News
March 20, 2002
FROM THE FRONTIERS
Frontiers Records announce an array of classy new projects in the making.
AMBITION is, er, ambitious work from the former TRILLION singer, Thom Griffin, who came up with songs co-written with MECCA's Joe Vana, MR MISTER's Richard Page, AMBROSIA's David Pack and "Mr. AOR", Jim Peterik himself, among others. The release is planned for early 2003.
Another new sign-up is SHOTGUN SYMPHONY frontman, Tracy White, releasing her solo album featuring Russell Arcara of PROPHET fame, ZEBRA's leader Randy Jackson, Joe Cerisano of TRANS SIBERIAN ORCHESTRA, TAKARA's Gary Schutt, three MELODICA asociates - Gerhard Pichler, Laura Diamond and Charlie Calv - and others. Recording will stars in the summer with the street date set for the fall.
HARDLINE have completed the sessions for their comeback album, "II" with three songs pending left unfinished for Neal Schon to provide with guitar parts. The album is pencilled in for release in September.
Another comeback is from mighty STARSHIP, who are getting ready now for the recording of their new album containing songs submitted by HAREM SCAREM's Harry Hess, Stuart Smith, omnipresent Jim Peterik, John Waite, Jeff Scott Soto and Richard Marx with some more big names to pop up later, as the CD will appear only in the beginning of 2003.
The third return in a row is from Robert Fleischmann getting near to the recording of the "Reawaken" album under the guidance of HURRICANE's Kelly Hansen, who provides becking vocals as well. The CD will see the light of day this fall.
KHYMERA featuring KANSAS's Steve Walsh on vocals, who's recording currently, will finish the work for the album in a couple of days. Among the writers are: Giorgio Moroder, Kip Winger, Reb Beach, Neal Schon and Jim Peterk (again!). Album will hit the shelves before the end of the year.
Former Malmsteen singer Jeff Scott Soto is said to be writing songs for his second solo album under the working title of "The Calm Before The Storm". Strange, as the album was, reportedly, completed before Soto has left Z Records in favor of Frontiers. That's the same album, which is proved by having included SLY & FAMILY STONE's "I Wanna Take You Higher" featuring a duet with Glenn Hughes. OK, let's wait until the end of 2002 to see.
RENAISSANCE STRIKE FROM JAPAN
What was a rumour in the community now appears reality: RENAISSANCE are releasing concert album, "Live In Japan - In The Land Of Rising Sun", recorded at the band's Tokyo gig on March 16, 2001.
A double CD including all 15 songs from the show, including Annie Haslam's solo pieces and material of 2001's "Tuscany":
Carpet Of The Sun, Opening Out, Midas Man, Lady From Tuscany, Pearls Of Wisdom, Dear Landseer, Northern Lights, Moonlight Shadow, Precious One, Ananda, Mother Russia, Trip To The Fair, One Thousand Roses, I Think of You, Ashes Are Burning.
The band's keyboard player Rave Teasar writes at the RENAISSANCE message board: "It was mixed and mastered at my studio here in the U.S. I don't know an exact release date, but it is coming soon and It turned out great and I'm sure you will agree it was worth the wait." Let's keep fingers crossed.
DRAGON KILLER
DIO are currently in the studio recording the album featuring new guitarist, Doug Aldrich. A heavy endeavour, entitled "Killing The Dragon", will include the following tracks:
Killing The Dragon, Along Came A Spider, Scream, Better In The Dark, Rock And Roll, Push, Guilty, Throwaway Children, Before The Fall, Cold Feet.
The release date is tentatively set for May - Ronnie's always quick.
ARGENTINA WATCH
As it was reported before, John Wetton has the new live album out, "Live In Argentina", recorded in 1986. Presently, covert its artwork isn't available while the song list is:
CD1: In The Dead Of Night, Sole Survivor, Only Time Will Tell, Voice Of America, Book Of Saturday, The Smile Has Left Your Eyes, 30 Years, Hold Me Now, Quilmes, Rendezvous 6:02
CD2: Drum Solo, Caught In The Crossfire, Easy Money, Battlelines, Heat Of The Moment, Starless, Don't Cry
Note the rare appearance of ASIA's "Voice Of America" and "Caught In The Crossfire" off Wetton's first solo album in the set.
THE MIGHTY PAIR
In the Sixties, there was mighty soul duo, Sam & Dave. Then, in the last years, there were rumours abound as to who would fill in as new VAN HALEN singer, Dave Lee Roth or Sammy Hagar. Finally, now both said vocalists unite as Sam & Dave Show for the summer tour, currently pending to be officially confirmed.
NO LORD IN THE DEEP
Now it's official: on the verge of Russian tour Jon Lord has left DEEP PURPLE for ever. 61-year old powerful organist decided to retire and, thus, left drummer Ian Paice the only founding member in today's line-up. The keyboardist's replacement is another veteran, who had already stepped in for Lord for DEEP PURPLE's last summer tour and played previously with WHITESNAKE and RAINBOW among zillion other acts, so there couldn't be a better switch. All the best to Lordy, then, who surely will appear on the surface in the future with some studio work.
DETECT YOUR BAND
That's what came in from the rock books frontline:
Published in September are the next two volumes in the Rockdetector Extreme Metal series of books "Rockdetector A-Z of Thrash Metal" and "Rockdetector A-Z of Doom & Gothic Metal". Following this Rockdetector is releasing two mammoth 800 page reference works: "Rockdetector Classic American Rock" and "Rockdetector Classic British Rock" for late 2002. These works will cover all the greats and the bands that made a sizeable impact upon the scene. In 2003 the "Rockdetector A-Z of Christian Rock" is scheduled. Further genres will be covered into the future.
Any bands that fall within these categories can check their entries at www.rockdetector.com. Any and all extra factual information will be added, especially looking for live photos. The more is provided, the bigger an entry is. The writer Garry Sharpe-Young says, "Rockdetector has had a quite phenomenal response globally. The take up from bands and labels submitting information has been much greater than expected. For some reason though we've been flooded by acts at the harder end of the spectrum with melodic Rock & AOR labels being strangely slow off the mark. We include everything we're sent, of any genre, so I'll put a call out to all melodic Rock labels to pull their fingers out!"
The previous 400 page Rockdetector guides, "Black Metal" and "Death Metal" are both available now. Both are at the top of their publishers best sellers list. The Ozzy Osbourne biography is scheduled for May release.
LIVING WHERE?
The wait is almost over! JETHRO TULL release "Living With The Past" CD and DVD featuring some of the group's greatest songs performed in a variety of locations and arrangements.
The CD, to be out on April 30th, in addition to classic songs recorded at London's Hammersmith Odeon features an acoustic home session and a one-off club reunion of the group's original line-up. The DVD, which is penned in for May release, differs from the CD in its content and includes video of Ian Anderson performing as a guest with FAIRPORT CONVENTION and URIAH HEEP, photographs, backstage footage and a virtual ticket window that allows the watcher to experience a song from any seat at the Hammersmith Odeon.
As for actual tracks, they go like this:
CD:
1. Intro |
DVD:
1 Locomotive Breath |
HUGHES ON THE TRAIL
Before venturing with Joe Lynn Turner off to Japan for the joint HTP tour, Glenn Hughes will appear at Europe's stages. On March 30th-31st in Koblenz, Germany, he's playing at the Drum & Sounds Festival 2002 as a part of "A Tribute to Jeff" entourage. The event is being held in memory of TOTO's Jeff Porcaro. The other participants are Joe Porcaro, Mike Porcaro, Bobby Kimball, Steve Ferrone, Greg Bissonette, Alex Ligertwood, Mike Miller, Lenny Castro, Larry Klimas Steve Gadd and David Garfield.
As if reliving his experience in the dance field with THE KLF in 1992, ten years on Hughes has provided the vocals for "Its Gonna Break" off the LA's electronic music duo, APE QUARTER's album "Please Where Do We Live?".
NO WAY!
Recently there were ads in circulation of upcoming "One Way Or Another" CD from URIAH HEEP ex's, John Wetton and Ken Hensley. Classic Rock Productions, who are to release HENSLEY-WETTON's "More Than Conquerors" live album soon, say they're not associated with "One Way Or Another" and, therefore, the CD is not endorsed by any party involved.
YOKO IN LIVERPOOL
The famous house at 251 Menlove Ave, where John Lennon lived with his aunt Mimi and her husband, was bought by Yoko Ono, who passes the building to The National Trust. The Trust already takes hold of Paul McCartney's childhood home, which is being open it to the public.
Lennon's widow arrived in England to unveil, together with PM Tony Blaire's wife, a 7-foot bronze statue of John at the recently re-named Liverpool John Lennon Airport, saying of the statue "It's brilliant. I think it captures John and shows him moving, alive, rather than standing still like some statues. The world needs communication and this Liverpool John Lennon Airport will promote the growth of international communication for Liverpool and for the world. Communication and exchanging will lead to understanding and understanding will create love and peace. And the world needs peace."
March 14, 2002
THE NEW FLIGHT
23 years oni since their last studio album, "The Long Run", EAGLES kick off the new recording for a possible 2003 release. Up to date the band didn't negotiated it with any label but, in Don Henley's words, there may be an independent move for the album to be available on the Internet some superstore chains.
ARS LONGA
Japanese magnific all-female art rock trio ARS NOVA are in preparations for the commencing recording of their new album, called "Biogenesis". Following in the wake of the previous one, "Android Domina", this will be a concept album based on an original story from the band's producer, Numero Uno. As guests, enlisted are AYREON's Arjen Lucassen, two keyboards operators - GOBLIN's Claudio Simonetti and Gianni Leone from IL BALLETTO DI BRONZO and MASTERMIND drummer Rich Berends.
Reciprocating for the Italian musicians' support, ARS NOVA's Keiko Kumagai is to play on a couple of tracks for the new Italian combo HUM ASH PROJECT led by ex-LEVIATHAN singer Alex Burnori.
March 6, 2002
GO HUNTING
There are two ROYAL HUNT-related projects are being brewed at Frontiers Records.
The first is the second solo album from the band helmsman, Andre Andersen, called "Black On Black". The album, scheduled for release in June, is in the vein of melodic metal and on vocals features Ian Parry. The songs will be these:
Coming Home, Tell Me Why, Arena, Desperate Times, Life, Black On Black, Eclipse, Sail Away, Piece Of My Heart.
The second project, named EARTHMAKER, is a solo album too - this time from the HUNT's voice, John West . A line-up for this one is quite impressive, as their talents to it lended Chris Caffery of SAVATAGE, Mike Chlasciak, Ray Riendau and Bobby Jarzombek of HALFORD fame, Lonnie Park who played with West on the late Cozy Powell's album. Moreover, there should be featured SAVATAGE's Jeff Plate, West's ARTENSION partner Vitalij Kuprij, and HUNT's own Andre Andersen and Steen Mogesen. As of tracks, they tentatively go like this:
Sleep Of The Dead, Earthmaker, Soul To Soul, Love Is Pain, Stand Sentinel, Soul Of The
Beast, Warrior Spirit, White Man Red Man, Mystic Wings, When Worlds Collide, the latter interpolating keyboards duel between Andersen and Vitalij Kuprij.
The release date is set for late summer.
ON THE BORDERS OF FRONTIERS
More exciting news from Frontiers Records concern the completion of the first part of Genius Rock Opera, "A Human Into Dreams World", which is being mixed now by Mike Slamer. In the eleventh hour the star-ridden line-up of singers was expanded with MECCA's Joe Vana, who took over the King McChaos Consultant part, and ex-TRILLION Thom Griffin on harmony vocals. The tracklisting is:
Without Me Today, The Right Place, Paradox, Twin Spirits Land, All Your Acts, Dreams, My Pride, There's A Human, Father, I'm Afraid.
With no release date as of yet, it's ensured the album will be out by the end of the year.
And, at last, May 22nd will see the release of Dario Mollo's and Tony Martin's THE CAGE second album called "2".
THEY'RE JUST THE HUMAN BEINGS
Approaching the 25th anniversary of the "God Save The Queen" single, SEX PISTOLS re-release their mighty anti-anthem right in time for Her Majesty Golden Jubilee on the British throne. The single is to see the light of day on May 27th, a week earlier than the PISTOLS box set comprising three CDs: one is to contain the "Never Mind The Bollocks" album plus sessions recordings, the second filled with rarities and interviews, and the third presents the live tracks harking back to 1976-1978.
HEEP EXPANDED
It's quite a long time since URIAH HEEP early rarities collection, "The Lansdowne Tapes", hit the stores. Now, with the band's profile on the rise again, comes a chance to delve deeper in the period with the enhanced, double CD edition of the album available at Terrapin Music. Much of the material did not appear on the original release while most of the newly added tracks have never been released before. And here it is:
|
CD 1:1. Dreammare (intro) |
CD 2:1. Born In A Trunk (vocal version 1) |
Keeping on the HEEP note, the band's former singer, John Lawton is mixing the unplugged album, a collaboration with guitarist Steve Dunning, which started at the December's "Magician's Birthday Party" fest. The tentative title of the album is "Steppin' It Up" and it features KARNATAKA's Steve Simmons on sax and HEEP keyboards wiz, Phil Lanzon. Spare for two new songs, "Don't Kill The Fire" and "Shoulder To Cry On", the album embraces URIAH and LUCIFER'S FRIEND classics as well as Lawton's solo pieces:
One More Night, Still Payin' My Dues, Firefly/Come Back To Me, Burning Ships, Wise Man, Feelings, Rain, Been Hurt, Tonight, Don't Kill The Fire, Shoulder To Cry On, I'm Alive.
It has to be noted, "Tonight" is an unreleased HEEP track, while "Feelings" and "Been Hurt", originally recorded by Lawton, saw the light of day with John Sloman on vocals.
THESPIAN SCORPIONS
In the last couple of years, SCORPIONS came up with an orchestra-ridden album and the acoustic one, but it's still of major surprise that Deutsche behemoth will stage the musical, thus following in the wake of QUEEN. The premiere of "Wind Of Change" is set for 2004 at Berlin's Metropolis Theater. Rudolf Schenker and Klaus Meine are writing fifteen new songs to fit the script alongside band's classic tunes. The singer says, "The musical is supposed to bring the spectators to laugh and cry about the dramatic historical events, and we must find a way to express all these emotions musically." As if hard rock is not enough for this purpose, SCORPS are likely to include hip hop and rap endeavours in the set.
WHAT IT'S LIKE TO BE DEAD RICH
London's Christie auction is to sell a publically unknown BEATLES tape, a 32-minute recording of John Lennon working on "She Said, She Said". Although 20 rough versions of the song written in 1965 after a Hollywood party on the tour are of extreme interest to the fans, neither Yoko Ono and Julian Lennon, nor EMI agreed to by the cassette from the collector who owns it. That's why this gem will go on sale on April 30th at a reserve price of $215,000.