The great Tony McPhee, one of the most influential – if rarely mentioned in this capacity – British guitarists, passed away today at the age of 79. T.S., as he used to be known, was different from other purveyors of white blues in that he, though bowing to the genre’s traditional roots, always perceived it as progressive music, and what McPhee did, first and foremost, with GROUNDHOGS and, later, TERRAPLANE as well as an individual artist.
For all the respect paid to the great late Bo Hansson – whose “Music Inspired by Lord of the Rings” rose rather high in the UK charts in 1972 – even his Swedish Wikipedia doesn’t mention his stint, brief but significant, with Stockholm progressive rock ensemble FLÄSKET BRINNER. Even prior to the keyboard wizard’s joining this instrumental outfit as a live performer, his number “Bosses Låt” stood out on their 1971 debut – and it’s one of the pieces included in the band’s “Live At Pistolteatern 1972” album that was released just recently.
It takes guts and lots of love for rock avant-garde to try and cover VELVET UNDERGROUND – and also venture beyond obvious choices for your versions of Lou Reed’s classics. Thankfully, SONIC YOUTH cofounder Lee Ranaldo knows his way around this repertoire so, when Catalan music journalist Ignacio Julià wanted to augment the world premiere of his book “Linger On” – dedicated to the legendary New York ensemble – with what he considered their original dynamics, in a live performance, Ranaldo and French experimental composer Pascal Comelade conspired to evoke just that, in the company of a local drummer Ramon Prats.
There’s no stopping for Duke Robillard lately, the veteran carrying on churning out top-notch platters almost every year, alone or with his heavy friends. 2023 isn’t going to be an exclusion, as June 23rd is the day when the American bluesman issues “Six Strings Of Steel” whose triple “S” title should reflect his current approach to playing. While Robillard’s last efforts were billed to himself and Scott Hamilton or himself and the ensemble bearing his name, this one has “His All-Star Band” in its title, making the album a follow-up of sorts to "Blues Bash!" from 2020.
They were the prominent figures on the pub-rock front, yet EDDIE AND THE HOT RODS haven’t been issuing fresh material since 2006’s “Been There, Done That…” – “35 Years Of Teenage Depression” from 2011 was a anniversary re-recording of the band’s 1976 debut – so there seem to be nothing strange in the doubt that the Brits’ current line-up, boasting no original member, could deliver a potent follow-up. Yet the album which is scheduled for release on June 9th is slated to prove the naysayers wrong.
