FEATURING THE HITS-
"Everything Is Wrong"
"Rehearsals For Retirement."
3 songs about the bailout and the current financial crisis - written 5 years ago!
Les Fradkin, from the Original Cast of Beatlemania, joins millions of Americans who feel "Up Against The Wall". Les' song "Everything Is Wrong" perfectly encapsulates what's wrong with America today and the financial crisis we all face.
What's especially eerie is that Les wrote about this FIVE YEARS AGO.
Now, "Everything Is Wrong" is a song who's time has finally come!
The "Everything Is Wrong" Video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pnyss2yIiU0
LISTEN:
"Everything Is Wrong", "Rehearsals For Retirement", "System Crash". All very prescient. Written FIVE YEARS AGO- long before the present crisis.
Influences like Yes, Asia, The Moody Blues, ELO, Todd Rundgren, Tangerine Dream, Van Dyke Parks, The Beatles and Procol Harum make up the foundation of this very compelling CD of social satire with thought provoking lyrics. Progressive and Pop rock attains more than the art of the possible... Les Fradkin gives America a "reality check" with his conceptual album,"Reality-The Rock Opera", filled with songs addressing our society's current lifestyles, culture and concerns. The message is put across combining lyrical integrity and dazzling harmonies with a majestic sonic landscape-... All of these ingredients are blended together with a grand styled production. If you love great song craft, mixed with lush production, you'll find it here.
Robert Silverstein of 20th Century Guitar Magazine calls Les: "...a master multi-instrumentalist ...A self-contained one man orchestra...a unique and gifted singer-songwriter."
This CD tells the story of Real Life in America as we live it today. It says thought provoking things about our society and culture, all with hummable and catchy tunes.
If you're a baby boomer- YOU NEED TO HEAR THIS ALBUM!
Check out "Rehearsals For Retirement."
Les wrote all the music and co-wrote the lyrics and co-produced the "Reality-The Rock Opera" CD with his wife, Loretta. In addition, Les sings all the vocals and plays all the instruments including his famous Guitar Synthesizer on this excursion into the heart and mind of American culture.
CONTAINS: a Deluxe 20 Page Booklet with all the lyrics!
A BIT OF BIO:
Les Fradkin is one of the guitar legends of the 1970's. As well as being a veteran member of The Original Cast of Beatlemania, he has found success as a recording artist, composer and producer with MGM Sunflower, ESP-Disk', Bell, Arista, RCA, and Laurie Records. Les has written the well known French hit "La Chansons Des Souvenirs" ("Song Of A Thousand Voices") for the famous Mireille Mathieu. He has played 12 and 6-string Guitar, Bass, Mellotron, and Piano on dozens of Top 40 hit records throughout the early 1970's , scoring many US and UK chart placings throughout his career.
Les Fradkin was also an original member / singer / guitarist for the pop group California on Laurie Records in the US and RCA Records in the UK for it's entire existence from 1973 through 1985. California had several chart records including the 1981 release "Summer Fun Medley"-a medley of Beach Boys hits, "Jeans On", "He's Almost You" (charting in the United Kingdom) and an appearance on the Dick Clark American Bandstand television show.
In 1976, Les was selected over thousands of other auditioning guitarists to appear in the original cast of the smash hit Broadway musical "Beatlemania" playing lead guitar and the part of "George Harrison" in New York City, Los Angeles and Chicago. Running for two and a half years from May 1977 thru October 1979, every show (including over 1200 in New York alone) was sold out and the musicians quickly became celebrities with magazine cover stories ("Newsweek","Time", "People", "Rolling Stone") and many major television show appearances. With his guitar-playing in the international spotlight from the show, Fradkin developed a cult following that has avidly followed his career and made him a celebrity among guitar fans.
He has enjoyed chart success on the net as well with his songs reaching mp3.com's 1 position 16 times! New Gandy Dancer Rock Magazine named Les' CD "A Day At The Beach" it's 2004 Album Of The Year. In addition, Les has performed with The Ventures as 2nd Lead Guitarist. Nokie Edwards of The Ventures has performed with Les on several occasions and is a featured guest on his "While My Guitar Only Plays" CD. In fact, Les has been acknowledged as a guitar virtuoso for over 30 years and he has been featured in issues of 20th Century Guitar Magazine, Pipeline and New Gandy Dancer Magazines.
Today, Les has released 17 solo CD's on his RRO Entertainment Indie label and has had over 320,000 downloads bringing him several substantial hits on Apple iTunes and other download sites across the Internet.
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