BTW: "I just wanted to make an honest record of my current take on creativity through music," Crain tells P&P. "I might hate it in a month or a year or 10 years, but a record is simply that: a 'record' of an event of music. I wanted to create that honestly for myself."
BTW: Halestorm singer-guitarist Lzzy Hale always wanted to be the frontwoman of a rock band she never had growing up in Pennsylvania.
"When I first got into music, I searched for a strong woman that I could identify with, to no avail," she tells P&P. "So on this record I wanted to finally bring her into the light. As a band, we wanted the
same, to create a gutsy body of work. A record that can empower the girls and rock the men. This record is like biting into a big, juicy steak ... There is nothing tofu about the new Halestorm record."
Hale, brother Arejay Hale (drums), Joe Hottinger (guitar) and bassist Josh Smith went for the big guns on their big-label debut: Howard Benson (Daughtry, Kelly Clarkson, Papa Roach, P.O.D.).
"Guitar-wise and vocally, he pushed me, beyond what I've ever done in a studio," Lzzy Hale says of Benson. "He and his team didn't mind if I got a lil' blood on the guitars ... Howard has a vocal booth he calls the 'silo' - it's like a creepy attic, completely pitch black. And Howard's station was down stairs. I could hear him in the head phones but could not see him. So I was able to really do anything I wanted in order to get the best take, without feeling like I was in an aquarium. You'd be surprised at how much you can get out of a vocalist when they are not being watched. Now, what I did ... I'll never tell.
"He really wanted us to be at our best and to have all of our personalities bleed through on this record. Arejay has always been like a second, rear 'frontman.' It was important to Howard and all of us to capture his craziness on this record. And to capture Arejay, that is talent, cause if you get to know
his personality, he's hard to wrangle.
"Joe really has a knack for complementary parts, things that enhance the song ... He's also a bit of a perfectionist. Howard and his team helped him create the most unique tones for his parts and made sure
not to settle. Josh is the only one in the band who is classically trained; he's the human super glue that holds the chaos together. The team made sure to keep that element."
"Ultimately, Howard and ourselves had the same vision for the end result ... we both love cookies ... he has great taste in cookies ... So we'd go back just for that reason!"
"The Rebirth of Venus" (producer: Brad Wood; guests: Missy Higgins, Cary Brothers, Patience Hodgson of The Grates, Nic Johns, John Alagia, etc.; first single: "What's So Bad [About Feeling Good]"; Hear here)
"Little Red" (producers: Jeff Powell, Henry Olson; guests: Lucinda Williams, Afghan Whigs' Greg Dulli, Al Green sideman Teenie Hodges; Hear here; See here)
BTW: Jazz newcomer Melissa Morgan had three things in mind when it came time to piece together her debut for Telarc: "record an album the jazz aficionado would appreciate with rarely recorded material; create a sequence that would keep the listener focused with a variety of tempos, moods, instrumentation and feel and, lastly," she tells P&P, "to have the sound of the record as pure as possible so that the emotion and story can come through."
Morgan has many musical heroes. In particular, "Etta Jones and Nancy Wilson are my absolute favorites," she says. "It's hard to choose one over the other. It's their choice of repertoire and how they present it that impress me so much."
"GRIII: Old School 2 Nu Skool" (producers: Scott Storch, KayGee & Tramp, Steve Morales, Peter Pan, Mac Gordon, RocFaReal, Mike City, D. Drummond, Cecile Barker; guests: Shaggy, Beenie Man, Yung Joc, Phyllisia, Ce'Cile; first single: "Best Part of the Day"; Hear here)
"Streisand: The Concerts [DVD]" (3 discs; disc 1, "Fort Lauderdale/October 2006," with guests Il Divo; disc 2, "Live at Arrowhead Pond/July 1994"; disc 3, "Putting It Together: The Making of The Broadway Album"; See here; Read here; Blu-ray)
BTW: For "The Complete Dusty Springfield," Howes says his mission was simple: "to provide for the first time ever a comprehensive guide to Dusty's entire recorded and live work," he tells P&P, "and, in so doing, to illustrate the many genres of music in which she excelled."
" 'The Complete Dusty Springfield,' " he says, "was revised in 2007 in hardback to include new chapters on the Lana Sisters, the Springfields, expanded entries on Dusty's solo tracks and an in-depth analysis of Dusty's live work for TV and radio. This 2009 paperback edition includes several updates and additions."
Editor of Dusty Springfield Bulletin, a 32-page glossy magazine dedicated to all things Dusty, Howes is the perfect expert to answer this question: What's the most underrated Dusty track ever?
"In terms of U.K. chart success," he says, "it would have to be 'I Will Come to You,' a hauntingly beautiful song by Clive Westlake which inexplicably failed to chart despite coming hot on the heels of her Top 5 hit, 'I Close My Eyes and Count to Ten.'"
Go next to May 5, 2009