"And You Wonder Why People Don't Worship Beauty"

So, I almost went a month without a new post.

First off, I posted a song a while back called "Love'n", proported to be a lost Beatles song. It is NOT actually the Beatles, but The Colours, a never-made-it sixties band, featuring Carl Radle on bass. The track, "Lovin", was on their Mickie Most produced LP. Someone edited the song to make the vocals (which would have made it obviously not the Beatles) near inaudible. I was kind of hoping it was the Beatles, but either way, it is a cool track.

Now, I mentioned a possible Paul McCartney box set, a new "Cold Cuts". Well, since then, tracklistings for 3 of 4 discs have been leaked. Each disc has 25 songs, plus a hidden track. Tracks are edited to fit all of them on a disc. For the full tracklists, check wogew.blogspot.com

Just about every unreleased gem we know about is featured, plus many more, including things we've never heard of before. The set is limited to studio work only, as another set of live material, as well as a set of demos, will be on horizon. Hints of a set actually date back to 2001, when Paul produced a documentary called "Wingspan." On a mini website dedicated to the film, a message said fans will be pleased with a new release coming soon. However, Paul got sidetracked, most likely with his new relationship with Heather Mills. But now, the set is back on track.

The set is a dream come true. Paul is releasing every track from the original "Cold Cuts" save for the instrumental "Tomorrow." And he is putting out thing that have never been booted, like "Crawl of The Wild," a "Venus & Mars" outtake featuring Dave Mason (who also played guitar on "Listen To What The Man Said.) "Crawl Of The Wild" has been renamed (or corrected to be) "Wild Cat." Paul has also opened the vault on the "London Town" sessions, from which we've had very little save for rough mixes and such.

There a few well known booted songs missing, like "Jazz Street", but the listing is nothing to complain about. One interesting note, though, is that, save for an early "Ram" version of the song "Sunshine Sometime," Paul has ignored his unreleased "Rupert The Bear" soundtrack. Paul did a soundtrack to his favorite childhood character, with instrumentals and some sung songs, along with some narration, and after years of coming back to it, recorded a full listing with Wings in '78. The project never materialized, but a few years later, Paul did make a short Rupert cartoon, which featured the song "We All Stand Together." I suspect Paul will release the Rupert song seperatly (well, I sure hope he does!)

Onto Jennette McCurdy, who has released another single. The song is a cover, called "Homeless Heart." Part of the proceeds of it go to charity. Like every other celeb, Jennette has not said anything about a release date for her album, and I'm beginning to doubt the rumoured "June 30th" date. In fact, Jennette is still hitting the recording studio (although she hasn't enlightened us as to whether she is still working on her first album, or starting another one.)

Along with Jennette, Miranda Cosgrove has been doing great on "iCarly." The show keeps getting high ratings, and deservingly so. It is consistently funny. Personally, I relate mostly to Spencer (being an artist myself, as well as a big brother, who one day will have to worry about a teenage sister.) But everyone is hysterical, and the development of different relationships and interactions with characters is great. I love when Freddie or Sam are alone with Spencer, with a dilema that Spencer tries to solve, like when Sam was having nightmares about a monster eating her soup. Spencer works so hard to help, like attempting to analyze Sam's dream, but in the end only causes more trouble, like after he dresses as a monster, and steals Sam's soup, to cure her, she beats him up, thinking he is a monster, and then Spencer has nightmares about monsters and soup. It is a clever set-up, and the actors pull it off convincinly and with personality that really sells the material.

Selena Gomez has a new release on Tuesday, a duet with the group "Forever The Sickest Kids." The single will be on iTunes (and maybe other d/l sites?) I'm looking forward to it.

Now, all these none of these celebs will give a release date, but Disney is different. On June 9th, Disney will release "Disney Channel Playlist," 15 songs from their TV shows and original TV movies. Of interest to me is "Everything Is Not What It Seems" (by Selena Gomez, it is the "Wizards Of Waverly Place" theme, "The Hero In Me" (by Emily Osment, from the movie "Dadnapped"), "So Far, So Great" (by Demi Lovato, it is the "Sonny With A Chance" theme), and "One And The Same" (a Demi and Selena duet from "Princess Protection Program.")

On July 14th, the "Hannah Montana 3" soundtrack will finally come out. It will feature 12 songs from season 3 (one of them by Mitchell Musson, the rest by Hannah Montana, including the duet with David Archuleta.) Track 13 is "If We Were A Movie" with Corbin Bleu, which was actually from season 2. It looks like another fun release, with song titles like "Ice Cream Freeze (Let's Chill)". Also, what is it with the word "Let's". "Let's Chill," "Let's Do This," "Let's Get Crazy," "Let's Dance."? Oh well, no matter. The titles are similar, but the songs are all different.

While Hannah is releasing a new disc, the real girl Miley doesn't seem to have a new disc on the near horizon. She will be filming "The Last Song," a film adaptation of a Nicholas Sparks novel. Rumors are also abound that Miley is wanted for the new "Footloose," although Miley has yet to say anything on that subject. Also, Miley will be touring again later this year, in Europe for sure, as she mentioned on her "Live In London" iTunes exclusive EP. Demi should have a "Live In London" EP coming out too. I wonder what is taking so long.

I can't say why people don't worship beauty. But what I can say is "The King Of Fuh" is a great song. By Brute Force, the song was presented to the Apple label, where George Harrison got a hold of it. Harrison loved it, mixed it a bit, and even had an orchestral arrangement added. The song talks about the King of Fuh, who is the "Fuh King." This line was too obscene to get a release, but George, as well as John Lennon, pushed for the song, which got a limited Apple release before being pulled. The song proved elusive after that, but Brute Force has since made it easily acquired on the album "Tour de Brute Force." It is such a beautiful song. I had wanted to hear it just to get a laugh from the lyrics, and while I did, the arrangement had such a sad, post-psychedelic beauty that enraptured me.

Happy Memorial Day weekend!

News Of The Day

So, let's start off with some news bites.

Jennette McCurdy has written, or "twittered", if you will, that her debut album (still unfinished) may be hitting shelves June 30th.

Demi Lovato is going on tour, and David Archuleta will be the opening act. She also has done a song with Academy Is member William Beckett.

Paul McCartney has a few interesting bits. He may be doing some Fireman tracks live at the Coachella Festival (he has never done a Fireman song on stage before, and was originally going to do so last year on TV, but had to cancel in order to do his show in Israel.) Paul is also supposedly doing a new album, and has as many as 20 new songs already. Ringo is rumored to be involved. Paul may be considering a fall release date, to coincide with The Beatle Remasters. There are also rumors of a box-set of outtakes and such. Such rumors have persisted since the phrase "box-set" was coined, but with Paul's 40th anniversary as a solo artist approaching, it may finally be time (maybe.)

George Harrison has a new greatest hits package, which is cool for those who know little about him, but annoying to big fans who still await remasters of "Dark Horse" and "Extra Texture," not to mention a box-set of unreleased cuts.

"Hannah Montana The Movie" broke some records, and is estimated to make a bajillion dollars (okay, real numbers are much more modest than that.) I hope to see the film soon.

The Beatles remasters have conjured up rumors that the DVD accompanying the new discs will feature the acoustic "Love You To," an instrumental "Doctor Robert," and even a brand new, 10 minute remix of "Carnival Of Light." My bet is that take 20 of "Revolution 1" will also be included, seeing as EMI practically burst an artery when the song was leaked.

I am very excited about all these new projects and releases. I have long awaited Beatle remasters, and if the rumours of new songs being included are true, I all the more anxiously await September 9th (note 9/09/09 is the release date. Number 9, Number 9, Number 9...)

Jennette McCurdy's album also has me waiting. It will be the next new album to come out that I look forward too, and will be a great way to kick off the summer (and Jennette's 16th birthday is in late June, so it will be really cool for her to have her first disc out and all.)

I'm glad Demi is working on a new album, and can't wait to hear more about it. The only real items we know are that the guy from Academy Is... did a song with her, and that Demi likens her new direction more to "Behind Enemy Lines" than her previous work. (By the way, in film footage on the DVD, Demi is seen holding a 12 track CD of a rough "Don't Forget," meaning "Behind Enemy Lines" was at least considered to make the disc. I guess they originally cut it since it wasn't like the rest of the songs, but thought as a bonus track, that wouldn't matter.)

McCartney's stuff is always great, so I can't wait for more info on his projects. No one has reported any specifics on his new album, and I suspect Paul will keep the album under wraps until he has a release date. As for the box-set, Paul has been trying to do an outtakes album since "Hot Hits/Cold Cuts." The album was to be a double set featuring a disc of hits, and a disc of outtakes spanning from "Ram" up to "Back To The Egg". Paul decided just to release a hits disc, called "Wings Greatest." He worked on "Cold Cuts" up into the eighties, remixing and overdubbing, before giving up. Many songs from the proposed track list have since gotten out.

• "A Love For You"- saw release in 2003 on the "In Laws" soundtrack. First done during "Ram"
• "Lunch Box/Odd Sox" - B-side of "Coming Up". Recorded during "Venus & Mars"
• "My Carnival" - b-side of "Spies Like Us" (also made into a "Party Mix.") Recorded during "Venus & Mars."
• "Hey Diddle" - released version from a home tape on "Wingspan." Studio version first done during "Ram," later worked on in 1974 Nashville, sort of early "Venus & Mars" sessions
• "Mama's Little Girl" - released on "Put It There" single. From "Red Rose Speedway" sessions
• "Same Time Next Year" - released on "Put It There" single. From "Back To The Egg" sessions, done for a film of the same name.
• "Wide Prairie" - a portion released on Linda's "Wide Prairie" album. Done after "Band On The Run" sessions
• "I Would Only Smile" - Denny Laine cut released on his album "Japanese Tears." Done during "Red Rose Speedway" sessions
• "Send Me The Heart" - Denny Laine and Paul duet released on his album "Japanese Tears." Done during 1974 Nashville sessions
• "Oriental Nightfish" - Linda McCartney song first released in a music video, later on "Wide Prairie." From "Band On The Run" sessions.

But, there are many songs still unreleased from this collection.

• "Tragedy" - a cover song from "Red Rose Speedway" sessions.
• "Night Out" - from "Red Rose Speedway" sessions
• "Tomorrow" - this song was released on "Wild Life", but during "Venus and Mars" sessions, Paul did an instrumental version
• "Proud Mum" - an instrumental from Nashville (plus a short reprise version)
• "Did We Meet Somewhere Before?" - from "Back To The Egg" sessions, and a small portion was played in the film "Rock & Roll High School" but otherwise unreleased
• "Best Friend" - a concert song from 1972, with studio overdubs (like the song "The Mess")
• "Robber's Ball" - an outtake from "McCartney II"
• "Cage" - a "Back To The Egg" song originally slated to be on that album, before cut in favor of the similar "Baby's Request"
• "Waterspout" - a pre-"London Town" home studio recording

These songs have been overdubbed and remixed and many have new lead vocals from Paul done in the eighties. But a new box-set would feature much more, and will hopefull cover Paul from his early years up to the present.