Indholdsfortegnelse for February 2019 i Classic Rock

WELCOME There’s definitely something in the air. And it’s a good thing. Last year, one of the biggest (and most surprising, if we’re honest) stories was that of Greta Van Fleet. So much so that many of the established names we spoke to last issue for our Review Of 2018 were singing the band’s praises unprompted. It’s been forever since a new rock band has caught the imagination of the wider world, racking up huge statistics of radio and streaming plays, Grammy Award nominations, No.1 singles, sold-out shows… The Darkness are probably the last band I can think of that really transcended the rock niche. But GVF, three siblings and their pal from Michigan, have managed the nearly impossible and are taking rock into the mainstream again. We spoke to…

HIGH FIVE A fistful of classic Buzzcocks songs. Love You More One minute 50 seconds of (im)perfect pop perfection. Buzzcocks’ first appearance on Top Of The Pops. The song that spawned an entire genre: post-grunge 1990s punk, as typified by Green Day – brutal and eloquent in its truculent razor-sharp execution. Ever Fallen In Love (With Someone You Shouldn’t’ve) From second album Love Bites. The title is taken from dialogue in the Hollywood musical Guys And Dolls. Very poignant, in the context of Shelley’s bisexuality. “I loved the word ‘shouldn’t’ve’ and all its apostrophes,” Shelley told music critic Dave Simpson. A genius amalgam of Krautrock, sardonic punk attitude, lovelorn lyrics and irresistible hooks. Boredom From Spiral Scratch. The classic two-note guitar line (repeated 66 times). Punk has rarely sounded so…

The Dirt To Screen In March Crüe film arriving via Netflix. THE MUCH-ANTICIPATED Mötley Crüe film The Dirt, based on their 2002 book The Dirt: Confessions Of The World’s Most Notorious Rock Band is set to arrive on March 22. Crüe frontman Vince Neil confirmed the news on Twitter, revealing: “Wow! Just left Netflix offices. Just saw The Dirt movie! Fuckin’ awesome! Can’t wait for everyone to see it! [It’s] released March 22. Yeah!” Mötley have worked with producer Bob Rock to record four new original songs for the production, which has been a work in progress since the summer of 2016. Directed by Jeff Tremaine, of Jackass fame, The Dirt stars Daniel Webber as Neil, Douglas Booth as bassist Nikki Sixx, Machine Gun Kelly as drummer Tommy Lee and…

BURIED TREASURE Riches from the rock underground ENGLAND England, Deroy, UK 1976. £1,000. Deroy was a Lancashire-based recording service, enabling unsigned artists to release custom recordings to vinyl at their own expense, usually manufactured in extremely limited runs of 99 copies. Although a small label, Deroy released some of the most sought after UK recordings of the 60s and 70s. One of their most acknowledged releases is this excellent album by London-based power-trio England. Originally formed by guitarist/vocalist Olly Alcock in the Cumbrian town of Kendall in 1971, they embarked on a life on the road. But despite building up a dedicated following, a major-label deal wasn’t forthcoming. England follows an unconventional line somewhere between early progressive hard rock and pub rock, while displaying fragments of early NWOBHM, which might…

THE MOTOWN CITY FIVE GETTY x2 One irresistible facet of the MC5’s live show was that they ramped up the energy with choreographed, showband stage moves that were intrinsically Detroit, and very Motown: “We loved Motown [Four Tops pictured],” says Wayne Kramer. “I come from an era before the British invasion, and in that era the cool bands did dance steps, and the cooler your steps, the cooler your band. Spins, leaps and getting up and dancing on your amplifiers, very much like Motown artists, but with electric guitars. The first time I saw The Beatles I thought: ‘They ain’t even doing any steps, and they’re so old.’”…

DAVE COBB Rival Sons’ long-time producer talks about what he brings to the party. You’ve worked with Rival Sons since their first album. What did you see in them when you first met them? They reminded me of the records I loved as a kid – AC/DC, Zeppelin, Black Sabbath. And then when they found Jay, they just stepped up another level. He’s one of the best rock’n’roll singers around. Were they the finished article already back then? I think they were becoming a band. When you start a band, you’re the sum of all your influences, and those influences start to melt together. They’ve got a sound now, and every record’s been an evolution towards that. Jay and Scott are chalk and cheese. Was it hard getting them to…

FIVE ESSENTIAL BE-BOP BEAUTIES AXE VICTIM Axe Victim, 1974 This dazzling guitar showcase takes glam-rock to a rarified other level, while Nelson’s lyrics suggest he was already uncomfortable with his role as stage idol. MAID IN HEAVEN Futurama, 1975 With fully flexed rock chops and its to-die-for melody, this is arguably the band’s greatest moment. Bizarrely, it only scratched the UK Top 40. Go figure. BLAZING APOSTLES Sunburst Finish, 1976 Five minutes of labyrinthine thrills, from expansive prog to primal rock‘n’roll and a brief, affectionate tribute to the great Duane Eddy. CRYING TO THE SKY Sunburst Finish, 1976 A roaring tribute to one of Nelson’s prime influences, Jimi Hendrix, topped off by a truly grandstanding guitar solo. LOVE IN FLAMES Drastic Plastic, 1978 Amid an album dominated by electronic textures,…

THE 50 GREATEST AOR ALBUMS OF ALL TIME Words: Paul Elliott, Dave Ling, Jon Hotten & Siân Llewellyn Adult Oriented Rock is the smooth sound that came out of the USA and became the soundtrack to millions of lives all over the world – a sound defined by timeless anthems such as Boston’s More Than A Feeling, Journey’s Don’t Stop Believin’, Survivor’s Eye Of The Tiger and Toto’s Africa, and by monumental power ballads, none bigger than Foreigner’s global smash I Want To Know What Love Is. In a 15-page special, Classic Rock celebrates the very best of AOR from the golden age of the 70s and 80s. Here we present The 50 Greatest AOR Albums Of All Time. Included are some of the biggest-selling records in the history of…

ON THIS MONTH’S FREE DIGITAL ALBUM… BLOODSHOT RECORDS SAMPLER 2019 15 scorching tracks from our rootsy friends at Bloodshot Records bring much-needed warmth to these getting-colder days. Expect countrified tones, punk, blues and rock’n’roll all the way. Stereo can also be played on mono equipment 1 Robbie Fulks & Linda Gail Lewis Wild Wild Wild It’s wild alright, in a lovably 50s-inspired sort of way. Grammy nominee Fulks and his partner in crime Lewis have cooked up a hearty gumbo of rockabilly tones, honky-tonk piano and the kind of vocal harmonies that would make Johnny Cash and his missus smile approvingly. From Wild! Wild! Wild! https://robbiefulks.bandcamp.com 2 Ha Ha Tonka Race To The Bottom A soaring indie roots-rock ballad, from a Missouri group described as sitting “at the crossroads of Americana…

Essential Playlist Anathema Endless Ways (THE OPTIMIST, 2017) Steven Wilson The Raven That Refused To Sing (THE RAVEN…AND OTHER STORIES, 2013) The Pineapple Thief Try As I Might (DISSOLUTION, 2018) Iamthemorning Chalk & Coal (LIGHTHOUSE, 2016) The Pineapple Thief Nothing At Best (SOMEONE HERE IS MISSING, 2009) Blackfield Open Mind (BLACKFIELD, 2004) North Atlantic Oscillation August (THE THIRD DAY, 2014) Anathema Untouchable Part I (WEATHER SYSTEMS, 2012) Nordic Giants Rapture (A SEANCE OF DARK DELUSIONS, 2015) Amplifier Matmos (ECHO STREET, 2013) Sand Clay (SAND, 2013) Steven Wilson Remainder The Black Dog (GRACE FOR DROWNING, 2013) Gazpacho The Desert Flight (TICK TOCK, 2009) Steven Wilson Routine (HAND. CANNOT. ERASE, 2015) Gleb Kolyadin feat. Steve Hogarth Confluence (GLEB KOLYADIN, 2018) Se Delan Dirge (THE FALL, 2014) Iamthemorning Touching (OCEAN SOUNDS, 2018)…

INTERVIEWS The Dandy Warhols The brains behind Bohemian Like You are coming to town. Frontman/guitarist Courtney Taylor-Taylor previews a 25th-anniversary visit from the alt.rockers from Portland, Oregon. Courtney Taylor-Taylor is quite a name. It was sort of a thing that happened, and I don’t tell anyone why [the second Taylor was added during the last millennium] or what instigated it, because it’s far more interesting to let them guess. This is your first time in Classic Rock. How comfortable or otherwise do you feel sharing column space with Led Zeppelin, Guns N’ Roses and Bowie? It’s flattering but a little weird to me. But then I guess we have been around for twenty-five years. When we toured with Bowie and the Stones I realised that those guys are musically gifted…

Mastodon On offer is “a wild evening of intelligent heavy music”. The American metal giants wrap up the touring of a record made under considerable stress, including family illness, their own health issues and battles with sobriety. Drummer Brann Dailor looks at the past and to the future. How close did Mastodon come to breaking up during the making of the band’s current latest album, 2017’s Emperor Of Sand? It was never really on the table. Mastodon is the lighthouse that really got us through those past few difficult years, and everything in the last few months as well. Yes, we were sorry to hear about the death of the band’s manager, Nick John. It’s a nice touch that fans are being invited to donate to cancer charities in his…

Dan Reed Network A fumbling Reed fails to slam dunk the funk. London 229 Club ★ It’s 30 years – a long time – since Dan Reed and his Network had their heyday, with hits, critical acclaim and audiences falling at his feet, and a lot has happened to him between then and now. What remains from that golden period, of course, is some great songs. Also that wonderful singing voice. What seems to have taken a bit of a hammering, however, is the unshakable confidence and self-assurance that he once had in spades. Tonight it’s clear that there’s something amiss with Reed’s ‘performance management’. Sound problems right at the off certainly don’t help. But where before if there was a technical hitch he would have engaged with the audience,…

Parquet Courts Collectivism, autonomy and the chaos dimension. London The Roundhouse ★ Sometimes a band just comes of age. Which is what happens to Parquet Courts when they blitz the Roundhouse with the most visceral hard-core funk and woozy psychedelia this now gentrified railway shed has witnessed since the golden age of 70s punk rock. Kicking off with latest album Wide Awake!’s irresistible anthem Total Football, inspired in part by the philosophy of Holland’s 1974 World Cup team, the Courts strike out. Drummer Max Savage’s metronomic beat pins Dust to the floor, where it’s swept on by deranged bassist Sean Yeaton, while brother A. Savage and Austin Brown hold a high-level instrumental summit in the brutal thrash medley Almost Had To Start A Fight/In And Out Of Patience that sends…

The Soundtrack Of My Life Alter Bridge singer and Slash conspirator MYLES KENNEDY on the records, artists and gigs that are of lasting significance to him. Interview: Nick Hasted Myles Kennedy is among today’s finest hard rock vocalists, with both Alter Bridge and with Slash’s band Myles Kennedy And The Conspirators. But that shouldn’t obscure the varied musical background the singer/guitarist drew on with last year’s more stark, autobiographical solo record Year Of The Tiger, or the fact that his first rock band, the Mayfield Four followed two jazz-influenced groups. Kennedy talks Classic Rock through his diverse musical life. THE FIRST MUSIC I REMEMBER HEARING Stevie Wonder on Sesame Street, performing Superstition. That may be one of the most memorable experiences I had, period, as a young person. I was…

This month’s contributors DAVE LEWIS Long-time Classic Rock contributor Dave Lewis (pictured left with Jimmy Page in 1980) spent over five years with co-author Mike Tremaglio collating the remarkable Evenings With Led Zeppelin book which is showcased in our very special Led Zeppelin supplement this month. For more on Led Zeppelin visit www.tightbutloose.co.uk DAVE EVERLEY We just about broke ‘Diamond’ Dave Everley this issue. We sent him to Los Angeles to chat with Rival Sons (p34), and then to speak to rock upstarts Greta Van Fleet for our cover story (p24). We then diverted him to Texas where he spent some quality time with Gary Clark Jr for a future issue. As far as we know, he did make it back home for Christmas. JON HOTTEN It’s been a while…

the DIRT RIP Thank you and good night. Eddie C Campbell May 6, 1939 – November 20, 2018 Born in Mississippi 79 years ago, by the time he was 12 Eddie C Campbell was sitting in with Muddy Waters’s band. The guitarist/singer was a sideman for Howlin’ Wolf, Little Walter, Little Johnny Taylor and Jimmy Reed, before Willie Dixon pulled him into the Chicago Blues All-Stars in 1976. Roy Bailey October 20, 1935 – November 20, 2018 Known for a socially aware style of folk, Londoner Roy Bailey began his career in a skiffle band in 1968. In 2000 he received an MBE, but returned it six years later in protest against British support of the Israeli invasion of Lebanon. He was 83. Scott English January 10, 1937 – November…

Mac Court Case Over Lindsey Buckingham says he won’t “twist the knife”. LINDSEY BUCKINGHAM’S LAWSUIT with Fleetwood Mac has been settled. The guitarist/vocalist was fired last year due to a scheduling conflict revolving around a world tour. He will be replaced for the shows by Heartbreakers guitarist Mike Campbell and Crowded House leader Neil Finn. Buckingham was sacked just days after appearing with Mac at a Grammy MusicCares event, and subsequently filed papers that claimed a lost income of up to $14 million. The band’s response was terse and to the point: “Fleetwood Mac looks forward to their day in court.” Speaking on the popular US news programme This Morning recently, Buckingham revealed that the matter has been resolved. Asked whether the outcome was satisfactory from his point of view,…

Q&A Steve Morse Deep Purple’s current guitarist on Blackmore’s blessing, dealing with the haters and why guitar is the best therapy. Words: Henry Yates They call him the hardest-working guitarist in rock, and he has the résumé to back up the title. Raised in Georgia, guitarist Steve Morse made his first blip on the music radar with genre-mangling fusioneers Dixie Dregs back in the 70s, and after that he bolstered the re-formed Kansas in the 80s. Then in 1994 he became the guitarist in Deep Purple, with whom he has so far played on six studio albums, from 1996’s Purpendicular to 2017’s Infinite, and seven live albums. While doing all that he has still managed to pop out to play with artists ranging from Luciano Pavarotti to Flying Colors. “To…

The Sound Of Delicate THUNDER As Thunder prepare to release an album of some of their own songs reimagined in an unfamiliar way, band leaders Danny Bowes and Luke Morley talk Frank Sinatra, swampy blues, going a bit ‘jazz club’ and playing golf with Scott Gorham. Words: Dave Ling JASON JOYCE Thunder’s twelfth studio album is an album with a difference. Dipping into rock, blues, jazz and soul, Please Remain Seated sees the Londoners reworking and reimagining material from a catalogue built up over the past 30 years. Vocalist Danny Bowes and guitarist Luke Morley explain the reasons behind the change in direction, and preview a nine-date UK tour in February. Whose was the idea for the concept for Please Remain Seated? Danny Bowes: It came from the fans who…

LONDON CALLING In the late 80s, FM were seen by some as the great British AOR hope. But stylists aren’t the only reason it didn’t happen. Words: Dave Ling RAY PALMER ARCHIVE/ICONICPIX In September 1986, London-based quintet FM released their debut album, Indiscreet. It offered a firm nod to bands such as Survivor, Styx, Foreigner, Boston and Journey. The titles on Indiscreet say it all: American Girls, That Girl, Love Lies Dying and, best of all, the über-ballad Frozen Heart. “Back then, those bands still represented mainstream music,” vocalist Steve Overland recalls. “Bon Jovi, Europe and Bryan Adams were having hit records. It was the best of times.” “We also drew from the likes of Steely Dan, the Eagles, the Doobie Brothers and, even further back, Free and Bad Company,”…

ALBUMS Rival Sons Feral Roots LOW COUNTRY SOUND/ATLANTIC Long Beach rockers’ sixth album twists and turns and ultimately triumphs. You’re 10 years into your career. The world, which has moved steadily away from the high-class rock’n’roll you hold dear, suddenly shifts as four Led Zep-alike kids appear and do gangbusters out of nowhere. What do you do? If you’re Scott Holiday and Jay Buchanan, you decamp to a shack in Northern Tennessee and plot the album that just might make you. When it comes down to it, the phrase ‘it’s a grower’ can be a polite code for ‘it’s a bit shit’. It’s like the scene in Friends when Monica describes Rachel’s new nanny as “attractive in an obvious way”, and Ross says: “Yeah, obvious beauty’s the worst… Me, I…

REISSUES Slipknot All Hope Is Gone 10th Anniversary Edition ROADRUNNER The masked maniacs’ difficult fourth album revisited. Maybe it’s not so ‘difficult’ after all? ‘You’ll never censor me, you’d better cherish me!’ bellows Corey Taylor in Butcher’s Hook, neatly summing up a large part of Slipknot’s appeal midway through the band’s fourth studio album. All Hope Is Gone was always going to be a tough record for the Iowan nine-piece: the previous three had all been insanely successful, not least for a band that sounded permanently but thrillingly on the edge of disintegration. 2004’s Vol.3: The Subliminal Verses, in particular, had received near-universal acclaim, as the band’s trademark blend of brutality and big tunes embraced a broader spectrum of dynamics and a greater sense of experimental daring. Upon its release,…

STUFF BOOKS & DVDs Geddy Lee’s Big Beautiful Book Of Bass Rush man’s journey down the vintage-bass rabbit hole. Geddy Lee HARPER DESIGN Lavish. Sumptuous. Coffee-table-cracking. It would be an understatement to say Geddy Lee’s entrance into the world of highend books is an enthusiastic one. Approximately the size and weight of a paving slab, this exhaustive gem serves as a cultural history, a musical love letter and a peek into the particular pathologies of serious collectors with deep pockets. Based on a core of 250 basses from Lee’s personal collection, which, incredibly, he only started acquiring in 2012, the Rush bassist’s fascination/obsession with the instrument infuses every shimmering page. And shimmering they are. Crammed with genuine world-class photography by Richard Sibbald, every angle, shadow and close-up could be illustrating…

INSIDE THE WORLD OF ROCK the DIRT Pete Shelley 17 April 1955 – 6 December 2018 GETTY FOR MORE NEWS: WWW.CLASSICROCKMAGAZINE.COM COPYRIGHT FUTURE 2019 Everett True looks back at the life and times of the Buzzcocks singer and songwriter. TRIBUTES HAVE BEEN pouring in for Pete Shelley, the lead singer of Mancunian punk band Buzzcocks, who died of a suspected heart attack on December 6 at the age 63. Love, sadness, humour, passion – an outpouring of a personal grief, made more poignant because his music felt so secret and special to so many. As Stephen McRobbie, singer with Scotland’s shy romantics The Pastels, puts it: “I always come back to them, to their deceptive simplicity, the brilliance of it all, the thrill. They were the way into punk and…

NEWS After a year of touring together as The Devon Allman Project With Special Guest Duane Betts, the sons of Gregg Allman and Dickey Betts have formed the Allman Betts Band. The lineup adds Berry Oakley Jr, the son of ABB bassist Berry Oakley. Former Brothers and current Rolling Stones keyboard player Chuck Leavell is set to guest on a new Allman Betts Band album that’s due in the spring. As this issue went to press, Styx announced a one-off UK date. The veteran US pom-prockers play London Palladium on June 4. It’s the band’s first headline show here since 2005. Guns N’ Roses were forced to abbreviate a recent set in Abu Dhabi after frontman Axl Rose (pictured) was taken “severely ill”. The band carried on and managed to…

Killer Queen Bohemian Rhapsody scoops Golden Globe nominations. Queen’s Bohemian Rhapsody film has been nominated in two categories for 2019’s prestigious Golden Globes Awards. Already acknowledged as the biggest-selling music biopic of all time, the film is in the running to win the Best Motion Picture – Drama category, while its star, the 37-year-old Rami Malek, is shortlisted for Best Performance By An Actor In A Motion Picture – Drama. Queen guitarist Brian May believes that Ramek’s performance as Freddie Mercury is deserving of an Oscar nomination, but in the Golden Globes he’s up against Bradley Cooper (A Star Is Born), Willem Dafoe (At Eternity’s Gate), Lucas Hedges (Boy Erased) and John David Washington (BlackKKKlansman); while Bohemian Rhapsody goes head-to-head with Black Panther, BlacKKKlansman, If Beale Street Could Talk and…

MY FIRST LOVE The Beatles WITH THE BEATLES The Toto guitarist relives the moment he fell for the loveable moptops. By Steve Lukather “The album changed my life? I don’t even have to think about that. It was With The Beatles [released in the US as Meet The Beatles]. That album was the ‘on’ switch for me, and fifty years later I’m playing in a band with Ringo Starr. It’s pretty crazy. “The music on that record touches me deeply inside, more than everything else that came after it. And the song that really did it for me as a kid was I Saw Her Standing There. When I heard the guitar solo, George’s solo, I wanted to be that guy. When I saw The Beatles on TV, that was…

THE STORIES BEHIND THE SONGS MC5 Kick Out The Jams The title track of the band’s live debut album which captured the band at their most inspired and inspiring, it was the incendiary call to arms that originally ignited punk’s vital spark in 60s Detroit. Words: Ian Fortnam Detroit’s Motor City 5 were a force of nature. An explosive collision of high-energy rock’n’roll, psychedelically inclined free jazz, radical left-wing politics, soul-driven R&B showband steps, acid-expanded consciousness and revolution-sparking raw power. Having ripped through the Detroit live scene like wildfire, the band released a pair of independent singles across a two-year period (I Can Only Give You Everything b/w One Of The Guys, Looking At You b/w Borderline) through Trans Love Energies on AMG and A-Square respectively. Repeat pressings and a…

THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO STEVE HACKETT As he gears up for the release of his new solo album, the guitarist reflects on being a morning person, struggling with down time, the joys of travel and what it feels like being the son of Superman. Interview: Philip Wilding Steve Hackett’s twenty-sixth studio album, At The Edge Of Light, reflects the former Genesis guitarist’s (he left after 1976’s Wind & Wuthering) continuing musical journey around the globe, soaking up environments and influences along the way. While his solo-career trajectory continues apace, next year sees Hackett revisiting two of his musical totems: his former band Genesis’s 1973 album Selling England By The Pound, and his 1979 solo record Spectral Mornings. In our conversation Hackett talks about travel, making music, the future, the past…

Hawklords State-of-the-art ‘Wind-of-change’ Space Rock. London Boston Music Room ★ With one foot in a space-rock past and another in a sci-fi future, the Hawklords have never sounded quite so vital, essential and fiercely contemporary as they do at present. The core of 2018’s incarnation originally came together to pay tribute to the late Robert Calvert in ‘08. Now settled in a line-up of guitarist/vocalist Jerry Richards, synth player/vocalist Harvey Bainbridge, bassist/vocalist Tom Ashurst and drummer Dave Pearce, and augmented on this tour by sax-grooving Hawkwind co-founder Nik Turner (78 if he’s a day and showing no signs of returning to Earth), their new seventh album, Brave New World, ranks with the year’s best. Tonight’s set, still peppered with occasional Calverts (The Aerospaceage Inferno, Ejection), relies mostly on material from…