COCONUT’S GROOVER
Quite a sad year, this one: Zal Yanovsky, a brilliant guitar player and a mock character behind LOVIN’ SPOONFUL, died of a heart attack on December 13th at his farm near Kingston, Ontario, just a few days short of his 58th birthday. Having left the influential band he co-founded with John Sebastian after meeting at Mama Cass’ appartment, Zalman had a moderate solo career before becoming a successful restaurateur. Burn a candle for the one who believed in magic.
PAGE TURNING UP
While the rumour has it the next March will see the release of LED ZEPPELIN live DVD and the first title in a series of concert recordings, the band’s mastermind Jimmy Page gets into real business, having donated a rare 3-CD ZEP promo set from his own personal collection to help raise funds for the UK’s Bury Hospice. The item – autographed by Page and numbered mini box-set, #376 of the 2,500 limited edition pressing – is officially offered to the public for the first time ever. There’s an auction going on until January 9th, and the winner will get a copy of the “Led Zeppelin: The Montreux Concerts” book as well.
ROCK THE BELIEVER
As mentioned before, February 14th will see the release of John Wetton‘s new album, "Rock of Faith", through Giant Electric Pea label – the Japanese fans are, as usual, to get a hold of it a bit earlier, on January 22nd. Recorded with John Mitchell on guitar and Steve Christey hitting the skins, and featuring a lot of friends – ASIA’s Geoffrey Downes and Clive Nolan of PENDRAGON and ARENA, ELO’s Hugh McDowell and IT BITES’ Francis Dunnery, Ian McDonald of KING CRIMSON and FOREIGNER fame and Wetton’s lifelong lyricist friend Richard Palmer-James – the album looks like this (thanks to Martin Orford):
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1. Mondrago 2. Rock Of Faith 3. A New Day 4. I’ve Come To Take You Home 5. Who Will Light a Candle? 6. Nothing’s Gonna Stand In Our Way 7. Altro Mondo 8. I Believe In You 9. Take Me To The Waterline 10. I Lay Down 11. When You Were Young |
OPEN UP AND…
Ever wanted to be a true rocker who’s adored not scorned when opening a mouth? Video courses are pretty OK – but now there’s a chance to scream following the instructions from Joe Lynn Turner, Bruce Dickinson and QUEENSRYCHE’s Geoff Tate, who all contributed among others to a book called “Pro Secrets of Heavy Rock Singing”, up to take now. The book points a reader to vocal techniques in a singer’s own words rather than going into physiology, and contains interviews with 30 professional singers.
IT BITES
So he’s a cheater, David Coverdale, isn’t he? Pretending that WHITESNAKE were an independent beast rather than a mindchild of his and putting it on ice before venturing into the work on "Into The Light" album back in 2000, Coverdale said the band wouldn’t arise. Not true as, having abandoned his next record he demoed with Tony Franklin, the singer is ready to take on the road again. The January tour is already mapped out through North America, Europe, Scandinavia and the UK, and plans to release a live album and a DVD are there as well. As for the line-up, David called to arms his old pals Tommy Aldridge on drums and Marco Mendoza to pluck a bass, and invited some new guys: keyboardist Timothy Drury who played previously with Don Henley and famous guitarists Reb Beach and Doug Aldrich. Which is funny, because Aldrich played on DIO’s 2002’s "Killing The Dragon" album and toured with it, and WHITESNAKE had a former DIO axeman, Vivian Campbell, in their ranks before. History repeating?
