CAMEL Report From Albert Hall

September 4, 2019

It was about one year ago, on September 17th, 2018 that the mighty CAMEL played a remarkable concert in a remarkable venue, performing their 1976 masterpiece “Moonmadness” in its entirety at the Royal Albert Hall. And now the quartet – Andy Latimer, Colin Bass, Denis Clement and Pete Jones – are ready to release that evening’s footage, about 150 minutes of it, on DVD and Blu-ray, with pre-orders option finally made available on their website.

It should be a riveting watch, given that the show’s second set featured the ensemble’s deep cuts – including two tracks off “Dust And Dreams” and one from “Harbour Of Tears” – although if what the group presented is a cover artwork, they could have done much better in this regard.

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WHITESNAKE Unable To Release Box Sets Of Classic Material

September 3, 2019

If the reissues of two WHITESNAKE albums – the recently released “Slide It In” and the forthcoming “Slip Of The Tongue” – made the band’s aficionados think of a similar treatment for another one, “Lovehunter” that saw the light in 1979 (although imagining its cover in today’s stores is difficult), there’s nothing to wait for. As it turned out during a Twitter exchange (see below) between David Coverdale and this scribe, the singer has no control over his ensemble’s early output. A sad state of affairs, really, given that 2011’s “Box ‘O’ Snakes” didn’t offer any bonus material, while Coverdale’s archives must be ripe with previously unheard tracks.

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Anthony Phillips To Issue First Album In Seven Years

August 29, 2019

It’s been almost seven years since Anthony Phillips released his last album – the twelfth chapter of his “Private Parts & Pieces” series – and while the veteran’s reissue programme on Esoteric was on for some time, one could only hope he’d record new music. And he did. October 25th will see the appearance of “Strings Of Light”: a 2 CD/1 DVD package which contains 24 fresh compositions – in stereo and 5.1 Surround Sound.

“It’s all new material, mainly solo pieces, the result of over a thousand hours of work, so think of it as a leaner, meaner ‘Field Day,'” Ant says. “Recorded mainly in my lovely new living room, there was no specific “concept” or theme, nor inspiration – just lots of lovely guitars that help composing! Lots of different guitars: 6-, 8-, 12-, 16-string… And different tunings, including Nashville tuning. My classical guitars sound better and strong as nails due to a tip-off: dip them in olive oil every day. By the way, the album’s title was inspired by cover photo, so a prize for guessing what the actual subject of the photo was!”

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Alexis Korner Tribute Feat. Jimmy Page And Jack Bruce To Be Out

August 26, 2019

Alexis Korner passed away on January 1st, 1984, and June 5th of that year saw a small fraction of his friends and his band’s alumni pay homage to the godfather of British blues by staging a stellar performance in, of all places, Nottingham. Calling themselves ALEXIS LIGHT ORCHESTRA and led by Jimmy Page, the supergroup also featured such luminaries as Jack Bruce, Charlie Watts and Paul Jones whose mix of rhythm-and-blues and rock numbers was recorded for radio broadcast and well-bootlegged, yet never officially released. This September, though, will the the concert issued on CD, with the artists’ royalties said to be benefit cancer research.

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Gregg Rolie Plays Favorite Music With Old Friends On New Album

August 23, 2019

It’s been a long time since Gregg Rolie last released a studio album, and even though 2001’s “Roots” was followed by a concert set “Rain Dance” in 2007 and the “Five Days” EP in 2011, the veteran’s aficionados wanted a full-length offering from him. Finally, Rolie’s ready to roll it out: October 11th will see the issue of “Sonic Ranch” – named after a Texas recording facility where Gregg laid down half of the songs. The pieces on display include both fresh and already familiar numbers – cut anew as well.

Among the latter are the covers of Elvis’ “Don’t Be Cruel” and what looks like Herbie Hancock’s “Rockit” – a fun for every keyboard player – as well as an update of JOURNEY’s “Look Into The Future” which Rolie co-wrote with Neal Schon who plays on a couple of the album’s tracks. So does Steve Lukather, Gregg’s colleague in Ringo Starr’s band; and it was the Fabs’ drummer who inspired the record’s first single “What About Love” that’s available for streaming now. Other musicians on “Ranch” include SANTANA rhythm section, Rolie’s former bandmates Alphonso Johnson and Michael Shrieve.

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