Essential

Live4ever’s Essential Listening end of year retrospective continues today with our pick of the tracks and EPs which have crossed the Live4ever Ezine‘s path during the past twelve months.

Featuring stand-out singles from some of the rock world’s best established artists, as well as plenty of impressive releases from a selection of our favourite new bands, we hope the rundown will inspire you to both check out the artists featured, and let us know of your own highlights from 2011 by leaving a comment below.

And if your nearest and dearest isn’t included today, be sure to check back next Wednesday to see if they are featured on the third and final instalment of our 2011 recap, Live4ever’s Essential Listening 2011 – The Albums.

Well, it’s that time of year again when we here at the Live4ever Ezine begin to trail back through 12 months worth of musical delights in a vain attempt to group our favourites of 2011 into some sort of coherent list we like to call Live4ever’s Essential Listening.

Over the coming weeks, we’ll be presenting our most cherished gigs, tracks and albums of the year, in the hope that our highlights from 52 weeks worth of sonic adventure will inspire you to investigate our essential picks of 2011, as well as sharing your own favourites with us.

Check back next week for Live4ever’s Essential Listening 2011 – The Tracks, and when you’ve been through our stand-out gigs of the year, don’t forget to leave a comment below to tell the world of your memorable gig-going experiences of 2011.

The annual arrival of the Reading / Leeds Festival always signals the beginning of the end for another hectic season of UK summer festivals, and it usually helps each year to go out with a bang, and with a bill that packs in homecoming heroes, some of the US’ finest, and a wide selection of bright young things, this year looks like being no different.

So, after wading through the many stages and many, many artists ready to descend on the twin sites in just over a week’s time, the Live4ever Ezine has picked out ten acts we feel you should not be missing over the course of the weekend – might take some manic dashing to fit them all in though…

(Stages and dates represent the Leeds leg of the festivals)

When the Live4ever Ezine took some time out to sort through our essential albums of 2011 so far last June, we merely scratched at the surface of the countless impressive releases which have grabbed our attention during the course of the year to date. Be it due to career infancy, re-releases, EPs, late issue dates, or simply the pains of strong competition, there was just far too many bands remaining, worthy of a mention for their own brilliant contributions to the first half of the year, for us not to delve back into the archives once more…

As MTV celebrates its 30th anniversary this year, here the Live4ever Ezine picks ten of our essential British music videos of all time to mark this significant occasion. While some pre-date the MTV revolution, they all represent the best of a medium which was transformed when the station launched back in 1981.

From the innovation of Queen‘s ‘Bohemian Rhapsody‘, to the playful nature of ‘Whatever‘ and ‘Bad Cover Version‘, via the emphasis on human emotion featured on ‘Just‘ and ‘Bittersweet Symphony‘, these videos chart the rise of the music promo from its basic state to the leading role it now plays in any band’s life. Yep, this particular anniversary is a good opportunity for those bands who have spent long hours in a TV studio perfecting their lip-syncing technique to raise a glass to the ripest fruits of their labour.

Summer’s here and up and down the UK and beyond bands are hauling themselves through rain, mud, occasional sunshine and irritating TV presenters as another festival season gets in full swing. So with 2011 already careering towards July, it seems like a good time to sit back, take stock of the first six months of the year, and sort through the best of what has been hogging the speakers at Live4ever so far. Is rock n roll music currently in a state of stagnation? Hmm, let’s just say, judge for yourself…

Is your favourite album so far not included? Why not leave us a comment below to recommend your own stand-outs from the first part of 2011.

As Bob Dylan celebrates his 70th birthday today, here we take a look at ten of our essential picks from his extensive, and almost unrivalled, back catalogue.

Live4ever was lucky enough to catch dozens of memorable shows at the recent SXSW festival in Austin, Texas. For this week’s playlist, check out some official videos from eleven of the best bands we witnessed that took the festival by storm.

Live4ever’s Essential Listening 2010 is brought to a close today with the final part of our Albums rundown.

Once you’ve been through the final part of our list, why not do us a favour and recommend your own stand-outs from 2010. Leave us a comment below telling us what has rocked your 2010 to be in with a chance of winning a selection of prizes from acts featured on our own rundown.

Our Tracks rundown is brought to a close today with the likes of Pint Shot Riot, Alberta Cross, The Besnard Lakes and The Minutes all featuring in our final top 10.

Once you’ve been through this part of our list, why not do us a favour and recommend your own stand-outs from 2010. Leave us a comment below telling us what has rocked your 2010 to be in with a chance of winning a selection of prizes from acts featured on our own rundown.