WILD WORLD OR WHAT?
Sometimes there’s a feeling music world deserves to be as blasted as it is now, with patricular news reeking of travesty. Go figure…
With “Liverpool Oratorio” failing to set the world – even that of the most devoted Beatlemaniacs – in 1991, ten years on Paul McCartneyhas set about writing a ballet music. Titled “Ocean’s Kingdom”, the 45-minute piece’s premiere is scheduled to take place in New York in September. Macca can’t read or write sheet music, let alone doing orchestration for symphonic emsembles, but what’s the heck when you’re one of the beautiful people? There’s always someone to do the job for your topline, ain’t it so? Pop music? Guess Paul doesn’t find it so interesting now.
At the same time, an album dedicated to the memory of Ronnie James Dio is planned featuring many lunimaries, among them Dave Grohl who’s already chosen “Mob Rules” to deliver, Bruce Dickinso, who shared stage space with Ron a few times, Glenn Hughes, Dio’s friend since DEEP PURPLE and ELF joint treks, and… Ozzy Osbourne. Yes, Oz, who’d been slagging his successor in BLACK SABBATH for many years, said they’ve patched up the rift but going as far as paying a recorded tribute? Would be interesting to listen!
Yet that’s a nice Dio-related item to balance which there’s a weird one. Wendy, Ronnie’s widow, has granted his bandmates access to the music they worked on together with a prospect of finishing it with another vocalst, presumably Ripper Owens formerly of JUDAS PRIEST, and releasing it under a “DIO” tag. On the one hand, it’s Ronnie’s music, on the other, call it so without his voice? Isn’t there a demo vocal? And wouldn’t it be better to have different singers, as on that tribute album, rather than Tim whose voice might be not the right one for the job? Here’s hoping they won’t take it to the road like THIN LIZZY do without Phil Lynott – but then, his name doesn’t make the band’s.
SKY PILOT
Not too praised back in their day, as years go by, THE SEEDS become increasingly influential, and here’s a proof. The band’s motor, Sky Saxon passed away in 2009, and there’s been work going on for some time on a tribute album. How and when will it turn out, is hard to say for the list of partisipants, including the fellow rockstranauts HAWKWIND and Nik Turner, is impressively long. Here’s just a few names with the songs of their choice:
Arthur Brown – Tell Me The Time
Davy Jones (THE MONKEES) – Painted Doll
ELECTRIC PRUNES – Pushin’ Too Hard
FUZZTONES – Bad Part Of Town
Iggy Pop – Pushin’ Too Hard
Patrick Campbell-Lyons (NIRVANA – UK) – Flower Lady & Her Assistant
STRAWBERRY ALARM CLOCK – Mr. Farmer
THE DAMNED – Satisfy You
THE TUBES – Pictures and Designs
It’s clear some artists made the same choice… will they go for a mix? The prospect of Iggy fronting PRUNES feels teasing.
THE INSECT ROCK
Billy James, or Ant-Bee is a long-time friend of this site. Doing PR for many a music legend, he’s no stranger to making the recorded sounds himself, the man’s debut,“Pure Electric Honey”, sending waves all the world over and his cover of a BEACH BOYS’ unreleased song mistaken for the real thing. Twelve years on from “Lunar Muzik”, which featured the former members of MOTHERS OF INVENTION and ALICE COOPER, the band, Ant-Bee delivers its follow-up, “Electronic Church Muzik”. The parish here comprises ex-YES-man Peter Banks and ex-FOCUS-maker Jan Akkerman on guitars, plus GONG’s Daevid Allen and Gilli Smyth representing the Eastern hemisphere, and, from the other side of the planet, Michael Bruce of ALICE COOPER fame as well as Captain Beefheart’s erstwhile sidekicks Zoot Horn Rollo and Rockette Morton, Frank Zappa’s flock of Bunk and Buzz Gardner, Napoleon Murphy Brock, Don Preston and Jimmy Carl Black, and Moogy Klingman from UTOPIA. The line-up so heavy, it’s still undoubtable the veterans don’t overshadow the main man: he’s so unique.
TRAVELERS IN TIME
Making up for the long inter-album gaps, URIAH HEEP follow 2008’s "Wake The Sleeper" with their 22nd all-original studio work “Into The Wild” on April 15th. Well, all-original mightn’t be so correct when it comes to its second cut, too close to their old “So Tired” – but as it’s their piece, they have the right to bend their legacy however they like. It’s just there’s a feeling that sometimes a longer gestation helps to shift a work into the focus. The rest looks good, though.
| 1. Nail On The Head 2. I Can See You 3. Into The Wild 4. Money Talk 5. Trail Of Diamonds 6. Lost 7. Believe 8. Southern Star 9. I’m Ready 10. T-bird Angel 11. Kiss Of Freedom |
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NATTY SPREAD
Recently, Bob Marley site fell into the righ(eous) hand of the reggae giant most famous son, Ziggy, who listened to what the fans said. This corner of the web has been re-jigged and multimedia’ed to meet the latest demands to be, in Marley Jr’s words, “a special place for Bob and his fans, someplace where they can get to know Bob like no where else. Not just Bob the legend, but Bob the spirit, Bob the man, Bob as you would have known him if you had time to visit him”. And it does look the part. Go and see.
BRIGHT CITY CLUES
Miller Anderson is one of the greatest – and greatly undersung – British rockers who rose to a certain fame with KEEF HARTLEY BAND and, in their ranks, even played Woodstock. Not that it so matters now, for Miller’s blues sound modern, and here’s a chance to experience the veteran’s live show on DVD. “Live at Rockpalast”was recorded in Bonn, Germany, in March, 2010 and features a nice, if not long, selection of Anderson’s classics such as “Boogie Brothers” that he originally recorded with SAVOY BROWN and “Sinnin’ For You” from the HARTLEY period. An item not to be overlooked.
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1. City Blues 2. Sinnin’ For You 3. Boogie Brothers 4. I Love To Boogie 5. High Tide And High Water 6. Fallin’ Back Into The Blues 7. Just To Cry 8. Think It Over 9. Houston bonus tracks 2009-2010 tour * Leavin’ Trunk * Little Man Dancing * Spoonful |
HARPER’S STARR
One Fab drummer is back for some action. Ringo Starr not only embarks on a good tour now but also co-wrote and played on two cuts on Ben Harper‘s forthcoming longplay “Give Till It’s Gone”, out on May 17th. The two musicians first worked together when Ben supplied backing vocals for Ringo’s latest album, “Y Not”, and then performed to promote it. Now, Starr repaid Harper’s contribution on “Spilling Faith” and instrumental piece “Get There From Here”. A cool touch from the old hand.
ALL HANDS ON DECK
Four decades on stage is a good cause for a celebration, and that’s exactly what TOWER OF POWER, all horns blaring, do with a neat DVD and CD package “40th Anniversary”. Recorded at the Fillmore Auditorium in San Francisco in 2008, the concert saw a string of former members come up to the stage, including legendary ivory-tinkler Chester Thompson, sax player Richard Elliott and Lenny Pickett, as well as a special guest Sam Moore, of SAM AND DAVE fame, who delivered “I Thank You” and “Mr. Pitiful”. Here’s the full tracklist:
| 1. We Came To Play 2. Soul With A Capital “S” 3. Can’t Stand To See The Slaughter 4. Down To The Nightclub 5. It’s Not The Crime 6. You Got To Funkifize 7. As Surely As I Stand Here 8. I Got To Groov 9. Boys From The Bay (DVD only) 10. This Time It’s Real |
11. Souled Out 12. Time Will Tell 13. I Thank You (DVD only) 14. Mr. Pitiful (DVD only) 15. Only So Much Oil In The Ground 16. Credit 17. A Little Knowledge 18. What Is Hip? 19. You’re Still A Young Man 20. Knock Yourself Out |
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