Titan: John

Margaret Ritchie (soprano), Lawrance Collingwood (organ) Hallé Orchestra, Hallé Choir, Wiener Philharmoniker, Philharmonia Orchestra, BBC Symphony Orchestra, Sir John Barbirolli.

Margaret Ritchie (soprano), Lawrance Collingwood (organ) Hallé Orchestra, Hallé Choir, Wiener Philharmoniker, Philharmonia Orchestra, BBC Symphony Orchestra, Sir John Barbirolli.

Plain Spoken is the first album from the Rock and Roll Hall of Famer since 2010 s critically acclaimed, No Better Than This which landed in the Top 10 of Billboard s Top 200 during release week and garnered the honor of becoming one of Rolling Stone s Best Albums of 2010. Grammy winning musician John Mellencamp has touched the heart and souls of music listeners and influenced American Culture with enduring songs, he is also one of the most successful live concert performers in the world. A man with a conscience, he used his visibility and influence to advocate an issue that hit close to home and became one of the founding members of Farm Aid, an organization that began in 1985 to raise awareness about the loss of family farm. The Farm Aid concerts have raised over $45 million to promote a resilient family farm system of agriculture.

“Barbirolli’s famous 1969 version on any count is one of the greatest, most warmly affecting performances ever committed to disc, expansive, yet concentrated in feeling: the Adagietto is very moving … A classic version.” The Penguin Guide to Classical Music about the 5th Symphony

2017 release. The Sirens of Titan are the musical incarnation of author, editor and poet John-Paul Pryor, whose debut novel Spectacles was praised by Dazed & Confused magazine as "A dreamlike vision of a lawless dystopian future", drawing comparison to works of other underground outsiders, such as Jean Genet. Lyrically, Apocalypse Sessions contains the hallmarks of melancholia, desire and transgression that underpins all John-Paul's work, inviting the listener into a raw, flawed and poetic dreamtime. The entire album was recorded in live session with the producer Andy Strange and John-Paul's long-time musical partners Jez Leather and Sami Salo, know collectively as The Sirens of Titan. The session feel of the debut is intended as a riposte to the over-produced music of the zeitgeist.