GARAGE CLEANING
Frank Zappa, an ecсentric par exellence, had an acute business mind and surely would have approved of his enterprise’s new move. Here’s “Roxy By Proxy”, a 76-minute collection of unreleased Zappa masters – including “Inca Roads,” “Penguin In Bondage” and “King Kong” – from two 1973’s gigs in LA, and until December 28th any fan you can license a copy of it for only $1,000 to sell for whatever price they’d like, with $1.20 per-CD mechanical royalty due to Zappa Records. With the duplicate master come liner notes and packaging artwork. Proceeds from that will finance “The Roxy Performances”, an unfinished concert film a part of which was used for 1974’s “Roxy And Elsewhere”.
SONGS FROM THE WOOD
Another day, another string of news from the indefatigable Billy Sherwood.
First off, he’s ready to kick off a PROG COLLECTIVE new piece, “Shining Diamonds”, co-written with Steve Stevens who plays guitar on there, with Patrick Moraz adding the ivories and his former bandmate in YES Chris Squire providng a bass rumble.
And then, Sherwood joined a touring band of Eddie Jobson‘s, as bassist together with guitarists Marc Bonilla and Alex Machacek and Virgil Donati on drums.
December 11th, 2012
PROG-RAMMING
Hot on the heels of the first PROG COLLECTIVE album that he helmed – well, there was THE FUSION SYNDICATE’s record after that – Billy Sherwood follows it up with the second one. Already written and in the recording-and-production stage at the moment, it already has Derek Sherinian‘s parts on it, some of these on a track called “What Can Be Done” which will be sung any day soon by another regular suspect John Wetton. More reports from Billy on the way.
HAWK AND SPIRIT FLY AWAY
This year has seen a lot of musicians go to heaven and, sadly, the count is still on, with two more heroes fallen on December 6th.
A few days ago, Ed Cassidy has joined his colleague in SPIRIT, and stepson, Randy California up there. When we talk about Ed as an oldest rock drummer – he passed away aged 89 – what’s often forgotten is what a great drummer he was. His work on albums like “Twelve Dreams Of Dr. Sardonicus” is breathtaking as is the fact that Cassidy played almost to the last day.
Much younger was Huw Lloyd-Langton, a master axeman who lost his battle with cancer. Mostly known for being a member of HAWKWIND – Huw played on the cosmic hippies’ 1970 debut and returned to the fold in 1979 to be featured on "Live Seventy Nine" and stay for the most of the next decade, and then, briefly, in 2000 – he also had a spell with Leo Sayer and took part in the Steve Ellis-fronted WIDOWMAKER, where he shared guitar duties with Ariel Bender (their self-titled LP is to be reissued in early 2013 on Angel Air. And there’s also been a solo career, with and without LLOYD-LANGTON GROUP, that in 2011 resulted in the exquisite "Classical Guitar Tales". There was so much music in him…
Rest in peace, lads.
A BIT OF SYMPATHY
Able to deliver any tune, over the years Robin Trower has supplied top-quality pieces of his own cooking and didn’t resort so much to playing other people’s wares. Yet his solo debut, 1973’s brilliant “Twice Removed From Yesterday”, featured the classic “Rock Me Baby”, and four decades later, in February 2013, former PROCOL HARUM guitarist returns to blues standards with “Roots And Branches”, a stirring collection of such perennials as “Born Under A Bad Sign” and “The Thrill Is Gone”. Some may call it joining the cover craze, but when it comes to this veteran any madful idea feels out of bounds that he places on the listener’s soul.
| 1. Hound Dog 2. The Thrill Is Gone 3. When I Heard Your Name 4. Little Red Rooster 5. I Believe To My Soul 6. Shapes Of Things To Come 7. That’s All Right Mama 8. Save Your Love 9. Born Under A Bad Sign 10. Sheltered Moon 11. See My Life |
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