Punk Is Not Dead Yet

Louise Aubrie is a relic from the past with a fresh attitude. This is a very good place to be. Listening to her album Late 44 is like taking a trip down memory lane. With a voice that reminds you of both Blondie and Belinda Carlisle and songs that make you recall early Go Gos (the Gos Gos weren't always sugary sweet), this album is something of a tribute to the past while pushing the past into the future. Not really sure how old Louise is, but she certainly has a grasp of the 80s and what music was like at that time. Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying this isn't fresh. In fact, Louise has managed to take the best of the 80s music scene and turn it into something that sounds strong and valid today.

The first song on the album, Masterstroke, is a master opening number. It opens with a quick killer guitar riff and then changes pace as the vocals come in. You immediately realize you're listening to someone who can sing. You also realize you're listening to something that is at once familiar yet new.

Louise Aubrie is everything that's good about the new independent movement in music. She plays a type of music that might not be given a chance today by stuffy record companies that believe they know what the public wants to hear.

Please Don't Touch is my favorite track on the album with its driving drum opening and heavy guitar chords. Other standout tracks include Next to Nothing, The Perfect Battle Cry, and the soothing mid tempo ballad Candlelight.

All of the songs on the album were composed by Louise, which is impressive enough. Her lyrical depth and the melodies are inspiring. Her band is highly skilled. Late 44 is a perfect storm you won't mind getting caught up in.

This is an album you can spend your money on knowing it will be listened to regularly.

Tracklisting:
1. Masterstroke
2. Tearjerker
3. Perfect Battle Cry
4. Winter Dolour
5. Too Late
6. Next To Nothing
7. Kiss Of Life
8. Candlelight
9. One False Move
10. Please Don't Touch



Websites:
Official: www.louiseaubrie.com
Facebook: www.facebook.com/louiseaubriemusic
Music video links:
www.youtube.com/user/louiseaubrie/videos


Press contact: james@independentmusicpromotions.com

 Bio:
Louise Aubrie is a London-born musician who splits her time between her hometown and New York City, bringing together indie post-punk roots with rock and pop melodies. Louise first started recording music at the famed Mill Hill Music Complex in London, and then over many years in New York surrounded herself by the best musicians in the city to establish her signature sound.

Writing all her own material, Louise recorded her highly anticipated third album, ‘Late 44’, in March 2015 at the legendary Abbey Road Studios in London, England. Further recording and mixing was at Knight Time Studios, the studio originally commissioned by Steve Lillywhite. The album features Tom Edwards (Adam Ant), Joe Holweger, David Ruffy (The Ruts, Adam Ant, Dexy's Midnight Runners) and Boz Boorer (Morrissey, The Polecats). It is produced by James Knight (The Kooks, Leona Lewis, Ellie Goulding) and was mastered by Denis Blackham at Skye Mastering. It will be released in summer 2015.

Louise's debut album, ‘Fingers Crossed...’, was released in 2010 to critical acclaim in both the UK and the US, receiving national radio airplay. The album was produced and engineered by Boz Boorer, who is regarded world-over as one of the pioneers of the British Rockabilly movement, and the long-term co-writer and musical director for Morrissey. The album was mixed by Cam Blackwood at Voltaire Road studios in London, who has worked with Florence and The Machine and Cee Lo Green, and was mastered by Dave Collins Audio in Los Angeles, former Chief Mastering Engineer of A&M Studios, and who has worked with Madonna, No Doubt and The Police.

In March 2013, Louise released her second album, ‘Time Honoured Alibi’. Louise worked with the same team on this new record, with Mr. Boorer once more at the helm, both as producer and as a co-writer with Louise on a new track. The lead-off single was the indie-pop track“Where Are You”, which featured in the Top 5 of Digital Radio Tracker’s National US Airplay Independent Charts and in the Top 10 most requested at Indie 104 iRadio LA. Since its release, the album has been picked up by a number of Commercial, Non-Commercial and College Radio Stations, and continues to be added to more playlists every month.

What Makes a Great Greatest Hits Package?

Greatest hits packages are, for the most part, a way for bands to grab some extra money while they buy time to record a new album. It's easy money. The songs are already written and just need to be repackaged. Greatest hits albums aren't for the hardcore fans at all. They work well for casual listeners, new listeners, or those who simply want the popular songs by a band.

That isn't to say there aren't greatest hits packages that work well for hardcore fans. The smart bands and the record companies figured out a way to target those fans as well. The premise is simple. Include the hits, sure, but add something extra. Remastering tracks is how they started, but that wasn't good enough to bring in the hardcore fans. Next came previously unreleased live recordings, previously unreleased studio tracks, demos, and alternate takes of popular songs. That's when it really got good, at least for me.

Some people just aren't in to that sort of thing. My wife, for instance, likes the original song the way it was recorded, period, end of sentence. She doesn't want to hear another version of a song at all. Me, I love that stuff. All of it. Alternate lyrics, different music and tempos, demo tracks, all of it. Including that stuff is the way you get me to invest my money in a greatest hits package or a reissue of a previously released album.

I love Belinda Carlisle. I'll say that right now. She recently reissued four of her albums, Live Your Life Be Free, Heaven on Earth, Runaway Horses, and Real, as two-disc editions loaded with remixes, demos, and alternate takes. When it comes to different versions of a song, nobody does it better than Belinda. Seriously, I have never heard the same songs done so many different ways as some of Belinda's songs. When you buy her reissues, you don't just get one or two remixes. You get extended cuts and alternate mixes that sound completely different from the originals you're used to hearing. You get your money's worth.

I've already talked about the Thin Lizzy deluxe editions. The Atlanta Rhythm Section, after years of releasing greatest hits albums with the same songs in their original forms, are finally releasing From the Vaults, which will feature previously unreleased material. I'm excited about that one.

ZZ Tops Greatest Hits is cool. Not only does it have the essential hits, there are two new tracks, Viva Las Vegas and Gun Love, plus remixed versions of a couple of the tunes.

A classic greatest hits package for me is KISS's Double Platinum. The record company insisted the band put the album out because the public was so hungry for KISS material at the time. KISS wasn't really into the idea, but they did it anyway. I think it turned out to be an unrecognized gem. Sean Delaney did most of the work on it and many of the tracks are remixed and sound different from the original versions.

Forty Licks by the Rolling Stones is a great package because of all the songs it includes. In addition, there are four new tracks (Don't Stop is my favorite) and some remixed versions of previously recorded stuff.

I could go on and on. There are a lot of greatest hits packages I've bought for previously unreleased material, remixes, extended versions, or even because there were songs on the album that had previously only been available on a movie soundtrack or elsewhere. Case in point, Sammy Hagar's Essential Red Collection, which contains some of his soundtrack cuts, some demos, and some previously unreleased material.

Other cool greatest hits packages (for varying reasons) include Heart's Greatest Hits/Live and The Essential Heart, Smashes, Thrashes, and Hits by KISS, Little River Band's Re-Arranged, Rod Stewart's If We Fall in Love Tonight, Magic: the Very Best of Olivia Newton-John, The Original Bad Company Anthology, Loverboy's Rock 'N' Roll Revival, and Foreigner's The Very Best . . . and Beyond. There are lots more I could name, but I would be writing all night. Basically, if there's enough remixed or previously unavailable material on the album, I'll buy it.

One more trend I've seen lately is the re-recording of the hits, either by the original band, or the original band featuring new members. A good case in point here is Kiss Klassics, which came as a bonus disc in the Sonic Boom CD and featured fifteen kiss classics re-recorded by the 2008 line-up of KISS. While this is a questionable practice by some die-hard fans, I listen to these types of collections out of curiosity. For the most part, though, they are disappointing because they tend to be nothing more than exact duplicates of the original versions, and if that's all you intend to do when you record originals with a different line-up, what's the point?

That's my take on what makes a greatest hits package valuable to die-hard fans.