Best of 2009- The Album List

Ladies and Gentleman, our year in music in a quick overview!

01. Editors - In This Light and on This Evening [Kitchenware]
02. Music Go Music- Expressions [Secretly Canadian]
03. Echo and The Bunnymen- The Fountain [Ocean Rain]
04. Metric - Fantasies [Metric]
05. Little Boots - Hands [679]
06. Mando Diao - Give Me Fire! [Universal/Vertigo]
07. Kasabian - West Ryder Pauper Lunatic Asylum  [RCA/BMG]
08. Marc Almond - Orpheus in Exile - The Songs of Vadim Kozin [Cherry Red]
09. White Lies- To Lose My Life [Fiction/Geffen]

Simple Minds & OMD- Neon Lights- Live

Simple Minds together with OMD cover the Kraftwerk classic "Neon Lights". This is from their live performance at the Heiniken Music Hall in Amsterdam, performed on November 26, 2009..

Landscape

Landscape was a British group which remained best known for their hits "Einstein A Go Go" and "European Man". The group was led by Richard Burgess who was previously a member of soft rock group Easy Street. In the mid 70's, he left the group to form Landscape. He also remained as one of the best record producers of the 80's era.

In 1976 Burgess left Easy Street to form a group that would eventually play some fusion of slick synth-op music mixed with funk and jazz. Landscape was formed and already in the 70's they released few singles and toured. The group compromised of Andy Pask on bass, Chris Eaton on keyboards, John Walters on keyboards and woodwinds, Pete Thomas on trombone and keyboards and the master himself Richard Burgess on drums and vocals. Not like other popular New wave groups they employed both electronic and traditional instruments. The band released their self titled debut album 'Landscape' in 1979. The album was produced by Greg Walsh with a big jazz/funk influence. It sold rather poorly and so Landscape decided to accent the synthesizers more in their music.

 

In 1981 they produced their second album in a collaboration with Colin Thurston. The album was titled 'From the Tea-rooms of Mars ... to the Hell-holes of Uranus'. They scored their first top ten hit in the UK with the catchy tune "Einstein A Go-Go" and two more songs followed, "Norman Bates" and "Shake The West Awake". Landscape released their last album 'Manhattan Boogie-Woogie' in 1982. This album was also produced by Lanscape and this time they were a trio also know under the moniker Landscape III.

Landscape broke up for good in 1984. Burgess started to concentrate more on his producing career. While he was still a member of Landscape, he produced Shock and the first two albums by Spandau Ballet and many other popular artists of that time including Adam Ant, Kim Wilde and Visage. He also used the pseudonym Caleb Kadesh for his production skills. Burgess is also credited with coining the term New Romantic encompassing the early 80's British music, club and fashion scene and with conceptualizing and designing the first electronic drumset the Simmons SDS-V. The first two albums by Landscape were reissued on CD in 1992.

 

'Japan and Self Existence'

Japan's Mick Karn has just published his autobiography which is titled 'Japan & Self Existence' and is described as 'a personal insight into life as a musician and artist spanning more than 30 years'.The 387 pages include 24 photos, of which only 7 have ever been published before. The Book is available on lulu.com

http://www.mickkarn.net/

Instant Hit: Alan Rankine- The World Begins To Look Her Age (Single)

"The World Begins To Look Her Age" was the third and the last single Alan Rankine has released as solo artist. In the early 80's he was a producer and member of the British group the Associates. This single was released on Virgin, in 1987 and appeared on the album of the same name released the year before, in 1986.

OMD- Sister Marie Says (Demo)

OMD has announced the first track from their upcoming album 'The History Of Modern' which will be released in 2010. Their demo single "Sister Marie Says" has classic OMD sound and shows the hooks and choral samples that have established the band as one of the UK's premier acts. Visit this site to download the song.

http://www.omd.uk.com/

Pet Shop Boys- Christmas EP

Pet Shop Boys will end this year with another release. They have confirmed their 'Christmas' EP release which is set to be released on several different dates in the world starting December 11, 2009 in Europe. The EP includes a cover of Madness' song "My Girl", along with a remix of it, as well as a medley of the Pet Shop Boys classic "Domino Dancing" with Coldplay's popular single "Viva la Vida" and two more songs.

www.petshopboys.co.uk