TIRED OF WAITING FOR KINKS?
THE KINKS mastermind Ray Davies broke the news to the band’s official fun club of getting in touch with brother Dave and discussing the possibility of a new record to be released this year. If it is to be indeed, the recording won’t start before Ray is through with his solo album, still to be done at the moment.
HEAR THE CRY FOM THE STREET
With his musical commitments largely on hold, David Gilmour decided to sell his London home with proceeds benefitting a charity which helps homeless. The mansion the guitarist bought in the early ’80s is bought now by Princess Diana’s brother for neat sum of $6.5 million. In Guilmor’s words, he doesn’t need the money and very rarely used the house recently.
MORE ACOUSTICALLY DRIVEN
Last year URIAH HEEP released to critical acclaim an album titled "Acoustically Driven". It seems, delighted by the record’s success and their recent co-playing with the band, former HEEP members are to go that way too.
At the recent Magician’s Birthday Party John Lawton played an acoustic set with guitarist Steve Dunning, and that gig had marked a start of a new project that will result in a CD from Classic Rock Legends. The album, a recording of which starts on January 18th, will include both classic URIAH HEEP material and original songs.
Even more teasing sounds the same plan from none other than Ken Hensley, whose “Running Blind” album is out this February. In preparation to tour with his new FREE SPIRIT band, Ken will go to the studio on January 21st with some 15-18 songs to lay them down accompanied only by Dave Kilminster on guitar and background vocals. There’s even a working title to the project, “Acoustic Reflections”; apart from the familiar material Hensley plans to do at least two brand new songs.
ONE OF THE BEAUTIFUL PEOPLE
Yes, it’s truth and not an unbelievable one: Paul McCartney is the Britain’s first-ever pop billionaire. With all the deserved riches of his, Macca’s last year’s fortune has put him much higher in the wealthiest men’s list as no less than 300 million pounds came in from THE BEATLES’ “1” album, and 200 million pounds Paul inherited from his late wife, Linda McCartney. Fortunately, never the man spoilt by dough, McCartney doesn’t rest on laurels and currently is planning to tour his last record, “Driving Rain”.
A NEW KISS OF FIRE
Once upon a time, there were three good albums released to the name of PHENOMENA. The project, masterminded by Tom Galley, featured many a great musicians, among them his brother Mel, who used to be in TRAPEZE and WHITESNAKE, Glenn Hughes, John Wetton, Cozy Powell. This year will see the release of a new album for which the pre-production started in October 2001 with a list of performers still to be announced. Meantime, Tom Galley opened a site with infomation on what was and what is to be.
WAKEY VARIATIONS
For many years Rick Wakeman would pull in an occasional quote from classical composers rarely breaking in playing a piece more or less fully, as with “Swan Lager” off “Rhapsodies”. Eventually, there’s a thorough, serious album of tunes called “Classical Variations.
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1. Pathetique (Beethoven) 2. Meditation (Massenet) 3. O, My Beloved Father (Puccini) 4. O, For The Wings Of A Dove (Mendelssohn) 5. Pavane (Faure) 6. Berceuse (Faure) 7. Largo (Handel) 8. The Swan (Saint Saens) 9. Where’er You Walk (Handel) 10. Variations On The New World Symphony (Dvorak) |
And that’s how maestro himself comments on the record:
“It has been common practise throughout the centuries for composers to take the music of their contemporaries and prepare new arrangements or variations on suitable themes in order to give a further interpretation to some of the world’s greatest music. It has long been an ambition of mine to create an album by taking some of my own personal favourite classical pieces and perform them in a style that I hope the original composers would approve of. Perhaps more relevant than anything else for the listener is to realise that it is the strength and musicality of the original compositions that enables such an exercise to be undertaken.”
CROW AND AN EAGLE
In recent years Sheryl Crow has collaborated with veteran artists and now some of them are gracing her new studio album, out this March.
Off the most famous, Stevie Nicks, who’s heard on Crow’s 1999’s “Live From Central Park” and shared vocals with Sheryl on Nicks’ own “Trouble In Shangri-La” is lending her voice now to “You’re Not the One”. Don Henley, for whom Crow served early on as a backing singer, now reciprocates with “It’s So Easy”, while Kravitz sings on “You’re An Original” and Emmylou Harris on “Weather Channel”.
ANGELS IN THE AIR
Angel Air Records, specialists in serving the new and old from classic artists, approach their 100th album and the fifth anniversary in existance now, and some of the upcoming CDs from the label are should be of rare brilliance. Greetings to the Angel Air, and that’s what’s not to be missed.
Maggie Bell‘s “Live At The Rainbow” documents the singer’s promotional tour of 1974 prior to release of highly praised “Suicide Sal” album. On the recording from bassist Mo Foster’s personal archive, Ms Bell does both her solo material and the songs she used to sing with STONE THE CROWS.
| 1. Coming On Strong 2. Wishing Well 3. As The Years Go Passing By 4. I Was In Chains 5. Suicide Sal 6. I Saw Him Standing There 7. The Preacher 8. Penicillin Blues 9. Soul Medley 10. The Ghetto 11. Aileem Mochree 12. Shout |
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Another great if more obscure musician is John ‘Rabbit’ Bundrick, one of the most revered keyboardist in the world as witnessed by his sting with FREE, CRAWLER and THE WHO, save for numerous sessions. Angel Air set to release some of the master’s works, the first being “Welcome To America” featuring vocals from CRAWLER’s Terry Wilson-Slesser and guitar from Geoff Whitehorn and embellished with unseen photos and sleeve notes by FREE biographer David Clayton in the booklet.
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1. It’s True 2. Taxi To Gatwick 3. Detroit Woman 4. Get The Feeling 5. Jacobs 6. Welcome To America 7. Trouble Mind 8. Southern Comfort 9. Emotions |
10. Zaragosa 11. Denver 12. Madrid 13. Twisted bonus tracks: 14. Badlands 15. Arrow 15. Quanah Parker 16. Muddy Water (CRAWLER live, 1978) |
And at last, Mick Ralphs, the founding member of MOTT THE HOOPLE and BAD CO, coming up with his second solo outing, “It’s All Good”, graced with an exclusive live track from BAD CO recorded on 1999’s “Original” tour, which features also Simon Kirke and Boz Burrell.
| 1. S.E.X. 2. Barking Mad 3. Don’t Need Money 4. Jessica 5. Hideaway (BAD CO live) 6. Jazz-Wah 7. Train Wreck 8. LARGE! 9. Atmosphere 10. Gravy Booby 11. Coming Up The Hill 12. More S.E.X. |
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