Celebration or Cash-In?

Take That's Gary Barlow has decided to arrange a concert to celebrate the Diamond Jubilee of Britain's Queen Elizabeth. But is this a real celebration or a thinly-veiled cash-in?

Barlow has attempted to pull out all the stops for this concert, recruiting a line-up of musical superstars such as Elton John, Tom Jones, Cliff Richard and Sir Paul McCartney. But Barlow has also contacted a few other musicians in an attempt to get them involved.

Ed Sheeran, Jessie J and JLS are currently confirmed as part of the line-up. But should Barlow have really included these fresh-faced musicians?

The inclusion of these musicians will obviously increase the popularity of the concert by bringing in more of a varied audience as young people will want to come to see those performers. But it also costs the prestige of the event. Surely the musicians that are selected to play a concert to mark such a momentous occasion should be of a higher calibre; reknowned and well-respected musicians as opposed to flavour-of-the-month performers?

No disrespect intended towards those musicians, obviously. But they are fresh faces in the musical world; they won't have even had a real opportunity to earn that respect and recognition yet. What recognition could they have at the moment?
Well, Ed Sheeran does currently hold the record for lowest weekly sales for a number one album of the 21st century...

Barlow has stated that "The Diamond Jubilee concert will celebrate 60 years of the Queen's reign with an amazing line-up of world class artists", but can these new musicians really be counted as world class?

Barlow did attempt to justify the choice, however, by adding "it's going to be a fantastic event that transcends multiple decades of music." This decade has barely begun, Barlow. Should it really be included in this?

Have your say below.

35 Years of Rumours

35 years ago today Fleetwood Mac released their eleventh and "most important" studio album, 'Rumours'. But it wasn't without its fair share of problems.

The album followed the band's successful commercial tenth album, 'Fleetwood Mac', and months of heavily publicised problems. Two members of the band, Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks, were at each other's throats and this led to a lot of issues arising during sessions.

In addition to this, Mick Fleetwood was in turmoil following the revelation that his wife was having an affair with his best friend and the press were publishing inaccurate stories about the band members.

In early 1976, the band began working on new material. Over the following turbulent months, the band managed to record the album despite a lot of tension and set-backs. One such set-back involved the kick and snare drums sounding "lifeless" and a tape machine that completely destroyed one of the tracks the band had worked on for nine months.

On February 4th 1977, 'Rumours' was released and was incredibly well received. One critic stated that the entire album seems "more consistent and eccentric" than the previous albums, and noted that the album "jumps right out of the speakers at you".

The album was referred to Mick as "the most important album we ever made" as it allowed the band to continue. It also inspired countless musicians for years to come and continues to do so. Musicians who have cited 'Rumours' as an influence include Tori Amos, Death Cab For Cutie, Matchbox 20, The Cranberries and even Elton John.

In memory of Rumours below we have featured a video containing the album in its entirety, as well as Mick Fleetwood discussing 'Jaws' - the tape machine that devoured one of the tracks.

'Rumours' by Fleetwood Mac, in it's entirety.

Mick Fleetwood telling the tale of 'Jaws'