Listening Ahead - The Sounds of 2012
Happy New Year to you! There are many things in the world of music which fans can be listening forward to in 2012. We are going to focus on what we know, or at least what has been announced will be happening this year, avoiding (shudder) predictions. Why avoid predictions? Mainly since that word gets thrown around and given way too much press in relation to this year's number on the Gregorian calender. Especially when it involves the story of an ancient Mayan marketing guru who realized making calendars annually could increase revenue got blown out of proportion.
THE BIG THREE
Who are the Big Three? These are the three bands we know will be reuniting this year for not only concert tours, but first albums of new material in decades. Black Sabbath, Van Halen and The Beach Boys. Here is what we know about each:
BLACK SABBATH
This is the original line up, complete with Ozzy Osbourne out front, Tony Iommi and Geezer Butler conjuring magic on their strings and the otherworldly drum skills of Bill Ward. The band that created Heavy Metal will release their first album of new material together in 33 years, under the production of Rick Rubin (this is VERY welcome news!) are slated to headline the Download Festival (anyone want to send me?) and plan to tour the world afterward. Two thoughts: Rick Rubin behind the reigns of a reunited Sabbath is the most exciting aspect of this news, as the über-producer is well known for his ability to bring the best out of established artists. Second, here is hoping drummer Bill Ward's health holds up under the rigors of touring.
VAN HALEN
In the great debate of which version of Van Halen is better, I am of the rare minority who likes both: Van Halen with Dave and Van Halen with Sammy. However, for the vast majority of fans, it is all about master showman David Lee Roth. Sadly, this is not a true Van Halen, Mark I reunion, as bassist Michael Anthony, who is not only a force of nature when he plays, but was integral to the Van Halen sound with his backing vocals, is not in the band. To be fair however, current bassist Wolfgang Van Halen is no longer a newb, having already toured with the band in 07/08. Thoughts: We know this line up can tour, sell out arenas and blow away crowds (their most recent tour was reportedly their highest grossing) but the real question is: how will the album sound? Dave and the Brothers Van Halen together created some of the best hard rock anthems, ever. It will be very interesting to hear how the final product of this line up sounds.
THE BEACH BOYS
Of the three known reunions of 2012, this is the one I am personally most excited for. Why? Simply put, The Beach Boys are living legends of popular music. Brian Wilson is back in the band, which is the real news here. Of the Big Three, this is the only announcement video where a new recording is shared with the listener. A 50th anniversary reunion tour is a rare thing. Rarer still is getting new music out of this line up of musicians. The new recording above is the classic Boys sound, immediately bringing images of ocean-kissed beaches, surfboards and girls in bikinis rushing to mind. The Beach Boys legacy in popular music and Western culture is undeniable. The 50 planned dates of their tour are something any music fan should not consider missing.
Also, of note in the reunion realm are on-going rumors about the Rolling Stones, a confirmed tour by The Stone Roses. There has also been talk of Roger Daltrey and Pete Townshend performing the Quadrophenia album on tour in '12. As of this writing, the only official tour announcements coming from The Who camp are a handful of Roger solo dates in Australia. It will be interesting to see if this happens. And speaking of The Who...
One of the first new releases of 2012 which I hope to wrap my ears around is Method Music from Lawrence Ball. What is the Who connection? The album is produced by Pete Townshend and is the long-awaited result of an internet project which Pete and mathematician/composer Ball collaborated on called The Lifehouse Method. During the course of just over a year, participants in The Lifehouse Method "sat for musical portraits" of themselves by entering data into the website. The idea being that each person could create a personal music theme based on their input data. This double-album will be the first chance to hear what was created during these sonic experiments. For the uninitiated, Lifehouse is an on-going science fiction rock opera/project of Townshend's, which was originally supposed to be a follow up to Tommy, but ultimately morphed into Who's Next, which gave us some of The Who's best known classics.
The second big release of '12 which my ears have been longing to hear is the latest from DragonForce, featuring new vocalist, Mark Hudson.
Also new from the metal world this year, Italy's Lacuna Coil drops Dark Adrenaline later this month. There are some surprises among the expected releases of the new year, including new sounds from two artists of the 80's: Adam Ant and the reformed original line up of The Fixx. Though there is no firm word on either yet, but hopefully we will get new music from U2 and X Japan sometime this year, as both artists have talked at length about the projects, but so far, we haven't heard anything else. Other planned 2012 releases of interest include new albums from Offspring, Muse and Paramore. This of course doesn't include new music from artists one is not aware of yet, which leads to a preview of one I want you to watch and listen to in 2012. Hit play and read further down.
Southern California-based Valora is a band you will be hearing more from. An advance copy of their debut album I Waited For You, made it into my hands a couple months back. And while the title cut and lead off track has been given the music video treatment, it is far from the best song on the album. In fact, I was so-so about the track on first listen, but it was the strength of each successive song on the disc that got my attention (which resulted in liking the above song more). If you follow me on Twitter, you've likely seen me rave about the song "I Like What You're Doing". I've been holding off on doing a track-by-track review of Valora until closer to the album's release, which is expected soon.
If you've read this far (admittedly, this was a big read) congratulations and thank you! Consider yourself receiving +10 to your Cool stat and may you have a very rocking new year!
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