Beggars Banquet was released at a critical crossroads in The Rolling Stones‘ career. It followed a year after Their Satanic Majesties Request took a psychedelic left turn.
The seventh studio album from the band, Beggars Banquet saw a returns to roots. It also served as the last full release with Brian Jones before he passed away (although two of his songs would appear on Let It Bleed released after his death.)
The inner turmoil of the band still bled through the recording sessions of Beggars Banquet. Producer Jimmy Miller noted Richards as focused, while Jones’ emotional problems and drug issues caused tension. Jones would only show up occasionally and the show would have to go on with or without him.
Mark Knopfler has accomplished so much over the course of his career.
As the singer of The Dire Straits, the band sold over 100 million records. Knopfler went solo and continued to see more success across eight studio albums, the first six hitting Silver certification. He’s also composed and produced film scores, including: Local Hero (1983), Cal (1984), The Princess Bride (1987), Wag the Dog (1997) and Altamira (2016).
Knopfler’s ninth release, Down The Road Wherever, is out November 16. He pulls inspiration across his entire life and career: he discusses the early days in Deptford with Dire Straits, a stray soccer fan lost in a strange town, hitchhiking through snow, and much much more.
“I’m not as distracted as I once was,” says Knopfler to The Morning Sun in 2015. “If you’re thinking the road ahead is a little shorter than the one behind you, you’re thinking about trying to write a good song and hoping to make a decent record of it.”
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When it comes to reunions, The Police reign supreme: the band’s 2007-2008 run with 151 dates brought in over $360 million.
Sightings started in January 2007, with rumours the band was rehearsing in Vancouver before trekking across the world. While fans agreed it was exhilarating to witness the band come together once more, it also stoked the flames for a new generation of fans (and those who missed them the first time around) that The Police would return to the stage.
Ten years after the Reunion Tour came to a close, and with the release of a brand-new box set featuring all of the band’s studio albums, the question remains: will The Police tour again?
Despite media reports, it turns out the band members do not hate one another. In 2015, Andy Summers said “despite the general press thing about ‘God, they hate each other,’ it’s actually not true, we’re very supportive of one another.”
Sting has been keeping incredibly busy, touring solo as well as alongside Shaggy for the duo’s 2018 album, 44/876. He will star in the Canadian premiere of musical The Late Ship, which he wrote the music for as well.
Summers last released solo album Triboluminescence in 2017, and keeps busy working on movie scores and photography.
Stewart Copeland spends his time working on video game soundtracks and worked with Blackberry in 2008 on a theme song for the smartphone. Last year, he formed supergroup Gizmodrome with Adrian Belew, Vittorio Cosma, and Mark King and released a self-titled album.
The members of The Police are all keeping busy, and seem creatively engaged with their individual projects. which make a reunion seem farfetched. Whether it’s a one-off show or a full-blown world tour, we have an itch this isn’t the last we’ve seen of the band.
Remix albums have a transformative effect, completely altering a listening experience of an album you’ve fallen in love with.
Sometimes the joys of the original work can get lost in the metamorphosis, but sometimes, a remix can breathe new life and find new nuances and pockets that add a new dimension.
With the release of Billy Idol’s Vital Idol 2: Revitalized coming to vinyl, we’re looking at ten of the greatest remix albums of all-time:
Rush‘s Hemispheres turns 40 this year, and the album proved to be another milestone for the prog-rock legends.
In May 1978, Rush went on a nine-month tour throughout Canada, United States and the United Kingdom to support A Farewell To Kings. The band saw its first glimmer of success in the UK with “Closer to the Heart” reaching the Top 40 on the singles charts.
Rush took a quick break before getting back to work. None of the members had any ideas of what the album would tackle before recording–which proved to be a frustrating first. Alex Lifeson described it as “the trouble started from basics.”
They returned to the “really funky” (as quoted by Lifeson) Rockfield Studios in Wales where the last album was recorded, and wanting to continue a change from Toronto. The studio was located on a rural farm, and didn’t even have a sofa. A broken latch on the studio doors frustrated Lifeson to the point he created a hydraulic door to remedy the issue.
