November 27, 2003

WHO’S LAKE

THE WHO are still keen on putting together a new album, yet instead of roping in the great Pino Paladino, who helped the band do a tour when John Entwistle died, Pete Townshend and Roger Daltrey called another veteran, Greg Lake. Big L spent a week recording with the group he always loved, though going on the road with his heroes can’t be as easy. Still, Greg played in Ringo Starr’s ALL STARR BAND, so anything can happen. Having completed the work on a new Townshend’s song “Good Looking Boy”, Lake pays much more attention to the projects of his own. There are three of them.

The first is “From The Underground Volume 2 – Deeper Into The Mine”, a compilation of rarities unearthed in the artist’s own archives, including live ELP tracks, cuts designed for KING CRIMSON, for Greg’s solo albums, for RIDE THE TIGER, a project Lake had with Geoff Downes, and for EMERSON, LAKE & POWELL record. The latter band is a subject of two other releases,“Emerson Lake & Powell – Live In Concert” and “The Sprocket Sessions”, which collects Greg Lake, Keith Emerson and Cozy Powell rehearsal tapes.

SOME MORE SHADES

There seems to be no end to DEEP PURPLE‘s live recordings, which is quite easy to explain: there’s only a handful of bands who סan go improvising to the infinite length without losing the edge and still rocking. That’s why Purple Records imprint, Sonic Zoom, that’s putting out the group’s ‘official bootlegs’, has compiled a bunch of one-off gems to release it as “New, Live & Rare”. Don’t mistake it for classic Japanese collection bearing the same title, that’s why, in the Land of the Rising Sun, it’ll be out labelled as “New, Live & Rare 2”.

1. Wring That Neck (Amsterdam, August 1969) 2. Child In Time (July 1970) 3. Black Night (recording for TV, 1970) 4. Strange Kind Of Woman (Long Beach Arena, 1971) 5. Into The Fire (Germany, 1971) 6. Demon’s Eye (Germany, 1971) bonus tracks: 7. Wring That Neck (edit, Belgium, August 1969) 8. Mandrake Root (edit, Belgium, August 1969)

BENDING THE BAND

Jools Holland is an institution now, but one nobody will want to rebel against, as the musician-cum-TV presenter is clearly on a mission to show the audience what does a good taste in music mean. First two albums in his “Small World Big Band” series were ripe with superstars’ contributions, and the third title in the line, “Friends 3 – Jack O The Green”, is no exclusion to the rule, the obvious diference being the bluesiness of the record. Which is not bad – but why the “green” in the title? Ah, a must anyway.

1. She Suits Me To A Tee – Buddy Guy 2. Misfit – Terri Walker 3. You Really Got A Hold On Me – Smokey Robinson 4. I Think It’s Going To Rain Today – David Gray 5. Message To My Son – Solomon Burke & Eric Clapton 6. Just To Be Home With You – Shane Mcgowan 7. Play It Sam – Steve Earle 8. Kiss Of Love – Nick Cave & Sam Brown 9. I Told The Truth – Paul Rodgers

10. Please Can I Talk – SUGABABES 11. Boys – Ringo Starr 12. When I Get Home – Ruby Turner 13. Enjoy Yourself – Prince Buster 14. Sweet If You Like – Eliza Carthy 15. Cry Myself To Sleep – Michael McDonald feat. Candy Dulfer 16. Shutting The Doors – Kirsty Maccoll 17. Washing The Water – Peter Gabriel 18. Jack O The Green – Suggs 19. Ooh La La – Ronnie Wood 20. Mabel – Solomon Burke & Eric Clapton 21. I’ll Be Seeing You – Jimmy Scott

OF THEIR ELABORATE PLANS

THE DOORS stage performances are the opposite to easy listening. Still, the band could be great when on form, which any of the official recordings failed to catch. More so, there’s no sign of humor that certainly belonged to their music. That was quite the reason for the group’s guitarist, Robby Krieger, to start sifting through the bootleg tapes and cherry-pick the most exciting stuff: on-stage jokes, Jimbo’s madful incantations and the cream of the ensemble’s repertoire sprinkled with songs very rarely played live. Hence the title of the 4CD-box, “Boot Yer Butt”. Uninitiated, keep off!

November 27, 2003