The Rolling Stones - Foreign Tongues (2026)

 oh, What a day ! What a Lovely day :)

Who ever expected (and btw needed. another RS record?) after the last one (Hackney Dimonds, 2023) took 18 years to happen?

and it seems it's not only here, but it's great./ I love the songs that did not get video promotion /airplay:

Mr. Charm, Some of Us (Keef), Covered in You, and imo the hit of the album, Never Wanna Lose you.

 35 year old producer Andrew Watt (Hackney Diamonds) returned for the RS's 25th studio album. 

14 new original songs:

Rough And Twisted -originally released on a limited-run vinyl under the alias "The Cockroaches". The band then made the track the opening song—and the lead visualizer video, now all the songs who don't have a video have an official visualiser

 In The Stars  -second video using deepfake -de-aging, directed by Francois Rousselot

https://aldmovieland.blogspot.com/2026/05/in-stars-rolling-stones-sotd.html

orinally called Starf**ker, abouyt the Groupie culture. 

Jealous Lover -visualiser shot in Sydney

- third video with Anya Taylor-Joy & Charles Melton. Directors: Chris Barrett & Luke Taylor 

Directors: Chris Barrett & Luke Taylor

Steve Winwood on the piano.

Mr Charm 

Divine Intervention -shot in Buenos Aires

Ringing Hollow 

Never Wanna Lose You   featuring Robert Smith from The Cure.

Hit Me In The Head  featuring Charlie Watts on drums, his track recorded in 2019. 

You Know I'm No Good -shot in Mumbai  -cover of the Amy Winehouse song. 

Some Of Us  -Keef's song, visualiser shot in Berlin

Covered In You  featuring Paul McCartney *who also has a marevelous album out, The Boys of Dungeon Lane !!!)

Side Effects 

Back In Your Life 

Beautiful Delilah featuring Robert Smith from The Cure and Chad Smith on drums. 

A Chuck Berry cover.

****

Uncut review here -four stars !

Spin Magazine here 

Euronews here. 

Rolling Stone here.Four stars !

Record Collector -Five stars !

Captain Volkonogov Escaped (2021)

Captain Volkonogov Escaped, and so did this film. 

Premiered at Venice film Festival, in Competition and was awared in many International Film fests, including Socchi, but neve released in its own country, Russia. 

see it and you'll get why !!!

The film is written and directed by Natalya Merkulova and Alexey Chupov. 

Volkonovov is played brilliantly by Yura Borisov who was nominated for a supporting actor Oscar in Sean Baker's  Anora  and was the lead in Kirill Serebrennikov’s Cannes entry “Petrov’s Flu.” He is an NKVD captain in Stalin's USSR of 1938, when the Great Purge emerged. Timofey Tribuntsev is also great as his pursuer and former boss, major Golovnya. 

The title is soehow ironic, don't expect a traditional escape. The film has surreal qualities, non-linear narrative, great colors, widescreeen cinematography (2.35.1),  great production design (shot in St. Petersburg), and black humor galore. It's a sort of thriller, dark comedy, historical drama, fable, and it shows a side of Russia's history at its most darkest (that is, until Today :( Ok, not only that but all Totalitarian Poli cde Ste.

The musical theme, recurrent and also sometimes ironical, is the legendary Soviet song  Polyushko-pole (Song of the Pains), see the interpretation by the avant-garde St. Petersburg band  Shortparis below: 

4 out of 5 / 8 out of 10 !!! 

-a bit too long and confusing, or switches hard to follow...

In the Stars-The Rolling Stones (SOTD)

The 1st video from the new album, Speaking Tongues (out July 10th) is out.

In the Stars. With 'em stars. 

“Some people seek their fortune on the turn of a card 

Or throwing some bones in a whiskey glass 

‘Cause if you wanna seek your fortune, need a lot of luck 

I was standing there when the lightning struck"

Indeed ;)

It's a slick, big budget, high concept video for a cool song reminiscenting the 70's. 

AI de-aging, etc.

Directed by Francois Rousselet, who directed also the most recent clip of RS, Angry from Hackney Diamonds in 2023, as well as  Ride 'Em on Down from Blue and Lonesome (2016). 

my buddy Ticke aka Attila Brushvox wrote about it here !

Angine de Poitrine - Sarniezz- SOTD

Angine de Poitrine ... this name is showing up all over, today I studied them more and I agree...

Microtonal duo from Quebec. Fantastic. Plus a gimmick they have, playing incognito under weird carnival masks and pointilist costumes ! It seems they are brothers and they play:

"un répertoire d'anti-aréna-rock instrumental cartonneux qui, à la manière de la musique techno, s'articule autour d'un jeu dynamique d'ajout et de retrait de motifs sonores en constante métamorphose."

Khn de Poitrine - Microtonal Guitars 

Klek de Poitrine - Drums

check out the whole KEXP concert here. 

They describe their music as: "Dada Pythago-Cubist Mantra-Rock".

Here's Rick Beato take on them: 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zO8bt94-ybg

RIP Artan

 Chiar nu-mi vine sa cred...drum bun Artan...Adrian Pleșca-om de Timpuri Noi si mereu Partizan...

o sa revin si am sa scriu mai multe depre intilnirile mele cu el...

next day: am apucat acum pe Sunete, asa cum se vede mai jos, si acolo ne-am intilnit Corespuzator...

imi place sa cred ca Adrian Artan a plecat in Concendiu...

https://sunetelive.ro/artan-4ever/

                                          13 martie 2016 cu Vlad si Artan, Sunete si..David Bowie...

                                                                        *****

"Perfect", in recital special la Cerbul de aur (!) in 1996, show regizat de Radu Muntean. 

si un interviu frumos, linistit, de unde aflati si de unde vine numele de Artan la min. 26.

RIP Diane Keaton

I was about to write RIP Annie Hall...

Diane Keaton was 79. Except Woody Allen's muse, friend (and girlfriend) and confidante (eight films together, from 1972's Play It Again Sam, ending with Manhattan Murder Mystery in 1993), she was Al Pacino's Michael Corleone's wife Kay in the three Godfathers, from fiancee to divorcee (also his girlfriend in real life), and exceptionally radicalist Louise Bryant in Warren Beatty's 1981's Reds. A very smart, intellectual. witty woman, personified best in Annie Hall (1977), character that used Keaton's manierisms, also her true family name is Hall, film that brought her an Oscar for best actress. She was also a feminist and an avant garde personality. And a great protograper (book Reservations). She never married and had two adopted kids. 

I think the last time I saw her was in Something's Gotta Give, the 2003 Nicholson weaker comedy...  She was in a lot of romantic comedies (Father of the Bride), heartfelt films  (The First Wives Club), dramas (Marvin's Room). But for me she will always be The Little Drummer Girl, in the excellent George Roy Hill film from 1984, based on the John le Carré book (not the 2018 series), where she plays a wannabe groupie terrorist, ideologically brainwashed and used, in a film that is more actualt today than Woody Allen's NY fantasies or the politics of Reds.

She as also great in Richard Brooks’  audacious drama with a sex twist, Looking for Mr. Goodbar (1977).

Diane Hall / Keaton was also a director, most famously for Be Unstrung Heroes (1995), she also directed Belinda Carlisle's hit video Heaven is a Place on Earth. She also produced Gus Van Sant's Elephant. She wrote memoirs thrice: “Then Again” (2011), “Let’s Just Say It Wasn’t Pretty” (2015) and “Brother and Sister” (2020).

 2017 Lifetime Achievement Award from the AFI/ American Film Institute. 

Obit in Variety here. 

Tribute by Woody Allen here.

“If Huckleberry Finn was a gorgeous young woman, he’d be Keaton,” Allen remembered thinking upon first seeing her.

RIP James Foley

New Yorker James Foley started in the Biz with Reckless, a rom com, in 1984. Sean Penn takes him to direct At Close Range in 1986. Great noir drama, featuring a magistral Chris Walken part. Penn, then Madonna's husband, tintroduces him to the music diva. He directs music videos for her, then he directs Madonna in Who's That Girl, a catastrophy. 

Then Foley does another film noir, based on the book by Jim Thompson, After Dark, My Sweet in 1990, one of his best flicks.

Then in 1992 came the adaptation of David Mamet's play, Glengarry Glen Ross, with a superb cast of actors, from Al Pacino to Alec Baldwin, Jack Lemmon, Ed Harris, Alan Arkin, Kevin Spacey and Jonathan Pryce, as an all male ruthless salesmen in an existential piece. Unebeliavable, the film was nominated for only One (!) Academy Award. 

Pacino gave him his next project, Two Bits, in 1995. 

Next on, Fear and The Chamber, with Gene Hackman, after John Grisham's novel, both in 1996.

And Confidence, a flawed con men movie in 2003.

Then nothing much, routine thrillers, a lot of TV. Like he lost his enthusiasm for good projects. 

James Foley died on May 8th, 2025. He was 71. RIP. 

Obit in Variety here. 

Tom Petty: Heartbreakers Beach Party (2024)

There was one doc about Tom Petty, Peter Bogdaovich's exhaustive 4 hrs. Running Down a Dream (2007). Now there's also Somewhere You Feel Free (2021), about the amking of his album Wildflowers. And now this Lost documentary about Tom Petty in 1983. And the Heartbreakers. Tom Petty: Heartbreakers Beach Party  came out in US theaters in 2024 for a few days, ultra limited. It's the 1st film (lost too) of Cameron Crowe. Featuring the grand weird desert video of "You Got Lucky" from Long After Dark (1982). And the outtakes. And the making of a director - C.C. -

The film was restored for a one-weekend theatrical release in October2024 (on Tom's Bday), and it’s now available to stream on Paramount+ as of March 11.

Rolling Stone article here. 

RIP David Lynch

...four days shy of his 79th Bday...

I wasn't expecting David Lynch to start this year of " I see dead people"...here he is playing John Ford in Steven Spielberg autobiographical The Fablemans (2022). I will post separately about my relationship with Lynch. Talked about him extensively with Christa Bell, his muse and last collaborator (their album, in 2024, Cellophane Memories).

more from me on Lynch here

Remembrance from Steven Spielberg on David Lynch: 

“I loved David’s films. Blue Velvet, Mulholland Drive and Elephant Man defined him as a singular, visionary dreamer who directed films that felt handmade. I got to know David when he played John Ford in The Fabelmans. Here was one of my heroes—David Lynch playing one of my heroes. It was surreal and seemed like a scene out of one of David’s own movies. The world is going to miss such an original and unique voice. His films have already stood the test of time and they always will.”

"There's nothing like the big screen. The cinema is really built for the big screen and big sound, so that a person can go into another world and have an experience." - David Lynch

Farawell David Lynch the Magician, white or black lodge, I guess you have your own, the David Lynch Lodge, there's a lady with a Log there and some guy, Bob, is the bouncer. Badalamenti plays the piano, Bowie's at the bar, Dennis Hopper sips his whisky, Jack Nance gets another bottle, even Tom Sizemore is aloud to come for a drink...

Hopper's On Top (Genius)-The Waterboys

1st excerpt from the upcoming album by Mike Scott's The Waterboys' Life, Death And Dennis Hopper. (out on April 4).

song of the day and til now song of the year ;)

love the lines, "Are you ready for the most creative generation in over 2000 years? "

also reminds me a lot of Tom Petty... 

 

LIFE, DEATH AND DENNIS HOPPER ;)

This sounds great !!! I hope it will be so ! 

Udpate, It's out NOW !!!

 Our new album: LIFE, DEATH AND DENNIS HOPPER. Out 4 April on Sun Records. Guests include Bruce Springsteen, Steve Earle, Fiona Apple and Taylor Goldsmith of Dawes. It's the story of Dennis Hopper's life in songs - and the story of his and our times.
#TheWaterboys #RockAndRoll

https://www.facebook.com/WaterboysMusic

Fred Sunwalk @Transilvania Blues Nights

Duminica 17.10.2024 @rockstadt, Brasov !

Bilete pe www.rockstadt.ro

https://www.facebook.com/events/1069325954580000

The Second coming of the Brazilian Hurricane !!!

Direct din Sao Paulo, Fred Sunwalk - guitarrista straordinario do Brazil, "the Brazilian Hurricane" se întoarce la Brașov în seria concertelor marca Transilvania Blues Nights!

For One Night Only - duminică 17 noiembrie 2024 la Rockstadt!

Fred a cântat în premieră și exclusivitate in România pe 29 septembrie 2023 la Transilvania Blues Festival ediția V în formula de trio.
Va fi un recital de calibru și intensitate maximă, cu un aer și atmosferă de Jimi Hendrix, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Carlos Santana & more, much more!

Guitar & Vocals: Fred Sunwalk
Drums: Mike Horne
Bass: Roger Innis

B. There and Let There B. Blues!

Un concert-eveniment marca Transilvania Blues Nights.
Sponsori: Butan Gas, BCR, AHA Bistro, Coliba Haiducilor, Brasov Old Town Apartments, Bit Datamining, Tehnic Mihor, Bistro AHA

Bilete: 100 lei pret pre-sale pana pe data de 16 noiembrie, 130 lei in ziua concertului.

Powered by Rock FM, Zile și Nopți
 Open door: 16:00
 Concert: 20:00

************************************************************************************************

iata si concertul de anul trecut de la Transilvania Blues Festival editia V  (29.09.23) !!!

Ozzy @Rock and Roll Hall of Fame

"You can't kill Rock'n Roll. "

Just as Paul Di'Anno died at 66

Ozzy Osbourne was inducted in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame y-day in Cleveland, for the 2nd time, 1st as a member of Black Sabbath in 2016. Jack Black said his introduction, naming Ozzy "the jack Nicholson of rockn'roll". Various musicians played afterwards three songs (Crazy Train, No More Tears), featuring Chad Smith, Robert Trujillo, Zack Wylde, Billy Idol, Wolfgang Van Halen. Ozzy mentioned in his speech Randy Rhoads and his wife, Sharon. 

Ozzy is 75 and retired, his last album to-date was the 2022, Patient no. 9.

"ALL ABOARD!"

The whole thingie here (til it lasts ...)

Bill Wyman -Drive My Car (2024)

Bill Wyman put out an album at 87. Drive My Car, some wonderful covers (among which a nice rendition of Thunder on the Mountain from Bob Dylan's and 3 originals. Sounds a lot like J.J. Cale....

87? Eighty-Seven ? This is definitely the oldest rock musician's album yet. 

Also Wyman (former Rolling Stones bass player and co-founder) is retired from over 30 years (1993). In 1997 he formed The Rhythm Kings aka  Bill Wyman's Rhythm Kings, more of a club band. He joined the Stones for last year's Hackney Diamonds, playing the bass on the "Live By the Sword" song.

Surely on my Top albums of 2024. Made my Day (and what a Day :)

Review on Louder, here. 

                                                             "....but drive it Slow !!!"

LMA Ian Hunter & Defiance part 2

Today Ian Hunter is 84 ! LMA to the great Mott the Hoople man !

One year ago same date he had put out his great album Defiance Part One, one of my faved albums of 2023 !

now Defiance Part 2 is out. 

and a new song 2day, People (with the help of his friend and follower, Joe Elliott)

John Carpenter, Cody Carpenter & Daniel Davies - My Name is Death (2024)

John Carpenter, his son Cody and nephew Daniel Davies are putting out LOST THEMES vol. IV: NOIR

here's Lost Themes vol. I (2015)

Last time i saw JC and heard about him in Studio 666 where he has a cool cameo.

last Halloween sucked and all in all except the original there were all unnecessary remakes and cash-ins. part II was kinda cool tho. But the Rob Zombie remakes and the reboots booted. 

and this is the first release from the album: My Name is Death 

nice black and white video too. 

 

Keith Richards-I’m Waiting for the Man (SOTD)

Keef honors Lou Reed. March 1st.  

I'm Waiting for the Man  is  Velvet Underground song recorded for their debut album in 1967.

His Birthday being March 2nd.

“To me, Lou stood out. The real deal! Something important to American music and to ALL MUSIC! I miss him and his dog.” - Keith Richards

Communique:

The digital single & music video are out now and featured on the upcoming album The Power of the Heart: A Tribute to Lou Reed, which includes newly recorded covers from Keith Richards, Joan Jett and the Blackhearts, Rufus Wainwright, Lucinda Williams, Maxim Ludwig & Angel Olsen, Rickie Lee Jones, Mary Gauthier, Bobby Rush, Automatic, The Afghan Whigs, and Rosanne Cash. This special collection will be released by Light in the Attic Records and available on Vinyl & CD at fine independent record shops worldwide on Record Store Day (April 20th).

It goes without saying that the legendary Lou Reed was a true rock ’n’ roll pioneer. From The Velvet Underground’s debut in 1967 all the way through the end of his days, Reed sang truth from his heart. He lived life to the limit—and then some. The Power of the Heart is a tribute to Reed’s freedom of expression with covers spanning his groundbreaking years with the Velvets into his majestic solo career. Each track is a glorious extension of the Rock ’n’ Roll Animal’s soul, ever adventurous and avant-garde.

Bruce Dickinson-The Mandrake Project (2024)

 It's Out !!!

and all of it, songs with offical audio on you tube: inclusing Bruce's version of the Iron Maiden song If Eternity Should Fail as now by Bruce -Eternity has Failed ! and Many Doors to Hell, Resurrection Men, Fingers in the Wounds, Mistress of Mercy, Face in the Mirror, Shadow of the Gods & Sonata (Immortal Beloved).  

After the two videos of Afterglow of Ragnarok (out on Dec. 1 2023) and Rain on the Graves (Jan. 24 2024)

here's the making of the album.

Bruce Dickinson will present the album The Mandrake Project LIVE in Bucharest, Romania, at Arenele Romane, June 3d 2024.

tickets here.

https://www.themandrakeproject.com

#brucedickinson #themandrakeproject

Herbert Grönemeyer - Alkohol (SOTD)

Herbert Grönemeyer 's Alkohol is a song from 1984, from his album 4360 Bochum. I heard it in the 80's then, with Falco and Trio, they sound alike. Great B & W video. But yesterday I heard again this song after 30 odd years in a very cool scene from the new Calin Peter Netzer film, Familiar (that came out yesterday in Romanian cinemas).

Grönemeyer was/is a West Germany superstar, known also as an actor (he was in Wolfgang Pedersen's megahit Das Boot-1981) and I saw it in Romanian cinemas as Robert Schumann in Spring Symphony (1983), next to Nastassja Kinski as Clara Wiek and Rolf Hoppe. Saw that with my mom as she was the biggest fan of classical and Opera music. But his name came back again as the composer of the Anton Corbjin's films The American (my review here) and A Most Wanted Man, very good imersive scores He's still a superstar in Deutschland. Weirdly, my friends at the film premiere didn't know about him. So, I had to write a few lines about Herr Herbert G.

Great song tho. Was and is. And cool lyrics ;)

Alkohol ist das Dressing für deinen Kopfsalat

Alkohol ist dein Sanitäter in der Not Alkohol ist dein Fallschirm und dein Rettungsboot Alkohol ist das Drahtseil auf dem du stehst Alkohol ist das Schiff mit dem du untergehst

Bruce Dickinson-Rain on the Graves (SOTD)

"Morte capti, non carcere". 

The second single and video from Bruce Dickinson's upcoming 7th album (Seventh Son..?), his uber-project and magnum opus The Mandrake Project is Blood on the Graves, a William Blake quoted (same as the 1st single, Afterglow of Ragnarok starts),a  B & W & color short film that is one the best video of his until now (I love the Tears of the Dragon flick).  

A cool Hammer / AIP homage with Dickinson himself as The Preacher (Vincent Price-like), complete with the Devil as in Hellboy, with cut horns, and the band live Tiger Lillies style.  It has a very Maidenesque sound, much more than Afterglow of Ragnarok, or earlier Dickinson works (Accident of Birth, The Chemical Wedding, Skunkworks, Tyranny of Souls). Balls to Picasso & Tattooed Millionaire excluded.

Directed by Ryan Mackfall (same as Ragnarok) and Produced by Myskatonic.co.

Here's some of Bruce's thoughts about the song and video. 

After Afterglow of Ragnarok (the first excerpt from the Upcoming album, The Mandrake Project, complete with its comic book high concept, 12 parts no less!!!), this is another incursion into the universe of this Myskatonic universe (H.P Lovecraft ;) . The album is out March 1st 2024.

Bruce Dickinson will present the album The Mandrake Project LIVE in Bucharest, Romania, at Arenele Romane, June 3d 2024.

tickets here.

https://www.themandrakeproject.com

#brucedickinson #rainonthegraves #themandrakeproject

To Be Continued...