent memory. Beautiful melody in the verses and a chorus so catchy it’ll take a lobotomy to stop you singing it.

Subject matter is a return to Independent Women and Bills, Bills, Bills territory – very much woman on top type of thing.

The video for Irreplaceable carries on the ’stripped down’ theme – Beyonce looking her most natural in ages. The storyline reminds me slightly of the Emotion single Destiny’s Child release a couple of years ago. There’s a little bit of posturing by Ms Knowles, enough to keep the lads happy without being as OTT as her other recent singles.

You mus’ not know ’bout a-me, you mus’ not know ’bout a-me….(contributed by Levee)