Pete Townshend plans extensive reissue programme

Pete Townshend has announced details of a major reissue campaign. 

11 of his solo albums will be remastered ahead of a digital release on February 23. They will then be released on CD in stages throughout the rest of 2015 and into 2016. 

The 11 digital album releases cover Who Came First, Rough Mix – his collaboration with The Faces’ Ronnie Lane – as well as his albums Empty Glass, All The Best Cowboys Have Chinese Eyes and the live album Deep End Live, featuring David Gilmour. 

The albums will all be released on UMC/Universal Music are:- 

Who Came First 

Rough Mix 

Empty Glass

All The Best Cowboys Have Chinese Eyes 

White City 

Iron Man: The Musical 

Psychoderelict 

Scoop 

Another Scoop 

Scoop 3 

Deep End Live 

News of the reissues arrives soon after The Who confirmed plans to release a 7″ singles and all studio albums on vinyl. 

Meanwhile, later this year, Townshend will premier a new orchestral version of Quadrophenia at London’s Royal Albert Hall. 

The Who are also due to play London’s Hyde Park on June 26, 2015.

'For The Love of Mod Tokyo' by Emma-Rosa Dias - Out Now!

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Dennis' Kingskerswell church hall debut - and a great excuse to visit his mum!

DENNIS Greaves is going to church — and Mark 'The Harp' is going with him. But the tunes will be secular rather than sacred when two of the nation's top blues musicians take to the stage. 

Promoters World Unlimited are behind An Acoustic Evening with Nine Below Zero's frontmen Dennis Greaves and Mark 'The Harp' Feltham at Kingskerswell Parish Church. The gig takes place on March 14. 

And for Dennis it's a chance to combine a date of his current live tour with a trip home to see mum, who lives in Torbay. He said: "I have never played a gig in a village church before. I'm really looking forward to it!" 

Dennis and Mark were founder members of rhythm and blues outfit Nine Below Zero in the late 1970s, gigging in London's pubs and clubs and sharing bills with bands such as The Who and Dr Feelgood. 

Plenty of TV exposure around that time included a starring role in the first episode of The Young Ones, where they played Eleven Plus Eleven in the lounge of the flat where the sitcom's main action took place. 

Their first album, 1980's maximum-energy Live At The Marquee, consistently makes the higher reaches of charts of the best-loved live albums of all time. 

More than 20 albums later, the band are being name-checked by a new generation of rockers, with media favourites The Strypes the latest to acknowledge their influence. 

Now Dennis and Mark, whose harmonica playing has seen him work with artists as diverse as Robbie Williams, Oasis and Ocean Colour Scene, are going back to their blues roots for a series of intimate, acoustic concerts as a duo. 

These will be the first 'old style' blues shows the pair will have performed in the 35 years they have been working together. 

Covering songs by blues legends such as Sonny Terry and Brownie McGhee, Jimmy Reed, Slim Harpo and Leadbelly, they will also play unplugged versions of well-known Nine Below Zero material. 

Dennis said: "We will continue to play the bigger venues with the whole band, but Mark and I are looking forward to getting up close with audiences who, like us, are fans of the blues. 

"As well as playing the songs, it will also be nice to talk about the artists who inspired so many of the great British Blues Bands of the 1960s, who in turn went on to inspire us." 

The love of the blues began at an early age for both of them. Two of Dennis' uncles were big fans, and both had big collections of blues albums. 

It was listening to these records that encouraged Dennis to first pick up the guitar. 

Mark had an uncle in the merchant navy, who used to bring him back harmonicas from his travels overseas. 

The pair first met in the late 1970s, during punk, when Dennis decided to form a blues band and harmonica player Mark was recommended to him. 

By an amazing coincidence, it turned out they were not only living on the same estate in South London, but also just 14 houses apart. 

Dennis said: "The rehearsals for the duo shows have been brilliant, some of the best ever. 

"We are looking forward to playing this music live. 

"We will be playing all sorts of things we heard as children, real American folk blues from the likes of Hank Williams and Sonny Terry. 

"It's the first time we've really had the guts or the confidence to go out and play these songs this way. 

"It's a tall order too, because that stuff is very difficult to do well. 

"To see Mark perform in this environment is truly a master-class and it's a little daunting for me, to be playing acoustic guitar. 

"There's no hiding behind the Marshall amp!" 

But even if the performance can be a little stressful, there's always a relaxing side to a trip to South Devon for Dennis. 

"I'm looking forward to catching up with my mum!" he said. "It's a lovely part of the world, and I'm looking forward to getting down there for a few days." 

GUY HENDERSON

 

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The O2:
• Price level 2 seated ticket

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•Opportunity to stand directly in front of the Great Oak Stage if you are early enough

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As Paul Weller brings his tour to Halifax, The Huddersfield Examiner asks: “Which Weller was the best Weller?”

Jam frontman, Style Council singer and solo star Paul Weller will visit Halifax on his March tour. 

The Modfather will perform at the Victoria Theatre on Wednesday March 18 as part of his 14-date spring tour. 

The live tour comes just months before the release of Weller's new album, Saturn's Pattern.  

Tickets cost £38 and can be booked online or by calling 0844 338 0000. 

In honour of Paul's visit to Halifax, we've decided to find out which Weller era was the best. 

Was it his breakout days with punk-rockers band The Jam in the late seventies and early eighties? 

Or do you prefer Weller's days in soulful band The Style Council? 

Perhaps your favourite tracks come from Paul Weller's solo days. 

Vote in our poll for your favourite Weller sound. 

The Jam years (1976-82) 

Style: Punk rock, 1960s rock, R&B, Mod movement. 

Successes: 18 consecutive top 40 hits and four number ones. 

Fun fact: The only band other than the Beatles to play two songs on one edition of Top of the Pops. 

The Style Council era (1983-89) 

Style: Soul, funk, pop, R&B. 

Successes: Number one album, seven top ten singles. 

Fun fact: Paul Weller appeared on Band Aid's Do They Know It's Christmas in 1984 — and mimed Bono's line for the Top of the Pops performance. 

Solo career (1996 (PHK: ???) -present)

Style: Britpop, jazz, folk, pop. 

Successes: Four number one albums, five top ten singles. 

Fun fact: Weller was listed as one of the 50 best-dressed over 50s by the Guardian in March 2013. 

Which Weller era was your favourite?

"This Is What London Fashion Shows Looked Like In The '60s" reports Stephanie Sporn of Refinery 29

Between spontaneous make-out sessions, front-row meltdowns, and of course, Kanye, Fashion Week and awards season always make midwinter 100 times more exciting. In the spirit of the Oscars this Sunday, we thought we’d turn our attention to a more humble time for awards shows: the early 1960s. On British Pathé, a newsreel archive, we came across this video of the first-ever Sunday Times International Fashion Awards. The event took place in 1963, and boasts all the shift dresses and thigh-high boots one could possibly desire.   

Leggy models don Twiggy-esque eyeliner and strike poses in designs by Pierre Cardin and Emilio Pucci. It's designer Mary Quant, however, who takes home the biggest honor, the Sunday Times International Fashion Award for Britain. Her models strut it out in buffalo-check apron dresses, prim pantsuits, and gold stockings. 

Watching this makes us wish every awards show came complete with trumpeters and a Duchess presenter (paging Kate Middleton). Check out the video via the URL below to marvel at Quant’s creations and see how these designers ignited the iconic mod movement: - 

http://www.refinery29.com/london-fashion-awards-1960s

Gateway To The Blues Museum Now Open

http://www.tunicatravel.com/blog/2015/february/gateway-to-the-blues-museum-now-open

'Legend of Lead Belly' on the Smithsonian Channel

http://www.smithsonianchannel.com/shows/legend-of-lead-belly/0/3416955

96.4 Eagle reports, “The Jam release charity single in aid of Woking & Sam Beare Hospices.”

A limited edition charity single is being released on 20th February to raise money for Woking & Sam Beare Hospices. 

The song titled 'Left, Right & Centre' was written by two members of punk rock band the Jam. Paul Weller and Steve Brookes wrote it when they were 15 years old. 

Victor Falsetta is behind the fundraising project. He tells us what they have planned: "We have got an after show party upstairs with a band called Coco La Funk. "They're friends with Chris Cook who died last year in the (RideLondon-Surrey) cycle ride. "It's going to be very emotional the whole evening, but raising money for Woking & Same Beare Hospices is something we all like doing." 

Victor tells us he is pleased he managed to persuade his old school friend, Paul, to do it: "It was a surprise for me, and a relief when he said yes. "It was something we put a lot of work in to beforehand to get the contacts." 

The song was recorded by James Stone at his studio in Kent (Dusty Attic) and has been mixed at Paul's own studio by his engineer Charles Rees. The release has already attracted the attention of dedicated fans all over the UK. 

Victor adds: "Paul wanted us to use an unsigned local band to record his song so The Special Guest was the perfect choice, and Steve Brooks had just finished of his new single so it all came together nicely." 

The single will be released in three editions; 200 on black vinyl; 50 on clear vinyl also containing a copy of the handwritten lyrics on the cover; and 50 Deluxe copies, which in addition to the lyrics will also include a CD with the acoustic and live version of the Weller track. 

Community Fundraiser Wendy Denty said: "It's a brilliant project and Vic is so relentless in his Fundraising for our Hospice at no gain to himself and for that we are really grateful. "We simply can't thank him enough." 

All editions can be ordered from Woking Hospices' Fundraising Department on 01483 881752 or by emailing fundraising@wsbhospices.co.uk  

Prices range from £15 to £30 and all proceeds will go directly to Woking Hospice. 

The release will take place in the 100 Club in London and will be followed by a concert at the HG Wells suit in Woking on the 21 February, featuring The Special Guest, The Transmitters, The Lost Boys and many more.

Jail for fraudster who swindled £170k out of historic Woking music club used by The Jam

The former secretary of a historic Woking music venue has been jailed for masterminding a £170,000 fraud which coincided with the club's closure. 

Woking Liberal Club, formerly the Working Men's Club, was where founding members of The Jam, Paul Weller and Steve Brookes, gave some of their earliest performances. 

Read the full story at: - 

http://www.getsurrey.co.uk/news/surrey-news/jail-fraudster-who-swindled-170k-8699567

Shed Seven & Inspiral Carpets UK Tour set for December 2015 - tickets on sale 27 February