Blog Posts by Martin Dio

Well-known married musical couples who perform together are few and far between--but for Herb Alpert and Lani Hall, that's just one of many unusual aspects of their distinguished careers.

The pair just released I Feel You, their first studio album in nearly 10 years, which reinterprets several well-known classics of the past few decades, including the Beatles' "Here Comes The Sun" and "Blackbird," Peggy Lee's "Fever" and Van Morrison's "Moondance," among other similarly venerable tunes.

Also covered: a reinterpretation of "What Now My Love," a hit for Alpert back in 1966 with his revered Tijuana Brass outfit.

In fact, the storied history shared by Alpert and Hall--he not just as the co-founder of A&M Records but the recording superstar who rose to fame in the '60s and sold over 75 million albums worldwide, she as a Grammy winner and member of Sergio Mendes' much-respected Brasil 66--is part of what makes the pair unique: They make music not for commerce but purely for the love of it.

This week marks the opening of a new film notable not only for its focus on country music but for the unveiling of a new country singer coming from unexpected quarters.

The movie? Country Strong. And the singer? None other than actress Gwyneth Paltrow.

Paltrow, whose vocal talents were already displayed in the 2000 film Duets--in which she sang "Cruisin'" with a duet partner no less that Huey Lewis of the News--acquits herself admirably in Country Strong, and has been on the receiving end of much praise from critical quarters since then.

Since her conspicuous live singing "debut" on the recent CMAs gala, Paltrow has been making a select few rounds to promote Country Strong--and among those rounds was a recent memorable visit to the Y! Music studios.

With a top-notch band of skilled veterans, Paltrow proved that as a live singer, she's eminently capable...and surprisingly good.

Having been present at hundreds of similar studio performances, this writer is pleased to note that Paltrow's

There was some loud roaring going in the Y! Music studio a few weeks ago--but it was good roaring, because it was being produced by Bring Me The Horizon, and they roar with the best of them.

The Sheffield, England-based band is riding a wave of momentum that peaked most noticeably Stateside with the release of their latest album, There Is a Hell, Believe Me I've Seen It. There Is A Heaven, Let's Keep It A Secret--which entered the American charts at No. 17 and continues to grow their audience here appreciably.

The quintet, who formed in 2004 and took their name from--well, watch the interview below and you'll see--consists of Oliver Sykes (lead vocals), Lee Malia (guitar), Matt Kean (bass), Matt Nicholls (drums) and newest member Jona Weinhofen (guitar). The band has been variously described as hardcore, deathcore, metalcore, but labels can sometimes be deceptive--as there is a sophistication to be heard among most of the songs on There Is A Hell that cannot be confined to any one

Few could have imagined that Rod Stewart--the rooster-haired, onetime lead singer of iconic '60s rockers the Jeff Beck Group--would not only still be at it over 40 years later, but using the term "age appropriate" when discussing his music.

Stewart, whose career has of course skyrocketed since those days--lifetime album and single sales are now estimated at 250 million--has lately been charting an interesting course that's about as far removed from rock 'n' roll as are Cole Porter and Henry Mancini. And those are just two distinguished American songwriters Stewart covers on Fly Me to The Moon...The Great American Songbook: Volume V.

The new album, out Tuesday (Oct. 19), is the latest in a string of similar projects from Stewart since 2002's groundbreaking It Had To Be You: The Great American Songbook, which took classic songs from all eras of the 20th century--make that the early-to-mid 20th century--and essentially brought him a whole new audience. And very likely an older one.

Those

Two masters from different musical spheres--Ravi Shankar and George Harrison--are being honored this week via a special deluxe box set collecting some of their most distinguished work together.

Titled Collaborations, the package is a limited edition, numbered box set containing 3CDs and 1 DVD, all containing music composed by master musician Shankar and produced by Harrison.

The pair, who met in London 1966, shared a long and colorful history together, culminating in the sitarist's signing to Harrison's Dark Horse Records label in 1973. With Harrison at the production helm, the highly regarded Shankar Family & Friends (1974), The Ravi Shankar Music Festival From India (1976), and Chants Of India (1997) resulted.

All three CDs are included in the box set; the DVD is a rare concert performance of The Ravi Shankar Music Festival From India recorded live at London's Royal Albert Hall in 1974. Also included in the box is a 56-page book featuring a forward by composer Philip Glass, a history

Saving Abel proved able to save more than, uh, Abel, thanks to their generous participation in the USO's concert at sea earlier this year. In fact, among those saved were more than 2,000 sailors--all of whom were returning home after a three-month deployment at sea--who got to watch the band rock out royally aboard the USS Carl Vinson on their way back home.

But this was by no means a casual fling. The group's latest album Miss America was actually titled after the band's previous USO tour through Kuwait and Iraq and inspired by the service and spirit of American troops and their families. "Just being out there with those men and women who do so much for us and the country we live in, we really wanted to give them something back," says the band's singer Jared Weeks. "So for all of us, Miss America was the perfect name, for a perfect situation."

The band was warmly received--as you can perhaps tell by the accompanying photo--and as a follow-up to their self-titled, gold debut album,

Not just a quartet, but a quartet of individual singers and songwriters who have already proven themselves--to much acclaim--on the live circuit, the Rescues are very good indeed.

The Los Angeles-based combo--whose recent album Let Loose The Horses is packed with gorgeous harmonies and top-flight songwriting--are the very personification of the whole being more than the sum of its parts. Comprised of Kyler England, Adrianne Gonzalez, Rob Giles and Gabriel Mann, the quartet joined forces in LA, where as solo artists they occasionally shared the stage several times and, following a suggestion, put their four heads together and see what they could come up with.

Following significant success in the TV soundtrack world--their music was heard on such shows like Private Practice, One Tree Hill and Grey's Anatomy--Let Loose The Horses fairly well now puts it all together: A terrific album that takes four distinct musicians, weaves them in and out and blends them together, and presents a

A high-energy, blown-out soul revue is not the sort of event regularly documented in the Y! Music studios, but Eli "Paperboy" Reed isn't a "regular" performer by any stretch of the imagination.

Reed, whose talent as a singer and songwriter is drawing attention on a global scale, is drawing raves for his brand new album Come And Get It--which manages to sound utterly modern, yet simultaneously evokes the unforgettable sound of prime American R&B, circa the early '70s.

From Boston, but with a bit of travel under his belt--including extended stays in Clarksdale, Mississippi and Chicago--Reed has taken an encyclopedic knowledge of blues, R&B and country music forms and, after a lengthy period of performance both as a singer and accompanist, put together a sound that is dynamic, tight and--in the live context--absolutely spectacular.

His new album follows two others released independently (titled Sings Walkin' And Talkin and Other Smash Hits! and Roll With You respectively) and a host of