Jah Wobble‘s been a Jamaican music aficionado for most of his life, the Englishman love for reggae apparent as early on as the first PiL record, so it’s rather thrilling to see the bassist team up with one of the genre’s veterans, Ken Boothe for an album of cover songs. Titled “Old Fashioned Ways” after the latter’s 1969 classic whose reimagining is included here alongside other perennials, it will be issued on June 27th.
The band called ALICE COOPER might have ceased to exist fifty years ago, but the last quarter-century saw regular reunions of the surviving old friends – not only on stage but also in the studio, most notably on three tracks of the former Vincent Furnier’s “Welcome 2 My Nightmare” from 2011 – with “Live from the Astroturf” from 2022 showing the undying creative telepathy between Alice, guitarist Michael Bruce, drummer Neal Smith and bassist Dennis Dunaway. However, an entirely new record from this ensemble wasn’t something their fans ever counted on, and yet July 25th will see the appearance of “The Revenge Of Alice Cooper” whose tracks include archival parts from the late Glen Buxton.
There’s nothing wrong in expressing one’s love for certain artists via performing their music, but while most of those who play covers outgrow it and become musicians in their own right, some entertainers, in addition to original material, find fresh ways to interpret their heroes’ oeuvre. That’s what happened with two former members of ReGENESIS, Tony Patterson and Doug Melbourne, who, over the last six years, recorded a triplet of remarkable albums, yet still return, over and over again, to the collection of Peter Gabriel‘s solo songs they first laid down almost two decades ago. Out in 2007, “Excellent Words” saw a remastered and expanded reissue in 2018, and will reappear as a definitive version, subtitled “Peter Gabriel Reimagined” – with extra tracks, although without “Here Comes The Flood” – on May 9th.
When Robin Trower endeavored to record his third solo album a little more than five decades ago, the British guitarist was ready to become a star. With 1974’s “Bridge Of Sighs” solidifying the success of “Twice Removed From Yesterday” from the previous year, there was a little surprise, but a lot of satisfaction, in “For Earth Below” shooting up the “Billboard” charts to occupy the #5 slot, even though the musician’s homeland gave a colder shoulder to this platter. Its funk quotient heightened by former Sly Stone drummer Bill Lordan pairing with James Dewar in a powerful rhythm machine, this longplay has been fans’ favorite for a long time, and the news of the forthcoming 50th Anniversary Edition of the classic is more than welcome.
It’s been more than a decade since the world last heard of Mario Parga, and when it did, the British six-stringer was involved in an acoustic project with his former taskmaster Graham Bonnet and bassist Beth-Ami Heavenstone, the project that apparently didn’t work out. However, “the world” in question here would be one of rock ‘n’ roll only, because what Parga did on his half-voluntary vacation approached art from a totally different angle, as Mario simply swapped instruments from guitar to brush and became a painter whose landscapes and portraits piqued interest of quite a few lovers of alluring imagery. Yet, with personal affairs taking a turn for the better, the veteran is back with a new album, titled “Shadows & Light” and ready for release on May 20th.
