News
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1. A Hard Rain's A-Gonna Fall |
KINDNESS IN THE HARD CROWD
While it was hard to believe CREAM would ever re-unite, now the mighty trinity go to the US to stomp the Madison Square Garden stage on October 24th, 25th and 26th. But before that, on October 4th, issued will be their live album and a DVD, recorded five month earlier. Called simply "Royal Albert Hall: London May 2-3-5-6, 2005", the sets represent the acclaimed Jack Bruce, Eric Clapton and Ginger Baker's show in its entirety - as suggested by bootlegs that emerged way back in May. A surefire blast!
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1. I'm So Glad |
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11. Stormy Monday |
ANOTHER LAST STRAW
Nobody knows - but Andy Latimer, of course - what the CAMEL's future is. Yet while the band's prospects hang in limbo, October 10th will see the release of a new DVD, "Camel Footage II". The first part that appeared last year was greeted rapturously, so its successor's success is guaranteed - not least because the second instalment of the group's video backlog has more Hippodrome cuts on it. What about the third chapter in a year's time, Andy?
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1. Aristillus (intro) |
LET'S PUT THE X IN
If KISS kept their collective profile low recently, whilst dabbling with their solo projects, it doesn't mean the masked commanders have abandoned their faithful army. There's a good project in the works: the "Rock The Nation Live!" DVD was supposed to be comprised of two discs initially, but now it looms larger to include two more. Those to be included are said to feature a 1972 concert by the band called WICKED LESTER that went to become KISS, and a concert from 1973 - but there's a real confusion as the tentative shows don't correspond with the actual tour log. We'll wait and see, and there's no release date yet anyway. But the recent footage interspersed with documentaries will spread across the DVDs this way:
Disc 1:
1. Intro |
Disc 2:
1. War Machine |
SHOUT IT OUT
"Back Where I Belong", the album that Tony Martin released back in 1992 was a marvellous record. Since then, a lot of water went under the bridge. The singer returned to front BLACK SABBATH, then was ousted for their original warbler to return, then lent his vocals to Dario Mollo's THE CAGE project, yet now he's back to his own devices, and the devices - in the form of the "Scream" album, due out in November - are good. Not only because Tony recorded it in, of all places. Headless Cross, that's in Worcestershire, but also there's drum tracks on "Raising Hell" laid down by sorely missed Cozy Powell. SABS' keyboard meister Geoff Nicholls contributed to it as well.
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1. Raising Hell |
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September 12, 2005
TAKING TO THE PILOT
Whilst Elton John's fans are getting ready to invest in a forthcoming de-luxe reissue of his 1975's classic "Captain Fantastic And The Brown Dirt Cowboy", which Big El is going to play live in its entirety next month, the sequel is in the works. Reg stroke back to the writing with his old mate Bernie Taupin, and the thingy called "Captain Fantastic And The Kid" is planned to be out in March 2007. A long wait, sure, but meanwhile Mr Dwight also stroke a deal with Starbucks who will be exclusively distributing "Elton's Christmas Party", an collection of - well, previously released - Christmas songs from other artists and a new John's duet with Joss Stone. That's on November 8th.
And not that's the project is too important for the veteran, as he's deep in his own sitcom right now. Tentatively called "Him And Us" it features Elton John as well as such massively loved entertainers as Rod Stewart, David Bowie and Mick Jagger. There's undoubtedly someone to take a Mickey out of!
Yet there's more to El's doings. He and Bernie came up with a musical recently. Called "Lestat" and inspired by Anne Rice’s "Vampire Chronicles", the first theatrical score from the two goes to Broadway the following spring - with a world premiere that's to take place at San Francisco’s Curran Theatre from December 17th until January 29th.
GET CUT BEFORE YOU SEE IT
When DIO are on tour, and there's no promised video collection in sight, what's the best way to satisfy the aficionados - who think the re-issue of the band's 1983's magnum opus "Holy Diver" with no extra material is not enough - if not to delve into the archives and find some footage from the tour that followed that album? The results of the raid are out on October 3rd as a DVD titled "We Rock". Comprised of two shows, one in Utrecht played on December 4th, 1983 and in Philadelphia on August 25th, 1984 - the latter, in fact, was a part of "The Last In Line" trek - it's a unique document, preceding the famous "Sacred Heart" video, out on DVD last year. Whilst neither concert is presented in full - and there's no RAINBOW song on there - there's a bonus interview with Ronnie James Dio. Stand up and shout, then.
Utrecht, Holland:
1. Stand Up And Shout |
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Philadelphia, USA:
1. Don't Talk To Strangers |
NOW AN EMPTY SKY IS THERE
Last year, Ken Hensley started his way down the memory lane, but only the hardcore fans get their kicks from ex-URIAH HEEP melody wizard's anthology's first part, "The Wizard's Diary", which offered a little in the way of re-interpreting the band's classic material. But "Cold Autumn Sunday" - the second volume, out on October 17th - looks much more promising as it deals with Hensley's solo cuts and even includes the demo "Through The Eyes Of A Child" as a bonus track, that's quite different from the version released 30 years ago on the "Eager To Please" album. More so, there's a new take on "Send Me An Angel", that opened the first BLACKFOOT album with Ken on board, and a newly crafted song called "Romance". A cheesy name for a song. Not as cheesy as the artwork, though.
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1. Send Me An Angel |
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THE STORMY WEATHER
TEMPEST were one of the most underestimated bands of the '70s. Having risen from the ashes of the great COLOSSEUM and preceding jazzy COLOSSEUM II, they rocked hard under the guidance of fantasric drummer Jon Hiseman and featured two phenomenal guitarists in the ranks, first Allan Holdsworth and then PATTO's Ollie Halsall. Still, success proved elusive, and after two albums, 1973's "Tempest" and 1974's "Living In Fear", it was over - in Hiseman's words, "because commercially it was very difficult".
Now, the time came to re-evaluate the group's creative achievements and reveal it to the new audience. But a 2CD set "Under The Blossom - The Anthology" has a lot for the old fans, with the first disc containing those two marvellous record, while the second one has three tracks recorded in early 1974 for a proposed third album, never to be completed, and seven cuts from a June 1973 BBC Radio 1 Pop Spectacular concert, the only known TEMPEST live material with Olllie The Loony. A must-have collection.
Disc 1:
1. Gorgon |
Disc 2:
1. You And Your Love |
PURPLE GO RAP(T)
Two years ago, when DEEP PURPLE teamed up with American producer Michael Bradford and came up with "Bananas", it felt like a fresh breeze in the face. For their next album, the six re-united, and on October 21st "Rapture Of The Deep" will see the light of day - in three ways. There'll be a regular edition and the limited one. The latter is said to be put in a metalbox and enhanced with an interview, yet what it'll surely have is a bonus song, "MTV" for Europe and "Things I Never Said" for Japan. The Carroll-like cover is teasing, and music shouldn't disappoint as well.
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1. Money Talks |
DON'T YOU START AWAY UNEASY
Whichever JETHRO TULL album you love the most, the common wisdom keeps 1971's "Aqualung" in the highest esteem, so in November 2004 the band holed up at the XM Radio studios in Washington to play their classic through, from the first song to the very last, live. Now, Ian Anderson has properly remixed the recording, added the between-song banter as bonus tracks and, thus, compiled a CD that will be given away to ticket holders on the most of the TULL's US tour dates in October and November - but those who won't attend can get a hold of the "Live Aqualung" too. A limited edition is released in Europe in September and in America the next March, with all artist and publishing royalties going to the charities for the homeless. Homeless like Aqualung himself. The order of the songs part is the same as on the original album, and the bonus allow a listener to program his own show.
Which they won't be able to do with "Ian Anderson Plays The Orchestral Jethro Tull". Out on DVD and CD on October 4th, it's the One-Legged Fluteman's show recorded in December 2004 in Mannheim, Germany, with the Neue Philharmonie Frankfurt Orchestra. There are TULL classics and solo cuts re-tooled afresh. Sure, Ian's voice isn't as great as it used to be, but - as this scribe witnessed on a couple of occasions - Big A's showmanship is astounding. So the DVD must be much greater than CD that looks like this:
Disc 1:
1. Eurology |
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Disc 2:
1. Pavane |
...AND JUSTICE FOR ALL
German guitarist Rolf Munkes has a good habit of forming bands with a famous musicians. One of these groups is RAZORBACK this time featuring the COMPANY OF SNAKES' singer Stefan Berggren at the front. There's a fine prospect of seeing them live - but before that it makes sense to dig the combo's new album, "Criminal Justice", which will be released on November 18th.
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1. The Flame Still Burns |
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