Art for Art's Sake. 10cc back for 40th Anniversary Tour

10cc will tour the UK in 2012 to mark 40 years since the band formed in Stockport in 1972. The 2012 40th Anniversary tour will feature all the 10cc hits and more and will culminate in an extra special show at London’s Royal Albert Hall. Says Graham Gouldman: “It’s hard to believe it’s 40 years since 10cc was born in Strawberry Studios in Stockport. I’m immensely proud of all we have achieved. As long as the fans want to hear the songs played live I’ll be happy to oblige.” The full list of shows is:

• 30-Apr GLASGOW Royal Concert Hall
• 01-May GATESHEAD The Sage
• 02-May MANCHESTER Bridgewater Hall
• 03-May YORK Barbican
• 05-May LIVERPOOL Philharmonic Hall
• 06-May CARDIFF St David's Hall
• 07-May BIRMINGHAM Symphony Hall
• 08-May LEICESTER De Montfort Hall
• 10-May LONDON Royal Albert Hall

10cc, (Graham Gouldman, Eric Stewart, Kevin Godley and Lol Crème) were four accomplished musicians/writers/producers who cared more for the sound of their records than the trappings of celebrity. Alongside fellow travelers Queen, Rod Stewart, Elton John and David Bowie they ruled the airwaves in the 70s with monster hit after monster hit. From their breakthrough debut single “Donna” in ’72 to their final No 1 “Dreadlock Holiday” in ’78 via solid gold classics such as “I’m Not In Love” (a worldwide smash in ’75), “Rubber Bullets”, “The Wall Street Shuffle”, “I’m Mandy Fly Me”, “Life Is A Minestrone”, “The Things We Do For Love”, “The Dean And I”, “Art For Art’s Sake”, “Silly Love” and many more, 10cc combined progressive art-rock tendencies with an ear for melody to create songs of the ‘once heard, never forgotten’ variety. While their singles burned up the charts, the band simultaneously embraced the artful and the esoteric on their albums creating a truly ground-breaking and influential body of work. The original line-up of 10cc stayed together from ‘72 to ‘76 and released four albums “10cc” (’73), “Sheet Music” (’74), “The Original Soundtrack” (’75) and “How Dare You” (’76) after which Godley and Crème departed to pursue their own path as a duo. Gouldman and Stewart continued and 10cc released “Deceptive Bends” (’77) that featured another global hit “The Things We Do For Love” and “Bloody Tourists” (’78) which gave the world “Dreadlock Holiday”, a song that has sound-tracked hundreds of hours of cricket coverage! The early 80s saw three more albums from the Gouldman/Stewart 10cc “Look Hear” (’80), “Ten Out Of 10” (’81) and “Windows In The Jungle” (’83) then both pursued other projects before reconvening in the 90s for “Meanwhile” (’92) and “Mirror Mirror” (’95). At the turn of the millennium, encouraged by fans and friends, Graham Gouldman put together a band and went out and played all those 10cc hits that everyone wanted to hear. 10cc (Mk III) features Graham, Paul Burgess (a touring member of 10cc back in ’73 and a full-time member from ’76), Rick Fenn (who joined 10cc in ’76), Mick Wilson and Mike Stevens. The band have toured the world and, as well as delighting their fans of old, have found there is a whole new generation discovering the band for the first time.
http://www.myspace.com/tencc
CLICK HERE FOR TICKETS

Up with James Morrison and Jessie J. As seen on Strictly Come Dancing

James Morrison releases his amazing duet with Jessie J, ‘Up’ on December 4. The track is taken from the number 1 album ‘The Awakening’, which was released earlier this year. The album spent 2 weeks at the top of the album chart upon release. Last Saturday night,  James performed his new single, Up, with Jessie J live from Wembley Arena, on BBC1's hit show, Strictly Come Dancing. If you missed it, you can watch on the BBC iPlayer until Sunday 27th - click here
Up (feat. Jessie J) - EP - James Morrison - The Awakening - James Morrison
Tour Dates JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2012

• Saturday 28 Jan Belfast Ulster Hall
• Sunday 29 Jan Dublin Olympia
• Tuesday 31 Jan Manchester O2 Apollo
• Wednesday 1 Feb Manchester O2 Apollo
• Friday 3 Cambridge Corn Exchange
• Saturday 4 Southampton Guildhall
• Monday 6 Leicester De Montford Hall
• Tuesday 7 Birmingham O2 Academy
• Thursday 9 London Hammersmith Apollo
• Friday 10 London Hammersmith Apollo
• Sunday 12 Southend Cliff Pavilion
• Monday 13 Bristol Colston Hall
• Wednesday 15 Glasgow O2 Academy
• Friday 17 Leeds O2 Academy
• Saturday 18 Nottingham Royal Centre
• Sunday 19 Newcastle O2 Academy

www.jamesmorrisonmusic.com

MUSIC NOTES - BBC Children in Need single and more

Labrinth, Tinchy, Chipmunk and Wretch 32 Come Together To Help BBC Children in Need and release official single ‘Teardrop’ . The official BBC Children in Need single will get one of its most credible makeovers to date this year as the likes of Labrinth, Tinchy Stryder, Chipmunk, Wretch 32 and Tulisa from NDubz present their own re-interpretation of Massive Attack’s timeless single ‘Teardrop’, with the new lyrics adapted by Wretch 32, Gary Go and Mr Dialysis. The song was released through Island Records on November 13th with all proceeds going to the charity to support some of the most disadvantaged children right here in the UK. http://www.bbc.co.uk/pudsey

Grammy nominated superstar Drake, whose 2010 debut “Thank Me Later” established the Canadian as one of the breakthrough artists of the year, marks his return with the highly anticipated release on November 14th, of his brand new Young Money/Cash Money album “Take Care”.

The debut album has landed; Rizzle Kicks present ‘Stereo Typical’. It was Popjustice who recently wrote, “Here’s something one doesn’t really think about much, until one day you notice it and you can’t unremember it: popstars do have a habit of making things looks like such hard work. The Thing About Rizzle Kicks is that they make it all look very easy.” ‘STEREO TYPICAL’ Island Records www.youtube.com/user/RizzleKicks / www.rizzlekicks.com Professor Green UK Tour: TOUR DETAILS CLICK HERE

London based singer, producer and multi-instrumentalist Tom Vek will released a new single ‘Someone Loves You’ on 14th November. ‘Someone Loves You’ is taken from Vek’s acclaimed second album ‘Leisure Seizure’, the follow up to his hugely influential debut album ‘We Have Sound’ which was released in 2005. The six year hiatus between album release dates saw Vek locating and building the studio set up that would be his ongoing music-making base. It was here that the brilliant ‘Leisure Seizure’ – which features the singles ‘A Chore’ and ‘Aroused’ – was made

“Off The Record” Released by 4th & Broadway/ Island on 6th November 2011

Tinchy Stryder is back with his follow up single to this summer’s top 5 hit with Dappy, ‘Spaceship’.  ‘Off The Record’, produced by Calvin Harris and featuring BURNS, was out 6th November on 4th & Broadway/ Island and is the second cut to be released from Tinchy’s forthcoming album due Spring 2012. Combining Calvin Harris’ anthemic ‘hands in the air’ production with Tinchy’s charismatic lyrical charm ‘Off The Record’ is sure to not only become a common request on dance floors across the country, but also make impressionable dent on the UK charts.

Dreams Don’t Turn To Dust is the second single taken from All Things Bright And Beautiful, the new album from Owl City that takes Adam Young’s prodigious way with classic pop melody, snow-fresh electronica and lyrics overwhelmed by the beauty of nature and the power of dreams… and adds experience, confidence, a hard-won production virtuosity and even bigger, even better tunes. It has a feel that all sophomore albums by male solo artists should probably have… the sound of a boy becoming a man. OWL CITY Dreams Don’t Turn To Dust Released 14th November www.owlcitymusic.co.uk

KELLY ROWLAND…turns up the heat with new single ‘Down For Whatever’ on November 21^st If Kelly Rowland’s refreshing addition to The X Factor judging panel this year has taught us anything in recent weeks, it’s that the former Destiny’s Child member is always keen to make the best of any situation – and that’s exactly the message in her steamy new single, ‘Down For Whatever’, released on November 21st through Island Records.

Florence and the Machine's 2nd Album ‘Ceremonials’ out now

A lot can happen to a daydreaming girl in the world, and in the last few years, it's all happened for Florence. The debut album she dream't up in her bedroom in South London burst into being and swept the planet, selling over three million copies, winning the coveted Brits 'Best Album' award and etching itself indelibly into the popular consciousness. Now she has been everywhere: the girl has seen the world and the world has seen the girl. And after months of laying low on home turf, writing and recording in the London she’s long been in love with, Florence returns with her triumphant second album. Ceremonials is a stunningly accomplished record by an artist teetering on the wind-blown top of her game, an extraordinary testament to what Florence refers to as “my incorrigible maximalism”. The pounding epiphanic positivism of ‘Spectrum’; the galloping massed-ranks majesty of ‘All This And Heaven Too’ and ‘Shake It Out’; the triumphant emotional battle cries of ‘No Light No Light’ and ‘Heartlines’. Spend a little time with Ceremonials and what strikes you first and foremost is the apparent confidence of its execution. “This is the first time I’ve made a record with a sort of overarching, cohesive sound” says Florence: “It’s a proper studio album in that sense: a group of songs that paint a unified picture of where I am in my life right now.” Recorded with her full band over five weeks this summer in Abbey Road's legendary Studio 3, 'Ceremonials' is another product of her long-running collaboration with producer Paul Epworth. Together they’ve created an expansive art-pop vision that can be both captivatingly tender while still frequently soaring to places where it can overwhelm the senses like an emotive tidal wave. It’s a rich tapestry that unpicks the conventions of classic pop, shoots them through a black hole and reconstitutes them into a multi-layered, future-primitive stomp. And underpinning it all are Florence's beguiling, epic vocals. A mature masterpiece that confirms its creator is in for the long haul. “I feel like it’s a record made by someone becoming a woman, becoming a grown-up. And it’s about all the problems that go hand-in-hand with that” says Florence. “Lungs was very much the work of someone wrestling with sort of simultaneously being a teenager and being an adult. This is the work of someone who’s trying to grow up I guess? But probably failing.” At twenty five, the art-school dropout has done much of her growing up amid the maelstrom of her whirling worldwide success. In 2010 she broke America in spectacular style, her monster hit Dog Days blazing a trail across the nation, taking the charts and the airwaves by storm. She wrote and recorded a heart-stopping track for the Twilight: Eclipse soundtrack and performed Dog Days to a rapt and truly global audience at the MTV VMA awards. The viewing figures were almost a billion, and the following day Florence was the most Googled person on the planet. In the last year she’s graced the stages of Saturday Night Live, Good Morning America, The Colbert Report, the 53rd Grammy Awards - where she performed as part of an all-girl, all-star Aretha Franklin tribute and was nominated for Best New Artist - the 83rd Academy Awards, Anna Wintour’s obscenely star-studded annual Met Ball, and the Nobel Peace Prize ceremony in Oslo. Time Magazine ranked her at number fifty-one in their 2011 list of the one hundred most influential people in the world. She has officially graduated from up-and-coming fashion influence to full-blown style icon. She’s hung out with her musical heroes and heard their blessings and gushing praise. Even Beyoncé has acknowledged that Florence and The Machine was a key influence on her last album. “It’s certainly a very different thing this time around: making an album that you know a lot of people are anticipating” reflects Florence; “…but I’ve just tried to do what I would’ve done anyway. This one is a real attempt to just make exactly the kind of music I want to hear: dramatic and really huge and kind of spooky. I want it more than anything to have an overwhelming effect on the listener: I want it to make people feel something.” Feel something you irrefutably will. Far from being one of those sell-out-and-go-pop second records that so many promising new artists settle for, Ceremonials is a wholly more experimental and challenging body of work. “I wanted to push the aggression of the sound” Florence says; “Bigger drums, bigger bass sounds: as big and as powerful as we could go. We did much more experimenting this time with electronic sounds, but overall I think we’ve ended up with a more organic-sounding album. It’s a kind of organized chaos.” Since her days of art college and squat parties and gigs in grotty pubs, the life of Florence Welch has gone all the way into the stratosphere. With Ceremonials, Florence is back from outer space and back to what it is she does best, making forward-thinking, unclassifiable, truly overwhelming music. Some artists respond to a successful debut album by reacting against it; attempting to disown the very qualities that drew people to them in the first place. “I couldn’t do that if I tried!” says Florence. “Lungs seemed like so many records rolled into one that I wouldn’t even know what I’d be reacting against.” Instead, Florence Welch has dramatically delivered on the promises of Lungs. “It’s a big-sounding album? I guess there’s no getting around that. I’m attracted to that sense of being overwhelmed by something. If there’s a chance that I might respond that way while these songs are playing around me, then someone else might too. And that’s surely the point, isn’t it?” -Ceremonials - Florence + The Machine -