FROM THE BOTTOM OF THE HEART
Over the years, there’s been a couple of recordings Ann Wilson has made outside of her main band, HEART, recently celebrated at VH1 Honours, most notably duetting with Paul Rodgers and supporting Roger Daltrey in the "British Rock Symphony" project. And it’s the duets that are the heart of Ms Wilson first solo album, “Hope & Glory”, pencilled in for September 11th release.
All covers, bar one original, on the record Ann is joined by luminaries, Elton John the bigger of these, including her sister Nancy, the HEART guitarist, and Gretchen Wilson, a country singer not related to them. As for the songs, that’s what she says of it:
“Each of these songs holds a special place in my soul. At one time or another every one of them has kept me up at night to the point of exasperation and will not be banished, as I lay sleepless on my pillow. Such songs as these carry me through my life, and they are a standard to which all new music I hear and write must compare”
Quite a deal, then.
| 1. Goodbye Blue Sky – with Nancy Wilson (PINK FLOYD) 2. Where To Now St. Peter – with Elton John (Elton John) 3. Jackson – with k.d. lang (Lucinda Williams) 4. We Gotta Get Out Of This Place – with Wynonna (THE ANIMALS) 5. Immigrant Song (LED ZEPPELIN) 6. Darkness Darkness – with Nancy Wilson (THE YOUNGBLOODS) 7. Bad Moon Rising – with Gretchen Wilson (CREEDENCE CLEARWATER REVIVAL) 8. War Of Man – with Alison Krauss (Neil Young) 9. Get Together – with Nancy Wilson, Deana Carter & Wynonna (THE YOUNGBLOODS) 10. Isolation (John Lennon) 11. A Hard Rain’s A-Gonna Fall – with Rufus Wainwright & Shawn Colvin (Bob Dylan) 12. Little Problems, Little Lies DEEP DOWN IN THE VAULTS
Will or won’t YES get back next year is a moot point to their fans, but Rick Wakeman‘s busy as a bee. First off, he provides film score for an upcoming documentary, “Aleister Crowley – The Wickedest Man In The World: In Search Of The Great Beast 666”. A dark matter but after“Phantom Power” why not? More important for the fans, though, is the “Rick Wakeman Video Vault” DVD box set, a companion piece to 2002’s “Treasure Chest” (hey, Voiceprint folks, where’s the promised booklet?). The set, comprising greatly researched and nicely restored footage of classic show, including the notorious “King Arthur On Ice”, is limited to1,000 copies, so while the price of L99 is a bit high for 6 discs, that’s a real gem. And this is what it’s all about:
ENTANGLED WITH DARK ENDEAVORWhen it comes to live videos, the Glenn Hughes fans are underserved: DEEP PURPLE’s “California Jam” and – still not properly released – “Rising Over Japan”, a bit of “Butterfly Ball” and rather horribly shot and cut “Soulfully Live In The City Of Angels”, that’s about all. Things must change with the “Live In Australia” DVD, out in October or, in some parts of the world, earlier. There will be a 2CD set, too, yet it’s the visuals the alluring point, and if it’s no worse than the bootleg footage doing rounds, it must be awful. It’s a document of Hughes’ acoustic show at “The Basement”, Sydney, on June 17th, 2006. Accompanied by JJ Marsh on guitar and Lachlan Doley on keyboards, and a string quartet, the veteran played a selection of PURPLE and solo pieces, among them such rarity as “I Found a Woman” from his solo debut, 1977’s “Play Me Out”. The DVD is fleshed out with the footage from the July 2007 Rome concert, a “Music For The Divine” documentary and three promo videos from this, Glenn’s latest album.
SILVER BAND JUST MARCHING UP AND DOWNAugust 6th saw the release of Richard and Linda Thompson‘s live album, “In Concert, November 1975”. Recorded during the “Hokey Pokey” tour in Oxford, Swindon and Norwich, it features the folk royal couple backed by Richard’s former colleagues from FAIRPORT CONVENTION, Daves Pegg on bass and Mattacks on drums as well as John Kirkpatrick on accordion. Alternative mixes of “t’ll Be Me” and mighty “Calvary Cross” have been previously released on RT’s 1976 compilation “(guitar, vocal)”. while the rest of the selections make it to the shops for the first time ever. Thompson is said to have “blessed the project but has not been involved in any decisions”. It’d be surprising if he hadn’t as this one seems to be the first-ever full live outing for the band.
SOMETHING IN THE AIRIf any label doesn’t stop surprising music lovers, it’s Angel Air which celebrates its first decade in the business this year and even has a dedicated book. And that’s what the good folks are reading for October release… Having put out the document of their successful 2006 tour, "76-06, 30th Anniversary Concert", RACING CARS plucked enough courage and material to pay a visit to a studio and emerge from it with a completely new records, “Second Wind”. Morty is reported to be in top form vocal-wise, so there’ll hardly be a disappointment.
Always smart when it comes to numbering their releases, Angel Air’s 250th is going to be special. Over the years, the label issued a good smattering of MOTT THE HOOPLE-related recordings but forthcoming “Fairfield Halls, Live 1970” stands out still. The reason is September 13th, 1970 was the fist attempt to commit the band’s stage show to tape that aged quite well in the vaults of the group’s leader, Overend Watts, to be out eventually. That evening the HOOPLE appeared mightier than the headliners, FREE, and here’s the proof. And there are bonus tracks to give the CD even more value: taped in Stockholm on February 16th, 1971, these show the ensemble’s progress.
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