Ocean Colour Scene (often abbreviated to OCS) are an English rock band from Birmingham. They were formed after two other local bands called The Boys and Fanatics disbanded.
With the explosion of the Britpop scene, OCS's music became nationally and internationally known. Their second album Moseley Shoals was received to critical acclaim, containing four hit singles and reaching the heights of #2 in the UK Albums Chart and the follow up, Marchin' Already displacing Oasis at the top of the charts. Their song The Riverboat Song was featured on Chris Evans' TFI Friday - as the backing music when guests were introduced, and "Hundred Mile High City" and "July" were used in the film Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels and the associated television series.
Having undergone lineups changes, the band continue to record and perform, though they have struggled to recapture the success they enjoyed with their breakthrough album, Moseley Shoals. Their sound is deliberately retro, and influenced by sixties rock especially.
As they have done in recent years, the band have recently announced a number of December tour dates, and Glamour Model Jodie Marsh has anounced that they will be playing at her wedding on 1st September which will be filmed for her MTV Show Totally Jodie Marsh: Who'll Take Her Up the Aisle?
One of the best live bands in the world Ladies and Gents!
Riverboat Song:
Foxy's Folk Faced / The Day We Caught the Train
Travelers Tune:
Song of a Baker (live) w/ Paul Weller:
Day Tripper (live) w/ The Real People & Noel Gallagher:
Dire Straits were an English rock band, formed in 1977 by Mark Knopfler (guitar and vocals), his brother David Knopfler (guitar), John Illsley (bass), and Pick Withers (drums), and subsequently managed by Ed Bicknell. Although the band was formed in an era when punk rock reigned, Dire Straits worked within the conventions of classic rock, albeit with a stripped-down sound that appealed to modern audiences weary of the overproduced stadium rock of the 1970s. In their early days, Mark and David requested that pub owners turn down the amps so that patrons could converse while the band played — indicative of their unassuming demeanor. Despite this oddly self-effacing approach to rock and roll, Dire Straits soon became hugely successful with their first album going multi-platinum globally.
Brothers in Arms was released in 1985 and went on to become the biggest selling album in the UK of that year and a huge hit internationally. It spawned several chart singles, including the U.S. number one hit "Money for Nothing", which was the first video ever to be played on MTV in Britain.
The 1985–86 world tour was phenomenally successful. While playing a thirteen-night residency at Wembley Arena, the band moved down the road to Wembley Stadium on the afternoon of 13th July 1985 to appear in Live Aid. Their set included "Money For Nothing" with Sting as guest vocalist. The tour ended at the Entertainment Centre in Sydney, Australia, where Dire Straits still holds the record for consecutive appearances (21 nights). The commercial success of Brothers in Arms was greatly aided by being one of the first fully digitally recorded and produced albums available in the then new Compact Disc format, leading early adopters of the new technology to consider it a "must buy" album in a limited landscape of available music in CD format. "Brothers in Arms" is also reported to be the world's first CD single, issued in the UK in two separate singles as a promotional item.
Brothers in Arms was successful in the US, peaking at No. 1 on Billboard Magazine's Top Pop Albums Chart for nine weeks, going multi-platinum, and finishing at No. 5 for 1986. Also, in a recent poll conducted in the UK it was found that Brothers in Arms is the third best selling album there of all time
Following the release of Live at the BBC, a collection of live recordings from their early years, Dire Straits disbanded quietly in 1995, after Knopfler expressed a desire to give up touring on a large scale and he immediately went on to work full time on solo material and film soundtracks, while the other group members pursued their own careers.
Three 'Best of' albums have been released, the most recent being the compilation The Best of Dire Straits & Mark Knopfler: Private Investigations in November 2005, which consisted of material from most of Dire Straits' studio albums and Mark Knopfler's solo and soundtrack material. The album was an underground hit, and did exceptionally well, considering the group had split up over ten years previously, and it contained only one previously unreleased track - "All The Roadrunning", a duet with Emmylou Harris later released on an album of the same name.
Dire Straits and Mark Knopfler have sold in excess of 118 million albums to date.
Ocean Colour Scene (often abbreviated to OCS) are an English rock band from Birmingham. They were formed after two other local bands called The Boys and Fanatics disbanded.
Having undergone lineups changes, the band continue to record and perform, though they have struggled to recapture the success they enjoyed with their breakthrough album, Moseley Shoals. Their sound is deliberately retro, and influenced by sixties rock especially.
Riverboat Song:
