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93-583: The label has continued to be the home to an eclectic mix of modern artists, including Kurt Vile , Everything But the Girl , Samara Joy and Arooj Aftab . The restructured Verve Records is now part of the Verve Label Group ( VLG ), a subsidiary of Universal Music Group. This company is also home to historic imprints including Verve Forecast , Impulse! and Decca Records . Norman Granz created Verve to produce new recordings by Ella Fitzgerald , whom he managed;

186-512: A BAFTA Award for best original soundtrack the following year. Yundi's recording of three Beethoven sonatas went platinum in his native China. The label also released Andreas Ottensamer 's debut "Portraits", and the label debut of Brooklyn Rider "A Walking Fire". Milos Karadaglic's "Latino Gold" topped the UK classical charts and entered the pop charts. Banjo soloist and 15-time Grammy Award winner Bela Fleck 's concerto for banjo and orchestra "The Impostor"

279-438: A Pretty Daze ' s tracks. Steve Gunn joined the band as an "auxiliary Violator", during the band's May 2013 tour dates, with Vile noting, "It's impossible to just talk about Steve. He's too good! He's so good; just listen to him. What can I even say about him that touches that? I just want to listen to him." On September 24, 2013, Vile announced the release of a new EP, It's a Big World Out There (And I Am Scared) , and

372-399: A bonus CD containing an interview with Wilma Cozart Fine, and a deluxe booklet detailing the history of Mercury Living Presence. The CD set was issued worldwide and was sold by major retailers. A limited-edition six-LP box set was also issued. The CD set brings back into print dozens of titles that had not been available as manufactured CDs since the early 2000s. In 2013, Decca Classics issued

465-650: A deluxe edition of Wakin on a Pretty Daze . On March 6, 2015, Vile announced that he was working on his sixth studio album, with recording taking place across different locations in the United States. B'lieve I'm Goin Down... was released September 25, 2015, on Matador Records . Vile has described it as "All over the place. Everything you can imagine I've done... That's where I'm at now, that I can sort of tap into every world and make it cohesive." Still in Rock ranked this LP as

558-695: A distinctive and fresh perspective to classical music. In its first year, artist signings to the label included Icelandic neoclassical composer Olafur Arnalds , New York-based string quartet Brooklyn Rider , Chinese pianist Yundi , and Austrian clarinetist and Berlin Philharmonic soloist Andreas Ottensamer . The label also oversees the recording career of Montenegrin classical guitarist Milos Karadaglic , and has an ongoing partnership with Tori Amos , which dates back to her work with Buhr on her classically inspired Night of Hunters album for Deutsche Grammophon in 2011. Following Buhr's longstanding relationship with

651-487: A division of PolyGram K.K. (now Universal Music Japan ). In 1995, it was relaunched as Mercury Music Entertainment. It later merged with Kitty Records in 2000 and became Kitty MME. Half of it was merged into the Universal J label in 2002, the other half became known as Universal Sigma in 2004. Its artist roster included Seiko Matsuda , Yūji Oda , Delta, ZIGGY, Kinniku Shōjo Tai , and Takashi Sorimachi . After 13 years,

744-572: A featured oboe player in the late 1940s for Mercury). The first record in this new Mercury Olympian Series was Pictures at an Exhibition performed by Rafael Kubelík and the Chicago Symphony . The group that became the best known using this technique was the Minneapolis Symphony Orchestra , which, under the leadership of conductor Antal Doráti , made a series of classical albums that were well reviewed and sold briskly, including

837-406: A handshake deal, but negotiations broke down over price and Sinatra's desire that Granz remain head of the label. Granz sold Verve to MGM in 1960. Sinatra established Reprise Records and hired Mo Ostin , an executive at Verve, to run it. At Verve, Creed Taylor was made head producer. Taylor adopted a more commercial approach, terminating several contracts. He brought bossa nova to America with

930-532: A label), hence those labels control US rights to these works (in the case of The Who, they had been on US Decca Records and MCA Records in the past, their prebreakup catalogue is now on Geffen Records in North America). Mercury Classics was relaunched in 2012 as an international classical label by UMGI, appointing musicologist and record executive Dr. Alexander Buhr as managing director. The label aims to identify and work with strong creative individuals who bring

1023-500: A member of his backing band, The Violators, with Granduciel noting, "There was never, despite what lazy journalists have assumed, any sort of falling out, or resentment." In April 2009, Mexican Summer released God Is Saying This to You... ; a collection of Vile's home recordings dating back to 2003 on vinyl only. Upon its release, Vile had already recorded a studio album, Childish Prodigy , which Vile described as "definitely not as lo-fi " as his previous releases. After shipping

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1116-674: A merger with a competitor, consolidated all of its Nashville operations under the Mercury name. Mercury Nashville took over management of all of PolyGram's country back catalog from sister labels such as Polydor (including releases once issued by MGM Records), A&M , and the small country back catalog of Motown Records (Motown released these albums under subsidiary labels). All country artists under contract to other PolyGram labels either moved to Mercury or were dropped altogether. Today, Mercury Nashville continues to be an active imprint under Universal Music Group Nashville, where it continues to manage

1209-560: A modified Westrex mixer. For the original LPs, the mixer directly fed the custom cutting chain. At Fine Recording in New York City, the Westrex cutter head on a Scully lathe was fed by modified McIntosh 200W tube amplifiers with very little feedback in the system. Older mono records were made with a Miller cutter head. The original LP releases of the classical recordings continued through 1968. The Mercury classical-music catalogue (including

1302-686: A part of the Mercury Music Group, a division of Universal Music Group, which Group controls the French operations of UMG labels Mercury, Fontana Records, Verve Records, Decca Records, Blue Note Records , Island Records, and Virgin Records, among others. Various other national Universal Music Group companies are known to actively use the Mercury Records trademark as an imprint for their local A&R operations, but no other Universal Music Group companies use

1395-446: A rare and aggressive form of cancer of the bile duct. In a lengthy tribute post, Vile described Laakso as a "Musical genius. Recording whizz. Best husband and father," noting that "Rob and I worked close together on the albums B’lieve and Bottle (him co-producing many of the tracks alongside me, engineering often, playing many different instruments, slaying with ease.) But Wakin' was his first full-time Violator record and you can see

1488-723: A second singer to provide the "answer" parts to Page, so at Rael's suggestion, she did both voices. Though "overdubbing" had been used occasionally on 78-rpm discs in the 1930s, for Lawrence Tibbett recordings, among others, this became the first documented example of "overdubbing" using tape. The company released an enormous number of recordings under the Mercury label, as well as its subsidiaries ( Blue Rock Records , Cumberland Records, EmArcy Records , Smash Records , and Wing Records , later via Fontana Records and Limelight Records after being absorbed by Philips). In addition, they leased and purchased material by independent labels and redistributed them. Under their own label, Mercury released

1581-685: A second, 55-CD box set, along with a second six-LP box set. The CD box set included two bonus discs: a new reissue of the 1953 monophonic recording of Stravinsky's "Rite of Spring" by Dorati with the Minneapolis Symphony Orchestra, and a first-time-on-CD reissue of the premiere recording of John Corigliano 's Piano Concerto, played by Hilde Somer with the San Antonio Symphony Orchestra conducted by Victor Alessandro. On January 4, 2015, Mercury co-founder Irwin Steinberg died at

1674-623: A variety of MGM labels: Janis Ian , Dave Van Ronk , Richie Havens , the Cowsills , Lovin' Spoonful and more. Meanwhile, the program's conversations and advertisements pitched everything from Nico and the Velvet Underground (produced by Wilson) and the Bosstown Sound bands ( Beacon Street Union , Ultimate Spinach and Orpheus ), to MGM movie-soundtrack LPs like Gone with the Wind . While

1767-528: A variety of recording styles from classical music to psychedelic rock. Its subsidiaries, though, focused on their own specialized categories of music. From 1947 to 1952, John Hammond was a vice-president of Mercury Records. Mercury, under its EmArcy label, released LPs by many post-swing and bebop artists, including Clifford Brown and Max Roach , Kenny Drew , Dinah Washington , Nat Adderley , Cannonball Adderley , Ernestine Anderson , Sarah Vaughan , Maynard Ferguson , Walter Benton , Herb Geller . In

1860-404: Is an American record label owned by Universal Music Group . It had significant success as an independent operation in the 1940s and 1950s. Smash Records and Fontana Records were sub labels of Mercury. Mercury Records released rock, funk , R&B , doo wop , soul music , blues , pop, rock and roll , and jazz records. In the United States, it is operated through Republic Records ; in

1953-922: Is an American singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and record producer. He is known for his solo work, music released under the name "Kurt Vile and The Violators," and as the former lead guitarist of rock band the War on Drugs . Both in the studio and during live performances, Vile is accompanied by his backing band, the Violators, which currently includes Jesse Trbovich (guitar, saxophone), Kyle Spence (drums) and Adam Langellotti (bass, keyboards). Influenced by Pavement , John Prine , Neil Young , Ween , Tom Petty , Dinosaur Jr. , Bruce Springsteen and John Fahey , Vile began his musical career creating lo-fi home recordings with frequent collaborator Adam Granduciel in Philadelphia , with whom he has participated in early work by

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2046-439: Is occasionally assumed to be a pseudonym and a pun on German composer Kurt Weill , it is his real birth name and the similarity to Weill's name is a coincidence. At the age of fourteen, Kurt Vile was given a banjo by his father, with Vile noting, "I kind of wished [it] was a guitar. So I'd kind of just play it like a guitar anyway. I was really into writing pretty primitive tunes, and really into recording. I pretty much knew I

2139-644: Is the American contemporary, classic and jazz division of Universal Music Group in the US. Labels in the group include Verve and Impulse! Records labels and Universal Music Classics . Verve labels are Verve Records and Verve Forecast . Universal Music Classical consists of Decca Gold label plus represents the European imprints Decca Records , Decca Classics , Deutsche Grammophon , Philips Classics and Mercury KX plus ECM Records distributed label. On May 20, 2016,

2232-441: Is the newest member and Jesse has been a member forever. They're steady members. Our drummer is no longer with us, but other than that, different friends played drums on the record and we're doing rehearsals with that right now. But other than that, the Violators are me, Jesse, and Rob and we'll see how it evolves." Priestess drummer Vince Nudo subsequently joined the band on drums and percussion, after performing on two of Wakin on

2325-524: The Billboard Top 200 and placed highly on many end-of-year lists, and in 2013 was named at number 475 in NME's '500 Greatest Albums of All Time'. Later in 2011, Vile released a companion EP, So Outta Reach , and appeared on his former band The War on Drugs ' second studio album, Slave Ambient . Shortly after the release of Smoke Ring for My Halo , longtime Violators guitarist Adam Granduciel departed from

2418-592: The Impulse! Records imprint manages the portion of Universal's catalog that was acquired from ABC Records , which itself includes the jazz catalog of the Famous Music Group, which was once owned by Paramount Pictures / Gulf+Western , but which was sold to ABC in 1974. Meanwhile, GRP manages the rest of MCA/Universal's jazz catalog, including some releases once issued on the Decca and Chess labels. The Verve Label Group

2511-454: The indie rock band The War on Drugs in 2005. Regarding his friendship with Granduciel, Vile noted, "We're essentially best friends. He was backing me up in my band when he started working on his own music, so I thought I’d return the favor." Granduciel and Vile released their debut studio album, Wagonwheel Blues , in 2008 and embarked on a tour in support of its release. At this time, Vile's debut solo album, Constant Hitmaker (2008),

2604-402: The "Mercury Man", complete with a winged hat similar to its logo, to promote Mercury recordings. Some early Mercury recordings featured a caricature of him as their logo. In 1947, Jack Rael, a musician and publicist/manager, persuaded Mercury to let Patti Page (whom he managed) record a song that had been planned to be done by Vic Damone , "Confess". The budget was too small for them to hire

2697-476: The 1970s, Mercury released hits by musicians such as The Statler Brothers , Paper Lace , Rod Stewart , Bachman-Turner Overdrive , Cledus Maggard and The Citizen's Band , William Bell , Rush , and Reba McEntire . From late 1974 to early 1983, the company's label design featured a painting of three famous buildings that are located in Chicago: Marina City , John Hancock Center , and One IBM Plaza ,

2790-409: The 2nd best of 2015. Vile is featured on the song " Let Me Get There " by the band Hope Sandoval & The Warm Inventions released in 2016. Vile sings lead vocals on The Sadies song "It's Easy (Like Walking)" on their 2017 album Northern Passages . In 2017, Vile and Courtney Barnett recorded the collaborative album Lotta Sea Lice , released on October 13. The lead single "Over Everything"

2883-576: The Deutsche Grammophon label, some of Mercury Classics' early core classical recordings were rereleased under the aegis of sister company Deutsche Grammophon . In 2013, Mercury Classics released Olafur Arnalds ' label debut For Now I Am Winter , which entered the US Classical Chart at number one. It was followed by an EP of Arnalds' soundtrack of the ITV crime series Broadchurch , which received

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2976-703: The Gang (following the dissolution of De-Lite Records in 1985), the first three albums of the 1979-86 self titled series of the Gap Band (via Total Experience Productions) and Cameo (via distribution of leader Larry Blackmon's label Atlanta Artists Records). And the label released early rapper Kurtis Blow 's hit "The Breaks" (1980) also. Mercury released blues musician Robert Cray. In 1980, Phonogram moved its headquarters from Chicago to New York City. In 1981, Mercury, along with other U.S. PolyGram-owned labels, which included Polydor , RSO Records , and Casablanca , consolidated under

3069-532: The Living Presence catalogue) is currently managed by Decca Label Group through Philips Records, which reissued the recordings on LP and then CD. In turn, Mercury now manages the pop/rock catalog of Philips Records. In 2012, Decca Classics, the current owner of the Mercury Living Presence label, issued a value-priced 51-CD box that included 50 of the 1990s CD titles (remastered by Wilma Cozart Fine),

3162-552: The Mercury Records division of UMG France, the Mercury Studios film division (which absorbed Eagle Rock Entertainment , acquired by UMG in 2014), the classical music label Mercury KX, and catalogue reissues in the United States, United Kingdom, France, Japan, and Brazil, as well. In 2024, Mercury Records became part of Universal Music Group-owned Republic Corps , joining sister labels Republic Records , Island Records ,[Casablanca Records]] and Def Jam Recordings . In 1951, under

3255-608: The Oklahoma-based three-piece Hanson . Mercury, by having Thin Lizzy, Bon Jovi, Cinderella, Def Leppard, Kiss, the Scorpions, and various other rock acts on their roster, became a premiere label for hard rock music. Most of these bands were on Vertigo Records in Europe (that label specialized in progressive rock and hard rock including subgenres like glam metal ). In late 1998, PolyGram

3348-525: The Platters , Brook Benton , the Diamonds, and Patti Page . In 1961, Philips , a Dutch electronics company and owner of Philips Records , which had lost its distribution deal with Columbia Records outside North America, played a key role in Mercury's future by signing an exchange agreement with the American record company. A year later, Mercury was sold to Consolidated Electronics Industries Corp. (Conelco), which

3441-728: The Righteous Brothers , the Velvet Underground , Frank Zappa & the Mothers of Invention , Rare Earth , and the Blues Project , as well as a series of "Sound Impressions of an American on Tour" records which was produced in cooperation with Esquire Magazine. The late 1960s relationship between Verve and other MGM labels is illustrated in the promotional "Music Factory" radio series for college stations hosted by A&R man Tom Wilson (record producer) , with studio guests from

3534-611: The United Kingdom and Japan (as Mercury Tokyo in the latter country), it is distributed by EMI Records . Since the separation of Island Records , Motown , Mercury Records, and Def Jam Recordings combining the Island Def Jam Music Group , Mercury Records has been placed under Island Records, although its back catalogue is still owned by the Island Def Jam Music Group (now Island Records). Mercury Records

3627-525: The Velvet Underground as an inspiration for his signing. On April 15, 2022, Verve Records released (watch my moves) , Vile's ninth studio album. The album was mostly recorded during COVID-19 lockdowns at Vile's new home studio, OKV Central. Upon the album's release, Adam Langellotti, who had previously helped Vile build his home studio, joined the Violators on bass guitar and keyboards. On May 4, 2023, Vile's longtime Violators bandmate and recording partner Rob Laakso passed away from cholangiocarcinoma ,

3720-455: The Velvet Underground's first records did not initially sell well, the band became a major influence in independent rock music. See The Velvet Underground & Nico and their second album, White Light/White Heat . In the 1970s, Verve became part of PolyGram , incorporating the Mercury / EmArcy jazz catalog, which Philips , part owners of PolyGram had earlier acquired. Verve Records became

3813-467: The Verve Music Group after PolyGram was merged with Seagram 's Universal Music Group in 1999. The jazz holdings from the merged companies were folded into this sub-group. In 1990, British group Talk Talk signed to Polydor after conflicts with their previous label EMI regarding a lack of commercial allure on their fourth album, Spirit of Eden . Their fifth and final album, Laughing Stock ,

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3906-399: The Violators. In 2011, Vile released his fourth studio album, Smoke Ring for My Halo , which significantly increased his exposure. His fifth studio album, Wakin on a Pretty Daze , was released in 2013, with Rob Laakso replacing Granduciel in his backing band. In 2015, Vile released his sixth studio album, B'lieve I'm Goin Down... . The lead single from the album, " Pretty Pimpin ",

3999-424: The War on Drugs as well as various solo projects. Focusing on his solo career, Vile released two albums, Constant Hitmaker (2008) and God Is Saying This to You... (2009), compiling various home recordings dating back to 2003. Vile signed to Matador Records in 2009, and released his third album, Childish Prodigy , that same year. The album was his first recorded in a studio and with the full participation of

4092-541: The age of 94. This division of Mercury handled US distribution of most pre-1998 Polydor Records pop/rock releases currently under UMG control. Some exceptions remain, however. Some artists based outside the US did not have their releases on Polydor in North America, signing to various other labels, instead. Some of these bands, such as The Who , did sign to a label that also is now part of the UMG family (or later absorbed by such

4185-473: The aughts (including stints by Danny Bennett and David Foster) before Jamie Krents took over with a revamped label team in 2019. Notable moments during this period include the signing of Jon Batiste , Samara Joy , Kurt Vile and Arooj Aftab . Verve has had particularly strong showings at the Grammy's since 2019 with Jon Batiste leading the music industry in 2022 with 11 nominations and 5 wins, including album of

4278-489: The band to fully focus on The War on Drugs, with Vile noting, "Adam, he plays in The War on Drugs, his record came out a little after mine did, so at first he toured, and now he's obviously busy with that and now he's working on his new record." Wakin on a Pretty Daze was released on April 9, 2013. Regarding the current line-up of his backing band, Vile noted, "I'm playing with Jesse [Trbovich] and Rob [Laakso]. [...] Rob Laakso

4371-605: The cannon shots, and the bells of the Laura Spelman Rockefeller Memorial Carillon at the Riverside Church in Chicago. Besides Mercury's mono and stereo versions of the 1812 , only one other classical album rang up gold-record sales in the 1950s in the U.S. The New York Times music critic Howard Taubman described the Mercury sound on Pictures at an Exhibition as "being in the living presence of

4464-415: The company. Philips and German electronics giant Siemens reorganized their joint-ventured record operations, Grammophon-Philips Group, home of Deutsche Grammophon , Philips Records, and Polydor to become PolyGram in 1972. That year, PolyGram bought Mercury from NAPC. Mercury's corporate name was changed to Phonogram Inc. to match a related company in the UK that operated the Mercury label there. During

4557-450: The country back catalog that once belonged to PolyGram (MCA Nashville manages what Universal had already owned at the time of the PolyGram merger). In 1958, Mercury switched its distribution in the UK from Pye to EMI, and in 1964 to Philips. Mercury operated as an imprint in the UK under Phonogram, a division of Dutch electronics company Philips from the mid-1960s until 1998, when Phonogram

4650-434: The direction of recording engineer C. Robert (Bob) Fine and recording director David Hall , Mercury Records initiated a recording technique using a single microphone to record symphony orchestras. Fine had for several years used a single microphone for Mercury small-ensemble classical recordings produced by John Hammond and later Mitch Miller (indeed, Miller, using his full name of Mitchell Miller, made several recordings as

4743-457: The fact that I didn't go to college. I was always working super low-end jobs, being the complete opposite of what I wanted to be. But I just fell into it, and I was also sorta shy. It was definitely a pretty rough time." In 2003, after staying in Boston for two years, Vile moved back to Philadelphia , and began collaborating with musician and songwriter Adam Granduciel . The duo subsequently formed

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4836-466: The first album the label released was Ella Fitzgerald Sings the Cole Porter Song Book . The catalog grew throughout the 1950s and 1960s to include Charlie Parker , Bill Evans , Stan Getz , Billie Holiday , Oscar Peterson , Ben Webster , and Lester Young . By 1960 Milton Rudin, Granz' attorney, represented Frank Sinatra and knew that Sinatra wanted his own label. Sinatra and Granz made

4929-514: The first-ever complete recordings of Tchaikovsky 's ballets Swan Lake , The Sleeping Beauty , and The Nutcracker . Dorati's 1954 one-microphone monaural recording (Mercury MG 50054) and 1958 three-microphone stereo rerecording (Mercury MG 50054) of Tchaikovsky's 1812 Overture included dramatic overdub recordings of 1812-era artillery and the bells of the Yale University Carillon . A stereo release in 1960 featured new recordings of

5022-539: The group with Bennett exiting his post. The Decca Broadway label for original cast recording was relaunched in May 2019. The Verve Label Group has expanded its output beyond jazz to include crossover classical music, progressive pop, and show tunes (by absorbing Decca Records ' Broadway label and taking over ownership of the label's library including EMI 's, MGM Records ', and MCA Records ' musical theater catalogs). Kurt Vile Kurt Samuel Vile (born January 3, 1980)

5115-554: The iTunes top 10 in more than 20 countries. Influential classical music website Alto Riot named Mercury Classics its Label of the Year 2013. In 2016, Mercury Classics became Mercury KX and changed its focus to post-classical music Mercury's Nashville unit dates back to 1957, when Mercury formed a joint venture with Starday Records specifically for releasing artists performing country music. Mercury bought out Starday's half in 1958. In 1997, PolyGram, looking to cut costs in anticipation of

5208-468: The label announced it was stopping the production of CD and vinyl singles, and would only release them physically as "rare exceptions". In 2012, signings on Mercury included Pixie Lott , Arcade Fire , Amy Macdonald , Noah and the Whale , Chase & Status , Jake Bugg , and Bo Bruce . In July, Mercury announced that Mike Smith was joining as president of its music division. In March 2013, Mercury UK

5301-570: The label as a key marketing differentiator, nor do they operate frontline divisions based on the Mercury label. The Mercury label was first launched in Japan in 1952, by Taihei Onkyo . The company's name was later changed to Nippon Mercury in 1953, however, the Mercury label started to be handled by King Records in 1957, and later by Nippon Victor . It was relaunched in 1970 by Nippon Victor and Matsushita Corporation , as Nippon Phonogram. It operated several Phonogram labels in Japan. In 1993, it became

5394-471: The label's history, Mercury opened two pressing plants, one in Chicago and the other in St. Louis, Missouri . By hiring two promoters, Tiny Hill and Jimmy Hilliard, they penetrated the pop market with names such as Frankie Laine , Vic Damone , Tony Fontane , and Patti Page . In 1946, Mercury hired Eddie Gaedel , an American with dwarfism, most notable for participating in a Major League Baseball game, to portray

5487-412: The late 1950s, Mercury released jazz recordings of multiple artists, including Max Roach, Coleman Hawkins, Lester Young , Dizzy Gillespie , and Buddy Rich. During the 1960s albums were released by artists including Gene Ammons , Quincy Jones , Buddy Rich , Cannonball Adderley , Dinah Washington , Max Roach , Paul Bley and Jimmy Smith. During the 1950s, Mercury released hits of musicians such as

5580-550: The latter which was Mercury's headquarters during that period, having moved from its long-time address at 35 East Wacker Drive . Mercury released soul musicians such as the Dells and Marvin Sease. From the 1970s through the early 1980s, Mercury released albums of funk musicians such as Ohio Players , the Bar-Kays , Con Funk Shun , and Hamilton Bohannon . Mercury released albums by Kool &

5673-466: The long length) but really if I got around to it again, I wouldn’t say anything, ya know, just put it out and just see what happens. The first six tracks are brand new to the world and blend so sweet together and span from September 2019 to May 2023. If we wanna get technical, let’s call those songs the EP and the last three songs the extended compilation (but they blend so smooth too, right?!) because, well, life in

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5766-602: The new name PolyGram Records, Inc. (now UMG Recordings ). Under PolyGram, Mercury absorbed the artists and catalogue of Casablanca Records (also home to the 20th Century Records back catalogue), which consisted of hard rockers Kiss and disco stars Donna Summer and the Village People , and primarily became a rock/pop/new wave label with Van Morrison , Thin Lizzy , All About Eve , Julian Cope , Scorpions , Rush , John Cougar Mellencamp , Big Country , Tears for Fears , Bon Jovi , Cinderella , and Def Leppard as well as

5859-535: The newly created Def Soul Records. Mercury's former country unit became Mercury Nashville Records . However, Mercury Records was relaunched in 2007 as a label under The Island Def Jam Music Group, appointing record executive David Massey as the President and CEO of the new venture. The label was defunct in 2015. On April 11, 2022, Republic Records announced that they had acquired Mercury Records, and it will continue as their imprint. The Mercury name also survives on

5952-504: The newly-formed Verve Label Group appointed industry veteran Danny Bennett as its president and CEO. Besides Verve, the label group was formed with Decca Records, Decca Classics, Deutsche Grammophon, Mercury Classics, and distributed label ECM. The group relocated to New York City. The label group in March 2019 was further restructured to its global classical and jazz unit. Dickon Stainer, President and CEO of Universal Classics and Jazz, would lead

6045-599: The orchestra" and Mercury eventually began releasing their classical recordings under the 'Living Presence' series' name. The recordings were produced by Mercury vice president Wilma Cozart , who later married Bob Fine. Cozart took over recording director duties in 1953 and also produced the CD reissues of more than half of the Mercury Living Presence catalog in the 1990s. By the late 1950s, the Mercury Living Presence crew included session musical supervisors Harold Lawrence and Clair van Ausdall and associate engineer Robert Eberenz. Besides

6138-438: The record to various labels, Vile signed with Matador Records in May 2009. Vile noted, "It's a perfect fit. They were my number one choice. I don't really consider my music indie rock or think that Matador cater only to indie rock, but I still feel I can relate most to Matador, more than any other label. Not to mention the fact that they are way on top of their shit." Recorded with backing band The Violators, Childish Prodigy

6231-629: The recordings with the Chicago and Minneapolis orchestras, Mercury also recorded Howard Hanson with the Eastman Rochester Orchestra, Frederick Fennell with the Eastman Wind Ensemble , and Paul Paray with the Detroit Symphony Orchestra . In late 1955, Mercury began using three omnidirectional microphones to make stereo recordings on three-track tape. The technique was an expansion on the mono process—center

6324-610: The release of Jazz Samba by Stan Getz and Charlie Byrd , Getz/Gilberto , and Rain Forest by Walter Wanderley . Verve's arrangers included Claus Ogerman and Oliver Nelson . According to Ogerman in Jazzletter , he arranged 60–70 albums for Verve from 1963 to 1967. In 1964, Taylor supervised the creation of a folk music subsidiary named Verve Folkways which was later renamed Verve Forecast . Taylor left Verve in 1967 to form CTI Records . Aside from jazz, Verve's catalogue included

6417-495: The release of Yundi's new album Emperor/Fantasy , including Beethoven's 5th Piano Concerto with Berlin Philharmonic and Daniel Harding, Mercury Classics held the top two spots on the UK classical chart. In May 2014, the label released Tori Amos' 14th studio album Unrepentant Geraldines . The album entered the US Billboard top 200 at number seven, charted in UK (number 13), Netherlands (number 10), and Germany (number 15), and hit

6510-424: The shift to epic proportions from Smoke Ring to it. I’ve clocked in so many hours on the road and in front of amps with him but so have the Violators, Jesse first and Kyle later." On November 17, 2023, Vile released a 52-minute-long EP, Return to Moon Beach , which was mostly recorded from September 2019 to May 2023. Upon the EP's release, Vile noted: "[My manager] called this an EP by only my standards, haha (cuz

6603-598: The studio is an extended compilation." Vile is married to Suzanne Lang, a teacher, and has two daughters. He cites songwriters Randy Newman , Bob Dylan , Neil Young , and Bruce Springsteen as influences in his lyrics and music. During a 2022 episode of Rolling Stone ' s Music Now podcast, Vile stated that he stopped drinking alcohol sometime "around the tour for Bottle It In " (in late 2018 or early 2019), but noted that he still occasionally consumes cannabis . Current members Former members Former touring musicians Mercury Records Mercury Records

6696-403: The three-track tapes or magnetic film, with a 3-2 mix occurring in the mastering room. The same technique—and restored vintage equipment of the same type—was used during the CD reissues. Specifically, three-track tapes were recorded on Ampex 300-3 (½-in, three-track) machines at 15 in/sec. The 35-mm magnetic film recordings were made on three-track Westrex film recorders. The 3-2 mixdown was done on

6789-404: The way it looks. I've made more music than Adam has, and have been doing my Kurt Vile thing for a little bit longer. And Constant Hitmaker came out around that same time. Right when that [War on Drugs] record came out, I went to Europe with them, and also opened as Kurt Vile. That was right when I decided I wanted to concentrate on doing my own thing." Despite Vile's departure, Granduciel remained

6882-496: The year, as well as a win for Aftab in Best Global Performance, and Samara Joy winning Best New Artist in 2023, a first in the label's 67-year history. The Verve imprint itself manages much of the jazz catalog that once belonged to PolyGram (not including recordings by Herb Alpert for his A&M Records label which Alpert acquired in a legal settlement with Universal Music and are licensed to Shout! Factory ), while

6975-498: Was Vile's best performing song to date, topping the Billboard Adult Alternative Songs chart in March 2016. His 2017 release, Lotta Sea Lice , is a collaboration with Australian singer and guitarist Courtney Barnett . In 2018, he released his eighth studio album, Bottle It In , followed by a country -influenced EP, Speed, Sound, Lonely KV , in 2020. Vile's ninth studio album, (watch my moves) (2022),

7068-504: Was able to compete with the more established record labels, and thus became an established record label itself. Mercury Record Corporation was formed in Chicago in 1945 by Irving Green, Berle Adams , Ray Greenberg, and Arthur Talmadge . The company was a major force in R&;B , doo wop , soul music , pop doo wop, pop soul, blues , pop, rock and roll , jazz and classical music . Early in

7161-751: Was absorbed into Virgin EMI by Universal Music. Virgin EMI was rebranded as EMI Records in June 2020. Launched in 1955 exclusively as a full-service local (Australian) A&R operation. Mercury Records first known Australian artist was Keith Potger in 1968, but the label was put into hibernation in 1999 in favour of the Universal label until 2007–2013. Some successful Australian artists on Mercury included: INXS , Kamahl , Bullamakanka , Darren Hayes , Carl Riseley, The Preatures , Tiddas , Dragon, Teen Queens , Melissa Tkautz and Karise Eden . In France, Mercury Records operates as

7254-531: Was an affiliate of Philips under its U.S. Trust division; in 1963, Mercury switched British distribution from EMI to Philips. In 1962, Mercury began marketing a line of phonographs made by Philips bearing the Mercury brand name. In July 1967, Mercury Records became the first U.S. record label to release cassette music tapes ( Musicassettes ). In 1969, Mercury changed its corporate name to Mercury Record Productions Inc., while its parent Conelco became North American Philips Corp. (NAPC) after Philips bought control of

7347-408: Was bought by Seagram , which then absorbed the company into its Universal Music Group unit. Under the reorganization, Mercury Records was closed and folded into the newly formed The Island Def Jam Music Group (IDJMG). Mercury's pop roster was predominantly taken over by Island Records , while its hip-hop acts found a new home at Def Jam Recordings , and some of Mercury's R&B acts were moved to

7440-679: Was bought by Universal Music. In March 2013, its artist roster was moved to Virgin EMI in a restructuring of Universal's UK labels. In 2005, Jason Iley was appointed the new managing director of Mercury. He joined the company from Island Records, where he was general manager. In July 2005, Iley appointed Paul Adam to senior artist and repertoire (A&R) director of the label; the two had previously worked together at Island Records. In October 2006, U2 decided to leave Island Records and moved to Mercury Records, reportedly to rejoin Iley, with whom they had worked previously at Island Records. In March 2011,

7533-428: Was corporately aligned with Universal Music Enterprises (UMe) in 2006 and was no longer a stand-alone label within UMG during that time. Under this regime, led by UMe's President, Bruce Resnikoff, Verve won the Grammy for album of the year, the first time a jazz record had garnered this award since another Verve album, Stan Getz's Getz/Gilberto, won in 1965. Verve Records went through several other leadership changes in

7626-495: Was going to do music [with my life] then." Vile began writing songs on the banjo, describing his first self-penned track as: "a joke song. It was a good instrumental; I knew all these chords, but then I was quoting a cartoon as the lyrics on top of it. I had seen this cartoon about Superman and Lex Luthor ; it was like the back history of why Lex Luthor hated Superman. They used to be friends, and then some giant stone of kryptonite fell and it made Lex Luthor's hair fall out, and he

7719-423: Was like, 'You made all my hair fall out!' It was a really stupid cartoon, but that was my song, 'You Made All My Hair Fall Out'." Three years later, Vile created his first "mass-produced" tape at the age of seventeen. Influenced by Pavement , Beck , Smog and the record label, Drag City , Vile noted, "I really thought I could be on Drag City. I really wanted that. I heard these people that made good music but it

7812-451: Was more independent, there were people who got really excited and there still are but once I got more press people started to comment on blogs. People like to talk shit. [...] It's like climbing a ladder. I like to climb it really slowly. I could probably get really professional right away, but I like to take baby steps and find my own way." Vile released his fourth studio album, Smoke Ring for My Halo , in 2011. The album peaked at #154 on

7905-476: Was recorded mostly at a Vile's home studio during COVID-19 lockdowns . In May 2023, his longtime Violators bandmate and recording partner Rob Laakso died from cholangiocarcinoma . That same year, he released the 52-minute-long EP, Back to Moon Beach . Vile grew up in Lansdowne, Pennsylvania , a suburb of Philadelphia , and is the third oldest of ten children born to Charles and Donna Vile. Although his surname

7998-543: Was released in the fall. In 2014, Mercury Classics released "Aranjuez", Milos Karadaglic's recording of iconic guitar concertos by Joaquin Rodrigo, featuring Yannick Nézet-Séguin and the London Philharmonic Orchestra. The album topped the iTunes Classical charts in more than 10 countries and the classical charts in the US, UK, France, New Zealand, and Denmark, where it peaked in the pop charts at number 17. With

8091-399: Was released on Gulcher Records . Vile subsequently decided to leave The War on Drugs to concentrate on his solo career. The album was compiled from various home recordings and one studio recording of the song "Freeway". In 2009, Vile noted, "The War On Drugs got put out on a bigger label first, so, in the blogosphere , some claim that The War on Drugs was my first, main band. But that's just

8184-431: Was released on August 30, 2017, accompanied by the music video directed by Danny Cohen. In 2018, Vile announced his seventh solo studio album, Bottle It In , released on October 12, 2018. Vile produced and appeared on Sweep It Into Space , the twelfth album by Dinosaur Jr. which was released on April 23, 2021. On April 20, Verve Records announced that they had signed Vile after 11 years with Matador. Vile cited

8277-399: Was released on October 6, 2009, and increased Vile's exposure significantly. Support slots with Dinosaur Jr , Thurston Moore and Fucked Up followed the album's release. Regarding his new position, Vile stated, "Obviously there's more touring, more press and more hype which I won't say is not deserved. There's like a faction of people, too, who like to talk shit, which is kind of new. When I

8370-657: Was released through Verve on September 16, 1991 and, while being slightly divisive at the time, has since been reconsidered by critics and fans as their masterpiece and a precursor to the post-rock movement. In the 1990s, as part of PolyGram Classics and Jazz, Verve signed Herbie Hancock , Wayne Shorter , Joe Henderson , Roy Hargrove , John Scofield , Shirley Horn , Betty Carter , Abbey Lincoln , Chris Botti , Jeff Lorber , Gino Vannelli , Art Porter , Will Downing , and Incognito . When Universal and Polygram merged in 1998, Verve's holdings were merged with Universal's GRP Recording Company to become Verve Music Group. Verve

8463-486: Was started in Chicago in 1945 and over several decades, saw great success. The success of Mercury has been attributed to the use of alternative marketing techniques to promote records. The conventional method of record promotion used by major labels such as RCA Victor , Decca Records , and Capitol Records was dependent on radio airplay, but Mercury Records co-founder Irving Green decided to promote new records using jukeboxes instead. By lowering promotion costs, Mercury

8556-690: Was still paramount. Once the center, single microphone was set, the sides were set to provide the depth and width heard in the stereo recordings. The center microphone still fed the mono LP releases, which accompanied stereo LPs well into the 1960s. From 1961, Mercury enhanced the three-microphone stereo technique by using 35-mm magnetic film instead of half-inch tape for recording. The greater emulsion thickness, track width, and speed (90 ft/min or 18 in/sec) of 35-mm magnetic film increased prevention of tape layer print-through and gained in addition extended frequency range and transient response. The Mercury 'Living Presence' stereo records were mastered directly from

8649-404: Was still pretty raw, and had this real cult quality." While working on his home recordings, Vile worked as a forklift driver, from 2000 to 2002. Regarding this time in his life, Vile noted "It was a really fast-paced job, unloading trucks. Though music was my passion, I had a long way to go then and a lot to learn. I got depressed so many times by my blue-collar life, and self-conscious about

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