Archive for December, 2008


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Nektar – Down To Earth review

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For many prog-rock fans, the German band Nektar hit their grand slam with the 1973 concept album Remember The Future – essentially one song spread across two album sides. The band’s 1974 follow-up, Down To Earth, takes a wacked-out circus as its theme; Nektar tighten the song structures and hit another one over the fence.

The classic Nektar sound is all over: chiming guitar chords (“Show Me The Way”), lilting harmonies (“Early Morning Clown”), perfect melodies (“Little Boy”), in-your-face bass (“Astral Man”) and a wonderful sense of playfulness (“Nelly The Elephant” and “Fidgety Queen”). My reissue from Electic/Dream Nebula includes six alternate versions of Down To Earth songs and outtakes.

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The Keef Hartley Band – The Time Is Near

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The Keef Hartley Band were one of those relative rarities in music: a rock band led by a drummer. A couple of Hartley reissues (The Time Is Near and Overdog) from Esoteric Recordings surfaced earlier in 2008 – my pick being 1970’s The Time Is Near. This horn-driven R&B-influenced jazz/rock (or is that rock/jazz?) took a few spins to for me to latch onto (each song veers off in a new direction), but it’s the band members’ willingness to explore territory loud and soft, fast and slow, that kept my attention. And every song is now a fave. Plus, it’s another chance to hear one of my favorite bassists in action – the late Gary Thain.

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The Black Crowes – Freak ‘N’ Roll Into The Fog

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The Black Crowes waited years before getting into the DVD game, and their first, Freak ‘N’ Roll Into The Fog, is a glorious glimpse into America’s last great rock band working a San Francisco Fillmore crowd into a frenzy. What makes the Crowes special is their ability to bridge the best of the ‘60s and ‘70s with their own Southern twist. They write great songs. They cover great songs. They jam. Among the 19 tracks, the Crowes stuff the cannons with a booming “My Morning Song,” a horn-and-chorus-drenched “(Only) Halfway To Everywhere,” a “Seeing Things” that sears with gospel-like intensity, and an acoustic version of “Cursed Diamond” showcasing guitarist Marc Ford’s lyrical slide playing. Like The Grateful Dead, the Crowes never play the same show twice. Here, they bring the house down fittingly with a superb cover of The Band’s “The Night They Drove Ol’ Dixie Down.”

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Steve Walsh – Shadowman

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Steve Walsh’s solo project Shadowman has been playing a lot on my CD player lately. Shadowman was released originally in 2005, and was reissued in 2008 by ProgRock Records/SPV. The latest version is bolstered with two bonus tracks: “Faule Dr Roane” and “Dark Day,” previously available as digital downloads only. Both songs are equal to the best of Walsh’s output and make a welcome – I say vital – addition to this excellent record.

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10 Best Roger Dean album covers

Roger Dean is one of rock music’s most original and respected cover artists. He’s best known for the artwork that graced the covers of so many great Yes albums in the 1970s. But if you know his work only from Fragile or Tales From Topographic Oceans, read on.

Here are 10 of my favorite Dean covers, classic album artwork from 10 different bands. They all also have the distinction of being excellent records, as well.

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Jeb Wright – Stadium Rock review

\"Classic Rock Revisited: From The Vault Series 1: Stadium Rock\"

In 1999, music fan Jeb Wright took it upon himself to breath life back into the world of classic rock. With little more than an idea and a lot of enthusiasm, he launched Classic Rock Revisited in August of that year as a vehicle to share his love of the artists that made an impact on popular music in the 1970s and ’80s. Wright was a complete newbie to the music business, but that didn’t deter him. As he writes in the book’s preface, “I went to Hastings, a popular chain store that sells books, magazines, games and CDs. I found a CD called Ready Eddie by Eddie Money that had recently been released. I bought the CD, took it home, called the record company and asked for the publicity department. A woman named Laura Kaufman answered, and the rest, as they say, is history.”

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Mahogany Frog – DO5 review

Mahogany Frog \"DO5\"

Mahogany Frog are a four-piece progressive rock outfit from Winnipeg, Manitoba, composed of Graham Epp (keyboards, guitars, trumpets), Jesse Warkentin (guitars, keyboards), Scott Ellenberger (bass, keyboards, percussion, trumpets) and J.P. Perron (drums, electronics). Mahogany Frog’s most recent release, DO5 (Moonjune Records), is their fifth, and served as my introduction to the band. DO5 features nine instrumental tracks with a range of sounds from vintage to modern. Expect plenty of tube-y keyboards, processed guitars, sound samples and energy. Although Mahogany Frog’s music is definitely experimental, it isn’t self-obsessed or pretentious. Most important, it’s highly listenable. One of this quartet’s particular strengths is melody, even as multiple layers of sound stream from their instruments, the songs have structure and stick-in-your head lyricism. That’s a neat trick.

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Iain Ashley Hersey – Nomad

Iain Ashley Hersey\'s \"Nomad\"

If you ever wondered what happened to old-school hard rock – the kind you used to plunk into the car’s 8-track or cassette player before dropping the pedal on a Friday night – you’ll find it in spades on Iain Ashley Hersey’s latest album, NomadIain Ashley Hersey, you ask? Granted, Hersey is no household name, but his music quickly brings bands such as Deep Purple, Rainbow, Led Zeppelin and Bad Company to mind. Hersey is a Fender-Strat-totin’ rocker who deserves a much wider audience. Although Hersey wears his influences on his sleeve, on Nomad (Perris Records), in many ways, he’s bettered the more recent efforts of his classic rock forefathers.

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Hoyt Axton – My Griffin Is Gone review

\"My Griffin Is Gone\"

Hoyt Axton is one of those songwriters like Jimmy Webb whose music I know best from others’ interpretations. Axton penned classic tunes such as “Joy To The World,” “Never Been To Spain” and “The Pusher,” of which the first two became huge hits for Three Dog Night, while Steppenwolf’s John Kay put his inimitable spin on the latter tune. All the while, Axton was busy writing more songs and recording his own material. His music ventured from folk to folk-rock in the 1960s and then into country in the 1970s. Omni Recordings, a reissue specialist based in Australia, has brought back Axton’s My Griffin Is Gone, gracing it with an extra 12 tracks: Four are sides from 45s only, the other eight were previously unreleased, including Axton covering Jackson Browne’s “She’s A Flying Thing,” a song never released by Browne himself. Pretty cool.

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Psychedelic States: Wisconsin in the ’60s review

\"Wisconsin in the \'60s\"

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