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U2, Sinead O’Connor, Chieftains in new PBS documentary
Music of Ireland - Welcome Home
“The Music of Ireland – Welcome Home,” a new documentary featuring interviews and performances from U2, Celtic Woman, Sinead O’Connor and The Chieftains will debut on New York public television station WLIW on Feb. 17, then roll out across the country to other PBS affiliates throughout March PBS have announced.
“Music of Ireland” will be available as a CD and DVD in a number of outlets: Barnes & Noble is the exclusive retail partner and will debut an in-store promotional campaign on March 2; Amazon.com will feature all the CD tracks digitally on a 45-day exclusive starting that same day. In addition, the CD and DVD will be bundled as a bonus for those who donate to public television during pledge drives.
The CD was produced by John Reynolds, and features new material by Clannad’s Moya Brennan – who also hosts the documentary – O’Connor, the Chieftains, former Irish Tenor Ronan Tynan and Shane McGowan of the Pogues, among others.
The documentary “Music of Ireland” opens in 1960 with the success of the pioneering Clancy Brothers, and includes Liam Clancy’s final U.S. television interview before his death. Other interviews include “Riverdance’s” Michael Flatley, Bob Geldof and Academy Award-nominated director Jim Sheridan.
A sequel to the “Music of Ireland” is planned for later this year, and will focus on U2, Celtic Woman, The Cranberries, The Corrs, the Irish Tenors and songwriters Glen Hansard and Damien Rice.
The documentary was produced by The Elevation Group’s Denny Young, who previously produced “Bonefish Grill’s Notes From The Road” for Ovation, and is presented by WLIW in association with WNET and Tourism Ireland.
“For such a small country to produce such amazing talent and the way their music defines the people is just extraordinary,” Young told Billboard magazine. “It has fascinated me for most of my life and is something I wanted more people to be in tune with.”
U2’s ‘Bad’ gets a NASCAR makeover
Heroin and NASCAR, who knew? U2 fans watching the NFL playoffs on Fox this weekend surely heard what would seem to be an oddly placed song scoring the network’s preview of the upcoming Daytona 500: U2’s mid-’80s hit “Bad.” The commercial features little more than a snippet of one of the Edge’s most recognizable guitar riffs — the few slow, glistening notes that set the table for the song’s explosive rock ‘n’ roll release.
U2 hasn’t exactly shied away from commercial endorsements of late, or massive sporting events. Also, anyone who has attended any NFL, NBA or MLB game in recent years has likely heard “Beautiful Day” piped throughout the arena or stadium, further linking U2 with the sporting world. Yet judging by some previous NASCAR-branded music releases, U2 seems to be a bit out of place with the barroom hits and country rock more closely tied to the sport.
Granted, it’s more a story these days when rock ‘n’ roll doesn’t appear in a commercial, but are U2 fans ready to have one of the band’s most iconic songs forever associated with auto racing? If the quick responses on Twitter are any gauge, then no.
Though Bono’s lyrics in “Bad” are vague and open to interpretation, it’s a song long believed to be about heroin addiction, making it feel a bit out of place in hyping the Feb. 14 race. It should be noted, of course, that it’s not the first time a rock ‘n’ roll tune about drug use has appeared in a commercial, as Iggy Pop’s “Lust for Life” more famously promoted a cruise line.
Pop & Hiss has reached out to the U2 camp for more info, and for clarification as to what clearances and permissions may have been needed. It’s possible the band was just as surprised as some of its fans were at hearing the tune in the network promo. Some may recall that Fox once used the Arcade Fire’s “No Cars Go” in a promo for the NFL, and it was widely reported that the network did not seek — or need — the band’s permission. The clip is embedded above.
Pop & Hiss did, however, waste more time this weekend than is worth admitting comparing the few seconds above with the actual album track, as well as the various live versions to gauge where it came from. The edition used by Fox seems to most closely resemble the take on U2’s “Wide Awake in America” EP, but fans are invited to set us straight.
Of course, there may not be any real reason to be surprised. After all, U2’s name has indeed been seen on the race track of late, appearing on Elliott Sadler’s vehicle to promote the film “U2:3D.”
Still, we would have voted for “Daddy’s Gonna Pay for Your Crashed Car” instead.
U2, John Mayer among artists standing up to cancer
U2, John Mayer, Mary J. Blige, Celine Dion, Katy Perry and Kenny Chesney are among the new artists providing content for the second installment of “Stand Up 2 Cancer On Demand,” which debuted on Comcast in December. “Stand Up 2 Cancer” is the first-ever video-on-demand initiative focused on broadening awareness and raising funds for innovative cancer research, according to a press release.
The program, available for no additional cost to viewers through March 14, features music clips from more than 60 artists, including Beastie Boys, Ben Harper, Christina Aguilera, Common, The Dixie Chicks, John Legend, Joss Stone, Kanye West, Melissa Etheridge and more.
New U2 Album Expected In June
by Paul Cashmere – February 13 2010
Bono is saying the next U2 album will be called `Songs of Ascent’. He should know.
In an interview with Sean O’Hagan, Bono called ‘Songs of Ascent’ the sister album to ‘No Line Of The Horizon’, similar to how ‘Zooropa’ and ‘Achtung Baby’ were bookends.
Atu2.com says the album is expected to be produced by Brian Eno and Daniel Lanois once again, with additional work by Steve Lillywhite.
Some of the songs are expected to be the leftover tracks from ‘No Line On The Horizon’, but some are older.
Songs expected to be used include ‘North Star’, an unused track from ‘How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb’.
‘Winter’, the song that didn’t make ‘No Line On The Horizon’ but was used in the movie ‘Brothers’ is expected to make the new album and ‘Kingdom Of Your Love’, heard in part of the intro music of the U2 360 Tour is also expected on the album.
Other tracks we might find there are “Every Breaking Wave’, ‘If I Could Live My Life Again’, ‘Love Is All We Have Left’, ‘Mercy’, ‘Lead Me In The Way I Should Go’ and ‘You Can’t Give Away Your Heart’.
Bono told the Irish Independent that the album may be out in June.