The Doors at the Boston Arena Friday April 10

Written by Joe Viglione

Tuesday, 21 April 2009 12:53

To the left of the entrance of Symphony Hall in Boston, across from the Christian Science Mother Church and diagonal from the highly respected Jordan Hall (where, believe it or not, Lou Reed and The Tots rocked out in the early 1970s), Jim Morrison caused mayhem at the Boston Arena (which is now Matthews Arena, the oldest ice hockey rink in the world! See Wikipedia for details http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matthews_Arena ) Now this particular album, a beautiful and quite deluxe 3 CD set, has had its critics and gets slammed quite a bit, but those heretics don't know what they are talking about, The Doors At The Boston Arena is a truly exquisite document of a great rock band in all its ragged glory. Playback's Kevin O'Hare notes that " Boston authorities finally cut the power at the end of the second show", which I sort of kind of remember hearing about (which is why I scouted the info out on the web) and you can hear nine minutes and fifteen seconds of just audience (something Yoko Ono would intentionally put on one of her records is added to this to make it a pure document of the event) - and for archivists that like to explore their favorite groups, heck, this is just what the doctor ordered. "Light My Fire" has Jim performing Gershwin (by way of his friend Janis Joplin) with renditions of "Summertime" and "Fever" (take that Peggy Lee...and The McCoys) and though he is allegedly hammered out of his mind, these are subtle readings with Robbie Kriegers essential "Light My Fire" guitar lines dripping within and without - getting into Jim's act somewhat by also playing some phrases from The Sound of Music's "My Favorite Things". The sixteen page booklet is gorgeous with photos of the poster, a ticket stub, the tape boxes and commentary from Bruce Botnick (who produced, recorded and mixed it all) as well as Krieger & Manzarek with a line from Densmore too. Years after Paul Rothchild helped established the band with his production style and Botnick picked up the slack by helping to craft the masterpiece that is L.A. Woman, these live performances give the fans the music they crave. "Been Down So Long" is a revelation because the immaculate recording on L.A. Woman is deconstructed here to marvelous effect. This review is just of disc three, the rest of the album is drawn out and lovely as well and is an essential piece of the Doors puzzle...damn the critics who just didn't get it. Joe Viglione 5:32 PM Tuesday April 21, 2009 Please note. Because so many discs are flying into the mailbox I'm going to be logging them here in no particular order for March & April of 2009. The "Top 40" is now published on http://www.gemmzine.com Gemm Magazine - so go there also for the monthly listings. Thanks JV Scott Couper (Bass, Guitar, Vocals) and Jay Couper (Production, engineering, drums) have been a formidable duo ever since Richard Nolan of Third Rail discovered them back in the early 1

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Yours And Not Yours - George Usher

Written by Lisa Burns

Sunday, 18 October 2009 12:41

Direct link here: http://tinyurl.com/yoursandnotyours Remember to click on album photos and highlighted names to explore the media available in Gemm.com George Usher Yours and Not Yours Label: Parasol CD-114 Year: Sept. 1, 2009 An Antidote for Mean-Spirited Times by Lisa Burns What passes for good writing is often ironic and mean-spirited. Yours and Not Yours, George Usher’s new release on Parasol, is neither of these things; instead it's a graceful, thoughtful listen. Usher has sculpted a sweeping piece of work that on first listen, will knock you off your feet with its sheer sonic beauty. On repeated listens, his calm unaffected delivery begins to impose as the words sink in. Usher questions, and studies past relationships, and it's this soulful study that sits at the exposed heart of his record. How we can be someone’s, but not. How someone can have our love, but not have us. Musically its lush intricate arrangements are carefully crafted to compliment, and sometimes uplift a mood that borders on dark, but is really more dusk in tone. Pianos and strings interplay with pedal steel. The steel played by Jon Graboff of Ryan Adams' band becomes a focal point as it converses with the voice in a free stream of consciousness. Usher, as prolific as Adams, would probably have the same number of releases, given the opportunity. But the comparison ends there. Craftsman is a word that comes to mind when talking about George Usher. His best known song, ' Not The Tremblin' Kind', recorded by Laura Cantrell, stands as a contemporary classic. Go to his website: http://www.georgeusher.com and read his blog, a forthright account of his writing process. But Yours and Not Yours has other songs quietly waiting in the wings to be interpreted by other artists. 'Just A Story' with Beatlesque chord changes contains the revealing line, "I've got a lot to lose maybe more to gain," is one of these. 'The Stranger Came' is a seductive sorrowful story song worthy of Waylon, Willie and Johnny. Here he finds himself wishing he could return to the sanctity of home, but the stranger has made this impossible. There's humanity in the writing that Usher shares with the above mentioned country icons. 'Put it Out of Your Mind' vibes like The Band, and as the Hammond swells, Usher admits to a frustrated lover that maybe he never really listened. But he also pleads, "don’t be so resigned", knowing that fixation on something perceived ends many a relationship. On 'I Would Have Done Anything', with a horn line reminiscent of Robert Wyatt's 'Shipbuilding', Usher understands that making a woman happy is no easy feat. On 'Guardian Angel' he asks "did you think that love was more than this?" In my mind, the woman answers, Yes- Love is everything! But George Usher knows it's not. Love doesn't provide the answers, only more questions. 'Is There Something You Want to Say?', he asks an old lover. and urges her to come clean, “after all this time has past, you can speak your mind at last." He wants clearing, and closure, but we feel pretty sure he won't get it. Love is messy, but this record is not. It's easier to write a kiss-off, (die bitch), than to leave honoring love. Yours and Not Yours, seeks to make sense of the past, as it walks with a weary dignity into the present. For George Usher, love has always been a cruel surprise, 'Just A Story' a 'Comedy of Errors', but he believes it is waiting, 'Somewhere North of the Sky'. Direct link here: http://tinyurl.com/yoursandnotyours Remember to click on album photos and highlighted names to explore the media available in Gemm.com

Last Updated on Monday, 19 October 2009 17:11

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anis Ian / Folk is the New Black by Robert Barry Francos

Written by Robert Barry Francos

Thursday, 09 April 2009 09:08

Despite an impressive body of work that, with the release of “Folk is the New Black” includes twenty albums, JANIS IAN is still basically known for two songs from early in her career. This is an injustice. Ian’s guitar playing is strong and her vocals just keep getting better with time. This CD starts off strong with a couple of lefty political pieces, “Danger Danger” (about closed-minded citizens) and “The Great Divide” (focusing on power structures, such as politics and religion). Most of the rest of her songs look at life, from love to daily living, from the downtrodden to the look for hope. It’s all done tastefully and never preachy when that road could have been easily taken (“Life Is Never Wrong”, for example). There’s even some humor with the final and title cut (“We’ll be singing hootenanny songs/Long after rock ad roll is gone”), which is almost a poking-yet-positive answer to the sarcastic and snide vision of Phranc’s “Folksinger”. There’s also a humorous poke at her own future with “My Autobiography”, as Ian is taking this year off to write hers. – Robert Barry Francos Buy copies of Janis Ian on GEMM.com Previously published in FFanzeen. Every once in a while when I get a new pile of review CDs, I’ll give a woo-hoo, which is how I reacted when I saw “Departure”, by THE MAMMALS (signaturesounds.com). I thoroughly enjoyed their last release, “Rock That Babe.” On this, their sophomore issue, they see as a move away from their reliance on traditional folk sounds and more on a rock feel. Well, Marshall McLuhan said that the medium is the message, and part of what he meant by that is that the form has a strong influence on the content. True here, as well. There are banjos and fiddles (occasionally made to sound like a cello), ukes, harmonicas, as well as the traditional rock instruments, which definitely effects – and affects – the outcome of sound. Yeah, there is a bit less twee sound, but the folk and Americana syle comes through quite strong, especially on cuts like “Kiss the Break of Day.” I’m saying all this as complementary, as the Mammals are an amazing group, and have been since they formed In 2001. The quality and wide swath of their choice of covers shows their originally Vermont liberal bearings (they’re based in Woodstock, NY these days), such as Morphine’s “Do Not Go Quietly Unto Your Grave” (the centerpiece of a trilogy of anti-Iraq sentiments, along with “Follow Me to Carthage” and “Alone on the Homestead”), “Satisfied Minds” popularized by Dylan, and Nirvana’s “Come as You Are”. They make them all their own. Of course, they also show their dry brand of humor with “Tryin’ to Remember What City I Know You’re From”. – Robert Barry Francos Her song, “Hurricane”, was one of my favorites of a previous release, so I was excited to receive the newest by KRIS DELMHORST, “Strange Conversation” (signaturesounds.com). Brooklyn raised/New England-based Kris is one of those singer-songwriter types who refused to be two-dimensional. She sings from both her heart and soul, and also a determined bucket of brains. What she has done here, on her fourth full release, is taken some classic poetry and either put music to it, or used it as an influence for a piece (in this case, both the "influencer" and "influencee" works are given in the booklet). The poems include the likes of Robert Browning, Walt Whitman, James Weldon Johnson, George Eliot, Edna St. Vincent Millay, e.e. cummings, John Masefield, and the only one not from the 20 century, Jalaluddin Rumi (1250s). Her melody choices are as interesting as the poems, including Dixie Jazz (Eliot), country (cummings), and blues (Millay). Kris has a strong, honey voice, and her backing by the likes of Kevin Barry’s guitar only helps to compliment her voice. – Robert Barry Francos With a beautiful voice, STACIE ROSE has released her sophomore “Shadow & Splendor” (Enchanted Records c/o stacierose.com). It makes me both happy and sad to listen to this collection of adult contemporary pop rock. The happiness comes from the beauty of her voice, how well written and intelligent are her songs, and for the musicianship that backs her up. Her songs are strong, as is her voice, which is lush, complex, and better than anything that’s been on the charts for the past I-don’t-know-how-long. And here is where the sad part comes in. Her producer, high roller Robert Smith, guides the production with a heavy hand, overproducing the tracks with a glass-like sheen, geared for top-ten-ability. I don’t blame them for wanting her to have hits, really, her voice is an instrument of beauty. I’m just into more of a simple, lo-fi beauty. I want to hear a guitar and a singer, or even a band. I don’t want to be made conscious of the production, but rather have it organic and invisible. The enhanced CD also includes a video of her possibly (and rightfully so) breaker, “Consider Me”, and a six-minute video called, well, “Six Minutes with Stacie Rose” (my computer couldn’t read it, unfortunately). I’m looking forward to hearing her stripped; that is without all the “goo”, just musicians grooving the sound. – Robert Barry Francos BUFFY is Buffy Hobelbank, a Boston-based singer-songwriter, whose release, “Highs & Lows” (buffygirl.com), presents notice for the listener not to try to pigeonhole her into one genre. Her vocal dexterity is very adaptable to the styles she showcases here, including blues, jazz and soft rock, though one gets the clear impression that if she wanted to rock out, she damn well could. Her songs tend to focus on sour relationships – both inter- and intra- – with drug use being a common theme; one could even say threat. This woman pulls no punches, and yet these songs could be just about all played on the radio. Her melodies also hold up, such as on “Lock Stock”. She is backed up by some fine musicianship as well, with some of the special treats thrown in (e.g., melodia, didgeridoo, and even some Jamaican barking dogs), all of which are done appropriately (meaning, not hitting the listener on the head with “look what I got”-ism). Includes a cover of Phish's “Strange Design”. – Robert Barry Francos DAVE RAVE Anthology Vol. 1 (bullseyecanada.com) DAVE RAVE Anthology Vol. 2 (bullseyecanada.com) While many people in the US don’t know Dave Rave DesRoches, up in his native Hamilton, Ontario (aka “The Hammer”), he is one of the larger hometown rock’n’roll heroes, with a wide history that goes back to the ‘70s. I’ve known him a number of years, though we’ve probably met three or four times. Nice guy, and his music is certainly well represented on these two CDs, covering his entire history in over 2 hours. His earliest periods were spent in bands like the Shakers and the Trouble Boys, where he was a pop maven who could have been the bastard child of Dave Edmunds and Nick Lowe, possibly brother of the Plimsouls, if such a thing were possible. This is especially true in songs like “Out the Door”. And his cover of the Flamin’ Groovies’ “Shake Some Action” shows you his interests and influences. Then he officially joined Hamilton’s top cult band, Teenage Head as vocalist (he played with them on and off over their long history). There his material became more rock focused, but never lost the beat. After leaving the Head, he joined with A+ rock writer/historian/musician Gary Pig Gold and Coyote Shivers to form the Dave Rave Group. At this point he started to expand his musical repertoire into more melodic pop rock with deeper lyrics and less formulaic song structures. For me, one of his high points was when he joined up with ex-Nervus Rex/Washington Squares’ Lauren Agnelli to form Rave & Agnelli. Their voices work so well together, and their songwriting is sharp. In his latest incarnation, Dave Rave & Mark McCarron, Dave delves into some rock jazz, ever expanding his style. The first CD covers the more pop and rock side, and the second is focused on his more esoteric stylings. This is an excellent overview, with too many great songs to pick out a few (37 songs in total). Worth checking out. – Robert Barry Francos FIRE BUG – “End of the World” (Buddha Belt, c/o firebugmusic.com). There’s four songs, and the last is just a shorter version of the first (“End of the World”). I enjoyed this, and wanted more, damn it. Vocalist Juliette Tworsey has a solid rock voice, reminiscent of Marge Reynolds of the ‘80s Brooklyn band Flame, but definitely has a uniqueness to help it stand out. Not only are the songs well sung, but they’re written with a strong catch (I can see hands waving as the chorus of “Hey, my, my/No need to worry”) comes out the amp at a concert. The musicianship is matched by the superb production values that highlight without burying. I want more. And yes, this made it to my iPod. Check out their superb video on YouTube. –Robert Barry Francos KUNG FU GRIP “S/T” (myspace.com/kungfugrip). The core of KFG is vox/rhythm guitarist/drummer Anthony Kapfer and lead guitarist (and Anthony’s cousin) Ricky, who used to be in a duo, Good Grief (with Ricky as main voice). They became instant south Brooklyn icons after filling in at a gig when a band was a no-show (yes, I was there). Since then, they’ve played numerous times, and Anthony has been with many other bands (usually as drummer), such as The Nerve! KFG is essentially Anthony’s group, with Ricky’s massive support, and an additional bassist and drummer (for live gig purposes). KFG wave their influences on banners, including Foo Fighters, local legends Monty Love, the Nerve!, and even some of the more pop edges of the Beatles. Anthony shows on this CD that he can definitely lead, with catchy songwriting. Whether it’s the buzzsaw screamo of “W.I.P”, the catchy, hard yet melodic opening “Taking the Fall”, or the schmaltzy love poem to Anthony’s girlfriend Desiree, the songs stay with the listener. For a new outfit (even though Anthony and Ricky have been playing together since childhood), this is a dead-on first effort. Both guys are worth keeping a watch. – RBF VARIOUS ARTISTS – Fuzztones: Illegitimate Spawn – The Fuzztones Tribute Album (Sin, Postfach 21035, 10121 Berlin, Germany). I had to ask myself, really, is the Fuzztones important enough to have not only a tribute CD, but also a two-disk one? Well, hell yeah. The Fuzztones are to the garage revival sound what the Cramps are to rockabilly: a raucous, psychotronic vision of the genre, thereby creating a sub-genre all their own. With Rudi Prodrudi’s vocals (hero = Jerry Lee Lewis) and Deb O’Nair’s (hero = Nancy Sinatra) signature farfisa, they swamped up the garage sound in the ‘80s retro psychedelic sound that idolized bands like the Music Machine and the Standells). And here is an international collection of bands that recognize the ‘Tones importance. There are so many good cuts, I’ll just pick a few here and there from the 42 selections at well over 2 hours. The collection starts off strong with The Sparkling Bombs (France) doing “This Sinister Urge”. There’s a beautiful and powerful rendition of “Charlotte’s Remains” by “Gondolieri (Argentina). My favorite growlsters and old pals the She Wolves (v.1, USA) do a rough and ready “Heathen Set”. Plasticland (USA) do one of the Fuzztones’ early classics, “Ward 81”.. Jayne County (USA) beautifully does “You Tarzan, Me Jane” (with the lyrics ”Women are women and men are men”). Nikki Sudden (Germany), while being a coup for the collection, contributes one of the weaker performances with “Just Once”. The Deltones (Finland) go a fab “Third Time’s the Charm”, and Hank Ray (Germany) handles a very flat, nearly scary “Ghost Clinic.” This CD ends with a complete tribute rave-up by Manganzoides (Peru) with “Fuzztomano Piedricolas”. There’s at least two original songs here named for keyboardist Deb O’Nair. And rightfully so. Pre-Fuzzones' Tina Peel is represented with "Fabian Lips" by Aliens & Strangers, from Rudi and Deb's home turf of Harrisburg, PA. I’m just sorry no one covered more of their bizarre middle-period tunes, like “Bent Nail Syndrome” (though Sons of the Moon (US) do a gr-8 and humorous “Johnson in a Headlock”). As a scene that’s dedicated to the obscure, this would have been a coup. This compilation is a must-have for the garage revivalist. – RBF

Last Updated on Saturday, 25 April 2009 16:51

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Social Hero "The Famous"

Written by Joseph Tortelli

Monday, 04 May 2009 06:39

SOCIAL HERO The Famous Machine Dream Records Social Hero seamlessly unites throbbing hard rock, complex progressive elements, and edgy pop hooks on the 10-track debut titled The Famous. Perhaps those musical twists come naturally because of the personal bonds linking members of this New York City-based quintet. Lead guitarist Griffin Lotti is the brother of bassist Brandon Lotti, and vocalist/guitarist David Lloyd is the son of singer-songwriter Ian Lloyd. Of course, David's dad has earned some gold-plated credentials in the rock 'n' roll world: Ian sang Stories' soulful 1973 smash "Brother Louie" and he harmonized on Foreigner's chart-topping albums. Listening to father and son singing together on The Famous, it's easy to appreciate these trans-generational voices blending perfectly across time and musical landscapes. Propelled by Ray Odabashian's percussion attack, "Evening Gown" and "Gone" explode with power chords flowing into Anglo-pop melodies that are pierced by searing guitar leads. Showing the influence of Yes at their prog-rock peak, "Keep Telling Yourself" bursts with eight minutes of soaring choirboy harmonies and virtuoso instrumental passages. Equally mesmerizing is "Runaway," a six-minute stream of textured folk-rock and progressive rock, capped by a torrid electric guitar break. "Recognized" and "Better Day" represent the quintet's heaviest side, as Griffin Lotti unleashes more fiery guitar licks For fans of hard-chiseled pop, Social Hero delivers "On My Own," which features stellar vocal harmonies and a catchy chorus. And the band reconnects glitter rock to sci-fi lyrics on "Radioactive Man," an irresistible brew of guitar chords, lead riffs, bass lines and power drumming. David Lloyd would be continuing his family's tradition of singing on chart-topping discs with "Radioactive Man," if today's radio stations possessed a flicker of the pop record sensibility that rocketed Ian Lloyd and Stories to the No. 1 spot in the 1970s. by Joseph Tortelli

Last Updated on Monday, 04 May 2009 14:08

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An appreciation of the Miles Davis classic BITCHES BREW

Written by Jakob Anser

Tuesday, 05 May 2009 08:46

The other night I went to a hipster art gallery to watch my friend’s free jazz performance. He plays saxophone and so do three of his bandmates. The ensemble also has a drummer, but truth be told the guy had trouble conjuring enough cacophony to match those Dionysian horns. The improvised sounds—vertiginous and loud, man were they loud—transported me to a place of fascinating unrest, beyond the shallow canvases and ironic cans of beer floating around the room. No, this was a place of argument. And those guys up there were working it out. The next day I looked through my records for something of the disquiet I’d heard the night before, and the closest I could get was Miles Davis’s Bitches Brew, which Legacy Vinyl just reissued in a gorgeous gatefold, 180-gram two-pack. 1970: a far cry from 1959, when Davis’s Kind of Blue came out. Davis set out to reinvent jazz on that record, and introduce the form to a mainstream (perhaps white) audience. He took his cool trumpet style and laid it over near-pop time signatures, with very few tempo change-ups. The story goes that when Ornette Coleman’s The Shape of Jazz to Come dropped just a few months later, Davis steamed at the saxophonist’s audacity. (Incidentally, on my recommended list of albums to get cats into jazz, The Shape of Jazz to Come is number 10 and Kind of Blue is number 1.) A lot happened in the interim years, namely the sixties. Civil rights, the Beatles, the moon landing. Also, jazz was deemed uncool by the new electrified youth. The Beatles had just disbanded, Hendrix and Joplin had only a few months to live, and Charles Manson had redefined “Helter Skelter” to mean an apocalyptic race war. Miles Davis had something to say about all of this. Bitches Brew is commonly thought of as the first rock-jazz fusion album. Which is to say this record pissed off almost everybody. But through my rose-tinted, backward-glancing sunglasses, it’s easy to call Bitches Brew the best fusion record. Certainly it was a sea change for jazz (while still remaining jazz), but the arrangements and compositions also prefigure years of prog rock just around the bend. Davis eschewed the feeling of live jazz in favor of a freak-out atmosphere in which to play around and layer in the studio. These “directions in music,” as the cover has it, were largely driven by Davis’s heavy rhythm section. He was working with three bassists, three pianists, three drummers (not counting the conga guy), and as many producers as a latter-day U2 record. And in large part, Davis set aside his cool style to unleash his horn’s shrieks, barks, and reverb-infected poltergeists. Not like there was ever any doubt, but this guy can really blow. The opening track, “Pharaoh’s Dance,” starts us off easy. This composition runs just past the twenty-minute mark, and it’s a slow burn. As tension builds and more chaotic strains are introduced, Davis (not to mention Bennie Maupin on that bass clarinet) urges us to accept his dissonant flatteries. If you can get with this, he promises, the rest is gonna have you in a cold sweat. Side Two contains just the title track, which clocks in at nearly half an hour. Your father’s jazz this isn’t. Unless it is. “Bitches Brew, “ like much of the record, is a tripped-out salad of studio cuts, loops, and creepy reverb—this is White Album stuff. And the frenetic stop-and-starts may be the first clue that our musicians have switched from heroin to cocaine. For me, “Bitches Brew” is the album stand-out. It could soundtrack any number of one-act film shorts shot by starving auteurs, the kind that must be viewed at 3 A.M. The second disc starts with “Spanish Key,” the first composition that sounds as if on a stage somewhere a rock band and a jazz ensemble are playing side by side, just doing their thing. It’s remarkable that it works at all, and subsequent spins will reward the listener with that selfsame argument, the dialectic of trumpet blasts and thrums on the electric guitar. At this point you realize, despite the long arm of artists and records inspired by Davis’s brand of fusion, the sound of Bitches Brew is decidedly unto itself. It recalls Sun Ra’s self-contained oeuvre or Alice Coltrane’s records—sounds you can copy but no matter how hard you try you’ll never recapture. Finally, Wayne Shorter’s composition “Sanctuary,” beyond its loud-quiet-loud dynamic, has a deconstructive bent of jazz-rock-jazz. It’s as if, at the end of it, Davis and Co. lay out all the elements for us to inspect before reassembling them. Davis also reprises many of his phrasings here, violent and pathetic both. “Sanctuary” is the perfect closer, letting us taste resolution but also reminding us we’ve just lived through a haunting. Anyway, it’s Bitches Brew. You should own this record. Get it for Chick Corea and Shorter and the other players at the top of their game. Get it for Miles Davis. And get the reissue because it sounds amazing. Davis wanted it mastered like a rock record, and you can hear that. But the best part about owning this particular copy is Mati Kiarwein’s gatefold cover art, on which it’s clear Davis had an opinion about the coming race wars, so-heralded by cultist murderers of the day. The diptych depicts a fusion of night and day, a black face and a white face, and interlaced black and white fingers. Perhaps this is a symbol of fusion itself. Of course we know that rock and jazz are both black forms, but the gift of Bitches Brew is that it ain’t even about that anymore. The above review was written and published May 5, 2009. GemmZine welcomes Jakob Anser to our staff. We will be publishing extensive essays on artists like Miles Davis as well as brief summary reviews of their work and biography/appreciations. - editor

Last Updated on Friday, 08 May 2009 13:43

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New CD from guitarist Dick Wagner: FULL MELTDOWN

Written by Joe Viglione

Wednesday, 18 November 2009 14:09

Direct link to this review is here: http://tinyurl.com/dickwagnerfullmeltdown A review by Joe Viglione is in the works right now...5:09 PM 11-18-09...completed 1:29 am 11/23/09...yes, these things take me days to write sometimes! Enclosed is the official press release (below) CD cover FULL MELTDOWN by Dick Wagner Review by Joe Vig 11/22/09 15 selections from the artistry of Dick Wagner on a compilation entitled Full Meltdown come with the obligatory 4 page liner notes/insert that we who appreciate classic rock need. So to the xerox machine at Staples I went to enlarge the type and translate it all for you, dear reader. Five minutes and 20 seconds of "Still Hungry" open the disc, a 1991 production created at Trax Studios in Los Angeles with Jack White on drums, Matt Bissonnette on bass and Fred Mandel on keyboards/B3. It slips into "Blue Collar Babies", one of six songs recorded at Gil Markle's Long View Farm in 1979 with a band called Meltdown, managed by the late Charlie McKenzie, he of the group Boston and Willie Loco Alexander fame. The 90s and 70s material actually sounds very 80s, infringing on the territory that Eddie Money, 38 Special and Van Halen traveled, though Wagner has more grit than Money and 38 Special and his formidable songwriting skills make these titles a bit more appealing than some of the music that actually made it to radio. "Insatiable Girl" from the 1991 Los Angeles sessions could be a sequel to the 1989 Grammy winner from Robert Palmer, "Simply Irresistable" while "I'd Take The Bullet" was recorded that same year, 1991, in Lawrence, Massachusetts with Brad Hallen from Ministry and Boston's Pastiche on bass. This tune and "Another Twist Of The Knife" which follows would've been good for Alice Cooper back in the day...and though the music flips from Los Angeles to Lawrence to back to Los Angeles it is all very consistent. The delightful cover of "Stagger Lee" opens with a John Lennon-styled vocal straight out of Double Fantasy...I played this for Buzzy Linhart over the phone tonight (11/22/09) and Buzzy thought the arrangement was fantastic (it is)...Linhart calling this one of the greatest songs of all time and one he has his own arrangement for. (Prakash John, Steve Hunter and Penti Glan, all cohorts of Wagners, appear on a recent release of Linhart's entitled Studio; Buzzy is the guy whistling from the audience on Lou Reed's Rock & Roll Animal album...with a real...and loud... whistle, probably on the song "Heroin")..."Stagger Lee" is close to four minutes and the song becomes a Bob Seger-like "Hollywood Nights" talk/song...the material from Long View Farm was lost to the ages until recently, Gil Markle telling GemmZine "Many of these tracks were recorded at Long View in 1979, and lay undiscovered in a mis-labeled packing container for almost 30 years. The members of Charlie McKenzie's Boston-based band "Meltdown" played on some of them. The rest were recorded a few years later, mostly in L.A. I re-mastered the material for Dick a few months ago in Tobago." "Ecstasy" nicks a bit of the melody from Van Halen's "I'll Wait" (from their MCMLXXXIV CD a.k.a. 1984) but it veers off into a different territory, the riffing and guitars moving from pop/rock into progressive becoming something totally original in the process. You can listen to Van Halen here just for fun: Van Halen's "I'll Wait" For Alice Cooper fans there's Dick's own version of the co-write that he created with Desmond Child and Cooper, "I Might As Well Be On Mars". Released on Cooper's 1991 disc, Hey Stoopid, it's as close to Christopher Cross's "Sailin' as Alice will ever get...and Dick does a fine job on voice and all instruments as recorded in 1995 at Fenton Woods Studio in Fenton MI as well as Disc Ltd. in Eastpointe MI. It's great to have this music produced by Dick Wagner compiled so uniformly, the liner notes precisely telling where and when each track was laid down and who plays on it along with two letters from Dick to the reader/listener all packed in a good compilation for his long-time followers and those who appreciate superb musicianship and creative songwriting. OFFICIAL PRESS RELEASE "This is a must have CD! My pre-release copy is spectacular! Every song is in your face rock n roll!" - Don Richard, Dream Domain Full Meltdown features 15 lost and newly discovered songs recorded by Wagner between 1979 and 1995 -- a journey of pure Rock and Roll songs and dazzling guitar virtuosity. Wagner’s songs detail the essence of life; his guitar work continues to inspire guitarists world wide, and his productions recall the era of great songs with great melodies and universally accessible lyrics. The opening song on FULL MELTDOWN is a lyrical, powerchordal stadium rock song that gets you pumped up to flow with the rest of the CD’s song lineup. From the sublime opening organ riff, backed with the heavy backbeat of the drums, you are ready to rock, with your heart already in high gear. When Wagner’s guitar enters, you are taken away to the land of rocklove and history, where you fully understand what “Still Hungry” really means. It’s a song about sex and devotion, interspersed with a great guitar solo that is reminiscent of the fiddle solos of the Cajun fiddler Doug Kershaw. From “Still Hungry” on through “Feel it all Over”, the final song on this CD, you are swept up on a journey from Detroit, Cleveland, New York and across the world; towel dried at the end by the sirens of soul accompanied by some of the finest musicians in Rock’n’roll. MUSICIAN AND SONGWRITER CREDITS Still Hungry (Dick Wagner, Alan Hewitt) Vocals: Dick Wagner, Guitars: Dick Wagner, Drums: Jack White, Bass: Matt Bissonnette, Keyboards, B3: Fred Mandel. Recorded at Trax Studio, Los Angeles, CA, 1991. Blue Collar Babies (Dick Wagner, Mark Williamson), Modern Times (Dick Wagner), Motor City Showdown (Dick Wagner), Feel It All Over (Dick Wagner) Vocals: Dick Wagner, Lead Guitar: Dick Wagner, Drums: Greg Schroeder, Bass: Jay Henshall, Piano: Norman Jolly, Keyboards: Mark Williamson, Rhythm Guitar: Jeff Morley, Chuck McKenna. Recorded at Long View Farm, North Brookfield, MA, 1979. Insatiable Girl (Dick Wagner, Dennis Morgan) Vocals: Dick Wagner, Guitars: Dick Wagner, Drums: Jack White, Bass: Ian Gardiner, Keyboards: Fred Mandel. Recorded at Sunset Sound, Los Angeles, CA, 1991. I’d Take the Bullet (Dick Wagner) Vocals: Dick Wagner, Guitars: Dick Wagner, Drums: John Sands, Keyboards: Dave Branch, Bass: Brad Hallen. Recorded at Soundside, Lawrence, MA, 1991. Another Twist of the Knife (Dick Wagner, John Wetton), Ecstasy (Dick Wagner) Vocals: Dick Wagner, Guitars: Dick Wagner, Drums: Gregg Bissonette, Bass: Matt Bissonette, Keyboards: Fred Mandel. Recorded at Music Grinder, Los Angeles, CA, 1991. Stagger Lee (Lloyd Price, Harold Logan) Vocals: Dick Wagner, Lead Guitar: Dick Wagner, Drums: Greg Schroeder, Bass: Dick Wagner, Piano: Norman Jolly, Keyboards: Mark Williamson, Rhythm Guitar: Jeff Morley, Chuck McKenna. Recorded at Long View Farm, 1979. She Said (Dick Wagner) Vocals and all instruments: Dick Wagner. Recorded at Platinum Studios, Los Angeles, CA, 1988. These Days (Dick Wagner) Vocal and piano: Dick Wagner. Recorded at Long View Farm, 1979. I Might As Well Be on Mars (Dick Wagner, Alice Cooper, Desmond Child) Vocals and all instruments: Dick Wagner. Recorded Fenton Woods Studio, Fenton, MI and Disc, Ltd., Eastpointe, MI, 1995. Steal the Thunder (Dick Wagner, Dennis Morgan) Lead Vocal: Dick Wagner, Guitars: Dick Wagner, Drums: Gregg Bissonette, Bass: Matt Bissonette, Keyboards: Fred Mandel. Recorded at Music Grinder, 1991. Darkest Hour (Dick Wagner) Vocals and all instruments: Dick Wagner. Recorded at Fenton Woods Studio, 1995. Produced by Dick Wagner Executive Producers: Susan Michelson, Alex Cyrell, Gil Markle Stereo re-mix by Gil Markle 2009, for Desert Dreams Productions, LLC and studiowner.com Original Release: 10/30/2009 Rock History External link: Home At Last External link: Remember The Child External link: "Sweet Jenny Lee" opens the album Frost Music like some unholy marriage between the Zombies and Ted Nugent's Amboy Dukes. And that sums up nicely this wonderful amalgam of British and Detroit rock, a surprisingly poppy effort from Dick Wagner and company. As a future purveyor of hard rock, and within the decade, eventual producer of his friend Mark Farner, the English sounds of bands like Kaleidoscope (U.K.) reverberate through songs like "Stand in the Shadows." With hints of very early Pink Floyd meets Strawberry Alarm Clock in track two, "The Family," Frost Music is more than a respectable effort from the young Wagner, and an adventurous offering from the label famous for Buddy Guy, Joan Baez, Eric Andersen, and Mimi & Richard Farina. Read more here: The Frost's second album on Vanguard, Rock and Roll Music, has the 1969 Dick Wagner four years before he would tour as part of the Lou Reed Rock & Roll Animal Band. The title track, recorded live at the Grande Ballroom in Detroit by engineer Ed Friedner, has an incessant chant over a bellowing guitar foundation. It is a good, raw picture of early Wagner music, a vital document of a Michigan band that helped shape that scene. Read more here: The most refined of the three albums by the Frost features singer/songwriter Dick Wagner as producer, with Sam Charters, producer of the first two albums -- Frost Music and Rock and Roll Music -- listed as executive producer. The album kicks off with a seven-minute, 38-second "Black As Night," taking this Detroit band further into the domain U.K. rockers dominated. Excellent low-key Sabbath riff, progressive rock melody, and "Hey Jude" chorus conclusion. If the first two Frost discs are some hybrid of Brit and Detroit rock, the line gets further erased on "Through the Eyes of Love," the title track. The flavor is more like Marmalade's "Reflections of My Life" than Grand Funk's "Closer to Home," but the tune veers off into a direction explored by neither of the above with a relentless chorus of "God help us please" -- the subtitle of this song. Read more here: Direct link to this review is here: http://tinyurl.com/dickwagnerfullmeltdown Photo by Jeannie Archibald, Lou Reed Rock & Roll Animal with Dick Wagner and Steve Hunter, December 1973 (C)Jeannie Archibald and Joe Viglione all rights reserved

Last Updated on Wednesday, 25 November 2009 15:27

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Westland - Don't Take It Personal

Written by Joe Viglione

Thursday, 15 October 2009 14:04

Direct link to this article here: http://tinyurl.com/westlandboston 1 Don't Take It Personal 3:01 2 Weak And Shallow 3:47 3 Say What You Want 3:10 4 You Said 3:45 5 Cold Sweat 3:57 6 Hey There Stranger 2:50 7 We Were 4:05 8 Save This 2:53 9 I'll Pray For You 3:16 10 Beautiful World 3:07 Expert review by Joe Viglione 1 Don't Take It Personal 3:01 2 Weak And Shallow 3:47 3 Say What You Want 3:10 4 You Said 3:45 5 Cold Sweat 3:57 6 Hey There Stranger 2:50 7 We Were 4:05 8 Save This 2:53 9 I'll Pray For You 3:16 10 Beautiful World 3:07 Short splashes of electrified pop music burst forth on this ten song disc. With a vocal not unlike Nick Gilder of Sweeney Todd one wonders if it's a guy or a gal singing "Don't take it personal baby/I'm just a guy at heart...I'll just rip you apart". The sentiment is ...interesting and the musicianship is tight, but the promise of the intriguing sounds that open this number up descend into a quasi-techno that is so limiting these days. Too many groups are mixing sounds for buds and iPod when the potential here is so obvious. "Weak And Shallow" is another tune following the same formula, reminiscent of the pre-Love it To Death work by the original Alice Cooper Group, hard biting riffs that get lost in the over production. But all is not lost, there are two absolutely terrific tracks here, "We Were", the longest selection at four minutes and five seconds actually has great production. Slightly borrowing from The Church's "Under The Milky Way" this selection has all the elements of major league...from the spirit to the lead vocals and intense hook that is the title of the song. Really amazing that the promise displayed by the first few tracks comes true before the CD has finished spinning. The guitars come in loud and proud during the chorus and it is the lone voice of Aaron Bonus which makes the plea ...or is it lament? Nice stuff all the way around...this title should have opened the album up. Closing number "Beautiful World" comes in at a close second - they caught the magic here and there's no surprise that this track is also one of the cleanest productions on the disc. The final chorus bringing it all home. Westland shows much potential and despite the hyperbole on their myspace there is something special going on here that makes the next outing something to look forward to. 5:03 PM 10-21-09 OFFICIAL BAND PRESS RELEASE http://www.myspace.com/westlandmusic Don’t take it personal… but if you haven’t heard of the band Westland, from Boston Massachusetts, then you’ve been living under a rock for the past few months. This band of old friends (and Berklee School of Music students) have dedicated the past year of their lives to becoming one of the most recognized names in pop/rock. Singer and Songwriter Aaron Bonus, and Guitarist Jon Cornelius have been playing music together for years. With the inclusion of their close friend Ryan Basset on Guitar, seasoned Bassist Jeff Motekaitis, and international drumming sensation Carlo Ribaux, Westland is poised to hit the pop/rock world, and hit it hard. Their debut album “Don’t Take It Personal” is chock full of sing-along choruses and memorable lyrics. This is sure to be an album that will become a soundtrack of your life for the next few years. A great production team ensured that you will not miss one ounce of the energy and passion the band intended for you, when writing these 10 songs. Keep an eye out, and follow Westland as they continue to tour the U.S. non-stop, until they’ve met each and every one of you fans personally. Five great friends traveling the country together, performing for anyone and everyone that will see them; Westland. "Dont Take It Personal" Album Credits: Mixed By: Mark Trombino (Jimmy Eat World, Blink-182, Something Corporate) Mixed By: James Harley (Quietdrive,Lucky Boys Confusion) Produced By: Evan Bakke,Joe Ingle (Quietdrive,Lucky Boys Confusion) (World Record Productions) Mastered By:Vlado Meller “Multiple Grammy Award Winner” (Boys Like Girls,Fall Out Boy,Kanye West) Mastered By: Nick Zampiello (New Alliance Audio)

Last Updated on Wednesday, 21 October 2009 13:11

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Audioscam's ABBATTACK Tribute to Abba

Written by Joseph Tell

Monday, 07 September 2009 07:24

ABBATTACK - Australian band takes on the music of Abba Direct link to this site: http://tinyurl.com/abbattack NOTE: The band's video - the Abbattack Medley - aired in Manhattan on VideoWave's presentation of Visual Radio November 9, 2009 1 AM Channel 67 MNN Manhattan Neighborhood Network The group: AUDIOSCAM Title: Abbattack Label: Australian Sun Records (ASR1012) The Swedish group ABBA manufactured some of the most intoxicating and disposable pop music of the 1970s. Or so it seemed at the time. Who would have imagined that their songs would develop wider acclaim in decades to come on disc, on Broadway and in the movies. Intoxicating, yes; disposable, hardly. A hard-rocking quartet from Australia crashes the American shores with a fresh perspective on ABBA music. The group called Audioscam has commandeered 10 familiar, hummable tunes, re-imagining each as a power-rock anthem. Beginning with "Money Money Money," Audioscam's Roger Gold and Ross Wedding fill Abba's songs with sweeping guitar riffs. Slowing the tempo from Abba's famed bounciness, they deliver a crunching "Rock Me" sliced by an interlude of piercing guitar licks. They also take "Voulez-vous" on a six minute excursion that flirts with prog rock. Dispensing with Abba's trademark girl-group voices, drummer Brian Pitcher sings the lead vocals; the group harmonies on songs like "S.O.S" and "Mama Mia" sometimes reference such great Anglo-pop acts as The Sweet. Inventively deploying his tom-toms, Pitcher neatly pushes "Waterloo" and "Ring Ring" in a catchy glitter-rock direction. The idea works brilliantly, re-connecting Abba's first two British hits to 1974 when the glitter trend ruled Britannia. Joseph Tell INTERVIEW WITH BRIAN PITCHER OF AUDIOSCAM Editors note: the above review is by Discoveries Magazine contributor Joseph Tell, this interview was conducted by Gemmzine editor Joe Viglione Gemmzine: Why did you decide to record the songs for this disc. Brian Pitcher: When we started to record the demos for "Abbattack",the first track we did was Money Money Money. The riff that we used was one that Roger had stored in his head, the way all guitar players have a "library" of little licks and riffs tucked away in their brains. It worked really well and I just kept picking songs that I thought would translate into a hard rock vein sung by a guy instead of two girls. We kept going and ended up with ten tracks that seemed to lend themselves to this sort of treatment. Gemmzine: Were all these songs recorded and mixed at the same studio? Brian Pitcher: Originally, this was just going to be a recording for our own enjoyment. So I built a small studio at home in my garage, with the intention of doing a bunch of tracks ,and putting them online for anyone else who might find them interesting. Obviously, I didn't have the budget that a "Mega Studio" would , so I did the best I could with what I could afford. The drums were done with a Yamaha DTX electronic kit and the guitars and bass were done with Line 6 guitar and bass pods. The only time I used a mic was to record the vocals. When I played Ring Ring to Mark and Nigel (Australian Sun Records) they thought that this was worth pursuing and releasing in hard copy, but that the vocals needed to be redone. I took my recorder (Yamaha AW2400) to Nigels studio and dumped everything onto his Pro Tools setup. Nigel, who is also a drummer, thought that using an electronic kit was "cheating", and as well as redoing the vocal she was insistent that we rerecord the drums using an acoustic kit. So, in the end the guitars and bass were done at my place and the vocals and drums at Nigels. He also did the mixing and processing at his studio (Pegasus Sound) Gemmzine: Did the inspiration for this work come all at once, during a fixed period in time, or was it spread out over many years...or longer? Brian Pitcher: When we were doing live gigs we would always be asked" do you guys know any Abba?" Eventually, I gave in and told Brad and Rog that we would learn an Abba song but, we were going to "twist it". Dancing Queen was the one we were getting asked for a lot so we started with that one. We thought how would Hendrix do this if he had written it? When we played it live for the first time the reaction took us totally by surprise. When Rog got to that main hook line and people realized what we were doing girls came running onto the dance floor as if we had turned on a magnet. We were so surprised that we looked at each other in astonishment and nearly forgot what we were playing. In the bridge section of Dancing Queen you can hear how perfectly the line from the Hendrix tune Third Stone from the Sun slots into Dancing Queen. It was almost as though the same person wrote both songs. I also get to give a nod to Ringo in that same section by using the feel from the Beatles track Tomorrow Never Knows. Gemmzine: Are all the tracks by the same musicians and, if so, how long has this particular group been together? Brian Pitcher: Brad, Roger and myself have been playing together for a few years now. Ross Wedding was the last one to join and you can really hear his influence on Knowing Me Knowing You. I'm a big believer in having a "band" as opposed to a loose group of musicians who aren't dedicated to anything in particular. Gemmzine: Who are all the songwriters on this album? Brian Pitcher: The songwriters on this album are of course Benny and Bjorn from Abba. Unfortunately, they're not in the band! My idea was to keep the vocal melodies as close to the original as possible, bearing in mind that the Abba girls can really sing ! making it very tough on any guy trying to do this. The concept was to rewrite the musical backing to the point that if we used our own lyrics and melodies, these would be original compositions. If you listen to Rock Me, there is no way that you could play the musical backing without the lyrics and know what the song is. I wanted to show what these songs would have sounded like if Benny and Bjorn had started a rock band instead of a pop band and I think we achieved that! Gemmzine: Any anecdotes about live performances of this song? Brian Pitcher: When we do any of these songs live it's funny to watch peoples faces hearing these arrangements for the first time. You can see them singing the words but with a physical look on there faces not really knowing where they know the song from. The start of SOS is our interpretation of the Who interpreting Abba! You can see people bopping along and when we get to the vocals there is this look of "I know this song , but who is it?" Gemmzine: Was there anything out of the ordinary while recording a video of one or more songs from this album? And if not, how did the director of the video work with the original storyline? To your satisfaction? Brian Pitcher: Nigel came up with the idea of running a small section of each song and sticking them all together, starting with the slowest track and moving up in tempo. Audioscam is a Live Band and we're not very good at miming ! So doing a video is hard enough at the best of times. When you've got to mime to a small section of each song and gradually increase the speed as well it becomes a comedy to watch us screw up the lip syncing. Gemmzine: Was this song effectively captured in the studio or would you change something in the future or on stage? Brian Pitcher: As well as the medley we also did Mamma Mia as a video. Like I said originally, we were on a really tight budget. we just set up a camera on a tripod, pushed start, and jumped up on the stage and started miming! We would run through the song get down and move the camera to another position and go again. Next time we do a video we'll practice our lip syncing and get a camera operator. Gemmzine: How difficult was it getting this composition from your mind to the recording session and onto the disc? Brian Pitcher: When we were planning how we wanted to attack the songs (Abbattack) Roger had this idea that Waterloo should sound like a thousand Zulus running through the jungle pounding on their drums. (I don't know what he had for breakfast that day) I'm not very big on drum solos and it was a challenge to do the intro to make it interesting but still sound like rampaging Zulus! Getting the idea out of his head ,into mine, and then onto the recorder wasn't difficult ,it was dam near impossible! The intro and out to Waterloo were a real epic for me and then Nigel (bless him) cut them anyhow. I think I'm going to have to release the demo of that song just for my own satisfaction. Gemmzine: Did you attend the mastering session and how important was the mastering to the overall sound of the album? Brian Pitcher: Nigel did the mastering at Pegasus Sound. It is VERY important to the finished recording. Mastering is like a band playing live onstage and doing a great job, but having a crumby front of house sound guy screwing it all up through the P.A. The whole process of recording or playing live is like a chain. One weak link can wreck everything. We've got a good chain! Gemmzine: Pick any two or three songs to essay about, giving the reader more perspective on what you wanted to say... lyrically, musically or both. Brian Pitcher: Voulez Vous was the hardest song for me to sing physically. I left it till last because I was worried that I wouldn't be able to cut it. Like I said before those girls can really sing. I wanted it to be moody and a little scary. After all, it's about picking up someone that you don't know and taking a chance. Things could go horribly astray if you take the wrong person home. The biggest revelation to me about Benny and Bjorn's songwriting was Fernando When I listened to Fernando it really surprised me how they were able to take a lyric about war, killing ,dying ,fear, and turn it into such a sugary sweet song. I wanted to do the opposite. I wanted the song to sound hard industrial and menacing. There is nothing pretty about the lyrics of Fernando...there's nothing pretty about war!

Last Updated on Monday, 09 November 2009 05:32

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Beatles Tribute - Soundtracks ALL THIS AND WORLD WAR II

Written by Joe Viglione

Wednesday, 02 September 2009 20:43

Tiny URL Link http://tinyurl.com/allthisandworldwarbeatles Remember to click on the photos and album covers to find tons and tons of Beatles products and rarities in Gemm.com itself. Record executive Russ Regan, instrumental for his behind-the-scenes work with Harriet Schock, Genya Ravan, and producer Jimmy Miller, was involved in the creation of this soundtrack to the 20th Century Fox documentary film All This and World War II. Produced by Lou Reizner, the London Symphony Orchestra and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, arranged by Wil Malone and conducted by Harry Rabinowitz, back up an amazing array of stars on Beatles covers. What this is, truly, is one of the first Beatles tribute albums, and it is extraordinary. Peter Gabriel performing "Strawberry Fields Forever should be a staple on classic hits radio stations. It's a natural, but how about David Essex doing "Yesterday," Leo Sayer on "Let It Be," or the Four Seasons interpreting "We Can Work It Out"? Where the dismal soundtrack to the film Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Heart's Club Band had hits and misses, this is a very cohesive and impressive work of art. The Brothers Johnson re-create Hey Jude, and its soulful reading is not what Earth, Wind and Fire did to "Got To Get You Into My Life" -- their Top Ten 1978 hit from the Sgt. Pepper soundtrack -- but it is just as cool. In 1994 BMG released Symphonic Music of the Rolling Stones, which had Marianne Faithful sounding like Melanie Safka on "Ruby Tuesday" (or is it the other way around) and Mick Jagger re-creating "Angie," but that was 18 years after this, and doesn't have the marquee value of this double-vinyl LP chock full of stars. This is four sides of orchestrated Beatles, with the Status Quo, Ambrosia, and Bryan Ferry on a version of "She's Leaving Home" that was meant exclusively for him, as is Helen Reddy's take on "Fool on the Hill." Leo Sayer gets to do "The Long and Winding Road" as well as "I Am the Walrus," while Frankie Valli does "A Day in the Life" to augment his Four Seasons track. It is nice to see Jeff Lynne and Roy Wood on the same album again, Wood with "Polythene Pam"and "Lovely Rita," future Beatles co-producer Jeff Lynne cutting his teeth on about seven minutes of "With a Little Help From My Friends"/"Nowhere Man." Tina Turner reprises her classic "Come Together," Elton John, of course, has to weigh in with "Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds," while the Bee Gees are spread out over the record doing bits and pieces of the Abbey Road medley, "Golden Slumbers/Carry That Weight" on side one, less than two minutes of "She Came in Through the Bathroom Window" on side two, and two minutes of "Sun King" on side three. Frankie Laine, Status Quo, and a delirious Keith Moon add to the festivities, but it is the Peter Gabriel track which gets the nod as the over-the-top performance here; Moon's rant is so out-there and off-key it disturbs the momentum. We have to give him a pass, though. It's Keith Moon, and he never made it to 64! Keep in mind that, two years later, the Bee Gees, Helen Reddy, Frankie Valli, and Tina Turner would show up in the Sgt. Peppers Lonely Heart Club Band soundtrack and film as well, so maybe this is where the idea for that came to be. Utilizing the Elton John number-one hit from two years earlier, "Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds," insures that a Beatle is involved in this project, as John Lennon performed on that single under the name Dr. Winston O'Boogie, though it might have been interesting had they added the Royal Philharmonicto the original tape. Well, on second thought, maybe not. Still, it is a classic, classic album that deserves a better place in rock history, certainly more so than the aforementioned Sgt. Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band soundtrack. Definitely worth seeking out. Jun 18, 2004 TinyURL Link: http://tinyurl.com/allthisandworldwarbeatles Remember to click on the photos and album covers to find tons and tons of Beatles products and rarities in Gemm.com itself. Gemmzine's continuing coverage of all things Beatles for the upcoming BEATexpo2009 (see below) http://www.toursandevents.com/BEATexpo.htm Direct link to this article here: http://tinyurl.com/rsteviemooredoesbeatles Other Beatles articles in Gemmzine: Joseph Tortelli on how the Remasters should've been http://tinyurl.com/theyshouldhaveknownbetter Peter Calo does more traditional takes on instrumental Beatles http://tinyurl.com/calobeatles More Gemmzine Beatles articles: http://beatlesdirectory.blogspot.com/ All This and World War II Beatles Tribute film soundtrack http://tinyurl.com/allthisandworldwarbeatles GEMM on Twitter http://twitter.com/GemmMarket Celebrate the Music & Magicof The Beatles @ LiverpoolProductions BeatExpo 2009

Last Updated on Friday, 20 November 2009 09:39

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Sly and the Family Stone Woodstock Experience

Written by Joe Viglione

Friday, 03 July 2009 15:43

Listening to the original Woodstock 3 LP vinyl set (later reissued on a double CD), one heard this rendition of "Dance To The Music" that was lifted along with the MEDLEY: Music Lover/Higher to comprise track 4 on CD 2 after iconic farmer Max Yasgur speaks. It was a dynamic slice of the Woodstock festival which now, thanks to Sony/Legacy's 40th Anniversary Woodstock releases is -finally - and thankfully - put in its proper perspective. Along with previously unreleased material that original over 12 minutes of music is found on tracks 5 and 6 of the complete set by Sly & The Family Stone live at the Woodstock Music & Art Fair, Sunday, August 17, 1969. The "feel" of those songs does change in its original context, and historically both documents are vital. On the Woodstock set as a collection one can gauge the music in a setting where it is alongside the groups' peers, as part of Sly's stand-alone Woodstock document it provides a fun and insightful look into one of the major pioneers of rock & roll and funk/pop as he brings his artistry to the ocean of faces at this major outdoor rock concert. Sony/Legacy include ecologically friendly cardboard slip covers for each disc and sleeves that include dates, credits and liner notes. I, of course, enlarge them on a xerox machine and wish the labels would expand the liners or create an easier to read document, but that's a minor quibble at this point, these packages are beautiful and the music is wonderful. I don't know how you readers feel about the double-sided color poster included, but forty years after the event I'm not putting posters on my bedroom wall any longer! So, a one sided poster with the liners/credits might have been more enlightening, but again a minor observation. M'Lady, Sing a Simple Song, You Can Make It If You Try, Everyday People, Dance To The Music, Music Lover/Higher, I Want To Take You Higher, Love City and Stand, all Sylvester Stewart originals, are here in all their glory. You can listen to a concert from a year and two months after this up on Wolfsgang's Vault - Fillmore East 1968, and M'Lady is even crisper and more intense as the opener. The band goes through a number of songs different from the Woodstock set and both concerts give a perspective on this brilliant but erratic artist. STAND - the CD The Stand CD is a phenomenal work and for those chagrined that an able from the day is packaged along with the Woodstock live tapes be of good cheer: the Jefferson Starship package would've been two CDs anyway so you get the bonus of the Volunteers album and the Stand CD from Sly Stone and his Family is a parallel that is historically essential to play next to the Woodstock concert. STAND was truly the breakthrough for the band, the hit song opening with the same "stand to attention" drum roll Bobby Hebb used to open his classic "Sunny" four years before this (And Hebb would be recording his Epic release, Love Games, across the hall from Sly when the Family Stone recorded "There's A Riot Going On" for the same label!). "Everyday People" and "Sing A Simple Song" were pretty much a double-sided hit 45, "Stand" and "I Want To Take You Higher" were also heavy airplay items. The album was released on May 3, 1969, just three months before Woodstock, with 5 of the album tracks getting the live treatment. As Sly Stone/Sylvester Stewart was a producer for Autumn Records (y'know, home of the Beau Brummels and The Mojo Men) his production chops are awe-inspiring on the Stand disc. It's a textbook of funk/pop/rock as well as record production. Sly is the inspiration for Earth, Wind & Fire and other groups who were mass appeal. Even George Clinton, who pre-dates Sly, must owe some of his popularity to the innovations of Stone/Stewart. The rendition of "Somebody's Watching You" is more uptemp and not as remarkable as Little Sister's hit version, but it is also a revelation and worthy of attention. This is my second of 5 essays on the Sony/Legacy Woodstock releases - and it won't stop there. This is the Summer of re-living Woodstock and these releases of rarities are not only like finding buried treasure on the beach, they are so good they are going to save the summer of 2009.

Last Updated on Sunday, 05 July 2009 07:16

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Going Track By Track with Neal Smith

Written by Joe Viglione

Wednesday, 12 August 2009 20:45

Direct link to this article: http://tinyurl.com/sexualsavior GOING TRACK BY TRACK with the album: SEXUAL SAVIOR - Neal Smith (drummer with original Alice Cooper Group) Gemmzine: When was the track "Leave Me Alone" conceived? (NS) My KillSmith CD "Sexual Savior" took four years to complete. It was written and recorded in 2004, 2005 and 2006. In 2007 it was completely mixed and mastered for an early 2008 release. "Leave Me Alone" was written and conceived in 2004 during the early stages of the CD. http://www.nealsmith.com http://www.myspace.com/nealsmithrocks GEMMZINE: Did "Sexual Savior" and the other 10 songs come together at the same time, or was it a long process? (NS) The vast majority of the "KillSmith" songs are new songs that were written and conceived between 2004 and 2005. There were only two songs on the CD that have been kicking around for years and mutated into the musical gems that they are today, the title track "Sexual Savior" and the only acoustic guitar track "Beware Of The Dog." GEMMZINE: Are all the tracks, including "Disturbed", by the same musicians and how long has this particular group been together? (NS) There are only two principle musicians playing on every song. The first is my partner in crime, Peter Catucci (aka Peter The Cat), who plays bass guitar and does reinforcement and background vocals. In addition Peter engineered and recorded all of the KillSmith music in his Connecticut studio "Rock Wall Studios." KillSmith is actually the third CD that Peter Catucci and I have worked on since 2001. The other two were called Cinematik and they are a completely different musical style that KillSmith. The second musician is me, Neal Smith. Naturally I (aka Rattlesnake Smith), played all of the drums and percussion on the CD, but I (aka KillSmith), also played all the rhythm guitars on every track and I (aka Fingers Smith) played keyboards where they appear. I also wrote the music, lyrics and I (aka KillSmith), sang the lead vocals on every song. Our additional our three guest musicians were Pete "Keys" Hick, playing great keyboards on "Beware Of The Dog." The amazing lead guitar work on the CD was by Lord Bryan Morrell and Tommy-Gun Crowley. Brian and Tommy are credited in the CD on the songs where they soloed. All five musicians came together for the first time during the recording of this CD, my second solo endeavor. My first being "Platinum God." GEMMZINE:"Beware Of The Dog" seems like a sequel to "Ballad of Dwight Frye", where did this theme come from? (NS) In creating the fictitious character "Dog" in "Beware Of The Dog" I wanted him to have a combination of qualities. The first having the ruthless primal killer instinct of "The Wolfman" and the second being a shrewd business powerhouse like "The Godfather." Musically there could be possible connection, but conceptually and lyrically "Beware Of The Dog" has no similarity to the classic song from our "Love It To Death" album written by Michael Bruce and Alice, called "The Ballad Of Dwight Frye." GEMMZINE: "Naked and The Raw" won't be getting mainstream airplay anytime soon, hard metal, Goth and borderline Death Metal seems to be going through a geological shift. Do you see the market for a songlike this in Europe or are American kids still reacting to this style? (NS) "Naked And The Raw" is my death metal, Goth, power disco song and like many, not all, but many of my songs on this "XXX Rated" CD, it will not be getting any mainstream airplay soon. I did not jump on any musical bandwagons or trends, I'm just doing what I love and if the fans, young or old dig it, even better. As this collection of songs final resolve was to meet my standards, my only target market first and foremost was me. Just like the our groundbreaking band Alice Cooper, it was up to the fans to love us or hate us. But yes, I do sell a tons of CDs to the European market. My inspiration was some great bands of the 90's and early 2000's, like Shirley Temple Of Doom, Pigface, Tapping The Vein, Kings X and Ramstein to name a few. Peter Catucci and I saw these bands live in New York City and KillSmith was the results. Every song on the CD was inspired by that heavy metal, industrial spirit. I also wanted my songs to celebrate the dark, deranged and sexual side of our original Alice Cooper Band. With the sexually expectant, "Naked And The Raw," I went on a fantasy journey that every young red blooded American boy can relate to, and that is being with two women at the same time. But in this case, the two women are famous Hollywood Sex Goddesses from the silver screen. Gemmzine: "Can't Get You Outta My Skull" is like Lou Reed meets Iggy Pop by way of Armand Schaubroeck, is this pop/metal and is it indicative of KillSmith? (NS) Having a pop sounding song in a metal vein is certainly one of my goals. After all I have written or co-written hit singles like "I'm Eighteen," Elected," School's Out" and "Teenage Lament 1974" in Alice Cooper and Buck Dharma's (from Blue Oyster Cult) MTV hit song "Born To Rock." This is the only song on the KillSmith CD that came to me in a dream. I immediately got up in the middle of the night and started writing and recording it. The tragic untimely death of a teenage lover is in the tradition of the Shangri-Las "Leader Of The Pack," or Mark Dinning's "Teen Angel." You can make your own analogy about Lou, Iggy and Armand. In the past they may have been rival contemporaries in the Alice Cooper platinum era. However I doubt it as we really had no rivals at that time. My inspirations are for the most part drummers and guitarists of the distant past. KillSmith is very nasty and sings like he sings. He's so nasty that he would eat Lou, Iggy and Armand for breakfast and then have Alice for desert! GEMMZINE: "Monsters In The Attic" would be great for a 1950s Science Fiction movie - and with bands like The Lemonheads ending up on film re-releases like The Graduate, have you thought of pitching this to DVD companies who specialize in the release of those vintage movies? (NS) I have not been trying to find other medias for "Monsters", but that's a great idea! However I am currently working on placing some of the other songs in television, cable and movies. I think that there is some bad ass shows out there that would be the perfect match for my KillSmith music. GEMMZINE:"How Do You Bleed" begs the obvious question, is this a response to "Only Women Bleed?" (NS) "How Do You Bleed" has no more to do with Alice's solo song "Only Women Bleed" than it does with the Rolling Stones song "Let It Bleed." The only common denominator is the word "Bleed." My song is about my pro capitol punishment views, which are pro victim, pro justice and pro death. People that say the death penalty is not a deterrent, I say that's bullshit, it's kept me from killing several people I can think of in my lifetime. GEMMZINE: "Thrill, Thrill, Thrill Shoot To Kill" doesn't sound like it will appeal to feminist groups. Is there any flack against the album for the in-your-face approach to the lyrics? (NS) Again, I guess a person can find any meaning that they like in song lyrics. I don't give a fuck what anyone thinks about my views and I never have. However if any group or critic thinks that "Thrill, Thrill, Thrill Shoot To Kill," is antifeminist or condoning violence against women they are completely wrong and would totally have misinterpreted the lyrics. I for one would never tolerate that kind of behavior and would love to kick the shit out of any man that hurts a girl or a woman. In actuality "Thrill, Thrill, Thrill Shoot To Kill" is about killing sperms when they are swallowed during oral sex or killing them when they are shot over a woman's body during male ejaculation! Pro Sperm Lifers may have a problem with that, but if that was the case ever male over twelve years of age would be guilty of "Sperm Homicide. GEMMZINE:"Dynasty Of Darkness" fits in nicely with the hard metal scene in Finland, any plans to play over there? (NS) It's funny you mention Finland. I have visited there seven of the last eight years. I haven't played there, but I think KillSmith would go over extremely well and they would love "Dynasty Of Darkness." Maybe I could get that band of monsters from Helsinki called "Lordi" to open for me. GEMMZINE: What is "Human Evolution" all about? (NS) In December of 1999, not only was the 2nd millennium ticking down, but so was the 20th century. I ran across an incredible article in the newspaper that listed the top 100 events of the last 100 years. I was inspired at that moment to work on a song that would be a verbal time-capsule of the good, the bad and the ugly of the 20th century. My challenge was to take these 100 events and incorporate them into a heavy hip-hop/rap style song sung by KillSmith in his rough evil voice. I'm a song person and I'm not to crazy about or inspired by contemporary hip-hop and rap, although there are some shinning moments. But I had to try to create a song with that feel. I also wanted to incorporate sound effects to emphasize the lyrics. With Peter's great help in the recording studio we were very successful in achieving that goal. "Human Evolution's" finale highlights the sounds of a fireworks display celebrating an amazing and historic century...my century, the 20th century! I'm particularly proud of this epic song. Thanks for your time, Peter (and Neal)

Last Updated on Monday, 05 October 2009 14:03