Innholdsfortegnelse for July 2020 i Classic Rock

WELCOME Well I don’t know about you, but 2020 isn’t exactly shaping up as I’d expected (hoped?) it would. We’re still under lockdown, the Classic Rock team are still working from our couches, but thankfully we all still have our health and we’re all very grateful for that. We’re all very thankful too for all the NHS and essential workers who are toiling on our behalf. It’s at times like these when I really stop and consider how lucky (and privileged) we are to do what it is we do for a living. We’re not essential, we’re not saving lives, we’re just here to provide entertainment. Hopefully that’s what we’ve managed to do this month, and with any luck we might at least be able to take your mind off…

the Dirt RIP Thank you and good night. Hal Willner April 6, 1956 – April 7, 2020 Grammy-winning music, film and TV producer Hal Willner has died of Covid-19 one day after his sixty-fifth birthday. Born in Philadelphia, adoptive New Yorker Willner worked on albums for Lou Reed (including Lulu, the 2011 collaboration with Metallica), Marianne Faithfull, Lucinda Williams and Laurie Anderson. He was also a long-time producer of the US television show Saturday Night Live. Steve Farmer December 31, 1948 – April 7, 2020 Ted Nugent is “saddened” by the death of Steve Farmer, a former bandmate in his pre-solo group the Amboy Dukes. Farmer wrote the lyrics to the 1968 song Journey To The Centre Of The Mind, among several songs recorded by the Dukes. Their original line-up…

WELCOME BACK Stephen Dale Petit From homeless busker to acclaimed guitarist and songwriter, SDP knows a thing or two about the blues. STEPHEN DALE PETIT was once described in Classic Rock as playing guitar with “the fire of Freddie King, the instinct of Jimmy Page and the soul of Eric Clapton”. However, the US-born British resident claims a revolutionary approach to the blues, which is validated by his latest album, 2020 Visions. The title track of 2020 Visions refers to ‘ghost towns’, ‘mirrors and smoke’ and riots. The latter hasn’t happened yet, but with Britain on lockdown is that song now unexpectedly of its time? I’ve a spider sense. Ever since the tectonic plates shifted following the 2016 election [in the United States], I knew heavy times were ahead. The…

WELCOME BACK Vandenberg Mastermind/guitarist Adrian Vandenberg on classic rock, Coverdale and tentative hopes to “tour my ass off”. DURING THE 1980S, Adrian Vandenberg’s self-named band released three albums of classy, melodic hard rock. David Coverdale was so enamoured of the blond guitarist, songwriter and leader that he prized him away to join Whitesnake, albeit at the second attempt. Following two spells with Whitesnake the Dutchman dropped off the radar until forming Vandenberg’s MoonKings in 2013. The new album by the reunited Vandenberg, 2020, is the band’s first in 35 years. Are the MoonKings now over? They’re on ice. I wouldn’t be surprised we do some shows in a few years just for the hell of it. Was putting Vandenberg back together about those two famous, slightly over-used words ‘unfinished business’?…

PETE TOWNSHEND THE SEEKER A late-70s blitz of punk, personal problems and tragedy forced The Who’s Pete Townshend to reassess his life and career. One of the results was his solo masterpiece Empty Glass. Words: Bill DeMain SHUTTERSTOCK In early 1977, Keith Moon took Pete Townshend to see Generation X at the Marquee Club. “It was my first punk concert,” Townshend recalled in 2019. “Keith had had the courage to go [to punk gigs], and I’d never had the courage to go. I think when the punk movement came along, it wasn’t their mission to conquer, but to destroy. And they did. But I loved the punk movement, because that’s what I wanted The Who to be. I wanted The Who to last six months then disappear, so I could…

Essential Playlist What A Way To Die (Pleasure Seekers) The Girl From Detroit City Can The Can The Girl From Detroit City 48 Crash Suzi Quatro Daytona Demon The Girl From Detroit City Devil Gate Drive The Girl From Detroit City Keep A-Knockin’ Quatro The Wild One Quatro Your Mama Won’t Like Me Your Mama Won’t Like Me I May Be Too Young The Girl From Detroit City Tear Me Apart Aggro-Phobia I’ve Never Been In Love Before Suzi… And Other Four Letter Words Mama’s Boy Suzi… And Other Four Letter Words Lipstick Rock Hard Back To The Drive Back To The Drive Strict Machine In The Spotlight Long Way From Home QSP Pain QSP No Soul/No Control No Control…

The Soundtrack Of My Life Singer-songwriter Kip Moore on the special records, artists and gigs that are of lasting significance to him. Interview: Polly Glass “I can’t think of anyone that inspired a generation more than Eddie Van Halen.” He broke out with machismo-laden hits like Somethin’ Bout A Truck, but Kip Moore, whose singer-songwriter nuances have long placed him outside the bro-country camp, is an introvert at heart, happiest when he’s exploring remote places across the world. Right now he’s riding out the lockdown period in the Kentucky mountains. “I’ve been doing a lot of rock climbing, a lot of reading, a lot of sitting by fires at night,” he tells us. “I’m well aware of the weight of the situation, and I know that there’s a lot of…

This month’s contributors GRANT MOON Grant’s been a contributor to Classic Rock for more than 20 years, and was chuffed to host Budgie legend Burke Shelley at his house in Cardiff just before the lockdown kicked in (p38). Self-isolation comes pretty easy to our freelance writers, and Grant’s been spending this bizarre period working on his first book, due next year. JOHNNY BLACK Johnny has written for many magazines over the past four decades, and for CR this month he gets to grips with the story of The Beatles’ fractious Let It Be (p24) to celebrate its 50th birthday. His website www.musicdayz.com is the world’s largest archive of searchable chronologically organised rock music facts, and he Tweets a historic Song Of The Day via @MusicDayzTweet every day. IAN FORTNAM Classic…

MY FIRST LOVE Nightwish’s leader on the kings of thrash’s game-changing album. By Tuomas Holopainen Metallica METALLICA When I was a kid I was mainly into classical music and Finnish pop. I didn’t listen to metal or rock at all. But when I was fifteen I spent a year in the US as an exchange student, and my host family took me to see Metallica and Guns N’ Roses in Kansas City on September 25, 1992. That was the day that changed everything for me. Metallica became my favourite band in the world, and the following week I bought all their albums on cassette and became a metalhead. The Black Album is the album that did it for me. I’d never heard anything that big and punchy, like the riff…

STEVE EARLE THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO STEVE EARLE All songs are political, machines are taking over, yoga is great for the voice, all acid-heads believe in God, Shakespeare was a fraud, the Sex Pistols were terrible live… These and more shape his world view. Interview: Rob Hughes Steve Earle’s life has hardly been short of incident. Now in his 65th year, America’s original hard-core troubadour has been through prison time, drug and alcohol addiction and more marriages than seems feasible. Except for a fallow period in the early 90s, when his personal issues came to a head, the prolific roots-rocker has amassed a remarkable body of music, in addition to his work as a playwright, novelist, poet, actor and political activist. His latest album with the Dukes, the moving and…

THE CLASSIC ROCK LOCKDOWN ACTIVITY BOOK WHO ARE YOU? Ever wondered which classic rock hero you’re closest to? Answer the questions below (truthfully) and find out! 1 Which of the following most accurately reflects how you would describe yourself? A) I consider myself very blessed. B) A hard-working person of some talent with a busy life, trying to make a difference in the world. C) Born to play rock’n’roll, and smoke until my body physically forbids it. D) A very, very smart individual. Smarter than everyone. Smarter than you, that’s for sure. E) The most important person in my band. Just don’t ask me about said band, or my people will come down on you faster than you can blink. 2 You’ve just finished a successful world tour. What’s the…

NEWS Ross Valory is countersuing Neal Schon and Jonathan Cain following his dismissal from Journey. Bassist Valory and drummer Steve Smith were sacked over claims they had attempted to seize control of the group’s name. Valory calls the allegations “baseless” and “outrageous”, insisting that the original suit was based on “a misunderstanding". A GoFundMe campaign has been set up to assist with the medical expenses of 68-year-old Frankie Banali, the Quiet Riot drummer who last year was diagnosed with stage-four pancreatic cancer. At press time the campaign had raised just over half of its target of $10,000. King Crimson and multi-instrumentalist and vocalist Jakko Jakszyk releases a new solo album later this year through Inside Out Music. Secrets & Lies is the follow-up to 2009's Waves Sweep The Sand. Should…

UNIVERSE Universe, Experience Records, Norway, 1971. £1,200. Universe were a great Welsh rock band that don’t get mentioned often. They started out as a straight blues rock band called Spoonfull in 1968, before developing a more progressive sound, eventually leading to the name change. Despite playing the UK college circuit and sharing the stage with big names such as Yes, Fleetwood Mac, Sabbath and Tull, they remained an enigma for many years. As the story goes, while on the road in Norway, their van broke down. A young recording studio owner called Nils Øybakken, from the small town of Mosjøe, came to their rescue. He put them up, and had the idea of them recording a single for his label. Instead they ended up recording a full album, which was…

WELCOME BACK The Sword JD Cronise on escapism in heavy metal, stockpiling beer, and accidental plagiarism. And swords, of course. STEVIE NICKS: KEVIN NIXON LANDING WITH AN 82-track thump, The Sword’s pair of new career-spanning compilations could have been made for lockdown. Between them, Conquest Of Kingdoms and Chronology sweep up the fan favourites, live cuts, rarities and curios since the Texan heavy mob’s arrival in 2003, revisiting their genius splice of fantasy lyrics and Sabbath-influenced rumble. “When you put it all together it’s not too shabby,” says frontman JD Cronise, You’ve been pretty prolific over the years. It adds up. But we’re getting more Axl Rose-ish as we get older. We’re never gonna take twenty years to make a record, but these days a song has to have more…

Q&A Cherie Currie The former Runaway talks Kim, karma, catharsis and carving – with a chainsaw, naturally. Interview: Ian Fortnam Fronting trailblazers The Runaways at the tender age of 16, Cherie Currie’s introduction to the world of rock’n’roll was a baptism of fire. Staring down mid-70s audiences while wearing a basque and stockings and belting out Cherry Bomb was no picnic, and her tenure with the band lasted little more than a single, frantic, influential year. She has just released her long-awaited, star-studded – Billy Corgan, Slash, Duff McKagan, Brody Dalle et al – third solo album, Blvds Of Splendor (reviewed on page 86). Was there ever any doubt during your LA childhood that you would embark on a career in the entertainment industry? Bing Crosby’s brother offered my dad…

LET IT BE THE SONGS Two Of Us Linda McCartney: It’s about us. We just pulled off in a wood somewhere and parked the car. I went off walking, while Paul sat in the car and started writing. He also mentions the postcards because we used to send a lot of postcards to each other. Paul McCartney: We’d park up and go into the woods and fields. I’ve got photos that Linda took of me sitting on the car with my guitar, doing that song. So it was that idea of two of us going nowhere. It was basically about me and Linda. But when I sang it with John it becomes about me and John. I like that. I love that reinterpretation that songs do. It’s magical. Dig A…

ON A WING AND A PRAYER Close but never smoking the big cigar, Budgie influenced a slew of bands who then overtook them. Bassist/vocalist/prime mover Burke Shelley recalls 40 on-off years rockin’ hard, dicing with death and finding God. Words: Grant Moon Portraits: Adam Gasson Welsh trio Budgie were 15 years and nine studio albums into their career when, in August 1982, they first stepped through the Iron Curtain to undertake their first tour of Poland. By that time, in the UK the hard-gigging band were accustomed to playing decent-sized venues – the Marquee, The Whiskey, Hammersmith Odeon; in Poland they found themselves playing stadiums and sports arenas – 17 soldout shows to thousands of baying fans each night. “We did this one gig, and the ZOMO [paramilitary police] were…

LIPS SERVICE Puckering up and climbing into bed with each other, Deap Vally and the Flaming Lips come together as Deap Lips, with an album that’s a fascinating cross-pollination of styles and influences. Words: Rob Hughes The annual Coachella Festival in California has a habit of throwing up memorable moments: Roger Waters’s disappearing pig; 2Pac’s hologram; Axl Rose perched on a throne with his busted foot; and of course Wayne Coyne’s enormous plastic bubble. It was in 2004 that the Flaming Lips frontman first rolled his way over the open-mouthed crowd from inside a transparent ‘zorb’ ball. “I was in the front row of the audience that night,” recalls Lindsey Troy, one half of Californian garage-rock duo Deap Vally. “When Wayne came out in that giant ball I was so…

THE CLASSIC ROCK LOCKDOWN ACTIVITY BOOK THE HARD ROCK QUIZ Think you know your rock’n’roll? See how much you really know by warming up a few brain cells on the questions below. Some you’ll know, some you’ll have a hard time with, others… well, you might need to phone a friend (but please don’t phone us). And if you’re still stuck on any of the questions and can’t take the strain any longer, you’ll find the answers (the correct ones, too) on page 82. 1 Which classic AOR song was played in the final scene of the last ever episode of The Sopranos? 2 Who produced Dalbello’s Who Man Four Says album? 3 Which singer links Brad, Satchel and Pigeonhed? 4 Who duetted with Phil Collins on his solo smash…

SCRAMBLE ON Unscramble these classic albums by Pink Floyd, Deep Purple, Queen, Judas Priest and more! Hook Fed The Aid Monster Daft Pirouette Inspector Graphitic Falsify Blister Heist Ah Location Flier All Cling On Don Bomb The Unset Feather Hah A Mice Den Aliens Tone Mix Threaten A Hip Goat Poppers Mute Fast BBC Lepers Shapely Arse Glutton Pond ANSWERS (Scramble On) Hook Fed The Aid Monster [The Dark Side Of The Moon, Pink Floyd] • Daft Pirouette Inspector [Appetite For Destruction, Guns N’ Roses] • Graphitic Falsify [Physical Graffiti, Led Zeppelin] • Blister Heist [British Steel, Judas Priest] • Ah Location Flier [Hotel California, The Eagles] • All Cling On Don [London Calling, The Clash] • Bomb The Unset Feather [The Number Of The Beast, Iron Maiden] • Hah…

ON THIS MONTH’S DIGITAL ALBUM… ROCK THE COUNTRY! We’ve joined forces with our friends at Bloodshot Records to bring you this exclusive collective of alternative, roots-infused rock’n’roll. Expect country, punk and poetry – often all at the same time. 1 Rookie Hold On Tight Ladies and gentlemen, let us commence this month’s album by introducing you to your new favourite band. Or at least there’s a good chance this Chicago six-piece will become a favourite, if riffy, biting Americana with 70s flavours of the Stones and Tom Petty is your bag. From Rookie rookietheband.bandcamp.com 2 Ruby Boots & Indianola Might Be Losing My Mind Ruby Boots (aka Aussie native-turned-Nashville resident Bex Chilcott) is on searing yet soulful form on this confessional piece of alt. roots soul searching. There’s pain here, but ultimately…

REVIEWS BEST OF THE REST Other new releases out this month. Dictator Ship Your Favourites THE SIGN An astounding live-in-studio debut from a raw, twin-guitar-fronted quartet of Swedes, all of whom double on vocals, channeling the MC5’s explosive, action-rock remodel of 60s soul. Essential. 9/10 The Alligator Wine Demons Of The Mind CENTURY MEDIA Screamin’ Jay Hawkins-influenced German duo offer rock with no guitars. Sceptical? Well, it’s far better than it sounds: huge drums, cavernous psych-gothic keyboards, overwrought vocal immensity. 7/10 Awolnation Angel Miners & The Lightning Riders BETTER NOISE Aaron Bruno’s fourth album as Awolnation is an inspired amalgam of weighty alt. rock dynamics, ear-worming modern pop devices, progressive hardcore-punk-via-hip-hop sensibilities and an infectious lust for life. 7/10 Robert Jon & The Wreck Last Light On The Highway A…

LIVE! A Night To Remember With the absence of proper gigs in our lives during lockdown, we asked Classic Rock writers to reminisce about some of their most memorable gig-going experiences. Cue vivid, nostalgia-soaked memories of Black Sabbath, Guns N’ Roses, Rainbow, Peter Gabriel and more… ‘By the end of the show, grown men were visibly weeping.’ Guns N’ Roses Dallas Starplex Amphitheater July 23, 1988 Dallas Starplex Amphitheater July 23, 1988 In the moments before Guns N’ Roses went on stage there was a strange atmosphere in the band’s dressing room. Slash, having turned 23 the previous day, was presented with a cake on which it was written in icing: ‘HAPPY FUCKIN’ BIRTHDAY YOU FUCKER’. But amid the boozy celebrations there was tension emanating from Axl Rose, who warmed…