August 30, 2010

BACK WHERE THEY BELONG

The reunion mania reigns gloriously as of lately, and during the last month no less than three great ’70s bands announced their resurrection.

The first is ARGENT who recently graced the stage of High Voltage Festival in London, reportedly in the original form – which means with Russ Ballard joining Rod Argent who not so long ago had the chance to revitalize his first star combo, THE ZOMBIES. His namesake ensemble, meanwhile scheduled some dates for December and promise to bring to the London HMV Forum’s audience MARTIN TURNER’S WISHBONE ASH and CURVED AIR.

Next in the living dead line are the heavy proggers CLEAR BLUE SKY. Well, they’ve been up and running again for 20 years now, yet with their profile rather low, so now, with the new album in the works, this should be corrected. There won’t be original drummer Kenny White on there – he relocated to the Southers hemisphere – but the rest are said to be as vigorous as back in the day.

And last but not least – THE BUGGLES. Yes, with Trevor Horn who moved on to become a world-famous producer and Geoff Downes who’s currently touring with his other great group, ASIA, plus Bruce Woolley. They never played live, not counting Downes and Horn’s frolics with YES in 1980, and plan to right this wrong now to perform their classic album “The Age Of Plastic” in its entirety, as is a la mode nowadays. With cool guests, of course. And only once, on September 28th, in London, with no additional dates. They say no DVD or live CD will be released, which is hard to believe, especially with this being a benefit show, a fundraiser for London’s Royal Hospital for Neuro-disability.

IN THE NAME OF GOD

Deeper in the blues mine, Eric Clapton didn’t let his imagination run free when it came to coming up with the title for his new album, out on September 27th. Called simply “Clapton”, it somehow signals closing of the circle which started four decades ago, in 1970, with the release of “Eric Clapton”. Like that solo debut, the guitarist’s new record includes both fresh material, already road-tested, and covers such as “River Runs Deep” by J.J. Cale whose “After Midnight” was on that first LP, not mentioning his “Cocaine” from “Slow Hand”, and “Hard Times Blues”.

1. Travelin’ Alone 2. Rocking Chair 3. River Runs Deep 4. Judgment Day 5. How Deep Is The Ocean 6. My Very Good Friend The Milkman 7. Can’t Hold Out Much Longer 8. That’s No Way To Get Along 9. Everything Will Be Alright 10. Diamonds Made From Rain 11. When Somebody Thinks You’re Wonderful 12. Hard Times Blues 13. Run Back To Your Side 14. Autumn Leaves

THAT’S THE “MOJO” WORKING

Currently, the “Mojo” magazine is the best source of in-depth information on all things rock – classic and beyond as this site’s legend has it. For a long time, each issue of the publication which has recently crossed its 200th mark comes supplied with a free CD packed with interesting stuff, and there have been the re-recorded versions of all THE BEATLES’ albums starting from “Revolver” attached. The last mag’s cover-mounted gift is a fresh take on “Let It Be”, and there would nothing surprising about the approach if the team didn’t come up with a brilliant idea to produce a limited edition of “Mojo” with a vinyl variant of the freebie. Well, it costs slightly more than usual so it’s not quite free but… Head over to the magazine site to see how to get your greasy palms on that.

OUT FROM THE FOUR WALLS

Previously said to be pencilled in for the August release, now WINGS‘ “Band On The Run”, which marks the start of the Paul McCartney re-issue programme, has miraculously shifted to November. Yes, Xmas time will gonna be here again, yet it’s too likely that the stocking-filling cash will have been spent by that time on the Lennon remasters. Paul’s again competing with the late John it seems. All right, a million more, a million less, who’s counting? Denny Laine, perhaps. Us mortals, still, are to think on which format to shell out our dough. There’ll be three of ’em, not counting the double LP: a digipacked 1CD standard edition with the classic album remastered; the 2CD plus DVD package, where the second audio disc compiles single cuts and the versions of the songs from the “One Hand Clapping” TV show that takes the most space on the DVD; and the 3CD plus DVD box where the third CD replicates the audio documentary produced for the 25th Anniversary Edition of“BOTR” and worthy one spin per 10 years. So here’s the breakdown of the second CD and the DVD:

August 30, 2010