Mark Ronson and Amy Winehouse were, at one point, a kind of musical dream team. Ronson produced Winehouse’ ultra-successful Back To Black album, which made her a superstar the world over, and in return, Winehouse provided the vocals for Ronson’s Version version of The Zutons’ Valerie.

And then their relationship soured while the pair were working on a theme for the latest James Bond flick, Quantum of Solace. At the time, Ronson claimed that Winehouse wasn’t “ready to work on music yet.” The pair fell out and haven’t worked together since.

Circumstances look to have thrown the pair back together, with the demos of new material Winehouse gave the record label being reportedly rejected. Island Record bosses were thought to be unhappy with the direction Winehouse was taking the new album.

Enter Mark Ronson, who The Sun claims is now going to work his magic on the tracks Winehouse has prepared in order to make them more viable for inclusion on her next album.

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The Zutons were/are one of my favorite current British bands. I got into them before most people did, before they were nominated for the Mercury Music Prize in 2004. And well before they, or at least their music, crossed over to the mainstream when Mark Ronson and Amy Winehouse covered Valerie in 2006.

With so much invested in the band, having seen them live a few times and having bought all their albums, I’m gutted to hear that they’ve been dropped by their record label, Sony BMG.

The split reportedly happened over Christmas after the record label decided poor sales of their third album, You Can Do Anything, were enough of a reason to let them go. Their last single before they were dropped, What’s Your Problem, also failed to make the Top 40 singles chart, which in this day and age is tantamount to a big failure.

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I made the last part of the title up but Noel might as well have called his list that. It’s a brilliant top list of bands, but there are some glaring omissions, which makes me wonder how Noel can describe it as “THE DEFINITIVE Top 10″. In your opinion Noel, in your opinion.

Noel and his brother Liam Gallagher have been very vocal of late about their dismissal of current bands. Liam criticised the fans of Coldplay and Radiohead as boring and ugly, and went on to claim not to like modern bands at all. Noel went on a drunken rant about a whole host of artists, with Amy Winehouse, Mark Ronson, and the Kaiser Chiefs getting it with both barrels.

But it’s good to know that Noel DOES like some good bands, as his top ten list, detailed on the Oasis Diary blog, includes some top bands, but omits just as many essential artists.

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After all the bitterness surrounding Oasis and Jay-Z after they had a little spat earlier in the year, it seems that the two artists have put their differences behind them and teamed up.

Or maybe not. But there is a mixtape featuring them both now available online.

The spat between Oasis and Jay-Z began when Jay-Z was announced as a headliner for Glastonbury 2008. Noel Gallagher stated in no uncertain terms that Jay was wrong for the traditionally more rock festival. Then Jay-Z actually played his set and mocked Gallagher by covering Wonderwall.

The spat carried on when Gallagher criticized Mark Ronson by claiming he only knew two chords on the guitar. Ronson fought back by mentioning Wonderwall and stating that he was “thinking of doing an Oasis/Jay-Z remix album a la ‘The Grey Album’. Potential titles are ‘Champagne Superhova’ or ‘Definitely Jay Z’.”

Ronson may have only been joking, but his remark seems to have started a trio of producers and DJs who go by the name of Cookin’ Soul thinking seriously about doing exactly what Ronson was proposing.

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Mark Ronson is a confident (some would say cocky) young man who doesn’t suffer fools gladly. He’s a super-producer who has not only been one of the main reasons for Amy Winehouse‘ worldwide success but has also released his own album full of cleverly re imagined covers.

So the man knows his stuff, which is why it’s no surprise to see that he is the first person to have reacted to Noel Gallagher’s drunken rant about various musicians and artists the other day. In fact, rather than just defend himself, Ronson went on the attack, and owned Gallagher.

Speaking to Radio One, Gallagher had said this about Ronson:

“He wants to write his own tunes instead of ruining everyone else’s. Mark Ronson needs to learn three chords on the guitar and write a tune.”

Now, writing on his MySpace Blog, Ronson has hit back with some jibes of his own and even brought up the subject of Jay-Z. Gallagher had earlier criticised the decision to have Jay-Z headlining Glastonbury, and Jay-Z had fought back by covering Wonderwall at the start of his festival set.

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I’m sure I’m living in some kind of time bubble as I keep experiencing deja vu, again, and again, and again. Just yesterday I reported how Amy Winehouse had hit one of her fans, yes, another one. And now Noel Gallagher has taken a pop at some of his fellow British artists. Didn’t he do that last week, and the week before?

The older Gallagher was being interviewed on BBC Radio One, and was reportedly in a state of drunkenness, when he decided to go to town on a whole host of British singers and groups. This comes just a few months after he slagged Jay-Z off, a tirade he has now tried to backtrack on.

According to AFP, in the interview he described Amy Winehouse as a “destitute horse”. He then turned his attention to Winehouse’ friend and producer Mark Ronson.

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Amy Winehouse may have had her theme tune for the next James Bond film, Quantum Of Solace, rejected recently in favour of a composition from The White Stripes Jack White and Alicia Keys, but she’s not going to take the matter lying down (in a gutter).

In fact, she’s so pissed at getting the cold shoulder that she’s threatening to release her single on the same day as theirs.

Amy Winehouse seemed to be a natural choice to record the official theme tune for Quantum Of Solace, with her being British, and Bond being a British spy, and the fact that on her day she can match any diva who has ever record a Bond theme song.

However, for reasons that are still unclear, but are thought to relate to the studio not wanting someone so heavily associated with drugs as part of the project, Jack White and Alicia Keys got the nod instead.

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Kaiser Chiefs have revealed details about their forthcoming album, including the name, track listing, and special guests. But on the same day, they have described the British Indie scene as “very, very boring”. But that doesn’t include them, obviously.

Kaiser Chiefs third studio album is to be called Off With Their Heads, and will be released on October 13th. The follow-up to last year’s Yours Truly, Angry Mob has been produced by Amy Winehouse’ mate Mark Ronson, and will feature guest appearances from a number of high profile artists.

The album release will be preceded by the first single to come from it, Never Miss A Beat, release on October 6th. According to the NME, Lily Allen and New Young Pony Club provide backing vocals for the single, while rapper Sway appears on Half The Truth. Lily Allen also appears on Always Happens Like That, alongside orchestration from David Arnold.

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The Vodafone Live Music Awards are an annual awards ceremony, sponsored funnily enough by Vodafone.

Unlike other all-encompassing awards ceremonies, these focus on live music. I bet you’d have never guessed if I hadn’t told you so.

The year’s nominations have now been announced and it’s an eclectic bunch of artists to say the least. Leading the way are bands such as Muse, The Verve and Led Zeppelin, while female solo artists are also well represented by the likes of Amy Winehouse, Duffy, and Kate Nash.

Unfortunately, the list of solo male artists is a bit bare, with Morrissey and Paul Weller surely there just to make up the numbers? And as good as Mark Ronson is, he is a producer, and needs a lot of support from singers and band members to be able to put any kind of show on. ‘Read More’ for the list of nominees…

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Amy Winehouse’ problems have been well reported up to now. In fact, I’d go so far as to say that she is the musical artist who has had most press coverage on her personal problems ever. And the reporting of her personal problems sadly outweigh the amount of copy written about her singing career these days.

But part of the problem is that the people around her keep opening their mouths and telling the world all about her problems. Be it the friends who are referred to as sources in the newspapers, or the relatives who come out of the woodwork for a bit of a payday. And then there is her dad.

I’m sure Mitch Winehouse is a lovely guy, and he certainly comes across as such in all the newspaper, TV and radio interviews he does. But why does he feel the need to do all of these interviews? Sure, he’s got his daughter’s well-being at heart, and sure, I guess he feels the need to set the record straight when an erroneous report gets published about her, but man, give it a rest.

He’s just given yet another interview, this time to Sky News, (reported here via NME) where he spoke about the current state of Amy’s health, her incarcerated husband Blake Fielder-Civil, her efforts to get help for her substance abuse, and the plans to take a break from touring, for an indefinite amount of time.

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