Featured Track: Grant Maloy Smith-I See You

Grant Maloy Smith has a beautiful track titled "I See You."  Grant is the performing artist and it was co-written by Mike Greenly.
 
This is one of the most moving and powerful tracks I have heard in quite some time. The video is what really gets you. It will touch your heart and soul.

The acoustic guitar and vocals are a perfect match and I felt chills and wanted to cry watching the video. It reminded me of those that have passed and the direction we are all headed one day.

It was released with the support of Masterpiece Living, an organization dedicated to creating better lives for our elders. They adopted the track due to their work.

This is country, folk, and Americana at its very best and if this track does not touch you in some way you had better check for a pulse!

Keith "MuzikMan" Hannaleck 

Grant Maloy Smith is a Billboard Top 10 recording artist and Music Row Country Breakout charting songwriter of AMERICAN ROOTS music. His latest album, Dust Bowl - American Stories spent 17 weeks on the Billboard charts, including eleven weeks in the Top 10.
 

 https://www.grant-maloy-smith.com/epk

UK Music Legends The Pretty Things Announce New Album “Bare As Bone, Bright As Blood” - The Final Recordings Of Phil May and Dick Taylor

photo credit: Judy Totton

Cult British band The Pretty Things have announced their new album “Bare As Bone, Bright As Blood” will be released on 25th September via Madfish Music. Please see below for a comment from the band’s management and the full album press release.

Mark St John, Manager of The Pretty Things: 

On May the 15th 2020, Phil May, the lead singer with “The Pretty Things” died…. Despite his well-documented ill-health, his death was unexpected and resulted from a tragic accident and not his embedded health condition. His is a catastrophic loss and has been felt and acknowledged across the world of music and the arts.

At the time of his death, he was hugely excited and enthused about the impending release of the first-ever, all-acoustic “Pretty Things” album, which had been completed before his death.

I wrote the press release below, on the 5th May, just nine days before he died. We have left it unchanged – it remains as relevant to the record - and particularly to Phil and his connection to it, as it was while he was still alive and looking forward to performing these dark songs live and walking a new tightrope of performance…..

They will now never be heard live with Phil’s voice, and maybe never at all, but that does not diminish this remarkable record which will stand as a final tribute to one of the most significant artists of his generation, and beyond.

photo credit Mark St John

THE PRETTY THINGS – “BARE AS BONE, BRIGHT AS BLOOD” – THE NEW ALBUM.

On December 13th, 2018, following a sold-out show at London’s O2 Indigo, The Pretty Things retired from live, electric performances, after 55 years of touring and recording, due to the ill-health of lead singer, Phil May.

This was not something that the band, or their fans, wanted, but it was unavoidable, given the circumstances. At the time, there was already a new, electric album well underway, but this was shelved as it was clear that the band would never be able to perform any of these recordings. At the time of the retirement, some sort of return, possibly in a stripped-down, acoustic format was not entirely discounted, but it was not expected, due to the health issues, surrounding Phil May and also to the general lack of appetite that the bands’ two principals - Phil May and Dick Taylor - had always shown for acoustic performance as a mainstay for their work.

However, during 2019 there was a significant sea change in attitude within the band and, early in the year, the band, together with manager and producer, Mark St. John, returned to the studio and took the first, tentative steps toward the making of a new album, this time in an entirely acoustic format. The album - now completed and entitled “Bare As Bone, Bright As Blood” – is a genuine first for a band that has been knocking down the walls with their aggressive and memorable, electric live performances for more than 55 years.

This record has little in common with their past work, save that, like so many “Pretty Things” records and projects, it is wholly unique and an absolute first. Arguably, this record is as ground-breaking as the band’s seminal Rock Opera and psychedelic masterpiece – “S. F. Sorrow” – which is acknowledged as rock music’s first Rock Opera. The levels of inspiration, imagination, originality and musicality displayed are at an equivalent high; in many ways, perhaps, because the whole record is a totally exposed, stripped down, acoustic project, principally featuring only the two band members. For them, this was an arduous and unfamiliar task, relying solely on their fundamental talents and undertaken without the support, comfort and benefit of the thundering band that had underpinned their work for so many years.

This is work stripped bare and reflects the frailties and insecurities of gathering age, ill health, painful failure and memorable success. It is a reflection on two long, long lives in art and music that have always been at the cutting edge, and that have always worked as they did at the very start, in their teenage years. “Bare As Bone, Bright As Blood” does not allow for that luxury. This is not a pair of old rockers, still the oldest swingers in town. This is the work of two, old men, who are acting their age, maybe for the first time ever. If their health and energy is depleted, their skill, insight and experience is not, with the result that they have made a remarkable, exciting, unexpected and thought-provoking record, that is, against all the odds, another singular “first” for The Pretty Things.

It was a very sad day when we said an enforced goodbye to the astounding electric band that was The Pretty Things in December 2018. It is a very happy day to see them back, finally as the old men they truly are, and finally comfortable to release the young men that, for such a long, long time, they were. “Bare as Bone, Bright as Blood” – the remarkable and unexpected new album by The Pretty Things, still the tainted, dark royalty, banished from the rock establishment.

“Bare As Bone, Bright As Blood” will be released on CD, gatefold 2xLP on red vinyl and digitally and is available to pre-order now. (https://theprettythings.lnk.to/BareAsBoldBrightAsBlood)

The first singles to be taken from the new album are the double A-side of “The Devil Had A Hold On Me” & “To Build A Wall” and are available to stream now. (https://open.spotify.com/album/57gCumw0Pj2ih9ALzfa8Sc?si=2hoAw1IeTsShEG0BpMoIAw)



Track listing:
1. Can`t Be Satisfied [03:04]
2. Come Into My Kitchen [04:17]
3. Ain`t No Grave [03:58]
4. Faultline [04:22]
5. Redemption Day [05:22]
6. The Devil Had A Hold Of Me [04:16]
7. Bright As Blood [04:44]
8. Love In Vain[04:17]
9. Black Girl [02:37]
10. To Build A Wall[04:25]
11. Another World [03:56]
Bonus Track:
I`m Ready [03:43]

Press Quotes:

“Mr. May’s snarling vocals and rebellious persona helped make his band, the Pretty Things, an influential part of the 1960s British scene.” - The New York Times

“The man David Bowie listed as God in his address book stuck two fingers up at rules about music, sex and life itself – and made the most glorious noise doing it” - The Guardian

“May’s yowling vocals were as ferociously potent as anything recorded during the 1960s British beat boom.” - The Times

“Although the Pretty Things did not achieve the fame of many of their peers in the UK rock scene, they were beloved by musicians, including Aerosmith and, most famously, David Bowie” - Pitchfork


Links:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/The-Pretty-Things-115515605226
Website: http://www.theprettythings.com/
Label: https://www.madfishmusic.com/
For more hi-res images : www.madfishmusic.com/media/theprettythings

Press inquiries: Glass Onyon PR, PH: 1-828-350-8158, glassonyonpr@gmail.com

UK Music Legends The Pretty Things Announce New Album “Bare As Bone, Bright As Blood” - The Final Recordings Of Phil May and Dick Taylor

photo credit: Judy Totton

Cult British band The Pretty Things have announced their new album “Bare As Bone, Bright As Blood” will be released on 25th September via Madfish Music. Please see below for a comment from the band’s management and the full album press release.

Mark St John, Manager of The Pretty Things: 

On May the 15th 2020, Phil May, the lead singer with “The Pretty Things” died…. Despite his well-documented ill-health, his death was unexpected and resulted from a tragic accident and not his embedded health condition. His is a catastrophic loss and has been felt and acknowledged across the world of music and the arts.

At the time of his death, he was hugely excited and enthused about the impending release of the first-ever, all-acoustic “Pretty Things” album, which had been completed before his death.

I wrote the press release below, on the 5th May, just nine days before he died. We have left it unchanged – it remains as relevant to the record - and particularly to Phil and his connection to it, as it was while he was still alive and looking forward to performing these dark songs live and walking a new tightrope of performance…..

They will now never be heard live with Phil’s voice, and maybe never at all, but that does not diminish this remarkable record which will stand as a final tribute to one of the most significant artists of his generation, and beyond.

photo credit Mark St John

THE PRETTY THINGS – “BARE AS BONE, BRIGHT AS BLOOD” – THE NEW ALBUM.

On December 13th, 2018, following a sold-out show at London’s O2 Indigo, The Pretty Things retired from live, electric performances, after 55 years of touring and recording, due to the ill-health of lead singer, Phil May.

This was not something that the band, or their fans, wanted, but it was unavoidable, given the circumstances. At the time, there was already a new, electric album well underway, but this was shelved as it was clear that the band would never be able to perform any of these recordings. At the time of the retirement, some sort of return, possibly in a stripped-down, acoustic format was not entirely discounted, but it was not expected, due to the health issues, surrounding Phil May and also to the general lack of appetite that the bands’ two principals - Phil May and Dick Taylor - had always shown for acoustic performance as a mainstay for their work.

However, during 2019 there was a significant sea change in attitude within the band and, early in the year, the band, together with manager and producer, Mark St. John, returned to the studio and took the first, tentative steps toward the making of a new album, this time in an entirely acoustic format. The album - now completed and entitled “Bare As Bone, Bright As Blood” – is a genuine first for a band that has been knocking down the walls with their aggressive and memorable, electric live performances for more than 55 years.

This record has little in common with their past work, save that, like so many “Pretty Things” records and projects, it is wholly unique and an absolute first. Arguably, this record is as ground-breaking as the band’s seminal Rock Opera and psychedelic masterpiece – “S. F. Sorrow” – which is acknowledged as rock music’s first Rock Opera. The levels of inspiration, imagination, originality and musicality displayed are at an equivalent high; in many ways, perhaps, because the whole record is a totally exposed, stripped down, acoustic project, principally featuring only the two band members. For them, this was an arduous and unfamiliar task, relying solely on their fundamental talents and undertaken without the support, comfort and benefit of the thundering band that had underpinned their work for so many years.

This is work stripped bare and reflects the frailties and insecurities of gathering age, ill health, painful failure and memorable success. It is a reflection on two long, long lives in art and music that have always been at the cutting edge, and that have always worked as they did at the very start, in their teenage years. “Bare As Bone, Bright As Blood” does not allow for that luxury. This is not a pair of old rockers, still the oldest swingers in town. This is the work of two, old men, who are acting their age, maybe for the first time ever. If their health and energy is depleted, their skill, insight and experience is not, with the result that they have made a remarkable, exciting, unexpected and thought-provoking record, that is, against all the odds, another singular “first” for The Pretty Things.

It was a very sad day when we said an enforced goodbye to the astounding electric band that was The Pretty Things in December 2018. It is a very happy day to see them back, finally as the old men they truly are, and finally comfortable to release the young men that, for such a long, long time, they were. “Bare as Bone, Bright as Blood” – the remarkable and unexpected new album by The Pretty Things, still the tainted, dark royalty, banished from the rock establishment.

“Bare As Bone, Bright As Blood” will be released on CD, gatefold 2xLP on red vinyl and digitally and is available to pre-order now. (https://theprettythings.lnk.to/BareAsBoldBrightAsBlood)

The first singles to be taken from the new album are the double A-side of “The Devil Had A Hold On Me” & “To Build A Wall” and are available to stream now. (https://open.spotify.com/album/57gCumw0Pj2ih9ALzfa8Sc?si=2hoAw1IeTsShEG0BpMoIAw)



Track listing:
1. Can`t Be Satisfied [03:04]
2. Come Into My Kitchen [04:17]
3. Ain`t No Grave [03:58]
4. Faultline [04:22]
5. Redemption Day [05:22]
6. The Devil Had A Hold Of Me [04:16]
7. Bright As Blood [04:44]
8. Love In Vain[04:17]
9. Black Girl [02:37]
10. To Build A Wall[04:25]
11. Another World [03:56]
Bonus Track:
I`m Ready [03:43]

Press Quotes:

“Mr. May’s snarling vocals and rebellious persona helped make his band, the Pretty Things, an influential part of the 1960s British scene.” - The New York Times

“The man David Bowie listed as God in his address book stuck two fingers up at rules about music, sex and life itself – and made the most glorious noise doing it” - The Guardian

“May’s yowling vocals were as ferociously potent as anything recorded during the 1960s British beat boom.” - The Times

“Although the Pretty Things did not achieve the fame of many of their peers in the UK rock scene, they were beloved by musicians, including Aerosmith and, most famously, David Bowie” - Pitchfork


Links:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/The-Pretty-Things-115515605226
Website: http://www.theprettythings.com/
Label: https://www.madfishmusic.com/
For more hi-res images : www.madfishmusic.com/media/theprettythings

Press inquiries: Glass Onyon PR, PH: 1-828-350-8158, glassonyonpr@gmail.com

Rick Wakeman Releases New Digital Single “ASCRAEUS MONS” From His New Album 'The Red Planet'

Ascraeus Mons /əˈskriːəs ˈmɒnz/ is a large shield volcano located in the Tharsis region of the planet Mars.

CHECK OUT “ASCRAEUS MONS” HERE 

With the release of Rick Wakeman’s new studio album, The Red Planet due on August 28th 2020, described by BBC Radio 2’s Steve Wright as “King of the Prog rock keyboard .. one of our most successful and prolific musicians”, has released the first single to be taken from the album entitled “Ascraeus Mons”.

Inspired by 2021 being the anniversary of mans’ first expeditions to mars plus the fifty since including many landings Wakeman states “the incredible information discovered and of course some astonishing images. You just have to look at the photos online or in books to be inspired, the landscapes are fascinating and the volcanoes are huge …..bigger than anything on earth. It was the perfect subject for me to be inspired musically.”

He explains further “The main themes and ideas were all written on the piano, with photographs of Ascraeus Mons scattered around. I wanted the start of the album to be a statement and I always felt the church organ as an initial solo instrument said it all. This is certainly a track that screams out to be played live.....so I’d better get practising !!”

The Red Planet features 8 newly composed pieces, especially for this project, and harks back to Wakeman's critically acclaimed debut album The Six Wives of Henry VIII where there were 6 heavy keyboard pieces based around a central subject matter. It is a serious return to “Wakeman Prog”...

“It’s all a grand musical gesture ... this record “sizzles” and “melts” with old-time vinyl prog passion” Somethingelsereviews.com

“Rick Wakeman himself is a true visionary, a maestro, and a storyteller that has brought The Red Planet to life.” Echoes And Dust

Rick has blown the dust off his favourite analogue keyboards and along with his with the latest keyboards, has used the same formula he devised when making his legendary albums The Six Wives of Henry VIII and Criminal Record.

Upon being asked about the expectations of his Prog Fans, that they are hoping he will have shoved the “Prog Fader” up to 11, he replied, “That could be a problem.... as it's already at 14!!!”

The album, produced by Rick Wakeman and Erik Jordan, has already garnered high praise and coverage in the worldwide media including Vanity Fair, Billboard, plus making the cover feature in the UK’s Prog Magazine and multiple interviews on BBC radio stations.



Madfish will be releasing worldwide to retail The Red Planet as a CD Digipack with 20 page booklet, a black vinyl 2LP in gatefold sleeve and digitally on 28th August 2020, these are available to pre-order HERE (https://rickwakemanmadfish.lnk.to/TheRedPlanet)

For a limited number of very lucky fans there is (covid-19 dependent) a special launch event to be held at the UK’s National Space Centre in Leicester on Saturday 22nd August – more details on tickets can be found HERE (https://www.musicglue.com/rick-wakeman-the-red-planet/products/star-vice-admiral-star-playback-event-at-the-national-space-centre-with-bag-of-goodies-signed-event-programme-and-signed-cd-slash-dvd)

The English Rock Ensemble (ERE) features:
Rick Wakeman - Keyboards
Dave Colquhoun- Guitars
Lee Pomeroy - Bass
Ash Soan - Drums

Rick Wakeman's official:
www.rwcc.com
@GrumpyOldRick
https://www.facebook.com/RickWakemanMusic

Press inquiries: Glass Onyon PR, Billy James, PH: 828-350-8158, glassonyonpr@gmail.com

Rick Wakeman Releases New Digital Single “ASCRAEUS MONS” From His New Album 'The Red Planet'

Ascraeus Mons /əˈskriːəs ˈmɒnz/ is a large shield volcano located in the Tharsis region of the planet Mars.

CHECK OUT “ASCRAEUS MONS” HERE 

With the release of Rick Wakeman’s new studio album, The Red Planet due on August 28th 2020, described by BBC Radio 2’s Steve Wright as “King of the Prog rock keyboard .. one of our most successful and prolific musicians”, has released the first single to be taken from the album entitled “Ascraeus Mons”.

Inspired by 2021 being the anniversary of mans’ first expeditions to mars plus the fifty since including many landings Wakeman states “the incredible information discovered and of course some astonishing images. You just have to look at the photos online or in books to be inspired, the landscapes are fascinating and the volcanoes are huge …..bigger than anything on earth. It was the perfect subject for me to be inspired musically.”

He explains further “The main themes and ideas were all written on the piano, with photographs of Ascraeus Mons scattered around. I wanted the start of the album to be a statement and I always felt the church organ as an initial solo instrument said it all. This is certainly a track that screams out to be played live.....so I’d better get practising !!”

The Red Planet features 8 newly composed pieces, especially for this project, and harks back to Wakeman's critically acclaimed debut album The Six Wives of Henry VIII where there were 6 heavy keyboard pieces based around a central subject matter. It is a serious return to “Wakeman Prog”...

“It’s all a grand musical gesture ... this record “sizzles” and “melts” with old-time vinyl prog passion” Somethingelsereviews.com

“Rick Wakeman himself is a true visionary, a maestro, and a storyteller that has brought The Red Planet to life.” Echoes And Dust

Rick has blown the dust off his favourite analogue keyboards and along with his with the latest keyboards, has used the same formula he devised when making his legendary albums The Six Wives of Henry VIII and Criminal Record.

Upon being asked about the expectations of his Prog Fans, that they are hoping he will have shoved the “Prog Fader” up to 11, he replied, “That could be a problem.... as it's already at 14!!!”

The album, produced by Rick Wakeman and Erik Jordan, has already garnered high praise and coverage in the worldwide media including Vanity Fair, Billboard, plus making the cover feature in the UK’s Prog Magazine and multiple interviews on BBC radio stations.



Madfish will be releasing worldwide to retail The Red Planet as a CD Digipack with 20 page booklet, a black vinyl 2LP in gatefold sleeve and digitally on 28th August 2020, these are available to pre-order HERE (https://rickwakemanmadfish.lnk.to/TheRedPlanet)

For a limited number of very lucky fans there is (covid-19 dependent) a special launch event to be held at the UK’s National Space Centre in Leicester on Saturday 22nd August – more details on tickets can be found HERE (https://www.musicglue.com/rick-wakeman-the-red-planet/products/star-vice-admiral-star-playback-event-at-the-national-space-centre-with-bag-of-goodies-signed-event-programme-and-signed-cd-slash-dvd)

The English Rock Ensemble (ERE) features:
Rick Wakeman - Keyboards
Dave Colquhoun- Guitars
Lee Pomeroy - Bass
Ash Soan - Drums

Rick Wakeman's official:
www.rwcc.com
@GrumpyOldRick
https://www.facebook.com/RickWakemanMusic

Press inquiries: Glass Onyon PR, Billy James, PH: 828-350-8158, glassonyonpr@gmail.com