Once upon a time, Arthur Brown contributed two songs to the soundtrack of Roger Vadim’s film “The Game Is Over” – and, exactly sixty years after that, the indomitable artist’s own career is almost played out. At least that’s what the veteran says with regard to “Nature”: the album, scheduled to be released on September 4th, which finds him pondering over the meaning of life.
It’s not fair that, for all his achievements, Billy Morrison‘s accolades have always been tied in with his role as a sidekick to another Billy, Idol, in whose band he serves as a second guitarist, and a sponsor to Ozzy Osbourne, as well as his stint on the latter’s SuriusXM programme. Still, Morrison is a fine artist in his own right, as this scribe can testify to after visiting Billy’s exhibition and witnessing his performance in an intimate, acoustic setting, so different from the melodious racket of "The Morrison Project" from 2024. And now the American’s ready to release a follow-up to that platter.
In 1972 Chick Corea seemed to be flying high for that was the year when the great ivories driver issued an album titled “Return To Forever” and the ensemble of the same name emerged into existence. Before the band came to the scene, though, Corea took to the road without his crew of fellow musicians, and when he appeared in front of an audience in Sendesaal on October 29th, 1972 to entertain jazz-loving folks and tape his performance for Radio Bremen, Chick had a lot of surprises up his sleeve. A document of the outing made a great bootleg – but July 17th will finally see it restored and finally released in full.
“I live within the concept of time. We all live within it, within its restrictions. It’s an important thing: it’s the only thing we’ve all got while we’re still alive. So we have to make the most of it,” Dave Greenslade told this scribe last year, and now one of the most brilliant British keyboard players has left our mortal coil. He might be forever associated with COLOSSEUM and GREENSLADE, but there was much to the veteran’s oeuvre, even though Dave never let neither conceptual thinking nor creative successes get in the way of his personality, and Greenslade remained soft-spoken and good-humored to the very end.
To release one’s debut solo album on the brink of becoming octogenarian may see strange – but not for Lenny Kaye. Lenny Kaye has simply been busy – for decades. He would have been part of rock history without playing a single lick – Lenny’s place was secured when he compiled the legendary “Nuggets” – but when Kay became a creative sidekick to Patti Smith, with whom he co-authored “Redondo Beach” and other songs, and stayed with her for many years, a different aspect of the guitarist’s talent became public. Add in the veteran’s work as a producer for the likes of Suzanne Vega – his touch is very much felt on “Tom’s Diner” – and it’s quite clear why he didn’t have time for a solo career. Until now.
