One of those ensembles to carry on delivering the goods after a few decades in the business, NEKTAR consistently proved their creative strength over the last releases, "The Other Side" being an excellent case in point. Not for nothing that record lent its title to the veteran’s forthcoming offering: a 2CD/Blu-ray set scheduled for issue on April 26th, titled “Journey To The Other Side – Live At The Dunellen Theatre June 10, 2023” and celebrating the band’s 50th anniversary.
Murray Head would have been considered a star even if he released only three singles – “Jesus Christ Superstar” and “One Night In Bangkok” which spearheaded two legendary rock operas, as well as “Say It Ain’t So, Joe” that he wrote to see covered by other luminaries – and one longplay, the concept album “Nigel Lived” which found the British performer sing his self-penned numbers backed by a stellar ensemble, yet the veteran has never stopped doing what he does best. And though Head’s last studio record appeared more than a decade ago, in 2012, Murray still regularly meets listeners, venturing out from his Spanish home and touring, mostly in Europe.
With the exceptions of Messrs. Brown, Sinfield and Reid, non-playing lyricists are rarely celebrated in any way, and it’s more than true in the case of Clementine Hall. She was the lady behind the memorable lines “Chaos all around me / With its fevered clinging” that opened “I Had To Tell You” by THE 13TH FLOOR ELEVATORS and co-writer, with Roky Erickson, of “Splash 1 (Now I’m Home)” which appeared on the American band’s debut album. And still, she’s all but forgotten now – thankfully, not by everyone.
Hard to believe but, at 85, the great Nick Gravenites still grinds in the field of music – if “grinds” is a correct word for someone doing what they love and what they helped define. And it’s easy to believe that, without Nick, modern music wouldn’t sound the same because the Chicagoan guitarist’s playing and/or writing graced such influential platters as THE PAUL BUTTERFIELD BLUES BAND’s eponymous debut, THE ELECTRIC FLAG’s “A Long Time Comin'” and “Pearl” by Janis Joplin. Just as prominent is his friend Pete Sears whose bass or keyboards everybody could hear on Rod Stewart’s “Gasoline Alley” and JEFFERSON STARSHIP’s “Red Octopus” to name but a couple records. The two veterans also worked together for years – and they bring forth a joint album on April 5th.
It’s been close to eight years since Bernie Worrell, the most fantastic driver of ivories, left this planet for some other plane of existence, to become a sonic wave still resonating amongst those who loved his work alongside George Clinton, Jack Bruce and Bill Laswell and who lost the cosmic soul he used to be. Given the abundance of pieces the veteran wrote and performed as a solo artist, there was no doubt his archives were bursting with material that didn’t land on plastic, and it was just a matter of time before previously unheard music would see the light of day. And the day is April 20th, a day after The Wizard of Woo’s 80th anniversary.
