Tonight Doves are featured on the tv show Live from Abbey Road which airs on the Sundance Channel in the USA. The show was first aired in the UK last October, well worth a look if you haven’t seen it already.
It is already available to watch on demand if you have Comast or RCN.
The Places Between: The Best Of Doves is 6 Music’s album of the day.
Also on 6 Music: Next Tuesday Doves will be performing a live session on the Lauren Laverne show, which airs from 10am. Cheers to Baldilocks at the forum for the info.
Of course in the future, all this may not be possible…
Awaiting Doves arrival on the Evo Music Room stage.
Spinner conducted a short interview with Jimi, some interesting info..
Why release a best-of now?
I have to admit it wasn’t our idea to do it, but then we got over our reticence. We’ve cleaned out the vaults now, so whatever we do next, the slate’s clean. We’ve put three brand-new tracks on it, which sweetened the pill for me, and we wondered when was the right time to get nostalgic, because none of us are really and we haven’t listened to a lot of those tracks since we recorded them.
So how involved were you in compiling it?
Very involved — we’d never let anyone else do it. It took longer than we expected, but mind you everything always does in Doves. Hopefully, it stands up to things like ‘Songs to Learn and Sing’ by Echo And The Bunnymen, because I look at those as albums in their own right; you forget that they’re compilations.
Where did the title come from?
It’s inspired by a book by Rory Stewart, ‘The Places In Between,’ it just seems to fit because it bookends this part of our life. It’s closing the last 12 years. We’ve all read his story now, it’s an inspiring journey this guy did after the invasion of Afghanistan. He travelled on his own from village to village. The guy’s got balls.
How has working on this changed your perception of what you have achieved so far?
We were unanimous on the songs that haven’t aged so well that didn’t go on it, but on the whole, it’s a good run of music from three kids. ‘Sulphur Man’ was a moment for me — I was back there recording it, writing the lyrics in my front room with ’em both, bouncing ideas.
I think someone could cover that really well and I never earmark my songs for other people, but I think someone female could take it somewhere else. Someone huge, Lady Gaga because she’d make a mint. I need the dough [laughs].
And I look back fondly at the ‘Some Cities’ period, going to this old schoolhouse in Scotland with Ben Nevis out the window. I spent six weeks up there and didn’t want to come home; my mum had just died and I just wanted to be away.
Before this, you took four years to put out ‘Kingdom of Rust,’ which you have admitted was a frustrating time for the band. Did you come close to breaking up?
It was never said, but I’m sure it crossed everyone’s minds. There were weeks when we didn’t want to be there. I had a lot of family things going on, so did Jez, so did Andy, but we just couldn’t give up. We’ve never had out-and-out throwing things at each other. It’s just not the way we operate. Maybe it would be nice if we did sometimes, maybe we just brood with each other.
You have some live dates coming up this spring and into the summer, but what then? Can we look forward to another Doves album?We’re looking forward to going out and having some fun with existing material. It’s not about buying time, but it’s good not to go on this treadmill of album, tour, album, tour. These days there’s no rules and we’ve not decided … there’s been talk of people doing, not solo, but collaborations and songwriting with or for other people, then hopefully bring it back to the table at a later date.
For more, visit Spinner.com
As we reported last week, Last Call With Carson Daly aired further footage of Doves May 16th 2009 performance at the LA Wiltern Theater. Previously the show aired footage of Kingdom Of Rust & 10.03. This time they aired Black And White Town. To see the video, click here.
The second collection of media reviews for the album. To start things off, the first review for the single Andalucia.
Doves show that heaven knows they’re not miserable now
Since Joy Division and the Smiths, critics have married the words “Mancunian” and “miserablist”. From Elbow to I Am Kloot, it seems a northern soul is always a sad one, right? Wrong. Doves have always demonstrated that they can pen sky-reaching anthems, as their forthcoming Best Of album shows. New track Andalucia is no exception. “The world that we see, belongs to you and me,” sings Jimi Goodwin in a voice that soars higher than the clouds. It seems even heaven knows they’re not miserable now.
Debut Lost Souls remains an enduringly consistent piece of shadowy, orchestral rock, and it could’ve been well represented here by any of its tracks. Despite being posed as the darkness before The Last Broadcast‘s light, Lost Souls gets cherrypicked for its most emphatic numbers. “Catch the Sun” remains the strongest melody Jimi Goodwin has ever written, while the harmonica and guitar peals of the misty “Sea Song” exude a low-key ecstacy. Even the stately, string-led waltz “Man Who Told Everything” is included as a truncated “summer” version.
To read the full review, click here.
The songs on the album have not been ordered in chronological order of release and the band have taken painstaking care to arrange the tracks specifically in the way that they wanted their fans to experience the album. This really works as their four albums varied quite significantly in terms of influences and sound. For example, The Last Broadcast had strong psychedelic rock influences such as King Crimson while Kingdom of Rust was a bold album with snatches of disco, spaghetti western themes, and electronic beats.
The second disc begins with another new recording, “Blue Water” which reminds me of Karl Wallinger’s World Party. It is a fabulous song and one that I’d like to see released as a single. The rest of the disc is a rather laid back cross section of solid and mostly unknown songs. The disc has a serious, downbeat sound and should have a great appeal to fans and new listeners alike.
I’d always liked Doves but it took this collection to make me love them. Hearing so many great songs in one collection made me realize just how much great material they have released over their career and I do believe the second disc will keep me going until they come back with more. I would certainly recommend the three disc set of The Places Between: The Best of Doves (even if you already have all the albums) because of the new materials, the b-sides and rarities and of course, the videos.
To read the full review, click here.
If you are going to start with anything Doves at this point, you may as well start with The Places Between, because 4 albums of catch up might be too much in terms of epic rock. There is over 40 songs here, which may seem like a lot, but captures all the best parts of the band . . . the booming bass, haunting vocals, epic soundscapes, and triumphant, tribal drum patterns. They truly are a treasured band, and although The Places Between feels like closure on the band, with 14 previously unavailable tracks on here as well, this is a good place to put Doves in context
4/5
To read the full review, click here.
Music week reports that the best of is on course to slot in the top 10, though overtaking Lady Gaga (again) seems unlikely.
Doves’ greatest hits set The Places Between, as well as new albums from Rufus Wainwright and Jonsi are all set to debut within the top 20 this Sunday, as Boyzone and Lady GaGa continue their tussle at the top.
The Places Between (Heavenly) sold more than 3,000 copies yesterday despite the bank holiday to sit at five in midweek sales flashes, the highest of a number of new entries.
Jez gave an interview to 6 Music where he gave his views on the music scene today..
Guitarist Jez Williams told 6 Music that money from record labels for touring and recording has dried up –which he put down to the effects of file-sharing.
“It’s really difficult for bands to go out on the road and tour,” he said. “It costs a lot of money to take a band on the road to do 10 UK dates.”
Referring to the pot of cash traditionally provided by labels for their artists to go on the road, he said: “It’s really tricky for new bands to get tour support because there’s no such thing as tour support any more.
“So people haven’t got that back-up any more. And that’s a direct link to people downloading albums without paying for it. It’s suffered because of that.”
The Manchester trio have just released their greatest hits album, called The Places Between, which is heading for the top 10 this weekend.
The process of choosing the tracks caused some friction within the band, he revealed.
“Everyone’s got their own favourites so it was a bit of a long painful process of trying to pick [songs] and compromise where we all were happy,” he said.
Going back to third album Some Cities gave him a particularly pleasant surprise.
“That sounds a lot better than I remembered it,” he explained. “There are some great songs on there and I was really proud of most of that CD.
To read the full interview, click here.
The Places Between: The Best Of Doves is out today in Europe (April 20th in North America) its available to download right now.
For the best price today for the standard edition, then you want to head over to amazon UK who are offering the 15 track album for £4.99. Amazon also have the deluxe version download for £8.69
If you prefer iTunes, they have the deluxe version with all the videos included for £11.99, the itunes version features the bonus track Brazil. If you prefer to just buy Brazil, you can do that too for 99p as surprisingly its not a “album only” download.
7digital usually tend to offer the best quality download at 320 kbps, though as I write this they don’t have the album up just yet.
If like myself you want the physical product, then do take up doves.net offer of £2 off the deluxe version of the album at play.com.
The first round-up of the press reviews for the Best Of album.
Thanks to Paul Bingley For the Q review scan:
Click to view full size
there is a little sweetner in the form of Andalucia, the token new track that all Best Ofs seem to be legally obliged to carry. The track itself is fine; maybe not classic Doves, but it fits the retrospective mood by ticking all the boxes. Those wanting to shell out more will be pleased to receive a second disc of rarities and a DVD to boot.
The Places Between is that rare beast of a welcome retrospective. These are great tracks that have already done a good job of standing the test of time in a sometimes fickle genre. In a decade’s time they will still have their potency – something which guarantees continued play for this collection.
To read the full review, click here.
A greatest hits album is often cause for complaint, but the Doves have such a hit-packed back catalogue listening to this should be a pleasure. Hits including There Goes The Fear and Black and White Town to Words and Kingdom ofRust are mixed with hidden gems which never quite reaped the commercial success they deserved. MM
Loading ... Loading ... Loading ... Loading ...
