You cannot speak to Tony Banks and avoid talking about GENESIS: even if you don’t bring up the subject of the famed keyboardist’s former band, he will. Yet focusing on it means ignoring the veteran’s solo oeuvre Some of Tony’s work outside of the legendary group’s confines is similar to what he used to do within the collective; some of what Banks issued on his own records is significantly different and, thus, as alluring as any cultural artifacts worthy of exploration should be.
It’s almost impossible to overestimate Jackie DeShannon‘s influence on popular music, even though her achievements on this front remain understated, while the singer-songwriter’s connection to Jimmy Page would be enough to make her an important figure in that regard. Back in 1964, she, Jackie had just released her debut album a year earlier, a collection of borrowed tunes, including Dylan’s, recorded a set of self-penned demos, made available to A&R people and other industry insiders. On June 5th, however, this collection of pieces, laid down with only DeShannon’s acoustic guitar accompanying her passionate vocals, should finally enlighten everyone as to how the young lady’s melodies ended up in the repertoires of much more respected musicians.
He may have steered SLADE for decades now, in later years single-handedly if a guitarist’s approach as a leader can be defined as such, so Dave Hill never felt the urge to strike solo. Yet how else could the veteran reach for his own memories and wrap them in music if not without the ensemble? That’s why the coming October will see him release an album titled “Dirty Foot Lane” which will contain ten loosely autobiographical tracks.
Some artists may care about overloading their market and their fans’ budgets, yet YES don’t seem to belong to this category, and on July 17th, a little more than a month after their new album "Aurora" will have seen the light of day, the veteran proggers are to issue “Roosevelt Stadium, Jersey City, 17 June 1976”: a recording which used to circulate as a bootleg and, apparently, was remastered for official release. It’s a brilliant document of the tour that found the band include into their repertoire not only their classics and piece from “Relayer” the quintet set to promote, but also cuts from Patrick Moraz‘s “Story Of I” and Jon Anderson‘s "Olias Of Sunhillow" – as well as a BEATLES tune.
It’s not a good practice when a massive box set reprises an earlier one but, instead of building upon it to make fans and collectors replace a previous variant with another release, detracts from it, while adding something new. That’s what’s happening with Leo Sayer‘s “Leothology” which is going to be out on August 14th. Said to be selected personally by the artist – as if gathering all the available studio records requires a lot of brain-storming – and containing 18 CDs, this offering doesn’t merely picks up where the dozen discs of 2013’s “Just A Box” left off and puts in four albums the veteran’s issued since then; the fresh package is augmented with a comp of rarities titled “Return To Paradise” and “Don’t Wait Until Tomorrow – Live” originating from 2008 Melbourne concert.
