Today we are proud to launch a brand new partnership with Digital radio station Gold. As with its sister station Planet Rock we will be bringing you regular music news and other exciting features throughout the coming months. So who are our new friends? 

This is the first major exhibition of Linda's photographs to be staged in the UK, and spans her career from the 1960s to shortly before her death in April 1998.The exhibition will also feature landscapes, self-portraits and family snaps. Some have rarely been seen before in public. The photographs will be offered for sale in very limited editions, authenticated with a certificate signed by Sir Paul.

Glastonbury Festival will stage an event in Liverpool... as part of the City of Culture celebrations, it has been announced. The union organisers who run the Left Field area of Glastonbury will host an evening of music showcasing local bands on May 14.

Record company EMI... have denied The Rolling Stones have severed their multi-million pound contract with them. The denial comes after the band confirmed they have signed a one-album deal with Universal to release the soundtrack CD to Martin Scorsese's film 'Shine A Light', due to be released in March.

The album will be released physically and digitally across Universal Music's labels worldwide and by Polydor Records in the UK.  EMI are currently under fire for announcing plans to axe up to a third of the workforce in a move the company are billing as a "revolutionary" overhaul to the business.

with Metallica, one of the world's biggest, noisiest rock bands and there's been some great stuff of theirs recently added including vinyl picture discs, CD sets, imports and limited editions. Check them and much more out at my latest arrivals page.

Well not exactly, but today's playlist letter was 'Y', so it's been mainly Neil Young (as opposed to Will or Paul...) day and pretty damn good it's been too. We all know the old classics but it seems his rather prolific back catalogue warrants further in-depth investigation.

If 'Supernature' was airbrushed in bold strokes of glitterball glamour, 'Seventh Tree' is its sensual counterpoint. Where its predecessor came cocooned in style and sex, 'Seventh Tree' emerges gilded in the butterfly colours of an English surrealism shared from Lear to Lennon. It shimmers and shines with the warmth of a hazy summer, an electric whirlpool of sound over which Alison's glistening voice soars.  Alison Goldfrapp says "Seventh Tree is English romanticism with a hint of California sunshine." while Will Gregory describes the album as "Heartache dressed in ten louche outfits".

Goldfrapp are widely acknowledged as modern musical treasures - amongst their most creative and imaginative contemporaries they present albums, live shows and imagery in a self-created, ambitious and consistently uncompromising way. Alison Goldfrapp has become a modern-day British icon, providing musical and visual inspiration for countless other artists.

Goldfrapp also have a very real beating heart - and it is this rhythm that reverberates throughout the new set of powerful songs on 'Seventh Tree'.

This week has been rather a musical one for me.... well stage musical; as I travelled into London on Wednesday night to see the wonderful Mary Poppins show. I had never been to the Prince Edward Theatre before but I loved how close I felt to the stage, such an intimate venue with good views of the stage. I also came away wishing I'd been to stage school and was on the stage with them as they all seemed to be having a fantastic time and the choreography was just awesome. Unfortunately, it's residence in London finishes tomorrow night but if you are near Plymouth, Birmingham, Edinburgh, Manchester or Cardiff, watch out as it's coming to a theatre near you throughout 2008 - 09 and I would thoroughly recommend going to see it!

Today, I thought that I would bring to your attention, some of the debut albums to look out for in 2008, including:

SONS AND DAUGHTERS This Gift

VAMPIRE WEEKEND Vampire Weekend

Slash Proves He's A Guitar Hero: Slash made an appearance at an electronics show on Sunday to perform ‘Welcome To The Jungle’ as part of an odd video game duet.

Metallica's Big Seller: Metallica’s “Black Album” is the second biggest album in the US over the past 16 years. The heavy metal classic has shifted a remarkable 15,077,000 copies in the US since 1991. That is an unbelievable 942,312 copies per year (on average) since it was released. It currently sits just behind Shania Twain’s Come On Over which has sold around 400,000 more copies since the official sales charts were started in 1991. Santana currently sits at number six in the chart with his Supernatural album, which has sold a very respectable 11,643,000 in the ten years or so since its release.

Clapton Confirms Gigs: Following his recent New Year's gig with chums Pete Townshend, Ringo Starr and Joe Walsh at an annual private gig dedicated to recovering alcoholics, Eric Clapton has also confirmed dates in New York’s Madison Square Garden, performing with Steve Winwood. This will be the first time Clapton and Winwood have performed together for 40 years. We’ll keep you updated for when the Guitar God graces our shores of Blighty again!

Trower & Bruce Reunite: Robin Trower & Jack Bruce have reunited for the first time since the early 80s to record a new album. Seven Moons sees the former Procul Harum guitarist and Cream bassist reunite for the first time since 1982’s Truce. The album is released in the US on 8 January with a British date to follow later. You'll be able to catch Trower performing songs from the album on this year's world tour. The legendary guitarist will be heading to the UK in May as part of an extensive solo tour that kicks off in Florida on 16 January.

Hope everyone had a good weekend? I went for an overdue visit to my wonderful hairdresser and got my hair freshened up but I now, according to some, have Orange hair! I would just like to say, it isn't orange, it blonde with copper red flicks, it's just the red needs a few washes to calm down as it is admittingly, a little in-ya-face right now. Oh well, I love it!!

Anyhow, back to what I came on here to tell you; I am very happy to bring you some very early details of the eagerly awaited James Last CD and DVD [Released 31st March 2008] featuring recordings and footage of his live performance at London's Royal Albert Hall during his 2007 tour.

With a hugely successful career stretching back into the fifties, James Last has proved himself to be one of the greatest entertainers in the world of music. The James Last Orchestra is the most successful big band in chart history and they have sold in excess of 50 million albums worldwide. This spectacular new show was filmed at London's Royal Albert Hall on his 2007 tour and captures the James Last Orchestra at the top of their game in front of a wildly enthusiastic sell out crowd who fervently believe in audience participation. 

 

Hi Everyone!  I hope you are settling into 2008 with all of your resolutions still intact.  I'm holding off on my resolutions for a while, at least until the morning I wake up with an anticipated epiphany and kickstart them into action.  But for now, I'll just eat more.  Already this year, the collectables are moving fast and thick.  Among the newest editions include this rare HOOLIGANS DOUBLE LP TEST PRESSING by THE WHO, complete with its industry press release, and this really cool GENESIS 2007 BOX SET ADVANCE, which employs completely different packaging to the commercial release!  I've also slashed a few prices to make some tasty collectables even more irresistable, so feast your eyes on this week's top-five CANADIAN rarities:

 

Spurred on by their commitments as Ambassadors to Nelson Mandela's 46664 HIV AIDS global campaign, on which the spotlight will fall December 1 with a World Aids Day awareness and fundraising concert in Johannesburg, South Africa, Brian May, Roger Taylor and Paul Rodgers are rushing to finish a track specially written for 46664 by Roger Taylor and have it available as a free download in time for this coming Saturday’s AIDS HIV benefit concert.

The track, Taylor's 'Say It's Not True', originally came to light for the launch of the 46664 campaign back in November 2003. Taylor wrote the song as a gift to Mandela and performed it live for him for the first time with Brian May and Dave Stewart at the inaugural 46664 concert in Cape Town that month. The song carries the message that HIV AIDS is something that can affect any one of us no matter our sexual or racial status.

Taylor performed an acoustic version of the song again nightly during the Queen + Paul Rodgers' 2005 tour, each time dedicating it to Mandela’s work to bring people and politicians together to fight HIV AIDS.

Having played two previous 46664 concerts, but committed in the studio this year, Queen and Paul Rodgers decided to revisit the song, with all three of them sharing the vocals, and to make the song the band's message of support to Mandela this year.

"By making the song available for free", says Taylor, "we hope to help Nelson Mandela with his campaign to get across the message that no-one is safe from infection. We have to be aware, we have to protect ourselves and those we love. The song follows the line of Mr. Mandela's personal message: it's in our own hands to bring a stop to this."

Queen's last new studio recording was back in November 1997 when May, Taylor and band's bassist John Deacon reunited to record 'No-One But You' a song written by Brian May which was shaped by the early loss of the late Freddie Mercury to AIDS. The song was the last new work to be released by the band, issued as a single in January 1998.