Blue Oyster Cult’s 1979 album, Mirrors, divides a lot of hardcore Cult fans. The record was a long way from the molten savagery of “Cities On Flame With Rock And Roll” or the glorious sludge of “Godzilla,” but tucked six songs in lies the best tune Blue Oyster Cult ever recorded. Guitarist Buck Dharma, who three years earlier penned the band’s signature tune, “(Don’t Fear) The Reaper,” composed “The Vigil.” It didn’t stream across radio and few outside of the Blue Oyster Cult ever heard the tune, but it captures the mysterious magic of “Astronomy” and showcases Dharma’s gift for crunchy riffs and ethereal harmony and lead lines.
If you haven’t heard it yet, here’s two versions to set you straight. Listen to the original studio recording of “The Vigil,” and then fast forward 30 years and watch Buck extend this great song with some signature soloing. It’s obviously not the classic lineup-Allen Lanier, Albert and Joe Bouchard are long gone-but the song is really Dharma’s, and this gives him the full spotlight he deserves.
In anticipation of the upcoming studio album from Iron Maiden, The Final Frontier, the band is offering a free MP3 download of Track #2, “El Dorado.” The Final Frontier is scheduled for release August 17; meanwhile Maiden will embark on a U.S. tour June 9, kicking things off in Dallas, Texas. Get all the tour info at the official Iron Maiden website.
Singer Bruce Dickinson explains, “‘El Dorado’ is a preview of the forthcoming studio album. As we will be including it in the set of our Final Frontier World Tour, we thought it would be great to thank all our fans and get them into The Final Frontier mood by giving them this song up front of the tour and album release.”
Iron Maiden reunited with longtime Maiden producer Kevin “Caveman” Shirley in early 2010 at Compass Point Studios, Nassau, to record the album and then moved to L.A. to finish the recording and do the mixing. Compass Point Studio is very familiar to the band; it was where they recorded the Piece Of Mind (’83), Powerslave (’84) and Somewhere In Time (’86) albums.
Dickinson comments, “The studio had the same vibe and it was exactly as it had been in 1983, nothing had changed! Even down to the broken shutter in the corner…same carpet….everything. It was really quite spooky. But we felt very relaxed in such a familiar and well-trodden environment and I think this shows in the playing and the atmosphere of the album.”
Thirty years on from their eponymous debut album in April 1980, The Final Frontier will be Maiden’s 15th studio album, making a remarkable average of a new album every two years for 30 years and totaling over 80 million album sales during this period.
The full track listing for the album (total running time 76:35) is:
THE FINAL FRONTIER
1. Satellite 15…The Final Frontier 8:40
2. El Dorado 6:49
3. Mother Of Mercy 5:20
4. Coming Home 5:52
5. The Alchemist 4:29
6. Isle Of Avalon 9:06
7. Starblind 7:48
8. The Talisman 9:03
9. The Man Who Would Be King 8:28
10. When The Wild Wind Blows 10:59
The Final Frontier World Tour begins in Dallas on June 9, with 25 shows in major cities across the USA and Canada, playing to an expected 350,000 fans or more. Following this, the tour will shift over to Europe starting in Dublin, on July 30, to play a few selected major festivals and stadiums, finishing in Valencia, Spain, on August 21, and including a concert in Transylvania.
Says bass player and founding member Steve Harris, “We’re hugely excited about this tour. I think the fans will really like the brand new stage production and lights and we will also be debuting one of the new album tracks, ‘El Dorado’. Our Texan fans will be the very first people anywhere to hear it live, so it will be interesting to see their reaction and how it goes down with the crowd on the night! Eddie has changed a bit for this tour but is possibly the most outrageous one to date…I can’t say too much about him as I don’t want to spoil the surprise, but I guarantee he will scare the hell out of you!”
All summer long, ClassicRockMusicBlog.com will be giving away free music. For the next 3 months, you can register for a chance to win free CDs and LPs from the greatest classic rock acts and from up-and-coming bands.
Simply register for the site and let us know your favorite album of all time. That’s it. There’s no catch. These aren’t MP3s but real compact discs with all the packaging and extras, and we’ll also be giving away record albums, too. Winners will be picked randomly each day at 6:00 p.m. CST.
Today’s CD giveaway is Rod Stewart‘s Atlantic Crossing. The deluxe 2009 reissue includes two discs and 25 tracks in all, including the complete alternate version of Atlantic Crossing. Good luck!
Jazz and fusion guitar great Larry Coryell played a show with the Les Paul Trio at New York City’s Iridium Jazz Club, May 17, 2010. Catch the action of Coryell jamming with Trio members Lou Pallo (guitar), Nicki Parrott (bass) and John Colianni (piano) in this gallery of 60 photos taken by Blue Storm Music’s Arnie Goodman.
When it came to big hair in the 1970s, I don’t think anyone did it better than Journey guitarist Neal Schon. As Journey’s Next album cover demonstrates, Schon (back left) had height, width and depth – a 3-dimensional ‘doo that still stands up as one of the greatest Afros of the decade. Great hair and a great album, too.
If you were in Central Florida in the early ’80s through the mid-90s, chances are you heard or saw Stranger, a four-piece rock band made up by singer Greg Billings, guitarist Ronnie Garvin, bassist Tom “King” Cardenas and drummer John Price. On Orlando’s FM rock station WDIZ, the band’s regional hit “Swamp Woman” got a fair amount of play, and Stranger frequently headlined local music club Fern Park Station. Like so many bands of the time, Stranger had the goods but could never break beyond the region. They developed a devoted following in an arc that crossed the Sunshine State from Daytona Beach across to Orlando and southwest to Tampa.
The band’s self-titled debut album from 1982 has a cool Hipgnosis-like cover that reminds me a bit of UFO’s Obsession.
The record is full of raunchy, gritty, Southern boogie rock. Garvin was a very talented, melodic guitarist and the guy everyone in the area wanted to play like. Billings had a voice with a nice mix of gruff and grain, yet he could pull back for softer fare. Cardenas played some meaty grooves, and Price held it all down. Along with the aforementioned “Swamp Woman,” the band had another minor hit with “Jackie’s So Bad,” but the real killers here are the flat-out rockers “Nobody’s Fool,” “Rock & Roll You Baby” and “Get On Up.” It was on this material that Stranger rode into Altamonte Spring’s Lake Brantley High School in late January 1983. Some school club and our cheerleaders put together the show and turned the football field into a concert stage. Thanks, whoever you were!
Not mentioned on the ticket was a very special guest – Danny Joe Brown – who was off from Molly Hatchet and working on a solo career. I can’t remember what he sang that day, but I do remember him taking the stage and tearing it up. It was a fun show, but my memory is murky beyond that. Any Lake Brantley alums recall the concert in more detail?
Stranger’s first album has come in and out of print on compact disc. Good luck finding a copy. Me? I still have my vinyl copy with its dog-eared cover – and the record sounds great nearly 30 years later. It’s a lost classic, and if you’re remotely interested in Southern rock and the way things were before MTV took over, check out Stranger. They should have made bigger waves.
Billings and Cardenas still play together in the Greg Billings Band, gigging around Central Florida. The band’s Myspace page has gig info, free music samples and updated news.
This is to wish you all a fantastic New Year, and we hope that you have a brilliant 2010 that brings you everything that you desire.
It will be a great year for Uriah Heep, with lots of exciting tours etc, and I hope that we get to see you all, in your respective countries. We are very proud of our fans, and your support is wonderful ,and something that we appreciate so very much. After the success of the last European tour of 2009, we feel that we have a strong foundation with which to build upon, and under the guidance of our manager Martin Darvill, who is steering the ship, there is a solid confidence that anything is possible.
Have a drink or two in celebration of the New Year for us, as we will certainly be having one for you all.
Veteran blues-rockers Savoy Brown are caught on film at the Boulton Theater, December 12, 2009. More than 10 dozen images are available for viewing on Arnie Goodman’s, of Blue Storm Music, SmugMug page.
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