Original punks may have despised many a classic-rock artist, but not THE BEATLES – and indeed, how that crowd could badmouth a band who took to the stage with toilet seats around their necks when those pseudo-nihilists could barely talk? Why not gather, then, and deliver a smattering of The Fabs covers on a standalone album? And this is exactly what the forthcoming “Anarchy On Abbey Road” comp is about.
Fans often find it fascinating to listen to early variant of pieces they came to know and love, which is why collections of demos, even though the appeal of such material is limited in terms of audience, are possessed of charm and allure. And this is why STATUS QUO’s Francis Rossi decided to open his vaults and dust off quite a few numbers, with the first volume of those scheduled for release on July 18th.
Nad Sylvan will be the first to admit that becoming a singer for Steve Hackett‘s band was one of the best things that ever happened to him. This gig not only made the vocalist behind such now-obscure gems as AGENTS OF MERCY’s "The Black Forest" a household name all around the world but also provided him with a launchpad for creative flights as a solo artist whose early records hardly hinted at what the Swedish warbler set in motion on 2015’s “Courting The Widow” to retain the momentum over the course of three more platters. Or, rather, four, because June 20th is the day when the veteran’s next album will be out.
If not for a single photo – presumably, Chrysalis promo shot – and a few mentions in the contemporary press, plus latter-day interview remarks, a supergroup called JUDE could have been apocryphal. The 1972 convergence of vocalist Frankie Miller and STONE THE CROWS singing bassist Jimmy Dewar, who had struck up a friendship back in their Scottish bands, with guitarist Robin Trower, who had recently left PROCOL HARUM, and drummer Clive Bunker, fresh out of JETHRO TULL’s "Aqualung" success, might seem unlikely from today’s perspective, especially given the fact that not a single audio recording of the quartet’s brief career ever surfaced. Until now.
For a man who was the principal composer of “Hotel California” – the piece, that is, although he also contributed what became “Victim Of Love” on the platter of same title – Don Felder remains strangely underrated as a songwriter, and the American guitarist’s meager solo discography, numbering a mere three albums, doesn’t help his fame and glory too much. This is why, perhaps, the veteran decided to follow up 2019’s “American Rock ‘n’ Roll” with a record based on his dusted off demos from the last five decades, although, of course the subtitle of “The Vault” – “Fifty Years Of Music” – should seem quite misleading, given the artist’s name first appeared on vinyl as early as 1967.
