Jon Povey, a stalwart of PRETTY THINGS, died yesterday at the age of 80. The veteran has been battling cancer for a number of years and seemed to be beating it but, sadly, was unable to. Beating things came natural to Jon, who used to serve as a drummer in THE FENMEN and got co-opted, together with Wally Waller, into Phil May’s collective – only as a keyboard player that the band hadn’t had before, and one of the singers too.
For an ensemble that’s been entertaining the masses for 55 years, NAZARETH are vastly underserved in terms of concert recordings, deserving significantly more live albums from the classic period than 1981’s "'Snaz" and a couple of archival releases which document an earlier period. The more welcome, then, is a platter called “The Fool Circle Tour 1981” scheduled for issue on July 7th.
If there ever was an artist whose posthumous releases have always been met with gladness bordering on rapture, it’s Rory Gallagher. The Irish guitarist – well, multi-instrumentalist – passed away almost three decades ago, yet his concert recordings prove to be revelatory even today, such is the sheer force and brilliance of Gallagher’s performances. That’s why, while the reissue programme of Rory’s studio albums may interest mostly completists, finding pleasure in listening to various takes of a single tune, the live document slated to hit the shelves on July 7th should attract much more attention from blues-rock aficionados.
One of the Italian guitarist Dario Mollo‘s many talents is his impeccable ability to find world-famous singers to establish rapport with and engage in joint projects. There were three albums he released in the company of ex-BLACK SABBATH warbler Tony Martin as THE CAGE and three together with former DEEP PURPLE belter Glenn Hughes as VOODOO HILL, plus an EZOO platter with erstwhile RAINBOW vocalist Graham Bonnet at the microphone. Now, a few years down the line, the veteran’s new co-conspirator will be Carl Sentance, the current NAZARETH frontman.
Always smiling, always singing, always so full of life, Linda Lewis, an indelibly beautiful detail of English melodic landscape from the early ’70s onwards, has passed away yesterday at the age of 72. The wide masses saw her out in the open for the first time at the inaugural Glastonbury Festival where the lady’s alluring wails mesmerized the crows, but what followed a little later was a string of hits, including 1973’s Lewis-written “Rock-a-Doodle-Doo” – a tune Linda co-produced with her then-husband Jim Cregan whose links warranted that on the albums such as “Lark” – whence came “Old Smokey” which got sampled by Common on his “Go” featuring John Mayer and Kanye West – and “Not a Little Girl Anymore” the singer used to be accompanied by the elite players making her voice shine the brightest.
