Remember that time the Verve wrote this huge pop hit “Bitter Sweet Symphony,” and then got sued for looping a short sample from the Rolling Stones, resulting in the Verve losing all the money they made with the song? TOTALLY RAD!
Anyway, the Verve are back with their new album, Forth, and it’s streaming right now on their MySpace page.

THE VERVE STREAM ENTIRE ALBUM
IN STORES AUGUST 26

New York/London - August 19, 2008 — The Verve are now streaming the full album Forth at the following:

www.myspace.com/theverve

The Verve’s long-awaited studio album Forth will be released on the band’s imprint On Your Own Records via Megaforce/RED in the USA on August 26 and internationally via EMI on August 25. It was produced by The Verve at State Of The Ark and Metropolis Studios in London.

Track Listing:

1. Sit & Wonder
2. Love Is Noise
3. Rather Be
4. Judas
5. Numbness
6. I See Houses
7. Noise Epic
8. Valium Skies
9. Columbo
10. Appalachian Springs

Considered one of the most influential, innovative and spellbinding bands from Britain, The Verve recently performed at 2008’s Coachella, sold-out two nights at The Theatre @ Madison Square Garden and headlined Glastonbury and V Festival 2008. The Verve consist of Richard Ashcroft, Nick McCabe, Simon Jones and Pete Salisbury.

We just got a press release from Steven Tyler’s publicist regarding the Aerosmith frontman’s recent recuperation in rehab:

Steven Tyler checked himself into a rehab facility earlier this month after a series of surgeries and post-operative physical therapy (to correct long-time foot injuries resulting from his trademark athletic performance onstage).
 
“The doctors told me the pain in my feet could be corrected but it would require a few surgeries over time,” Tyler says.  “The ‘foot repair’ pain was intense, greater than I’d anticipated. The months of rehabilitative care and the painful strain of physical therapy were traumatic.  I really needed a safe environment to recuperate where I could shut off my phone and get back on my feet.  Make no mistake, AEROSMITH has no plans to stop rocking.  There’s a new album to record, then another tour.

So…accordign to this his rehab stay has nothing to do with dionysian partying and drug use? This is jut a little fishy, innit?

I guess this kinda makes sense, though. If old Jagger lips were dipping into the horse again maybe his band wouldn’t need to hire pro songwriters to crank out the radio hits.  And with their legendary association with drugs, why woudln’t Tyler admit to poppin pain killers? I dont’ know about you, but I’m just about over tolerating his elder statesman of rock sobriety.

As mentioned last Friday, Coldplay has announced a June 17th release date for their fourth album, “Viva La Vida or Death and All His Friends.” While writing that post, something clicked on in the back of my mind: this album has the potential to either keep Coldplay’s label EMI afloat for another year, or make necessary the eventual merger of EMI Music (including its subsidiaries like Capitol, Virgin, Astralwerks, Blue Note, Def Jux, Mute and Tooth & Nail) and Warner Music Group, who currently hold the 3rd and 4th place slots in “The Big Four.” Variety agrees that “Viva…” is shaping up to be something of a high-stakes venture. EMI’s certainly hoping that Coldplay’s X&Y wasn’t this:

I remember a time, not so long ago, when a record label depended on its solid roster to make the business float, not just a handful of high-profile superstar artists. Their top sellers would go quintuple-platinum, allowing for enough extra cash to take chances on smaller artists, grow them and support them until they break through, joining the ranks of the high-sellers (we used to call such a thing “artist development”). Britain-based EMI and its subsidiaries once boasted an amazing roster including the likes of The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, Pink Floyd and The Beach Boys. Now the label seems to be relying on one or two current chart busters, in this case Coldplay, and the repackaged back catalogs of their dusty dinosaurs.

Artist development on major labels is now a ting of the past (that’s what indie labels are for, right?); there’s no new EMI artist who comes close to replacing Radiohead, who left the label in 2007 after deciding that they no longer needed a record label. EMI can release Best of Radiohead (June 3rd), but no one stands a real chance at releasing another OK Computer….save Coldplay. It’s possible that Chris Martin and company can release an album with (almost) as much impact. But if Viva La Vida or Death and All His Friends does any worse than 2005’s X&Y, I wouldn’t be surprised to see EMI/Warner Music rear its head in 2009/2010.

Until then, let’s look at what EMI will be releasing to keep its head above water, after the jump: (more…)

What does Keith Richards have to do with Louis Vuitton? The legendary Rolling Stones guitarist will be the new face for Louis Vuitton’s ads. For the first campaign, he’ll be seen cradling his guitar on a hotel bed, lights partly obscured by skull print curtains. (see below)
“Some journeys cannot be put into words. New York. 3 am. Blues in C,” runs the slogal of the ad, shot by US photographer Annie Leibovitz and due to appear in the magazine press next month.

Whatever Richards is making from the ad, he’s donating to the Climate Project, Al Gore’s project that is backed also by Louis Vuitton.