35 years ago this week a film many regard as the worst in movie history was released. Which is no mean feat considering it was produced by one of the sharpest showbiz svengali’s of the 60s and 70s Robert Stigwood, that it featured the music of the Beatles and that it starred A-listers of…
Tag: Music
Queen’s Other 6 Minute Long #1 Hit – Brian May’s Birthday
Brian May. UPDATE JULY 2014: Queen + Adam Lambert will be playing a concert at Auckland’s Vector Arena on Wednesday September 3rd. Tickets go on sale 9am, Thursday July 24. On last night’s episode of The Two we played a clip of a six minute long Queen number one hit which has several different stanzas and…
The Death Of Glee’s Cory Monteith – A Glee Cover Of An Early 80s Brothers Gibb Song
Cory Monteith. Hearing of a 31 year old whose life has ended, possibly in part due to their inability to overcome their demons and addictions, is pretty heartbreaking. I wasn’t a big watcher of Glee, probably only because I’m not a big watcher of a lot of TV these days, but I liked that there…
Robbie Robertson Of The Band Turns 70 – A Song Of His Even Better Than ‘The Weight’.
This month Robbie Robertson, the chief songwriter and driving creative force of The Band, turned 70. As The Band themselves noted, the simultaneous humility and arrogance of being called “The Band” is genius. “We’re just the band,” versus, “We are The Band.” It’s a little bit like having a radio show called “The Two.” Other…
Barry Gibb Reveals Who He’d Most Like To Write A Hit With
Barry Gibb was recently asked who’d he like to co-write a number one hit with, answering either Chris Martin from Coldplay or Paul McCartney. In England to accept a lifetime achievement award from the Nordoff Robbins 02 Silver Clef Awards, Barry also did several interviews promoting the September UK / Ireland leg of his Mythology tour. In…
10 Years Since Barry White’s Death – A Forgotten Song Robbie Williams Sampled For A #1 Hit
Barry White. It’s 10 years today since soul / R&B great Barry White died, aged just 58. While he only dominated the charts in one decade (the 70s) he continued scoring with occasional songs well into the 80s and 90s and all told had close to 20 US or UK top 40 hits. White was…
The Roxborogh Report Hits 250,000 Visitors – An Extraordinary Stevie Wonder Song For Nelson Mandela
With Stevie Wonder, Ronald LaPread (Commodores) and Clare Healy, 2008. This week the two-and-a-half year old Roxborogh Report had its 250,000th visitor. When I first started this music and travel blog back in Canada late in 2010 it was getting about 1,000 hits a month, making the possibility of hitting 250,000 more of a 20-year…
James Gandolfini Dies – A Buried Bruce Springsteen Ballad In Tribute
James Gandolfini. Such incredibly sad news about actor James Gandolfini who has died of a suspected heart-attack at the age of just 51 while on holiday in Italy. Only a couple of weeks ago Pam Corkery and I were talking on The Two (Newstalk ZB Friday and Sunday evenings from 8pm) about how The Sopranos…
Why Fleetwood Mac Should Be Playing Western Springs + A Brilliant Live Version Of ‘Never Going Back Again’
Fleetwood Mac, 1977. *SEE JULY 1st UPDATE BELOW Tickets to Fleetwood Mac’s two Auckland concerts in December sold out today in 15 minutes. Which raises a couple of questions: Firstly is the issue of pre-sales. I bought a ticket last week in one of the pre-sales because I’m a LiveNation member and happen to have…
Nelson Mandela In Hospital – Sam Cooke’s ‘A Change Is Gonna’ Come’
Nelson Mandela. With the news 94 year old Nelson Mandela is back in hospital, I wanted to end last night’s episode of The Two (co-hosted by Pam Corkery, Newstalk ZB Friday and Sunday evenings from 8pm) with a suitably incredible song for such an incredible man. I chose a song which these days is better…
The Genius Of Nile Rodgers – Collaborations With Daft Punk & Paul Simon
The biggest international hit of 2013, Get Lucky, is credited to “Daft Punk feat. Pharrell”, but it’s the rhythm guitarist with the dreads you see in the music video who really makes the song. If those scratchy rhythmic leads sound familiar it’s not just because they’re derivative of classic 70s disco and 80s dance music,…
Why Fleetwood Mac’s ‘Mirage’ Is Their Most Underrated, Mega-selling LP
Fleetwood Mac during the Mirage era. The last couple of days I’ve had a couple of Twitter conversations with Ken Caillat, most famously the producer of the biggest Fleetwood Mac albums and the father of singer Colbie Caillat. I took it upon myself to let Ken know that amongst my fellow Fleetwood Mac buddies, the…
