(Vocal/instrumental group, 1978–84) A synth-pop ‘side project’ which featured members of other electronica and post-punk bands, including Midge Ure, Billy Currie of Ultravox, Gary Numan’s entourage, and Barry Adamson (bass) and John McKeogh (guitar) of Magazine. Steve Strange, a key new romantic catalyst, sang. Several evocative, ground-breaking hits followed, including ‘Fade To ...
(1896–1970) Third Symphony (‘Collages’, 1960) incorporated sounds recorded in the composer’s garden, assisted by the BBC’s Radiophonic Workshop in London. Other fruits of collaborations with radio stations include Berio’s Visage (1961), which combined synthesized sounds with the electronically treated voice of his wife, the soprano Cathy Berberian. Styles & Forms | Contemporary | Classical Instruments | Computers | Contemporary ...
1954). In 1955 Berio and Bruno Maderna (1920–73) jointly opened the Studio di fonologia for electronic composition, where he created two works, Thema (Omaggio a Joyce) (1958) and Visage (1961), that exploited the semantic potential of language and the human voice. His Sequenza III for solo voice does so in a different way without electronics; the remaining pieces in ...
(Guitar, vocals, 1954–90) Born in Dallas, Vaughan distilled Albert King, Jimi Hendrix and Lonnie Mack’s blues and rock stylings on his superb US Top 40 album Texas Flood (1983). Tommy Shannon (bass) and Chris Layton (drums) formed his trusted Double Trouble back-up team. His ferocious but lyrical playing on Couldn’t Stand The Weather (1984) and live showmanship ...
sound, the German act’s importance cannot be overestimated. By the early 1980s, Kraftwerk had influenced synth pop and new romantic acts like Depeche Mode, Soft Cell, Visage, The Human League, Heaven 17, John Foxx and Ultravox as well as maverick talents like ‘19’ producer Paul Hardcastle, Gary Numan, Vince Clarke, Thomas Dolby ...
northern soul-influenced Soft Cell from Leeds; the funky, orchestral and wordy Trevor Horn-produced ABC from Sheffield; the grandiose Ultravox, led by Scotland’s Midge Ure; and new romantic supergroup Visage, formed by London fashion faces and club promoters Steve Strange and Rusty Egan, and including Ure in its largely studio-based line-up. Although he came directly from the same ...
call to arms for disgruntled teenagers; from then on, Presley, whose youthful good looks and Brando-like sexuality stood in sharp and favourable contrast to the pudgy, kiss-curled visage of Bill Haley, pressed home his advantage with a series of blistering rock’n’roll recordings. ‘Blue Suede Shoes’, ‘Hound Dog’ and ‘Jailhouse Rock’ were just a few of the many ...
decade that followed will be remembered as much for artists’ return to the dressing-up box as much as the music they made. Duran Duran, Adam and The Ants, Visage, Spandau Ballet, Soft Cell, Simple Minds, The Human League, Thompson Twins and Depeche Mode were just some of the bands to spring from so-called new ...
The saxophone occupies an unusual position in that it is a bespoke instrument that has barely changed since its creation. Although it does not occupy the position in the orchestra its creator had envisaged, Adolphe Sax’s invention has played a central part in music ever since it burst on to the scene in the 1840s. Sax’s father, Charles, ...
Verdi’s last opera, Falstaff was the third taken from William Shakespeare, this time from his Merry Wives of Windsor and Henry IV, Parts 1 and 2. Verdi wrote the opera when he was 79, but it was not his only comic opera, as is often supposed. There was another, Un giorno di Regno, which ...
1840–93, Russian Tchaikovsky was an intensely emotional, painfully sensitive man, much given to depression and morbid states of mind. He almost went mad with grief when his mother died of cholera in 1854, when he was 14. To compound his melancholy mindset, Tchaikovsky was tortured by his homosexuality, and saw marriage as a possible solution. ...
No one had ever produced records like Phil Spector. There had been lavish orchestrations and raucous sounds, but until the early 1960s, the elements were clearly defined in recordings, with a fair amount of separation allotted to a limited number of rhythm and percussion instruments within the confines of a mainly monaural medium. Spector changed all that. Applying ...
Despite initial comparisons to her fellow Londoner, the late Amy Winehouse, and other female soul acts – Adele has been likened to everyone from the late Whitney Houston to a combination of Joni Mitchell and Carole King – there’s no denying she is now widely thought of as a unique talent. ‘I keep getting called “the new Amy Winehouse” and ...
By the end of the nineteenth century, or early in the twentieth, every self-respecting city in Europe or North America expected to have an orchestra of its own, playing regularly in a purpose-built concert hall or civic hall. Some, like the Vienna Philharmonic, the Dresden State Symphony or the Leipzig Gewandhaus, continued long traditions (Dresden ...
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Classical, Rock, Blues, Jazz, Country and more. Flame Tree has been making encyclopaedias and guides about music for over 20 years. Now Flame Tree Pro brings together a huge canon of carefully curated information on genres, styles, artists and instruments. It's a perfect tool for study, and entertaining too, a great companion to our music books.
David Bowie
Fantastic new, unofficial biography covers
his life, music, art and movies, with a
sweep of incredible photographs.