Back to Press Release Archive
WYCKHAM PORTEOUS: 'PLEASE PLEASE ME'
CORDOVA BAY RECORDS: CBR 0375 S (SINGLE)
RELEASE DATE: MONDAY 9TH JULY 2007
AT LONG LAST…THE WAIT IS OVER!
It is with great pleasure that Indiscreet PR announces the Monday 9th July 2007 release of Please Please Me, the brand new single by Vancouver based singer-songwriter Wyckham Porteous, on the Cordova Bay label (distributed in the UK by Pinnacle).
If the title seems familiar, well that’s because it’s a cover version of The Beatles smash hit of 1963. Except, you’ve never heard it like this before!
The single has been produced and arranged by no less a music business legend than Andrew Loog Oldham, former manager of The Rolling Stones, and MD of one of the first British Independent record labels, Immediate.
Andrew Oldham worked with The Beatles in their early days, and his recollection of the recording of Please Please Me was that the song was originally composed as a ballad, in tribute to the great Roy Orbison. Hearing the obvious qualities in the song, the band’s esteemed producer George Martin nonetheless encouraged the band to whip up the pace, until it became the defining Merseybeat anthem we now know and love. In the spirit of the song’s original incarnation, however, Oldham has took the song back to its gentler tempo, adding layers of plangent steel guitar, pizzicato strings and tasteful sitar, whilst Porteous contributes a vocal of aching poignancy and deep emotive appeal, and the result is one of the most striking reworkings of a Beatles song ever.
The Wyckham Porteous version of Please Please Me has already caused quite a stir on UK radio; when Bob Harris and Mark Lamarr (deputising for Jonathan Ross) played a ‘white label’ copy of the single on their respective radio shows late last year, Porteous’ website received over five hundred hits, with browsers demanding to know where they can get a copy. Well, with the final UK release of this truly magnificent single, those wishes will be finally fulfilled.
Wyckham Porteous will release his new album, ‘3 AM’ later in July, and will be available for interviews and radio sessions in promotion of this sparkling single release.Please contact Alan Robinson and Lesley Shone at Indiscreet PR for
further information.
JOHN HAMMOND: 'PUSH COMES TO SHOVE'
BACK PORCH RECORDS: BPRCD 4120
RELEASE DATE: MONDAY 9TH JULY 2007
BRAND NEW ALBUM PRODUCED BY G LOVE !
It’s a precious few artists who reinvent themselves at the age of 64, but blues luminary John Hammond proves himself the ultimate untraditional traditionalist as the dozen stellar songs on Push Comes To Shove illustrate.
Produced by G Love (the innovative and soulful Philly singer/guitarist and long-time Hammond fanatic), Push Comes To Shove is a dynamic step up from In Your Arms Again, Hammond’s 2005 effort.
Push Comes To Shove marks an increased output in Hammond’s original compositions - he penned five of the CD’s 12 songs - and there’s a bold collaboration with Dutton in the hip hop-tinged blues of Tore Down as well as a handful of personalized renderings of traditional blues numbers, a musical modus operandi that has earned Hammond multiple Grammy nominations since his 1962 self-titled Vanguard Records debut.
Since that bow, Hammond has made 31 records, often touring year-round, learning from and playing with musical greats and friends including Muddy Waters, Howlin’ Wolf, Duane Allman, Michael Bloomfield, J.J. Cale, Tom Waits, The Band and many, many others. Those unparalleled experiences and authenticity shine through brightly on Push Comes To Shove.
Producer G Love who counts Hammond as one of his own main musical influences, was beyond thrilled when the call came to produce Push Comes To Shove. "There are five of John’s songs on this record and the title track is quintessential John Hammond. To me, it symbolizes what the record is about. It's raw, it's dirty, it's blues, but it still has a funky edge to it.”
And he knew what he wanted from Hammond: “My objective was for him to include more originals,” says G Love. “In 30 records, he hadn’t done any writing until a few years ago". [Hammond’s first original composition appeared on 2003’s Ready For Love, he then penned two more original songs on 2005’s In Your Arms Again].
Push Comes To Shove came together in an astounding NINE days,
including recording, mixing and mastering. “We had great focus,”
Hammond understates,
That passion and openness is evident in the laid-back but vital grooves of Push Comes To Shove. Hammond's voice runs the gamut from big and gruff to sly and sexy, while his stellar steel guitar work and harp playing would be at home in any gritty roadside honky tonk. If much of Hammond’s past genius has been re-imagining other’s songs, on Push Comes To Shove, he’s re-imagining and pushing the boundaries of his signature style and career while staying true to his roots. And when Hammond sings “I’m a rhythm king, baby…. / If you wanna rock and roll, I sure won’t do you wrong,” he couldn’t be more right.
JOHN HAMMOND UK LIVE DATES:
TUESDAY 10th JULY: JAZZ CAFÉ, PARKWAY, CAMDEN TOWN, LONDON
£17.50
SATURDAY 14th JULY: ABERTILLERY BLUES FESTIVAL, WALES
Please check with Alan Robinson at Indiscreet PR for Johns
interview availability
on 07813 290 474.
LES CLAYPOOL: 'FANCY' (DVD)
PRAWN SONG: PSR 00139
RELEASE DATE: MONDAY 30TH JULY 2007
Les Claypool, one of Rock’s premier Bass players, leader of Primus, innovative composer, performer, published author and occasional actor, is to release a brand new DVD, entitled Fancy, on his own Prawnsong label on Monday 30th July 2007.
The DVD features performances from Les’ first US solo tour, undertaken last year in promotion of his debut sole album, Of Whales And Woe. As well as tracks from the solo album, Les also revisits material from his Great Eyeball In The Skycollective effort, and his Frog Brigadeera. Other songs are drawn from 2002’s Purple Onionand the 1996 release Les Claypool and the Holy Mackerel: Highball With The Devil.
As a member of Primus, Les Claypool made massive contributions to the US ‘Jam Band’ scene, their unique live performances being musical and visual feasts. The band built up a massive Stateside following, which Les has enhanced through his solo and collective works. His eclecticism has seen him branch out into the world of literature, and DVD collections and documentaries have shed much light on this remarkably creative individual. Amongst his fans are none other than Tom Waits, who has acknowledged Claypool’s Zappa-esque humour and musicality.
Fancy shows Claypool’s latest band at its peak performance, with long
time associates Skerik on sax, and Mike Dillon on vibes, marimba and percussion (both of Garage a Trois and Critters’ Buggin’), the band is rounded out by Cake drummer Paolo Baldi and multi-instrumentalist Gabby La La.
Track Listing:
Up on the Roof 7:29 / Of Whales And Woe 6:06 / Rumble of the Diesel 6:02 / Long in the Tooth 3:52 / Vernon the Company Man 4:46 / Holy Mackerel 5:38 / Phantom Patriot 10:23 / Cosmic Highway 12:05 / Filipino Ray 7:03 / Rubberneck .45 / Eyeball in the Sky 5:27 / D's Diner 8:41 /
One Better 10:55 / Running the Gauntlet 2:02 / American Life 2:28 /
Iowan Gal 4:02 / Lust Stings 5:43
# Plus extra sections of interesting and humorous talking sections between songs.
Les Claypool will be available for telephone and ISDN radio interviews to promote Fancy.Please contact Alan Robinson and Lesley Shone at Indiscreet PR for more information.