Blues can assume many forms and accept many arrangements, but they don’t get applied too naturally to symphonic sway – or so it seemed until Warren Haynes took to the stage of the Thomas Wolfe Auditorium on his hometurf in Asheville, North Carolina, on March 17th, 2019 accompanied by a local orchestra. He would reprise this experience further on down the road too, yet that concert still stands out for the veteran, which was why he decided to issue the show’s recording as a live album.
Despite having quite a few outstanding albums, STRAWBS were very much aware, when they wrapped up the recording of their 1972 work, that “Grave New World” would be special, as proven by the film the ensemble created to accompany this platter. Which is why when the veterans celebrated the band’s semicentennial anniversary back in 2019, they made the first-ever concert delivery of the classic in its entirety a central event of the weekend of April 26th to 28th spent in Strand Theater in Lakewood, NJ, where the Brits played many of fans’ favorites, most notably on the 27th, when they performed a sort of three sets. And now one of those is prepared for release on October 9th as an initial offering from the jubilee tour.
Hellbent on improvisation but never letting it take away from a tune, BRAND X issued only one concert document during their initial phase, “Livestock” from 1977, and fans who wanted to delve deeper into that period had deal with half-bootleg releases such as "Live At The Roxy LA" from which the ensemble didn’t get any royalties. And while latter-day recordings like "Locked & Loaded" were fully approved by the group members, aficionados wanted more material from the past – and this wish will be granted at the end of August with the appearance of “Theory Of Nothing”: a limited-run two-CD package capturing the quintet of John Goodsall, Percy Jones, Robin Lumley, Morris Pert and Kenwood Dennard in all their glory.
His “Release Me” may have kept THE BEATLES’ “Strawberry Fields Forever / Penny Lane” single off the top spot back in 1967 but, unlike Tom Jones, Engelbert Humperdinck never really found favors with the rock crowd – and that’s something the 90-year-old seems to want to remedy on his new album, which will be released on August 28th. Titled “Faithfully” after a JOURNEY evergreen the veteran has been performing in concert for some time now, it offers one specially penned, fresh piece called “Always My Love” alongside classics by heavier artists – although the Brit didn’t go as far as tackling metal classics as Pat Boone once did.
It’s been longer than a decade since the world last heard fresh cuts from Mike D’Abo, and while the songs he wrote – such as “Handbags & Gladrags” and “Build Me Up Buttercup” – or performed alongside Manfred Mann – including “Fox On The Run” and “Mighty Quinn” – made the warbler’s voice a constant presence on radio waves, hearing his new music is always a treat. That’s why the just-issued, as a 12-track LP or 16-track CD, album titled “The Journey… So Far” is truly specials.
