May 29, 2008

HOWE DOES HE DO IT

One could suggest it’s all cashing in on the ASIA reunion success, but when it comes to Steve Howe, commercialism is not the point – and releasing two albums at the same time makes no financial sense anyway. For the fans, though, that’s going to be a feast. Those who find pleasure in listening to the three volumes of “Homebrew”, the veteran’s sketch-book recordings, will surely love his new outing, “Motif”. Subtitled “Volume 1”, this, as Howe describes it, “is the first part of a collection that will cover all my solo ‘one man’ guitar tunes. Several solos have premiered on group CDs, or live CDs. There seemed no one place to go to reference this most enjoyable aspect of my work. This was to build up a complete overview of my solo guitar music, afresh in the studio. I’ve occasionally changed the style of guitar used on previously released tunes, and recorded the first studio versions of others. All are solo performances, no overdubs”. So now the origins of the tunes that were included into such albums as “Pulling Strings” and “Not Necesserily Acoustic” will be revealed. For additional pleasure, there’s four new pieces on the album, plus Chet Atkins’ “Trambone”.

1. The Golden Mean
2. Intersection Blues
3. Corkscrew
4. Trambone
5. Devon Blue
6. Clap
7. Australia
8. Part & Parcel
9. Sketches In The Sun
10. Second Initial
11. Concerto in D 2nd Movement
12. Diary Of A Man Who Vanished
13. Cat Napping
14. Ram
15. Provence
16. Winter 2nd Mov’ 4 Seasons
17. Meadow Rag
18. Heritage
19. Bareback
20. Dorothy

“The Haunted Melody” is a different proposition as it comes from THE STEVE HOWE TRIO and is a live recording from May 2007, akin to the one made by Howe’s ELEMENTS which also featured Steve’s son Dylan on drums. The combo, rounded off with Ross Stanley on Hammond, plays more jazz than prog rock, and that gives famous YES’ compositions a new twist.

1. Kenny’s Sound
2. Mood For A Day
3. The Haunted Melody
4. Siberian Khatru
5. Blue Bash
6. Momenta
7. Laughing With Larry
8. Travelin’
9. Dream River
10. Close To The Edge
11. Sweet Thunder

HIS DAWN SURPRISE

On May 14th, the great Jack Bruce, long may he sing, celebrated his 65th birthday. Not that Bruce’s new live album, the BBC three-disc collection and a new record with Robin Trower were tied to this, yet “Can You Follow?”, a six-CD retrospective, out on June 2nd, surely is. Marking the glorious date, the collection features pieces from Jack’s solo career – from his sensational debut, 1969’s “Song For A Tailor”, to his latest studio work, 2003’s “More Jack Than God” – and his stint with CREAM, including previously unreleased mono mixes, as well as Bruce’s collaborations with the likes of Manfred Mann, Tony Williams’ LIFETIME and Frank Zappa. Now, there’s no need to track down rare tracks, now it’s all in one deluxe place accompanied by a 68-page booklet with an exclusive interview.

CD 1:

Alexis Korner’s BLUES INCORPORATED
1. I’m A Hoochie Coochie Man (live)
2. Early In The Morning
3. Night Time Is The Right Time
4. Rockin (live)
THE GRAHAM BOND QUARTET
5. Doxy (live)
Duffy Power & THE GRAHAM BOND QUARTET
6. I Saw Her Standing There
THE GRAHAM BOND ORGANISATION
7. Long Tall Shorty
8. Little Girl
9. High Heeled Sneakers
10. Strut Around
11. Wade In The Water
12. Train Time
13. Baby Make Love To Me
14. Spanish Blues
15. Baby Be Good To Me
16. Last Night
17. Hear Me Calling Your Name
John Mayall’s BLUESBREAKERS
18. They Call It Stormy Monday (live)
Jack Bruce
19. I’m Getting Tired
20. Rootin Tootin’

CD 2:

MANFRED MANN
1. Spirit Feel
2. (I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction
Eric Clapton And THE POWERHOUSE
3. Steppin Out
4. I Want To Know
5. Crossroads
CREAM
6. Wrapping Paper
7. I Feel Free
8. Spoonful
9. N.S.U.
10. We’re Going Wrong
11. Dance The Night Away
12. Sunshine Of Your Love
13. Swlabr
14. Traintime (live)
15. As You Said
16. White Room
17. Deserted Cities Of The Heart
18. Politician (live)
19. Doing That Scrapyard Thing
Jack Bruce
20. Ageing Jack Bruce

CD 3:

Jack Bruce
1. Things We Like
2. Ministry Of Bag (demo)
3. Never Tell Your Mother She’s Out Of Tune
4. Boston Ball Game 1967
5. To Isengard
6. Rope Ladder To The Moon
7. Theme From An Imaginary Western
8. Weird Of Hermiston
9. Tickets To Waterfalls
10. The Clearout
Tony Williams LIFETIME
11. To Whom It May Concern Them
12. To Whom It May Concern Us
13. One Word
14. Two Worlds
Jack Bruce
15. Can You Follow?
16. Escape To The Royal Wood
17. Folk Song
18. You Burned The Tables On Me
19. There’s A Forest
20. Morning Story
WEST, BRUCE & LAING
21. Out Into The Fields
22. Pollution Woman

CD 4:

WEST, BRUCE & LAING
1. Scotch Krotch
2. Like A Plate
3. Powerhouse Sod (live)
Frank Zappa
4. Apostrophe
Jack Bruce
5. Peace Of Mind
6. Keep It Down
7. One
8. Timeslip
9. Without A Word
10. Spirit (live)
11. How’s Tricks?
12. Something To Live For
13. Childsong
14. The Best Is Still To Come

CD 5:

Jack Bruce
1. Jet Set Jewel
2. She S Moving On
ROCKET 88
3. Waiting For The Call (live)
Jack Bruce & Friends
4. Hit And Run
5. Living Without Ja
6. Dancing On Air
7. Bird Alone
Jack Bruce, Robin Trower & Bill Lordan
8. Carmen
Jack Bruce
9. Automatic Pilot
10. Green And Blue
11. Willpower
12. Ships In The Night
13. Waiting On A Word
14. No Surrender
15. A Question Of Time
16. Kwela

CD 6:

Jack Bruce
1. Make Love
2. Obsession
3. Running Through Our Hands (live)
4. Life On Earth (live)
BBM
5. Waiting In The Wings
6. City Of Gold
Jack Bruce, Mark Nauseef & Miroslav Tadic
7. The Wind Cries Mary
Jack Bruce & Bernie Worrell
8. David’s Harp
9. The Boy
10. Time Repairs
Jack Bruce
11. 52nd Street
12. Directions Home
13. Surge
14. Heart Quake
15. Milonga
16. The Night That Once Was Mine
17. Progress
18. So They Invented Race

PILGRIMS’ PROGRESS

After another successful DVD, BLACKMORE’S NIGHT are ready to present the medieval-minded folks with a new album. “Secret Voyage”, that’ll be released on June 30th, seems to be much more funny than the band’s previous studio works which didn’t reflect Ritchie Blackmore’s wicked sense of humor. Now, though, the tone-setter is “God Save The Keg”, and there’s two covers for the old fans – RAINBOW’s most gentle “Rainbow Eyes” which 30 years ago was closing the “Long Live Rock ‘n’ Roll” LP, and Elvis’ tearjerker “Can’t Help Falling In Love”. Must be a treat…

1. God Save The Keg
2. Locked Within The Crystal Ball
3. Gilded Cage
4. Toast To Tomorrow
5. Prince Waldeck’s Galliard
6. Rainbow Eyes
7. The Circle
8. Sister Gypsy
9. Can’t Help Falling In Love
10. Peasant’s Promise
11. Far Far Away
12. Empty Words

GONNA MAKE YOU SWEAT, GONNA MAKE YOU GROOVE

There’s no deficit in LED ZEPPELIN tribute albums, but almost all of them, even “Encomium” featured Robert Plant himself, are extremely boring, as it’s quite difficult to do their songs justice, especially if it’s a heavy metal band that run for cover or the mockers such as DREAD ZEPPELIN. Successes in the field are rare, then, and renditions like Lizz Wright’s soulful take on “Thanks You” are thing on the ground. Still, recently released “Led Box – The Ultimate Led Zeppelin Tribute” is really good – with the hard and prog rock elite re-imagining the classics. Here’s who they are:

CD 1:

1. Good Times, Bad Times – Eric Bloom, Brian Robertson, Tony Franklin, Doane Perry
2. Houses Of The Holy – Pat Travers
3. Babe I’m Gonna Leave You – Joe Lynn Turner, Jeff “Skunk” Baxter, Tony Franklin, Doane Perry
4. When The Levee Breaks – Artimus Pyle, Jimmy Hall
5. Dazed & Confused – Jack Russell, Bruce Kulick, Tony Franklin, Doane Perry
6. Whole Lotta Love – Pat Travers
7. You Shook Me – Artimus Pyle, Jimmy Hall
8. Immigrant Song – Manny Charlton
9. Ramble On – Rick Derringer
10. Rock And Roll – Steve Lukather
11. D’yer Mak’er – Albert Lee
12. Stairway To Heaven – Dweezil Zappa

CD 2:

1. Fool In The Rain – Rick Wakeman
2. Dancing Days – John Wetton, Geoff Downes
3. Heartbreaker – Steve Morse
4. Black Dog – Keith Emerson
5. All My Love – Billy Sherwood, Tony Kaye, Alan White
6. Kashmir – Paul DiAnno
7. Misty Mountain Hop – Taime Downe
8. The Ocean – Jani Lane
9. Houses Of The Holy – Joe Leste, John Corabi
10. The Rover – Marq Torien
11. Dancing Days – Kelly Hanson
12. Nobody’s Fault But Mine – John Corabi
bonus Buddha Lounge track
13. Stairway To Heaven – The West 52nd Street Buddha Lounge Ensemble

May 29, 2008

Category(s): News

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