At the previous spinning of the record, talking bout Nazareth I mentioned Axl Rose and right after that I stumbled into Duff’s new album… In this life nothing is accidental. Duff is quite a figure. (Michael Andrew) McKagan was born in Seattle, Washington, his brother Bruce taught him his first bass lines and while growing up, McKagan was a fan of such acts as James Gang, Sly Stone, Led Zeppelin, Vanilla Fudge, Jimi Hendrix, and New York Dolls. His idol at the time was Johnny Thunders. Later he being a huge fan of Sex Pistols, Ramones, and The Clash. He cites Paul Simonon of The Clash as his favorite bassist, and is also particularly fond of Sid Vicious. At the age of 15 in 1979 he joined the pop-punk band Fastbacks as drummer and between 1979 and 1982 he led and played guitar in punk band The Living. Answering an ad for a bass player in a local magazine, McKagan headed to California, at age nineteen. In California, he met guitar player Slash and drummer Steven Adler of the band Road Crew and in 1985 he joined Guns N’ Roses replacing Ole Beich. Read more Duff McKagan’s Loaded – The Taking (2011)
rock
Nazareth – Big Dogz (2011)
It’s hard to believe, Dan McCafferty rocking since 1968 while Axl Rose and his Guns N’ Roses get tired after only a decade of being in the great Rock ‘N’ Roll circus and somehow Dan McCafferty at the age of 64 seems fresher than Axl at 49. Dopes are bad, dude… “Big Dogz” is Nazareth’s 22nd album and it rocks in the best possible good-old ways. We’ve got 11 brand new heavy, classic, convincing rock songs, a record that shows a strong, alive and kicking band. The other caterpillar is bass player Pete Agnew. Guitarist Jimmy Murrison joined Nazareth in 1994, replacing Billy Rankin, and Lee Agnew – the son of Pete Agnew – worked as a drum technician for Nazareth, and when Darrell Sweet died in 1999, he became the permanent drummer of the band. A nice generation gathering, isn’t it?
Their previous album “The Newz” was released in 2008, so, once again, they moving faster than Axl. Read more Nazareth – Big Dogz (2011)
U2 – Duals (2011)
From a while it’s almost mandatory to hate U2. There’s plenty of so-called reasons from the most common “they sold-out” or because they are Irish to thoughtful things like the face of Bono. Well, I loved U2 from the first moment I heard them and I still love them. “Pop” from 1997 was a huge disappointment, but hey! this is life, this is love, the disappointments are included in any and each relation. And well, yes, on the following three albums U2 sometimes gave magic moments, sometimes they are not so bright, but I still believe, they done everything as they please, they still sing from their hearts. And I can’t hate them because they become “the best band in the world”. And if you see them live, you have to admit it, they are kind of magic, hypnotizing. This is not an accident, this month, the U2 360° Tour became the highest-grossing tour in history, surpassing earnings of $558 million and breaking The Rolling Stones’ previous record. But I guess only this 558 million $ are 558 million reasons to hate them, isn’t it? Read more U2 – Duals (2011)
Acid Mothers Temple and The Melting Paraiso UFO – Pink Lady Lemonade – You’re From Inner Space (2011)
It’s almost kinky to write and record a 32 minutes long song these days. And actually it’s a nice track, the mix is what bothering me. The slide guitar is much too loud and covers almost completely the solo guitars and the bass. And it’s pity, they done beautiful things if you listen careful enough. But if you have to focus hard, all the pleasure of the listening goes out on the window. Still, “Part 1” from “Pink Lady Lemonade – Youre From Inner Space” it’s kind of chill, joyful, warm and embracing. A nice trip with beautiful images made of sounds running before our eyes. “Part 2” break in like a noisy explosion, it’s a crazy mixture of improvisations on psychedelic, noise rock and jazz like samples. It last only five minutes, but it’s heavy. “Part 3” comes back with the spacy theme of “Part 1”, the mix is much convincing, the pulse is a little bit faster and the song got a pleasant groove. 10 minutes of shades and bubbling sounds which brings me the image of a blooming flower. Well, kind of hippy. 🙂 Read more Acid Mothers Temple and The Melting Paraiso UFO – Pink Lady Lemonade – You’re From Inner Space (2011)
The Kills – Blood Pressures (2011)
Rawness and kind of retro polish with that garage indie touch, the forth album by The Kills have the same noise blues flavor which was cooked and licensed by Jack White with The White Stripes and re-invented with The Dead Weather. And while Alison Nicole Mosshart spend most of her time lately touring with The Dead Weather, it’s kind of natural the infusion of the style and sound from Mr. White. “Blood Pressures” is noisy, dirty, sounds like vinyl and I almost miss the sound of some nice scratches, but on the other hand it doesn’t have the tension of the late “Sea of Cowards”. This “hippies goes punk” approach it’s a winning recipe, but if there will be a million plus one similar products, every single record label will try to invent their “own White Stripes”, the whole shit will goes down just like any other good thing before. Read more The Kills – Blood Pressures (2011)
Fluxious – Why So Serious (2011)
Formed in 2009 at Geneva, Switzerland, Fluxious bring to the surface an intense blending of rock and metal with jazz elements, it’s more heavy than jazz, but still at the border of fusion and to make things a little bit exciting, guitarist Germain, bass player Guillaume and drummer Maxence put to the microphone a girl called Joana. “Why So Serious” is dynamic, heavy and kind of complex material, still it’s not bearish, it flows alright, hard rock moments are shifted by heavy riffings or melodious choruses, and Joana singing in the style and manner of Sandra Nasić (Guano Apes). 12 songs, good tempo and rhythm, some interesting turns and a few good themes, in short words this is “Why So Serious” about. Read more Fluxious – Why So Serious (2011)
Paul Simon – So Beautiful or So What (2011)
In reference to the new album, Simon says “It’s the best work I’ve done in 20 years”. Most artist declare things like that about their latest release, but I guess Mr. Simon this time is right. Anyway, in a beautiful springtime morning like that, a few weeks before Eastern, it’s pretty strange to star my day listening “Getting Ready for Christmas Day”… 😆 “So Beautiful or So What” is due for release on the Concord Music Group label on April 12, 2011 and contains 10 brand new songs, 38 minutes of music. Since April 5, the material it’s fully-streamable on its own site.
This is the 11 solo album by Paul Simon, best known for his success, beginning in 1965, as part of the duo Simon & Garfunkel, with musical partner Art Garfunkel. Simon wrote most of the pair’s songs and in 1970, at the height of their popularity, the duo split, and Simon began a successful solo career, recording three highly-acclaimed albums over the next five years.Songs like “50 Ways to Leave Your Lover” haunting me since my childhood… Read more Paul Simon – So Beautiful or So What (2011)
The Dark Sides of the Moon
“The Dark Side of the Moon” was a milestone, not only in the career of Pink Floyd, but in the history of the music and not at least, source for inspiration for many musicians since its release. There’s many tribute, cover and reinterpretations of “The Dark Side of the Moon” and I gathered here a few of the most intriguing and interesting of these releases.
Released on 10 March 1973, “The Dark Side of the Moon” is the eighth studio album by Pink Floyd and it was the record that moved, back or forward – it’s a matter of point of view – the English band from the closed circle of fans to the mainstream. “The Dark Side of the Moon” is a concept album that explore the themes of conflict, greed, the passage of time and mental illness, the latter partly inspired by Syd Barrett’s deteriorating mental state, but it lacks the extended instrumental excursions that characterized their work following the departure in 1968 of founding member, principal composer and lyricist Barrett. The album was recorded in two sessions in 1972 and 1973 at the legendary Abbey Road Studios in London. The group used some of the most advanced recording techniques of the time, including multitrack recording and tape loops. Analogue synthesizers were given prominence in several tracks, and a series of recorded interviews with staff and band personnel provided the source material for a range of philosophical quotations used throughout. Engineer Alan Parsons was directly responsible for some of the most notable sonic aspects of the album, including the non-lexical performance of Clare Torry. Read more The Dark Sides of the Moon
Lord Of The Lost – Antagony (2011)
From Hamburg, Germany, Chris “The Lord” Harms bring to the surface another collection of gloomy, melancholic, but heavy songs in which dark textures, edgy guitar riffs, gothic roots, glam rock echoes and industrial approaches are build into a powerful construction. Influences comes from Type O Negative to Marilyn Manson with strong accent on the gothic roots, and between these two references, Lord of The Lost create a vibrating and intense blending.
Chris Harms started out as vocalist and guitarist for industrial rock band Philiae in 1999 till 2004 when he switched to The Pleasures, band from the glam rock scene. But Chris kept one foot in the gothic scene as the singer of the electro/industrial project Unterart since 2006. In 2007 Chris joined as stage guitarist the band Big Boy and in 2008 he bring to life his new project, this Lord Of the Lost with guitarist Sensai (ex-The Pleasures), guitarist Sebsta, bass player Class and drummer Any. Read more Lord Of The Lost – Antagony (2011)
Introitus – Elements (2011)
Introitus are another fine band from Sweden. Digging into the fields of neo-progressive area of rock filled with nice electronic textures, the band gathering around Mats Bender and his wife, Anna and the duo became a 7 members band including their own children Mattias and Johanna on drum and respectively as additional drummer. On extra synth, accordion, flute, fiddle and second guitar is Henrik Björlind, Pär Helje play the lead guitar and on bass is Dennis Lindqvis. “Elements” is their second full-length album following up “Fantasy” and its consist of 9 elaborated songs. It’s a colorful and flowing blend of classic and modern progressive elements extremely nicely combined into a new dimension. They have parallels from Yes through Marillion up to Dream Theater exploring a very wide open area of sounds and managed to blending them into their own. Read more Introitus – Elements (2011)
