Innehållsförteckning för December 2019 från Classic Rock

Welcome Have you got a favourite Rolling Stones song? I do. Well, I’ve got two – Gimme Shelter and Wild Horses – depending upon my mood. They’re both perfect Stones songs, in my book, highlighting just two facets of the Greatest Rock’N’Roll Band In The World. This issue we talked to a whole heap of stars to discover what they considered to be the best songs from Mick, Keef and co. Discover the choices of Billy Gibbons, Slash, Ian Anderson and more from p44. It’s been a long time coming, but this month I’m delighted to say we managed to collar restless creative spirit Robert Plant for The Classic Rock Interview (p26), in which the music legend takes us through his solo career, his new podcast passion and what he’s…

Black Crowes To Fly Again? Have feuding Robinson brothers buried the hatchet? The Black Crowes are strongly rumoured to be returning to the road next year. According to their former manager Pete Angelus, the band will celebrate the 30th anniversary of their debut album Shake Your Money Maker with some touring. Angelus told The Wall Street Journal that he is “aware of the deal” that siblings Chris and Rich Robinson have made for a 2020 tour. The Robinsons’ fractious relationship was behind a seemingly permanent split in 2015, when frontman Chris claimed the financial stakes of his guitar-playing brother Rich and drummer Steve Gorman. The brothers are yet to break their silence on the speculation. Gorman neither expects nor wants a phone call. “This is nothing to do with trying…

MY FIRST LOVE BLACK SABBATH The Opeth frontman on the greatest-hits cassette that steered him on to the path of heavy metal. By Mikael Åkerfeldt I grew up in a small society with, like, three streets – our parents took care of each others’ kids. Somebody there was a ‘home mum’, so she brought in a few of the kids during the day when my parents were away working, and they had a cassette player in the playroom with a Black Sabbath greatest hits tape. That’s what got me into metal music originally. The first thing that struck me about it was Iron Man. That voice in the beginning, Ozzy with the effects – ‘I am Iron Man’ – I was like: “What is this?” It was like horror films,…

the DIRT HIGH HOPES Cellar Door Moon Crow Blending rock and hip-hop isn’t easy cookery, but this duo might have found the recipe. “We’re a real band that has a bit of an urban edge, not a novelty act.” IT’S FAIR TO say that, over the years, blues rock and hip-hop have been casual acquaintances rather than lusty spouses; there was that epochal Aerosmith/Run-DMC collaboration, erm… Kid Rock, and that’s about it. But now Sheffield-based sibling two-piece Cellar Door Moon Crow have melded the two into a hot, hip-thrusting alloy; a Jack White/Beastie Boys mash-up that’s a backwards-baseball-cap-free zone. “Nah, we haven’t got any of those in our wardrobes. Nor gold chains, for that matter,” says drummer Tom Goodwin, laughing. “From the start, one thing we didn’t want was to…

EA Wayne Hussey The goth figurehead on growing up a Mormon, The Mission, the Sisters Of Mercy, and orchestrating an orgy. Interview: Dave Everley As one of the architects of goth, The Mission’s Wayne Hussey has earned the right to wear sunglasses at any time of the day. But that’s not the only reason he’s sporting shades when we meet in a pub on the outskirts of his childhood home town of Bristol in the middle of the afternoon. “Prescription,” he explains. “My eyesight’s always been poor. They look better than regular specs.” Hussey focused his peepers long enough to write Salad Daze, a hugely entertaining autobiography which charts his journey from clean-cut Mormon kid to wayward member of a pre-pop Dead Or Alive and an emergent Sisters Of Mercy,…

AIRBOURNE TO RUSSIA WITH LOVE Hot off the back of their best album yet, Airbourne take the “universal language” of rock’n’roll to the former USSR. Words: Polly Glass Photos: John McMurtrie The first time Airbourne came to Russia, they went to a remote spot in the Krasnodar region, just across the Black Sea from Crimea. It was 2014, the fraught first year of Russian military intervention in Ukraine. The Crimean Peninsula had been seized a few months previously. The BBC have since called it the worst East-West crisis since the Cold War. It was here that the annual Kubana rock festival was due to take place, and the area looked like a war zone. But, frightened (not unreasonably) by media coverage of the conflict, lots of bands billed to appear…

LET ME STAND NEXT TO YOUR FIRE Abandoning the traditional rock-bio format, Mick Wall’s new book is a psychedelic exploration of the life and death of Jimi Hendrix. In this exclusive extract we find Jimi at the peak of his powers. Words: Mick Wall More than 3,000 youngsters attended two houses at the Coventry Theatre. He can play guitar with his teeth, lying on the stage, or behind his back – and do it better than most in a more conventional position. The result was a stunning, completely individual performance, which included hits like Hey Joe, The Wind Cries Mary and Purple Haze, and the wildest version yet of Wild Thing. But the teenagers who stood on their seats for Jimi Hendrix were unmoved – and I guess somewhat bewildered…

BEST OF THE REST Other new reissues out this month. Nirvana MTV Unplugged GEFFEN/UMC Much-vaunted acoustic-ish performance from Nirvana’s golden era, now expanded across two discs of vinyl to accommodate five extra rehearsal tracks where absolutely nobody’s rising to the occasion. 7/10 Royal Trux Quantum Entanglement FAT POSSUM Select bomb-bursts from Neil Hagerty and Jennifer Herrema’s glorious scattershot assault on staid rock conservatism. Seditious, seductive, twisted, opiated, brazen and worth your quids for Waterpark alone. 8/10 Flamin’ Groovies Between The Lines: The Complete Jordan/Wilson Songbook ’77-’81 GROWN UP WRONG The psyched-out rabble-rousing Frisco punk progenitors’ second vain attempt to bite the elusive cherry of mainstream rock stardom handily encapsulated. Everyone should own Shake Some Action and the off-the-rails title track. 7/10 Rainbow Monsters Of Rock Live At Donington 1980 EARMUSIC…

LIVE! Tour Dates See left for dates. Currently May 2-15. See opposite page for dates. Currently November 15-26. See below for dates. Currently March 27, 28, 29.…

REVIEWS Alice Cooper / The Stranglers / MC50 London O2 Arena ‘Old shtick, but good shtick. Another show for the ages.’ Joined by a five-star supporting cast, Ol’ Black Eyes refreshes his lovable cabaret of gore and glee (on stage beheading included). If there’s one thing you can say of Alice Cooper, without fear of contradiction, it’s that he gives good show. Leaving aside his gore-pumped cavalcade of theatrical shlock horror to come, Alice never scrimps on supports. Clearly confident in his ability to outflank any performer alive, he’s unafraid to follow bands who might easily headline arenas on their own merits. Boasting a similar dynamic to the ‘07 UK leg of the Psycho-Drama tour – where the master showman topped a triple bill featuring Motörhead and Joan Jett &…

King Gizzard And The Lizard Wizard London Alexandra Palace Aussie psych-rock juggernaut’s biggest ever gig. Of course there’s a man in a wizard’s hat roaming the halls of the Alexandra Palace before schizoid Aussie psych-nuts King Gizzard And The Lizard Wizard appear. But there’s also a kid in an Iron Maiden T-shirt, a couple of Libertines refugees and at least a dozen hippies who look like they came for the original 14-Hour Technicolor Dream in 1967 and never left. They say you can’t please all the people all the time, but King Gizz are going to die trying. The 15 albums from their manic seven-years of creativity range from biscuit-tin psychedelia to T-Rexian choogle-glam. Tonight is a 90-minute tasting menu of everything they have to offer, where every course comes…

The Soundtrack Of My Life The Magpie Salute’s Rich Robinson on the special records, artists and gigs that are of lasting significance to him Interview: Rob Hughes It was no surprise to anyone that after The Black Crowes split in 2015 – after three decades and more than 30 million album sales – the feuding Robinson brothers went their separate ways. Guitarist younger sibling Rich made a handy solo album, Flux, before forming The Magpie Salute, a bunch of rock’n’rollers with a sure grasp of Americana, southern blues and heavy psychedelia. It’s been quite a journey already. And this is the music that shaped it. THE FIRST MUSIC I REMEMBER HEARING It has to be Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young’s Déjà Vu [1970]. My dad was a musician and a…

This month’s contributors MICK WALL A former editor of Classic Rock, Mick also wrote the cover stories for the first five issues, while this month we have an exclusive extract from his brand-new book Two Riders Were Approaching – a vivid account of the Jimi Hendrix story, published by Trapeze on November 19. Read a taster on page 68. ROB HUGHES Rob has been a contributor to these pages for more than a decade now. This month he managed to satisfy not one but two long-standing ambitions by getting to interview Robert Plant (p26) and Robbie Robertson (p56) – not at the same time though, obviously. When not cosying up with rock legends, Rob can be heard twice weekly as guest of BBC 6Music’s Marc Riley, with whom he also…

RIP Thank you and good night. Larry Junstrom June 22, 1949 – October 6, 2019 Lynyrd Skynyrd have lamented the passing of their original bassist, calling him “the big man, on the big bass with the even bigger heart”. Junstrom was a member of the pre-Skynyrd band My Backyard, who he left in 1971. He spent most of his career with .38 Special, who described him as “truly one of a kind, a congenial travelling companion and a great friend to all”. Barrie Masters Died October 2, 2019 The immensely popular frontman of Eddie And The Hot Rods has died unexpectedly at the age of 63. Known for their Top Ten single Do Anything You Wanna Do, the Hot Rods offered the Sex Pistols their big break with a support…

NEWS Although drummer Mick Fleetwood has hinted strongly at the possibility of Fleetwood Mac headlining next year’s Glastonbury Festival, negotiations with the event’s organisers have reportedly broken down over finances. Metallica guitarist Kirk Hammett joined UFO on stage during their recent gig at the Avalon Theatre in California, performing the encore songs Doctor Doctor and Shoot Shoot. Magnum release their 21st studio album on January 17 via SPV. Produced as usual by guitarist Tony Clarkin, The Serpent Rings, is the first to feature their new bassist Dennis Ward. The cardigan worn by Kurt Cobain during Nirvana’s 1994 MTV Unplugged performance has sold at auction for $334,000 (£260,000). The previous owner said he put the garment up for sale because the responsibility of keeping it in his house was too overwhelming.…

NEWS Rob Halford predicts that his autobiography, due late next year, is “going to shock you”. “There’s no point in putting a book together if you don’t have full disclosure, in my opinion,” the Judas Priest frontman comments. To commemorate late Thin Lizzy star Phil Lynott’s 70th birthday, the Central Bank Of Ireland releases a limited-edition ¤15 silver proof coin bearing his image on November 27. Last month, two ¤1 stamps, one featuring a portrait of Lynott and the other bearing the cover of Thin Lizzy’s Black Rose album, went on sale in Lynott’s homeland. Artists who used PledgeMusic as a method of releasing music are “unlikely” to get back any money following the company’s liquidation in August, say receivers. Eagles will perform their seminal album Hotel California in its…

TAYLOR HAWKINS BLOND AMBITION Some people might be content with being a member of one of the biggest bands in the world. Not Taylor Hawkins, who’s expanded his horizons outside Foo Fighters with a star-studded solo album. Classic Rock visited him at home, living the dream. Words: Joe Daly It’s a warm October afternoon when I knock on the thick wooden door of a sprawling, upscale estate at the end of a quiet cul de sac, a half hour’s drive northwest of Los Angeles. A beat-up ’86 Toyota pickup sits in the driveway. The door opens, and Taylor Hawkins greet me with a broad smile and a warm handshake. Wearing board shorts and a beat-up T-shirt, his long blond hair bouncing behind him, he takes me through his bright and…

BEST OF THE REST Other new releases out this month. Vinny Peculiar While You Still Can SHADRACK & DUXBURY Tough times bring out the other Bard of Salford’s best, as pin-smart, razor-sharp lyrics are allied to a gutsier-than-usual 70s-informed backdrop. Disgust and disillusionment as a fine art. 7/10 Robyn Hitchcock Andy Partridge Planet England EP APE HOUSE Exquisite, quintessentially English, XTC-skewed post-psych from two left-field geniuses for the price of one. Hitchcock takes lead vocal, as Partridge skews baroque pop as only he can. More please. 8/10 Lagwagon Railer FAT WRECK CHORDS Precision pop-informed SoCal rockcore from Joey Cape’s off-on three-decade Fat Wreck vets. There are odd moments of generic ‘meh’ familiarity, but more of slack-jawed ‘this is awesome’ brilliance. 8/10 Hawkestrel The Future Is Us CLEOPATRA Alan Davey brings…

Mott The Hoople Live At Hammersmith 1973 MADFISH No sleep at Hammersmith; impressive double-vinyl incarnation of 30th-anniversary CD. After first manifesting 50 years ago, Mott The Hoople finally hit paydirt with Bowie in 1972 before the following July’s Mott showed that Ian Hunter could write hit singles like All The Way From Memphis, compounded by Roll Away The Stone. After guitarist Mick Ralphs split, Ariel Bender arrived as a wild-card shot in the arm, and the world seemed at their feet when they hit Hammersmith Odeon for two shows on December 14, the closing date of the UK tour that had started over a month earlier, with relatively unknown support band Queen. As Mott’s fan club president, this writer witnessed the gig ringside as Bowie and Jagger cavorted behind the…

REVIEWS The Psychedelic Furs London Roundhouse Revitalised post-punk legends light fires again. They’ve still got it. The band perversely chose the word ‘psychedelic’ to set themselves apart from punk’s antipathy towards 60s sounds. Their unique fusion of smooth and shrill, which shouldn’t work on paper but does resoundingly on stage, remains exhilarating four decades on. Tonight’s sold-out show, preceded by openers Wendy James’s robust new band, is a beautiful blast, as much febrile energy as nostalgia, right from the first bars of Dumb Waiters, its guitar and sax lines interacting with Richard Butler’s cool, cryptic lyrics to spiral upwards like plumes of sexy iridescent smoke. From here on in, the set is a well-gauged mix of restraint and intensity. Butler gives plenty, posing and bowing with illustrative hands, an ageless…

INSIDE THE WORLD OF ROCK the DIRT Ginger Baker August 19, 1939 – October 6, 2019 MAIN: GETTY; INSET: MARIE KORNER DRUMMER GINGER BAKER has died at the age of 80. The news was confirmed on his Facebook page with a message that reads: “We are very sad to say that Ginger has passed away peacefully this morning. Thank you to everyone for your kind words to us all over the past weeks.” He was admitted to hospital in late September, with his family saying at the time that he was in a critical condition. Baker had suffered ill health in recent years, and was forced to cancel a number of live shows in February 2016 after a fall and being diagnosed with a serious heart condition which required surgery.…

the DIRT Morten Stützer Died October 2, 2019 Farewell to the founder member and guitarist of Danish heavy metallers Artillery. Formed in 1982, the band were in the process of putting together a new album when Stützer died unexpectedly aged 57, and have vowed to continue performing in his honour. Richard Brunelle September 6, 1964 – September 23, 2019 The world of death metal was shocked and saddened when Richard Brunelle, guitarist for Morbid Angel during their heyday years, died at the age of 55. Brunelle joined the Floridian band in 1985 and was with them until 1991. He also returned for two further live stints, in ’94 and ’98. Richard went on to perform with the heavy metal band Paths Of Possession. Kim Shattuck July 17, 1963 – October…

Producer Mike Vernon on Focus’s volatile chemistry “I was tipped off about Focus by [Sire label boss] Seymour Stein,” recalls Mike Vernon, who produced the band’s biggest-selling albums in the 70s. “I first saw them play in a farm storage unit in a small venue somewhere in the north of Holland, and I was completely and utterly floored. I’d never seen anything like it in my life. “I had a lot of fun with Focus, but it was really sad the way the band broke up. Jealousy, I think, was the biggest problem. Jan Akkerman was jealous of Thijs van Leer’s ability to write music, and Thijs was jealous of Jan’s ability to create something special without knowing how he did it. But that’s what also gave them their unique…

THE CLASSIC ROCK INTERVIEW ROBERT PLANT Determined not to “push a pen for two quid a week and be an accountant”, he started singing with local groups. Before long he was fronting the biggest band in the world, and now, at 71, he’s enjoying the fourth decade of a successful solo career. Reckon he probably made the right decision. Interview: Rob Hughes “I remember that great morning when the term ‘classic rock’ was invented,” Robert Plant says, by way of introduction, at his base in the Severn Valley. “It became a radio network in America long before your magazine. What had happened was that the world of ‘raaaak’ – with several ‘a’s – had become like an oldies station. But it doesn’t relate to you guys much, because you’ve kept…

ROAR POWER! Phil Campbell has been talking about doing a solo album for 20 years. Now it’s finally here, the former Motörhead guitarist, with help from some big-name friends, shows that Old Lions Still Roar. Words: Grant Moon Portrait: Will Ireland We’re chatting with Phil Campbell in a lovely old boozer near Pontypridd, a stone’s throw from the South Wales village where the former Motörhead guitarist grew up and still lives. He’s reminiscing about good times, and has a twinkle in his eye. “Dee Snider did a guest slot with Motörhead sixteen years ago at Sweden Rocks festival,” he recalls, a smile beginning to cross his face. “There’s me, him and Lem right at the front of the stage doing It’s Only Rock ’N’ Roll, really giving it some. Now…

ROUND-UP: MELODIC ROCK By Dave Ling Work Of Art Exhibits FRONTIERS A metaphorical fag paper separates the cream of November’s melodic crop. While those Swedish magpies Degreed are busy pushing the boundaries of melodic hard rock, fellow countrymen Work Of Art have an entirely different agenda. Rather than seeking to reinvent the wheel, they pursue perfection within an existing set of parameters – indeed, talking to Classic Rock, guitarist Robert Säll once referred to their Holy Grail of “purity”. Back after an absence of five years, the trio’s fourth album will find favour with those who seek nothing more challenging than their Journey, Survivor and Giant LPs. After all, this is a band who, with tongue firmly in cheek, once listed their influences as “Toto, Toto and Toto”. And sticking to…

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Essential Playlist Advent Morningrise Demon Of The Fall My Arms, Your Hearse Face Of Melinda Still Life Harvest Blackwater Park The Drapery Falls Blackwater Park Deliverance Deliverance In My Time Of Need Damnation Ghost Of Perdition Ghost Reveries The Grand Conjuration Ghost Reveries Burden Watershed The Lotus Eater Watershed The Devil’s Orchard Heritage Cusp Of Eternity Pale Communion Faith In Others Pale Communion Strange Brew Sorceress De Närmast Sörjande In Cauda Venenum Heir Apparent Watershed Allting Tar Slut In Cauda Venenum…

The Wildhearts Brighton Concorde 2 In the charts, on the radio… the renaissance continues. “First nights are normally for us, the rest of the tour is for the audiences… This is the best first night we’ve ever played!” Ginger is a proud man tonight. Despite an untried set-list and two songs The Wildhearts have never played live before – My Kinda Movie, and The Fine Art Of Deception from 2019’s hit Renaissance Men – the whole band’s performance is colossal. Earlier, The Professionals had jack-hammered their way through a show primed to overlook the fact that only drummer Paul Cook and the songs remain from 40 years ago, but Chris McCormack does a decent Steve Jones on guitar, Toshi plays bass, and London ’erbert frontman Tom Spencer is well handy,…

Wilco London Hammersmith Apollo From alt.country to experimental rock, the veterans triumph in the capital. Admiring Wilco’s chutzpah for opening with the languid country of Bright Leaves and Before Us a week before their release on the band’s eleventh album, Ode To Joy, pales into insignificance when applauding the stunning musicianship tonight. And with a 28-song set spread a shade over two hours, Wilco sound more vital and urgent than ever. Indeed, such is the display that it beggars belief that the band took a two-year hiatus. For all of singer/guitarist Jeff Tweedy’s reputed prickly relationship with London audiences, this is a warm-spirited performance that welcomes, beguiles and delights. Taking in the delicate Jesus Etc and a delightfully pretty California, Stars via the incrementally intense Handshake Drugs, Wilco deploy a…