It’s been almost seven years since Alan Vega slipped off this mortal coil, leaving behind not only much-revered oeuvre by SUICIDE – the art-punk duo he formed with Martin Rev in 1970 but also a string of less known solo albums whose number didn’t include any on-stage recordings. That’s the situation set to be remedied on May 19th with the release of “Live At Rockpalast 1982” which bundles together a vinyl platter and a DVD preserved for posterity in Cologne.
There are musicians who belong to the class of their own, and John Giblin, who passed away on May 14th at the age of 71, was one of those. Bass guitarist extraordinaire, he’s most famous for session work preserved for posterity on top artists’ platters, that should show how the British artist’s virtuosity, which elevated those performances to celestial heights, never got in the way of a classic and only used to make it better.
While it’s nigh on impossible to surprise anyone with covers’ album nowadays, about three years ago guitarist George Lynch and bassist Jeff Pilson did exactly that when they released a collection called “Heavy Hitters” which included not only the former DOKKEN colleagues’ takes on rock staples such as Little Richard’s “Lucille” but also their versions of contemporary pop material from the likes of Madonna. And now the old friends are ready for the second round of this, as “Heavy Hitters II” is scheduled to be out on August 11th.
At first glance, there’s not a lot of common ground between bluegrass and raga, yet a closer look reveals that both these genres are folk-based – and still it’s surprising to hear the results of collaboration between banjoist Béla Fleck and contrabassist Edgar Meyer from the former camp and tabla player Zakir Hussain from the latter. Their first joint effort, titled “As We Speak” and comprising a dozen tracks, was issued to the shelves yesterday, May 12th.
Back in the day, GO WEST seemed unstoppable, their singles and albums enjoying some chart action, and even twenty years after the British duo’s start, in 2003, Peter Cox and Richard Drummie would deliver a top-quality live show. A decade earlier Cox embarked on a career of his own, yet a decade later the veterans’ released another record, their last to the date. 2013 would also see Peter issue his last, for now, solo platter – which will become a penultimate one on May 19th.
