Bird And Diz Album

[Karriem Drewery]

Thealbum was a turn of direction of sorts, with most of the songs stepping back from their progressive rock sound, employing synthesised dance beats and rhythms. Chief songwriter Rick Davies later recalled, "Free as a Bird was an experiment to try and be modern and build it up with computers and drum machines and have people come in one by one, which makes you lose the band spirit a little bit."[4] In the liner notes to the 2005 compilation Retrospectacle, Davies said, "Each time we went in, we would try to give it something a bit different. Free as a Bird was a lot more machine-based than anything we'd done before. That was good and bad, but it had some interesting songs on it."[5]

Free as a Bird was the first Supertramp album to feature contributions from guitarist/vocalist Mark Hart. He would later become a full-fledged member of the group, as would trumpet player Lee Thornburg.

Despite the fact that "I'm Beggin' You" was a club chart-topping hit[6] and Free as a Bird's title cut was a minor hit, the album did not do well peaking at No. 101, making it the first Supertramp album since 1971's Indelibly Stamped not to crack Billboard's Top 100 on the album charts.

2002 A&M reissueThe 2002 A&M Records reissue was mastered from the original master tapes by Greg Calbi and Jay Messina at Sterling Sound, New York, 2002. The reissue was supervised by Bill Levenson with art direction by Vartan and design by Mike Diehl, with production coordination by Beth Stempel.

Towa Bird is one of those TikTok pandemic success stories they'll later study at university. During Covid-19, the then London-based British-Filipino musician began recording videos of herself playing guitar solos over tracks like Gym Class Heroes' Cupid's Chokehold / Breakfast in America (a video that got over 4m views) and Tame Impala's The Less I Know the Better (viewed by 2.8m). It wasn't long before she caught the attention of the music industry. But it wasn't record labels that called first, it was Filipino-American pop star Olivia Rodrigo.

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It took a second to get adjusted culturally and to acclimate and find my community. I had to shake a lot of my British isms and slang, which may have ended up being a positive thing in the long run! And at this point, I actually really like L.A. I found that coming off a tour and taking some time away made me appreciate it much more. It can be quite peaceful here.

One of the first shows that I ever went to when I landed in L.A. was at the Greek. I remember being so taken aback by how grand the venue was and then to be on that stage playing a sold-out show 18 months later is so bizarre. That was an incredible evening. We had an epic after party too.

Thanks very much! And thank you for taking the time to listen. My whole album is finished and has been since last year. The plan is to slowly release and continue to write more music in the process. Playing released and unreleased songs from the album live has been informative in understanding what people react to and therefore I can better tailor my time spent in the studio.

I grew up on a mixture of '60s/'70s Classic Rock from my Dad and '00s Punk/Alt Rock from my older sister. And as I grew older, I started to expand my tastes and now I annoyingly listen to most genres. However, if you listen to my music and think about what I grew up on, it really makes a lot of sense. The dots are connected.

Needless to say, it was not the sort of thing I could pick up on a whim. But I ran across a review by Robert Palmer in Rolling Stone, dated Sept. 9, 1976, that convinced me to give it a try. (Yes, I still have it, tucked inside the album sleeve.) Among other things, Palmer wrote:

There are some odd match-ups on the Savoy recordings, with a number of early songs featuring a neophyte Miles Davis on trumpet and Dizzy Gillespie on piano. Parker must have heard something in Miles that showed what he would become. Gillespie, already a star in his own right, probably just wanted to be there.

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When David Lamb, half of the Rhode Island-based duo Brown Bird, succumbed to an aggressive relapse of leukemia in April 2014 after a year-long battle with the disease, the music world lost one of the most exciting, intriguing and original voices this reviewer had heard in years. Not only that, we lost a truly kind-hearted man who was deeply loved by friends, family and legions of fans who approach cult-like passion for Brown Bird's genre-defying music. Dave's passing was a surprise and a blow to all of us who followed his struggle with the disease online.

In an open letter MorganEve Swain explains, "Axis Mundi, though it wasn't our intention, is a body of work, which illustrates our musical and personal journey together. Musically, it spans our evolution from solo project to psych-rock, Balkan, Romani, blues inspired duo." Further she says, "This album is different from our others in that it is, in many ways, the album we always wanted to make. It is fuller, louder and more rock-inspired than our previous efforts, while still holding tight to the Middle-Eastern and Eastern European influences we'd become known for."

SCOTT SIMON, HOST: Andrew Bird began to wonder about Christmas a while ago.(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "CHRISTMAS IN APRIL")ANDREW BIRD: (Singing) Yeah, I'm writing this song about Christmas in April this year. So I'm not sure what to think about that.SIMON: And Andrew Bird's full album of holiday music is available now - has some classics, of course, and original songs like "Christmas in April" that might supplement the December playlist that you might be leaning on just a little hard this year. The album is called "Hark!" with an exclamation point. And Andrew Bird joins us now from Los Angeles. Thanks so much for being with us.BIRD: You're welcome. Thanks for having me.SIMON: Billboard says "Christmas In April" might just be the first ever COVID-inspired holiday song. How did it come about?BIRD: Well, I started writing it in March, but I thought March wasn't the most lyrical-sounding word. But I was - you know, I was going through what a lot of us were going through which - the stages of acceptance of what we were dealing with, with the pandemic. And I was thinking ahead to the holidays and wondering if it was going to go on that long and if - whether we'd be able to see our families and loved ones and also kind of realizing that probably millions of people were thinking the same thing I was, which - how often can you say that?(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "CHRISTMAS IN APRIL")BIRD: (Singing) I said Merry Christmas, and happy New Year.SIMON: You have been making music for - what? - 25 years now, almost?BIRD: Yeah, yeah.SIMON: And why did you want to do a holiday album now?BIRD: You know, I didn't think I'm going to make a holiday album right now. I thought, man, I love these Vince Guaraldi tunes, and I want to do a couple of covers.(SOUNDBITE OF ANDREW BIRD SONG, "CHRISTMAS IS COMING")BIRD: And then that kind of - one thing led to another, and I thought, maybe I'll write some originals. It's kind of like the ultimate challenge for a songwriter to try to write something that enters the repertoire of holiday classics.SIMON: One of the more somber songs on this album, we want to ask you about that, too. Let's listen to "Alabaster."(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "ALABASTER")BIRD: (Singing) Days are growing short. Nights are growing longer. Got to get much stronger to make it through.SIMON: Does a holiday album have to encompass what we're going through now to work?BIRD: Not necessarily. A holiday album is in its own complete category of music. It's kind of extraordinary, really, that we have this repertoire of music that only works a certain time of year. And the ones that stand the test of time that have been around for - some of them for centuries - they're not always the most uplifting. Sometimes they're sad and creepy, honestly. And those are the ones that kind of stick like, you know, "Greensleeves." And, you know, they're oftentimes in minor key. You know, I think of "Dance Of The Sugar Plum Fairy" or - you know, that sort of captures the darkness of that time of year. And Christmas, going back to the Holiday Festival of Lights, you know, welcoming the darkness, there's this whole tradition of, like, the holidays being something that gets us through the dark, cold months.(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "ALABASTER")BIRD: (Singing) Keep your lamp on. Keep your lamp on.SIMON: You do a noteworthy kind of annual gig at Fourth Presbyterian Church in our hometown of Chicago on Michigan Avenue - great, famous church. What about this year?BIRD: Well, yeah, it's become an annual tradition. And I don't play any Christmas songs at those performances, but I try to capture a sort of ambience that captures the holiday and, again, kind of helps us get through the dark months. This year, I'm doing it as a live stream in Ojai, Calif., amongst the orange groves - not exactly the setting that I imagined. But it will be at sunset, and it'll be beautiful.SIMON: And that concert will be tomorrow.BIRD: It is, yeah. And I really enjoy having to stay present enough to react to the acoustics of a particular space. So "Gezelligheid" kind of captures that playing to the room idea and how important the environment is.SIMON: What's that word again?BIRD: Gezelligheid - it's a Dutch word that the Dutch say has no translation but roughly translates as cozy.(SOUNDBITE OF ANDREW BIRD SONG, "GLAD")SIMON: How are you feeling this holiday season, Mr. Bird? How are you and your family doing?BIRD: We've thankfully avoided illness and tragedy. It hasn't come too close to us so far. Anxiety has just been the word for this year. You know, I can't perform live. But capturing everyday life and how music is a part of my everyday life, I've gotten a little closer to that goal.SIMON: What is everyday music like in your life now?BIRD: Well, it's a bit more lo-fi. And sometimes it's just me late at night, fully reclined on the couch after a fairly anxious, defeating day, recording a song like "White Christmas" on my phone and kind of embracing the scrappiness of that.(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "WHITE CHRISTMAS")BIRD: (Singing) I'm dreaming of a white Christmas.SIMON: Andrew Bird - his latest album is "Hark!" with an exclamation point. And good holiday to you, sir. And thanks so much for being with us.BIRD: Happy holidays to you.(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "WHITE CHRISTMAS")BIRD: (Singing) Treetops glisten and children listen to hear sleigh bells...

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