Smith & Co

Elvis Presley’s Original Songs Remixed for the next Century
A new approach to Elvis! Alex “Latino” Zullo and Paolo Bolio have gone back into the studio with their crew to remix and add overdubs, bringing the King right up to date! The result is 13 superb rockers and ballads as well as 2 remixes of the remixes giving us a couple of 2 tracks that would grace any cutting edge dance club.

This is sheer pleasure and don’t let anyone tell you that this is just another PD album. This is how Elvis would sound if he was recording now and there is nothing like it on the market. This is a unique product from a unique artist.

Although nearly all of us instantly recognise songs such as "Days of Pearly Spencer" and "Can I get there by Candlelight" few can put a name to the man who wrote and recorded these tracks. A prodigious and vastly underrated talent, David McWilliams wrote many successful songs for others as well as his own recordings, but more than this, he left an indelible mark on all who had the good fortune to know him. So much so that his best known  fellow Irish musicians, put their energies together to record an album of his songs as a lasting tribute to the man.

"After reading an obituary in a local newspaper a short time after David's sudden death, I was struck by the words of an anonymous friend who said, "Once you met David McWilliams he never left you". I didn't have the pleasure of knowing David McWilliams personally (and that is something I regret) but I know that he touched the lives of many people in his lifetime – and not just through his music. Family, friends and fellow musicians have come together on this CD to pay their own personal

tribute to David by singing some of his best loved songs. There is an eclectic mix of material on this recording, encompassing a wide range of musical genre and lyrical themes. Hopefully a new perspective will bring fresh appreciation of someone whose contribution to Irish contemporary music has been sadly overlooked; a truly gifted songwriter whose work demands reappraisal.

Over the past eighteen months I have met many close friends and associates of David who remember him with great affection. It is interesting to note that some of those same friends who played football with him as youngsters all those years ago on the green in the Rectory Estate, were friends until the day he died. He was someone who really knew the true value of friendship.

I would therefore like to dedicate this tribute CD to the memory of David Samuel McWilliams – to his good friends the late John O'Kane and the late Ronnie Holden – and to my own dear friend the late Dominic Gormley, who lost his brave fight for life on Christmas Eve 2005. They all shared one thing in common – they knew the healing power of music. May their song always be sung."

Colin Agnew, chairman of the David McWilliams appreciation society

Singer songwriter Melanie (Safka Schekeryk) has a reputation for innovation and setting the tone other performers always seem to follow. During her career she has been personally signed to contracts by top executives of the industry that include Neil Bogart, Clive Davis, Walter Yetnekoff and Ahmet Ertegun. Melanie performed at the original Woodstock in Bethel, New York in 1969. Her unique folk/rock/ballad style led her to success with songs like "Lay Down (Candles in the Rain) "Beautiful People", "Look What They've Done To My Song Ma", "Brand New Key (Roller Skates)" and many others. Melanie has sold millions of records during her career and continues to record and perform on a regular schedule

Melanie's professional career began at the age of 4 when she played and sang on local New York City radio. She graduated from Long Branch High School in New Jersey and studied at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in New York City. It was during this period that Melanie continued to develop her unique style as a singer, performing at local coffeehouses and clubs. In 1967, Melanie signed a song publishing agreement with her future husband Peter Schekeryk and that led to a recording contract with Columbia Records and the release of "Beautiful People" (first played on WNEW/FM in New York).

After the original Woodstock in 1969, Melanie has inspired to write "Lay Down (Candles in the Rain)" and in 1970 the LP went gold on Budda/Karma Sutra Records. From then on it became a ritual for fans to light candles during live performances of Melanie's as well as other concert performers. In the summer of 1970 she signed a publishing agreement with April Blackwood Music (CBS) and Charles Koppleman, who later became CEO of EMI Music.

In 1971, Melanie and her husband, Peter Schekeryk, formed Neighborhood Records and immediately released her best know recording, "Brand New Key", which stayed on Billboard Magazine's chart for weeks and sold over three million copies world wide. It was also in 1971 that Melanie cancelled the remaining dates of a very successful American tour to become the official spokesperson for UNICEF. Few artists at the peak of their careers and enjoying great success would go to work for free for the benefit of others. In addition, Melanie has had the distinguished honor of performing before the United Nations on numerous occasions throughout her career.

In 1972, Ray Charles recorded and had a hit with "Look What They've Done To My Song Ma" which Melanie considers a career milestone. Both then and now, Melanie's music has been sung and recorded by such artists as Nana Mouskouri, Peggy Lee, Nina Simone, Arthur Fiedler and the Boston Pops, Dolly Parton, Deana Carter, Meredith Brookes, Macy Gray and many others. Melanie's music also continues to be featured in both screen and television scores.

In 1975, Neighborhood Records, was sold and Melanie signed with Clive Davis and Arista Records as one of the artists on the new label. After releasing two albums with Arista, she signed with Ahmet Ertegun of Altantic Records and released "Photograph", which was produced by Ertegun and Schekeryk.

In 1985, Melanie composed a Broadway production of "Ace of Diamonds" – The Life of Calamity Jane, published by April Blackwood Music (CBS).

In 1989, at the 41st Academy of Television Arts and Sciences, Melanie was awarded an EMMY for the lyrics composed by her for the song "The First Time I Loved Forever" written for the CBS production of "Beauty and the Beast" – A Distant Shore).

In 1999, Melanie delivered a riveting performance at the original site of Woodstock in Bethel New York for the "Day in the Garden" celebration of the Woodstock 30th anniversary. While performing her favourites, she also delivered a mesmerizing tribute to Jimi Hendrix, "Purple Haze". An audience of thousands was on their feet in appreciation. Shortly after that, Melanie hosted and performed at an Amnesty International event in Washington DC and signed the Declaration of Human Rights.

32 track double CD anthology of one of the great unsung guitar heroes of British rock music.  This multi-talented songwriter and musician worked with Pink Floyd, Peter Green, Thin Lizzy and Roger Waters before launching a solo career with his debut album "White Flames" in 1983. Mixing blues rock compositions with pop-based tracks, the album spawned a UK Top 10 hit, "Bird Of Paradise', sounding uncannily like Peter Green, both in voice and guitar tone.

Although White continued to issue similarly styled solo outings during the next few years, further hit singles proved elusive and he formed a strictly blues-based outfit, the Blues Agency.  Afterwards, White recruited Walter Latupeirissa (bass) and Juan van Emmerloot (drums) to form another new group, Snowy White And The White Flames, which toured and issued albums on a regular basis throughout the '90s. This collection of the cream of his recordings from 1983 to 1999 serves as an excellent overview of one of rock music's most overlooked guitarists and singer/songwriters.

35 track double CD which, as well as the multi-million selling title track, features all of Greenbaum's other quirky compositions. These include "The Eggplant That Ate Chicago" (recorded in 1966 by his group, Dr West's Medicine Show & Jug Band), "Canned Ham", "California Earthquake", "Petaluma", "The Day They Sold Beer In Church (Everybody Came To Pray)" and "Gondoliers, Shakespeares, Overseers, Playboys And Bums". Also included is the first acoustic demo of "Spirit In The Sky" and of two other tracks plus a radio promo.

Wishbone Ash are one of the rock oddities of the last 40 years. Despite never having had a single hit everyone knows the name, and if not an actual fan (and over 40), the sleeve of the acclaimed "Argus" album featuring a warrior looking out over a rolling landscape. They have, however, a large fan base and many devotees which enables the band to tour successfully to this day. They have also built up a catalogue of classic tracks most of which are featured on this on this double live collection.

Initially formed in 1969, Wishbone Ash, the band underwent many personnel changes throughout the seventies and early eighties before reconnecting with Miles Copeland (their former manager.) He succeeded in re-uniting the four original members of Wishbone Ash to record again and the resulting album "Nouveau Calls" (a fairly irksome pun on the words "no vocals") saw Martin Turner, Andy Powell, Ted Turner and Steve Upton release an album together for the first time in nearly fifteen years! In February 1988, the foursome played live together for the first time since 1974.

The subsequent twenty years has seen Andy Powell carrying the torch for Wishbone Ash.
After the reunion tours of the late eighties and the following albums "Here To Hear" and "Strange Affair", Steve Upton had been the next to leave, but Powell, accompanied by a succession of talented players, has kept the flame burning. Wishbone Ash still releases exciting new albums and spends many weeks each year on tour, an on-going testament to a band that has never had a hit single and enjoyed its commercial peak nearly twenty-five years ago!