In music, a concept album is an album that is "unified by a theme, which can be instrumental, compositional, narrative, or lyrical". Commonly, concept albums tend to incorporate preconceived musical or lyrical ideas rather than being improvised or composed in the studio, with all songs contributing to a single overall theme or unified story. This is in contrast to the practice of an artist or group releasing an album consisting of a number of unconnected (lyrically or otherwise) songs performed by the artist.

History

1950s

Before the advent of rock and roll, concept albums had their original heyday in jazz of the early to mid '50s with artists such as Nat King Cole and Frank Sinatra, the latter of whom would record numerous concept albums for Capitol throughout the last half of the '50s such as ''In The Wee Small Hours, Come Fly with Me'', ''Where Are You?'' and ''Nice 'n' Easy''.

1960s

Perhaps the first examples from rock were the albums of The Ventures. Starting from 1961's ''Colorful Ventures'' (each song had a color in the title), the group became known for issuing records throughout the 1960s whose tracks revolved around central themes, including surf music, country, outer space, TV themes, and psychedelic music. Ray Charles also issued his ''Modern Sounds'' recordings, which departed from his well-known R&B; and soul style to conceptually country music records.

In 1966, several rock releases were arguably concept albums in the sense that they presented a set of thematically-linked songs - and they also instigated other rock artists to consider using the album format in a similar fashion: The Beach Boys' ''Pet Sounds'' was a musical portrayal of Brian Wilson's state of mind at the time (and a major inspiration to Paul McCartney). Although it has a unified theme in its emotional content, the writers (Brian Wilson and Tony Asher) have said continuously that it was not necessarily intended to be a narrative. However, later in 1966, Brian Wilson began work on the ''Smile'' album, which ''was'' intended as a narrative. The album was scrapped before completion, only to be revived in the 2000s. The Mothers of Invention's sardonic farce about rock music and America as a whole, ''Freak Out!'' by Frank Zappa and ''Face to Face'' by The Kinks, the first collection of Ray Davies's idiosyncratic character studies of ordinary people, are conceptually oriented albums. However, out of the albums above, only ''Pet Sounds'' attracted a huge commercial audience.

This all changed with The Beatles' most celebrated album ''Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band'' in June 1967. With the release of ''Sgt. Pepper'', the notion of the concept album came to the forefront of the popular and critical mind, with the earlier prototypes and examples from traditional pop music and other genres sometimes forgotten.

In fact, as pointed out by many critics since its original reception, ''Sgt. Pepper'' is a concept album only by some definitions of the term. There was, at some stage during the making of the album an attempt to relate the material to firstly the idea of aging, then as an obscure radio play about the life of an ex-army bandsman and his shortcomings. These concepts were lost in the final production. While debate exists over the extent to which ''Sgt. Pepper'' qualifies as a true concept album, there is no doubt that its reputation as such helped inspire other artists to produce concept albums of their own, and inspired the public to anticipate them. Lennon and McCartney distanced themselves from the "concept album" tag as applied to that album.

''Days of Future Passed'', released the same year as ''Sgt. Pepper's'', was fellow UK musicians The Moody Blues' first foray into the concept album. Originally presented with an opportunity to rock out Dvořák's Symphony No. 9 "From the New World" by their new stereophonic label, the band instead forged ahead to unify their own orchestral-based threads of a day in the life of a common man.

''The Who Sell Out'' by The Who followed with its concept of a pirate radio broadcast. Within the record, joke commercials recorded by the band and actual jingles from recently outlawed pirate radio station Radio London were interspersed between the songs, ranging from pop songs to hard rock and psychedelic rock, culminating with a mini-opera titled "Rael".

In October 1967, the British group Nirvana released ''The Story of Simon Simopath'' (subtitled "A Science Fiction Pantomime"), an album that tells the story of the title character. It was only a moderate commercial success. The album ''S.F. Sorrow'' (released in December 1968) by British group the Pretty Things is generally considered to be among the first creatively successful rock concept albums - in that each song is part of an overarching unified concept – the life story of the main character, Sebastian Sorrow.

Released in April 1969, was the rock opera ''Tommy'' composed by Pete Townshend and performed by The Who. This acclaimed work was presented over two discs (unusual in those days) and it took the idea of thematically based albums to a much higher appreciation by both critics and the public. It was also the first ''story-based'' concept album of the rock era (as distinct from the ''song-cycle'' style album) to enjoy commercial success. The Who went on to further explorations of the concept album format with their follow-up project ''Lifehouse'', which was abandoned before completion, and with their 1973 rock opera, ''Quadrophenia''.

Five months after the release of ''Tommy'', The Kinks released another concept album, ''Arthur (Or the Decline and Fall of the British Empire)'' (September 1969), written by Ray Davies; though considered by some a rock opera, it was originally conceived as the score for a proposed but never realised BBC television drama. It was the first of several concept albums released by the band through the first few years of the 1970s. These were: ''Lola Versus Powerman and the Moneygoround, Part One'' (1970), ''Muswell Hillbillies'' (1971), ''Preservation: Act 1'' (1973), ''Preservation: Act 2'' (1974), ''Soap Opera'' (1975) and ''Schoolboys in Disgrace'' (1976).

1970s

Concept albums are considered ''de rigueur'' in the progressive rock genre of the 1970s. Pink Floyd recast itself from its 1960s guise as a psychedelic band into a commercial success with its series of concept albums, most famously with ''The Dark Side of the Moon'' (which, according to the RIAA, is the third best selling album in history) and later with the double album rock opera ''The Wall''.

From 1975 to 1979, a Canadian progressive power trio, Rush, released three albums containing sidelong epics, regarded by some as concept albums (though not actually concept albums by strict definition of the term; that is, none of the other songs on the album have anything to do with each other or the 20-minute sidelong epic, so there is no pervasive concept or story). The first of which was released in 1975, titled ''Caress of Steel''. The second was their break through album, ''2112'', released the following year in 1976. Their third was released in 1978, ''Hemispheres''. Rush is working on another concept album titled ''Clockwork Angels'', to be released in late 2011/early 2012.

Yes also produced concept albums during the '70s, most notably ''Tales from Topographic Oceans'', which would become a defining album of prog rock, but its critical backlash would lead to the genre's decline in popularity and the rise of punk rock. The group's keyboardist Rick Wakeman released many concept albums on his own, most notably ''The Six Wives of Henry VIII'' and ''Journey to the Centre of the Earth'', which was based on the novel by Jules Verne.

Another progressive rock act, Genesis, released the concept album ''The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway'' in 1974, a double disc that told the story of the street punk Rael. Rock musician David Bowie also made three popular concept albums; ''The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders From Mars'', about the fictional character, Ziggy Stardust and his band; ''Aladdin Sane''; and ''Diamond Dogs''

In the 1970s and 80s, The Alan Parsons Project was a British progressive rock group which specialized entirely in concept albums.

1980s

Though the progressive rock genre was beginning to decrease in popularity, concept albums had become a medium that continued. The progressive bands that were still around were still having major successes with concept albums. Styx continued to have multiplatinum albums with their 1981 release ''Paradise Theater'' (a concept album about a decaying theater in Chicago which became a metaphor for childhood and American culture) and 1983's ''Kilroy Was Here'' (a science fiction rock opera about a future where moralists imprison rockers).

In the 1980s, the concept album became popular among heavy metal bands bands like Kiss, and their bombastic offering, 1981's ''Music from "The Elder"'', which went on to become the group's poorest selling and charting album in their history. Queensrÿche fared better later the decade, releasing the rock opera ''Operation: Mindcrime'' in 1988, which tells a story of a young man, Nikki, awoken from a coma suddenly remembering work done as a political assassin. The comedy group Buckner & Garcia released a novelty concept album, ''Pac-Man Fever'', that went gold and produced a hit single of the same name; all of the songs on the album pertained to popular video games of the time.

The heavy metal band King Diamond gained cult status during the 1980s releasing mostly all concept albums. Releases such as ''Abigail'', ''"Them"'' and ''The Eye'' told elaborate sagas of horror and the supernatural.

In 1985 Kerrang! magazine ran a coverstory on Phenomena, announcing "the return of the concept album". Tom Galley had started the project, and together with his brother Mell and Metalhammer magazine founder Wilfried Rimensberger developed it into an international multi-media rock music project with contributions from a string of rock superstars, that, apart from so far a total of 5 albums, produced the Dreamrunner album and an ongoing following around the world. Phenomena's main story lines are dealing with the supernatural and unexplained, that were also turned in to scripts for musical, rock opera stage productions, feature films and video games. Iron Maiden also released several concept albums including ''Seventh Son of a Seventh Son'', which follows the folklore and myths of a seventh son of a seventh son having mystical powers.

1990s

In the 1990s prog rock had all but faded from popular music. With the advent of alternative rock, however, a number of artists still continued to use the format.

In 1994, industrial metal band Nine Inch Nails released ''The Downward Spiral'' which focuses on a life going in a downward spiral.

In that decade the rock band Marilyn Manson created three rock opera concept albums, namely ''Antichrist Superstar'' (1996), ''Mechanical Animals'' (1998) and ''Holy Wood'' (2000), which formed an ambitious concept trilogy. Though each one came with individual conceptual backgrounds, they are also meant to be taken together to form a larger abstract storyline. The albums were released in reverse order thus in the larger overarching 'fourth storyline' is divulged in reverse chronological order.

In 1996, Meat Loaf released ''Welcome to the Neighborhood'', a concept album that tells the story of a relationship.

In 1999, progressive metal band Dream Theater released ''Metropolis Pt. 2: Scenes from a Memory'', a story concept album. This was a specific follow-up to a song called "Metropolis Pt. 1: The Miracle and the Sleeper", which was released on the band's 1992 breakthrough album, ''Images and Words''. While "Pt. 1" introduced a story, further parts of the "Metropolis" story were unseen on that album or subsequent releases for seven years. Although the band had created a twenty-minute follow-up to Part 1 in the mid-nineties, it hadn't been released. After the band gained complete creative control from their record company, they decided to expand their follow-up of the Metropolis story into a full album: ''Metropolis Pt. 2: Scenes from a Memory''. This album builds on concepts introduced in "Part 1", both lyrically and musically. Although it did not achieve the same levels of commercial success as the band's later releases (it reached #73 on the Billboard 200), it has been hailed by many fans and critics as Dream Theater's masterpiece and the band's defining album.

2000s and 2010s

With the advent of the World Wide Web and other multimedia technologies, bands such as The Smashing Pumpkins (with the album ''Machina/The Machines of God''), Coheed And Cambria (with the Amory Wars as a backing story), and Nine Inch Nails (with the album ''Year Zero'') exploited emergent cultural phenomena such as the alternate reality game to provide additional web-based content beyond that on the album itself.

Also in the 2000s, pop punk outfit Green Day abandoned the pop punk scene and turned to more alternative and progressive rock influences and produced two Grammy-winning concept albums, namely, 2004's ''American Idiot'' and 2009's ''21st Century Breakdown''. In 2010, ''American Idiot'' became the first punk rock opera to make it to Broadway where it has garnered two Tony Awards.

In August 2009, The Antlers released their first concept album ''Hospice''. It tells the story of an emotionally abusive relationship, explained through the analogy of a hospice worker and terminally-ill patient. It is known for its realism, sadness, and use of expressive instrumental segments.

In May 2010, Ayurveda released ''H. luminous''. It is a 25-minute, eight-movement, concept piece recorded live in the studio at Pyramid Sound Studios in Ithaca, NY. ''H. luminous'' takes the listener on a shamanic journey of humankind's transformation and evolution from homo sapiens to homo luminous. The piece was conceptualized by lyricist, Tom Burchinal, and offers an anti-apocalyptic viewpoint of the popularized end-date of the Mayan Long Count Calendar in 2012. CD sleeves for ''H. luminous'' were silk-screened and printed by the band using 100% post-consumer recycled cardboard. The 16-panel album insert features artwork from five Ithaca-based artists and follows the symbolic transformation from homo sapiens to enlightened beings as portrayed in ''H. luminous''. Under Burchinal's direction, Nicoli Schwiep designed both the album cover and insert layout.

In 2007 rapper, Jay-Z, released ''American Gangster'', his first concept album, inspired by the movie of the same name, it was met with critical praise.

In addition, Grammy-winning metal band Mastodon has released three concept albums, ''Leviathan'', ''Blood Mountain'' and ''Crack the Skye'', which, along with their debut album, ''Remission'', make up a quadrilogy, each representing its own element: water, earth, air and fire, respectively.

British rapper Plan B released a concept album titled The Defamation of Strickland Banks in which he plays a soul singer named Strictland Banks.

Also, progressive metal band Dominici, released three albums in 2005, 2007 and 2008. These were story concept albums which named as ''O3: A Trilogy, Part One, O3: A Trilogy, Part Two'' and ''O3: A Trilogy, Part Three''.

See also

List of concept albums

Rock opera

Album musical

Program music

References

Category:Album types

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Coordinates	33°51′35.9″N151°12′40″N
name	Lin-Manuel Miranda
birth date	January 16, 1980
birth place	New York City }}

Category:Hunter College High School alumni

Lin-Manuel Miranda (born January 16, 1980) is a Puerto Rican-American composer, rapper, lyricist, and actor. He is most famous for writing and starring as Usnavi in the Broadway musical ''In the Heights'', which opened on Broadway at the Richard Rodgers Theatre in 2008 and for which he won the Tony Award as composer and lyricist.

Early life

Lin-Manuel was born in northern Manhattan, New York City, New York. He grew up in the Inwood section of Manhattan and is of Puerto Rican descent.

Education

After graduating from Hunter College High School, Miranda went on to attend Wesleyan University and graduated in 2002. During this time, he co-founded a hip hop comedy troupe called Freestyle Love Supreme. He wrote the earliest draft of ''In the Heights'' in 1999, his sophomore year of college. After the show was accepted by Wesleyan's student theater company The Second Stage, Miranda worked on adding "freestyle rap ... bodegas, and salsa numbers." It played from 20 April to 22 April to huge crowds. After seeing the play, two Wesleyan seniors, John Buffalo Mailer (Norman Mailer's son and future playwright and author) and Thomas Kail (the show's future director) approached Miranda and asked if the play could be expanded to be on Broadway.

Miranda wrote and directed several other musicals at Wesleyan. He also acted in many other productions, ranging from musicals to Shakespeare.

''In the Heights''

In 2002, Miranda and Mailer worked with director Tommy Kail and wrote five separate drafts of ''In the Heights'' that were dissected. During this time, Miranda worked as an English teacher at his former high school. After making it off-Broadway, the play went to Broadway in 2008. Miranda made his last performance in the Broadway show on February 15, 2009.

However, Miranda reprised his role of Usnavi when the national tour of ''In the Heights'' played in Los Angeles, California from June 23 to July 25, 2010. The tour will continue without him at the helm until it plays in San Juan, Puerto Rico, where he will briefly take the lead again.

The Broadway production played its final performance on January 9, 2011 after 29 previews and 1,185 regular performances. Miranda reprised the role of Usnavi from December 25, 2010 until the closing of the production.

Other work

Miranda wrote, directed, and acted in an independent film called ''Clayton's Friends'' (1996). In 2007, Miranda made an appearance on the television series ''The Sopranos'' in the episode "Remember When." Miranda also worked as an English teacher at his former high school, wrote for the ''Manhattan Times'' as a columnist and restaurant reviewer, and composed music for commercials. In 2008, Miranda was invited by composer-lyricist Stephen Schwartz to contribute two new songs to a revised version of Schwartz and Nina Faso's 1978 musical ''Working'', which opened in May 2008 at the Asolo Repertory Theatre in Sarasota, Florida.

Miranda wrote Spanish language dialogue and worked with Stephen Sondheim to translate into Spanish song lyrics for the revival of ''West Side Story'', which opened on Broadway in March 2009. He is also a composer and actor on the 2009 revival of ''The Electric Company''. Miranda also appeared in the CollegeHumor sketch "Hardly Working: Rap Battle," playing himself working as an intern and rapper. In September 2009, Miranda played Alvie, Gregory House's roommate in a psychiatric hospital, in the two-hour season six premiere episode of ''House''. He reprised the role in May 2010. He also has done work for ''Sesame Street'', where he has played occasional roles and sings the theme song to ''Murray Has a Little Lamb''.

He is a member of Freestyle Love Supreme, a performance group of freestylers that make up words on the spot. Chris Jackson, a member of the original Broadway cast of ''In the Heights'', is also a member.

Miranda and the cast of ''In the Heights'' performed segments from the show at the Lincoln Center Barnes and Noble. They also performed at the Virgin Megastore. Recently a flash mob performance done by Flash Mob America showing a large scale street version of 96,000 being performed as Miranda ate lunch. Miranda has made several popular YouTube videos centered on ''In the Heights'', performing songs like "Bet on It" from ''High School Musical 2'' and "Run This Town" with lyrics altered to concern the show.

He is working on ''The Hamilton Mixtape'', a hip hop album based upon the life of Alexander Hamilton. He performed part of it at the White House Evening of Poetry, Music, and the Spoken Word on May 12, 2009, accompanied by Alex Lacamoire.

He is currently working on a musical theatre version of ''Bring It On'', based on the 2000 cheerleader comedy film of the same name. It is set to debut in Atlanta in 2011.

On March 11, 2011 it was announced that Miranda will guest star on an episode of ABC's hit comedy Modern Family.

Personal life

Miranda married Vanessa Nadal, a high school friend who grew up with him in Washington Heights, in September 2010 after dating her for five years.

The principal female character in ''In the Heights'', Vanessa, is not based on Nadal, as many people believe. At the wedding reception, Miranda, along with the wedding party, presented Vanessa with a group rendition of the ''Fiddler on the Roof'' song "L'Chaim". The video was posted on YouTube and quickly became popular on the internet.

Miranda received an honorary degree from Yeshiva University during its May 14, 2009 graduation ceremony. He is the youngest person to receive an honorary degree from Yeshiva University. His show ''In the Heights'' is based in the upper Manhattan community of Washington Heights, which is also home to Yeshiva's campus. Ed Koch, former mayor of New York City, presented Miranda with the degree and remarked about first meeting him when Miranda was seven years old.

Awards

Miranda has won the following awards:

2009 Grammy, Best Musical Show Album, ''In the Heights''

2008 Tony Award, Best Musical, ''In the Heights''

2008 Tony Award, Best Original Score (Music and/or Lyrics) Written for the Theatre, ''In the Heights''

2008 Dramatists Guild of America Frederick Loewe Award ("achievement in a theatrical score presented on Broadway in the previous theatrical season")

2007 Theatre World Award for Outstanding Debut, ''In the Heights''

2007 Clarence Derwent Award, ''In the Heights''

2007 Obie Award for Music and Lyrics, ''In the Heights''

2007 Drama Desk Award Outstanding Ensemble Performance, ''In the Heights''

2007 Outer Critics Circle Award for Outstanding Musical, ''In the Heights''

2007 Lucille Lortel Award for Outstanding Musical, ''In the Heights''

2007 Broadway.com Audience Award for Favorite Off-Broadway Musical, ''In the Heights''

In addition, Miranda was nominated for the following awards:

2007 Drama Desk Award Outstanding Lyrics, ''In the Heights''

2007 Drama Desk Award Outstanding Music, ''In the Heights''

2008 Tony Award Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Musical

2009 Pulitzer Prize for Drama, one of three finalists

See also

Puerto Rican literature

References

External links

Category:1980 births Category:Actors from New York Category:American musical theatre composers Category:American people of Puerto Rican descent Category:Drama Desk Award winners Category:Grammy Award winners Category:Living people Category:Musicians from New York City Category:Puerto Rican actors Category:Puerto Rican composers Category:Puerto Rican writers Category:Tony Award winners Category:Wesleyan University alumni

fr:Lin-Manuel Miranda it:Lin-Manuel Miranda

Coordinates	33°51′35.9″N151°12′40″N
name	Skye Edwards
background	solo_singer
birth name	Shirley Klaris Yonavieve Edwards
alias	Skye
born	May 27, 1972London, United Kingdom
origin	London, United Kingdom
genre	Pop rock, electronic, alternative, downtempo
years active	''With Morcheeba'': 1995–2003, 2010–present''Solo Artist'': 2006–present
label	Independent
associated acts	Morcheeba
website	}}

Skye Edwards (born Shirley Klaris Yonavieve Edwards, 27 May 1972) is a British singer-songwriter, born in East London. Her career began in 1994 when she and the Godfrey brothers (DJ Paul Godfrey and multi-instrumentalist Ross Godfrey) formed the band Morcheeba, which released five albums with Skye as lead vocalist. Since exiting the band in 2003, Skye has released two solo albums: ''Mind How You Go'' in 2006, and ''Keeping Secrets'' in 2009.

In 2010, Edwards returned to Morcheeba as lead vocalist.

Edwards decided to shorten her name to Skye by taking the first letter of each of her names and putting them together. She is married to bass player Steve Gordon and they have three children. Edwards has sung on two charity collaborations, ''Perfect Day'' 1997, in aid of Children in Need and Band Aid 20, in 2004, in aid of famine relief in Sudan, Africa.

''Mind How You Go''

Edwards' debut solo album, ''Mind How You Go'' was released on 27 February 2006 in Europe, the first single "Love Show" was a radio hit throughout Europe. The next single was "What's Wrong With Me". Music videos were released with both songs. Asked about her album: "People ask what this record means to me, but that's an alien question because I've been living and breathing it," says Skye. "It's not a question of what it means to me. This record is me."

Skye's song, "Love Show", was featured on a third season episode of Grey's Anatomy called "Great Expectations" . It was also featured on the fifth season of the Portuguese soap opera Morangos com Açúcar. It also appears on an American TV commercial for Nivea 'Sun-kissed' body lotion.

''Keeping Secrets''

In October 2009 Edwards' released her second album, ''Keeping Secrets''. The first single "I Believe" has been released, along with a music video. She has made the video and a number of new songs available for viewing without charge on her Myspace page.

Other songs

In 2008 she collaborated with Marc Collin of the French group Nouvelle Vague. He has put together ''Hollywood, Mon Amour'', an album of popular songs featured in movies from the 1980s. Skye sings several songs on this album, including Blondie's "Call Me" and Duran Duran's "A View To A Kill" from the James Bond film.

Skye has covered the Gorillaz song "Feel Good Inc" live on KCRW radio station (along with other tracks from her album), and also at some live shows; this is also available on her MySpace site.

On the John Martyn tribute album ''Johnny Boy Would Love This....A Tribute to John Martyn'', released in 2011, Skye sings the track Solid Air from the Martyn 1973 album of the same name. In the notes to the album, Skye says "''it was a bitter sweet feeling recording 'Solid Air'. I was excited to be doing a cover of one of my favourite songs but I was sad knowing that John was no longer with us.''"

Discography

''Mind How You Go'' (2006)

''Keeping Secrets'' (2009)

References

External links

Category:1972 births Category:Living people Category:English female singers Category:English songwriters Category:English singer-songwriters Category:People from London Category:Trip hop musicians Category:Atlantic Records artists

de:Skye Edwards es:Skye Edwards fr:Skye Edwards it:Skye Edwards pl:Skye (piosenkarka) ru:Скай Эдвардс

Coordinates	33°51′35.9″N151°12′40″N
name	Kevin Gilbert
background	solo_singer
born	November 20, 1966Sacramento, California
died	May 17, 1996Los Angeles, California
instrument	Vocals, bass, guitar, keyboards, drums, cello
years active	1983–1996
genre	Progressive rock, industrial rock, pop/rock
website	kevingilbert.com }}

Kevin Matthew Gilbert (November 20, 1966 - May 17, 1996) was an American songwriter, musician, composer, producer and collaborator born in Sacramento, California, later living in San Mateo, California where he attended Junipero Serra High School. He died at age 29 in Los Angeles from apparent autoerotic asphyxiation.

Career

Kevin Gilbert was an accomplished composer, singer and instrumentalist who played keyboards, guitar, bass guitar, cello, and drums. His talents also extended to producer. He toured with Eddie Money before winning the 1988 Yamaha SOUNDCHECK International Rock Music Competition with his progressive rock group Giraffe. Producer Patrick Leonard was impressed with Gilbert's performance at the competition and invited him to join him in forming a new band which became Toy Matinee. During this time, Gilbert worked on the projects of several established pop musicians, including Madonna, Michael Jackson, and Keith Emerson, acting as producer for the latter's album ''Changing States''.

The lone Toy Matinee album (eponymously named) was released in 1990 but effectively shelved by the record company, so Gilbert assembled a new backing band to promote it, eventually getting two successful singles released: "The Ballad of Jenny Ledge" and "Last Plane Out".

Later, Gilbert was part of the songwriting collective "The Tuesday Music Club" that met at producer Bill Bottrell's studio in Pasadena, California. Gilbert introduced his then-girlfriend Sheryl Crow to Bottrell and his fellow Club musicians and the sessions allowed Crow to workshop new material, leading to the recording of her breakthrough debut album, ''Tuesday Night Music Club''. Gilbert co-wrote many of the songs on that album, including 1995 Grammy Record of the Year "All I Wanna Do". Crow later acrimoniously split with most of the musicians in the collective and only producer Bottrell and drummer Brian MacLeod were involved in her follow-up album. Meanwhile the remainder of the collective worked with singer-songwriters Susanna Hoffs and Linda Perry on two more albums.

Gilbert continued to work in television and movie soundtrack work as well as studio work and producing and eventually released his first solo album ''Thud'' (1995) as well as partially reforming Giraffe to perform the Genesis piece ''The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway'' at Progfest '94. Gilbert's manager sent a copy of the recording to Tony Banks and Mike Rutherford who were searching for a new Genesis front man to replace Phil Collins. His manager, Jon Rubin, had come to Gilbert's home to tell him that he had managed to get him an audition and discovered his dead body.

Several albums of Gilbert's music have been released posthumously, beginning in 1999 with the live album ''Kevin Gilbert & Thud - Live at the Troubadour'' (consisting primarily of songs from ''Thud'') and a compilation of Giraffe material that he had been working on.

Gilbert's second solo album, ''The Shaming of the True'', (2000) was also released posthumously. The album was largely incomplete, but Gilbert's estate asked Spock's Beard drummer and close friend of Gilbert's, Nick D'Virgilio, to complete it based on the extant tapes and the album planning notes Gilbert left. Following this, an "industrial" album of music performed by Gilbert's group, Kaviar, was released in 2002.

In November 2002 Nick D'Virgilio headlined Progwest in Claremont, CA and played the entire ''The Shaming of the True'' album live.

In October 2009 three new works were released; ''Nuts'' and ''Bolts'' (collectively a body of mostly unreleased songs and mixes, released as two individual CD albums) and ''Welcome to Joytown - Thud: Live at The Troubadour'', a DVD/CD double-pack which expanded on the original 1999 release.

A live performance from Gilbert's promotional group for ''Toy Matinee'' was made available in March 2010.

Discography

NRG - ''No Reasons Given'' (1984)

Giraffe - ''The Power Of Suggestion'' (1987)

Giraffe - ''The View From Here'' (1988)

Toy Matinee - ''Toy Matinee'' (1990; remastered & rereleased 2001)

Marc Bonilla - ''EE Ticket'' (1991)

Marc Bonilla - ''American Matador'' (1993)

Sheryl Crow - ''Tuesday Night Music Club'' (1993)

Kevin Gilbert - ''Thud'' (1995)

Various Artists - ''Giant Tracks - A Tribute To Gentle Giant - (1997) (http://www.blazemonger.com/GT/)

Giraffe - ''Giraffe'' (1999)

Kevin Gilbert & Thud - ''Live at the Troubadour'' (1999)

Kevin Gilbert - ''The Shaming of the True'' (2000)

Kaviar - ''The Kaviar Sessions'' (2002)

Kevin Gilbert - ''Nuts'' (2009)

Kevin Gilbert - ''Bolts'' (2009)

Kevin Gilbert & Thud - ''Welcome to Joytown - Thud Live at the Troubadour'' DVD/CD combo (2009)

''Kevin Gilbert Performs Toy Matinee Live'' (2010)

Various Artists - ''Supper's Ready - A Tribute To Genesis'' - "Back in NYC" (http://www.magnacarta.net/releases/genesistribute.html)

Various Artists - ''Tales From Yesterday - A Tribute To Yes'' - "Siberian Khatru" (http://www.magnacarta.net/releases/yestribute.html)

References

External links

Official Kevin Gilbert website

Kevin Gilbert Fan Myspace Page

Unofficial Toy Matinee Myspace Page

2nd Unofficial Toy Matinee Myspace Page

Unofficial Giraffe Myspace page

A Tribute to Kevin Gilbert Fan Website

Category:1966 births Category:1996 deaths Category:People from Sacramento, California Category:Accidental deaths in California Category:American progressive rock music groups Category:American rock singer-songwriters

de:Kevin Gilbert no:Kevin Gilbert pt:Kevin Gilbert sv:Kevin Gilbert

Coordinates	33°51′35.9″N151°12′40″N
name	Anaïs Mitchell
background	solo_singer
origin	Montpelier, Vermont, U.S.
instrument	Guitar
genre	Folk, Indie folk
years active	2002–present
label	Righteous Babe Records
website	Official Website
current members	Anaïs MitchellMichael ChorneyAustin Nevins
notable instruments	}}

Anaïs Mitchell (pronounced 'uh-nay-is') (born c. 1981) is an American singer-songwriter.

Early life

Anaïs Mitchell grew up on a farm in Addison County, Vermont and attended Middlebury College. Her father is a novelist and a retired college professor.

Mitchell began writing and performing songs at the age of seventeen. While growing up, Mitchell traveled to the Middle East, Europe and Latin America and later influenced her career as a songwriter.

Career

In 2002, Mitchell recorded her debut album ''The Song They Sang When Rome Fell'' in a single afternoon.

In 2003 Mitchell won the New Folk award at the Kerrville Folk Festival.

Her next album, ''Hymns for the Exiled'', was released on Chicago's Waterbug Records label in 2004.

A revised version of ''Hadestown'' was staged in 2007 and Mitchell's third album, ''The Brightness,'' was released on Righteous Babe Records.

In 2008 Mitchel was nominated in the Contemporary Artist category of the third annual Folk Alliance awards show broadcast. In September that same year Righteous Babe Records released ''country e.p.'', a split vinyl/CD EP Mitchell recorded with Rachel Ries.

In April 2009, Mitchell said she intended to release a recording of ''Hadestown''. Mitchell lent her vocals to the song "Miss Independence", off of Burlington-based singer Myra Flynn's album "Crooked Measures".

''Hadestown'', a recording of Mitchell's folk opera was released on Righteous Babe records in March 2010 in the US (late April 2010 in the UK) and received favorable reviews. Her manager, Slim Moon, described it as "the story of Orpheus and Eurydice set in post-apocalyptic Depression-era America." The album includes guest appearances by Ani DiFranco, Greg Brown, Justin Vernon of Bon Iver, Ben Knox Miller of The Low Anthem, and The Haden Triplets (Petra, Rachel, and Tanya Haden).

Reception

Mitchell has received favorable reviews on her musical style, sound and performance. An article in Acoustic Guitar magazine calls Mitchell "fearlessly emotive" and compares her to Dylan, Cohen, and Welch.

A review in ''No Depression'' magazine describes Mitchell as "girlishly sprite and brimming with innocence" and says that she "brings to mind the hippie-throwback charm of Victoria Williams and "80s pop star Cyndi Lauper".

Margaret Reges of Allmusic describes Mitchell as having "the earthiness of Shawn Colvin, the child-like bite of Joanna Newsom, and the urban jumpiness of Ani DiFranco"

Discography

''The Song They Sang... When Rome Fell'' (2002) – ASIN: B000N4917Q

''Hymns for the Exiled'' (2004) Waterbug Records – ASIN: B0016BUVTC

''The Brightness'' (2007) Righteous Babe Records – ASIN: B000LP4O2E

''Country E.P.'' (2008) Righteous Babe Records - ASIN: B001EYGOCY (with Rachel Ries)

''Hadestown'' (2010) Righteous Babe Records - ASIN: B0034JIOWK (with Ani DiFranco, Justin Vernon of Bon Iver, Greg Brown and Ben Knox Miller)

References

External links

Official website

Boston Globe music review

Sing Out! sound recording review of ''The Brightness'' by Rich Warren June 22, 2007.

State of Mind Our Lady of the Underground: A Conversation with Anais Mitchell by Matt Bushlow March 2010.

nthWORD Magazine Interview by Ryan O'Connor June 7, 2010

NPR Music Review

Category:Year of birth missing (living people) Category:Living people Category:American composers Category:American female singers Category:American folk singers Category:American folk guitarists Category:American singer-songwriters Category:American female guitarists Category:Kerrville New Folk Competition finalists Category:Righteous Babe artists Category:Musicians from Vermont Category:Middlebury College alumni

it:Anaïs Mitchell