Despite the widely publicized fact that TOTO fans should not hold their breath for the band’s fresh album – there will be none anymore – they still will have something breathtaking to listen to soon: proving he’s dyed yet not dyed-in-the-wool, the collective’s guitarist Steve Lukather releases a new solo record on June 16th – titled “Bridges” and featuring quite a few of his former colleagues.
More often than not, when a classically trained and academically educated rock musician issues a symphonically-slanted album, it’s to massage their ambition rather than signal a career change but since Karl Jenkins parted ways with SOFT MACHINE there was no looking back, and it wasn’t his adventures with the Canterbury legends that the Welsh composer got a knighthood in 2015. The list of Sir Karl’s works is long and is about to become longer on June 16th once “One World” sees the light of day.
It’s an oft-missed point yet, back in the ’60s, John Mayall was much more than a well-respected blues performer – he used to be a one-man institution, not only exposing aspirant players to American sounds via his expansive collection of obscure, at least in England, platters, but also providing some of the youngsters with a chance to give their own spin on those numbers as part of his ensembles. The band line-ups, frequently billed as BLUESBREAKERS, included, at various times, such luminaries as, to name just a few, John McVie, Colin Allen, Andy Fraser and, of course, Eric Clapton and Peter Green – while the “Live In France 1967-73” set, scheduled for release on April 28th, features, alongside their guru, the talents of Mick Taylor, Dick Heckstall-Smith and Keef Hartley.
As powerhouse-like as they used to be on-stage, BLACK SABBATH had never been prone to serving up in-concert improvisations to set their in-front-of-audience performances much apart from studio cuts – at least until Ronnie James Dio came onboard – which is why the ensemble’s live albums didn’t seem so important to the quartet, what with 1980’s “Live At Last” not being sanctioned by them and only the palindrome-tiled “Live Evil” from 1983 given enough thought and attention. And it’s this legendary offering that will see an anniversary reissue – a super deluxe edition – on June 2nd.
Although Merv Spence is always associated with WISHBONE ASH, being this ensemble’s bassist and singer between 1983 and 1986 and leaving his mark on "Raw To The Bone" also as a writer, there’s much more to the musician from Norther Ireland. Not a lot of connoisseurs know that he used to be a member of TRAPEZE – replacing Pete Goalby when the latter quit to join URIAH HEEP, just like he would replace Trevor Bolder in WISHBONE ASH, the references emphasizing Mervyn’s mastery of the trade – but some remember him as a driving force behind one of the installments of the famous PHENOMENA project. And it’s this project the veteran’s returning to with an album titled “Phenomena Recovered” on June 2nd
