Rock Music

Review by Sean Trane — Despite having lost their original (and very original) frontman Nash The Slash, FM managed to findsome kind of deal that had them enter a studio and engrave directly a disc. This DTD process hadbecome quite rare by the late 70's and was sometimes still used for demo acetates. This processimplies that the direct engraving forbids any kind of mixing and production work, even down tooverdubs, etc? So whatever was played in the take was final. Sure the band actually took four takesof each tracks of this "EP", and chose the better one. As you can guess, the "untouchable" resultscan be relatively raw and even have a jam feel at times, but fear not the overall results isastounding: difficult to be more demanding, and while not improvised, the music takes a slight JR/Fslant at times, to counter (or complement) the space rock; the latter still being their main influence. Just two lengthy instrumental tracks over this EP (lasting just about a half-hour), but both of themare divided in four or five movements. Opening on Headroom (giving the album's other name), the trioembarks on a breakneck speed movement, where Billy Cobham would not disown Deller's drumming. Yes,the feeling is very much JR/F during the Tyra movement, but as soon as the composition calms downthe Reflections movements, the mood goes spacey (but not cosmic), but once the tempo picks up, itgets jam-like, notably in the closing movement Scarberia (a nickname for the eastern-countyScarborough, extending the Toronto city limits way out east). On the flipside, Border Crossing alsoreaches towards JR/F sonics, Mink almost pulling a Santana-like solo around 2:30. More spaceyeffects (sometimes dissonant) are happening during the second movement, The only time vocals are tobe heard, they're muffled in deeply in the mix at the start of the third movement, but this doesn'tmean that the track comes back to a sense of normalcy. Indeed, when FM crossed that border, therewas no turning back, but the trio almost loses itself two thirds of the way into their cosmicexpedition. Once they finally find their way, it's a slow jazzy violin (between Ponty and Lockwood)return to base. This limited-number release DTD album had become quite rare (I lost my vinyl copy somewhere crossingthe pond), because it had never seen, a reissue, beit in vinyl or on CD, until early 2013, whenEsoteric finally released it, along with the splendid Black Noise and the band's following twoalbums (also never released legit), still with Ben Mink. Personally, if DTD/HR is absolutelyessential, I find that both Surveillance (79) and City Of Fear (80) fail to maintain the level oftheir first two albums, so unlike this essential album, they're quite expandable, partly becausethey hold shorter AOR-formatted songs. In the meantime, despite the change of violin/guitarist(always a big gamble), DTD is definitely worthy of the excellent debut Black Noise.

Review by Sean Trane — A crazy bunch of Qu?becois that only recorded one album, this sextet were relativelyunrepresentative of the average Qu?becois band, despite the obvious drug reference about their nameand their album title (first pill). Indeed, released in late 72 on a public-owned label, his is aproduct of its time. Lead by singer and wind-player Emile Naud, he's seconded by a sizzling leadguitar and a dazzling organ, but the rhythm section is quite solid as well. Despite a few notes onthe back cover, not much is discussed of the band itself, and the only photo known (to my knowledgeanyway) is the one taken in front of the mushroom mural painting. Opening on the rapid-fire instrumental track Dynamite, which features in a drum solo in its middlesection, Naud's sax is giving it a very brassy sound. The 7-mins slow blues Ghetto Noir is up next,and Maillette's organ rivals with Charette's guitar for the attention, while Naud's vocals (situatedbetween Dyonisos and Octobre) and his harmonica are definitely giving an old-south feel, despite theFrench-sung vocals. The 6-mins R?ve Futur heads in a splendid mid-tempo track where Charette'sfuzzed guitar and Paradis' efficient rhythm guitar are giving an answer to Maud's flute. Excellentbass and drum parts as well. Best track of side A. The side-closing Train is sonically fairly closeto its predecessor.The flipside opens on the 11-mins centrepiece Chateau Hant?, a slow creepy tune that features tonsof noises to create its graveyard aura; especially with the nearly cookie-monster-like spokenvocals. The sinister feel is only half-convincing, and therefore the credibility is ampered, but thesearing guitar and spellbinding beat gives a slight Univers Zero feel. Despite a fairly conventionalstart, Folies Du Mercredi is their wildest and most adventurous track, changing constantly climatesand rhythms. Mad is back on the sax, and Maillette's excellent organ solo two-thirds in add muchdrama, as does Charette's sizzling fuzz guitar. Great stuff, and it is probably the album'shighlight, along with R?ve Futur. The short almost-goofy afterthought Pop-Pino closes the album onedown note, though.Wile their Premi?re Capsule album is n almost must-hear Qu?becois 70's artefact, I can't tell youthat Les Champignons are an essential part of "La Belle Province's" overall musical soundscape, butit is surely a very enjoyable detour. I just wish it would one day get a fully legit reissue, butthe Radio-Active bootand the more recent Flawed Gem label copies make it unlikely for a fragileProgQuebec label to take a financial risk in reissuing it. Anyway, an excellent consolidating blockto your Quebecois prog section.

Phil Lesh & Friends “May Madness” The Grate Room Terrapin Crossroads San Rafael, CA Fri. May 17, 2013 Phil Lesh – bass, vocals John Kadlecik – guitar, vocals Luther Dickinson – guitar, vocals Jeff Chimenti – keyboards, vocals Joe Russo – drums Set 1 7:55pm – 9:10pm Dear Mr. Fantasy jk > Sitting On Top of The World ld Loose Lucy jk I’m A King Bee ld > Just Like Tom Thumb’s Blues pl Jam > Built to Last jk > Casey Jones jk Set 2 9:40pm – 11:35pm (No Quarter tuning) Shakedown Street jk > Let It Ride pl > New Speedway Boogie jk > Wharf Rat jk > Do Your Thing ld > Viola Lee Blues v1 pl, jk > Caution (Do Not Stop On The Tracks) ld > Space jam > Viola Lee Blues v2 pl, jk > Shake ‘Em On Down ld > Viola Lee Blues v3 pl, jk > I Know You Rider E: Donor rap Ripple pl, jk Set list compiled by Rob Scalcione Because the Phans want to know! Additional setlist support by Erin L. of DHL and FOJC

Review by BORA — Connoisseur's choice in Jazz.Interesting to see these two albums released on one disc. Common practice is of matching a better album with a bonus-like weaker one. This is not the case here as both of them - albeit slightly different - are excellent works on their own, if for various reasons.SM remains one of my fave bands from the '70s and I deeply appreciate most of their works. This band is a rare phenomenon where regardless of the diversity of styles, drastic changes in musical directions/ personnel, 40 odd years on their music remains relevant - and brilliant.By the time they released "Fourth" in 1971, there was little - if any - trace of their former Psychedelic approach. This album is pure British Jazz of the most artistic (i.e. difficult) kind. Deep, dark, meandering pieces, perhaps closer to the ECM label than to standard CBS works. Admittedly, one must have at least a cursory understanding of Jazz and even then it's probably the most difficult SM album to get into. One of the finest examples of "heavy" Jazz and to me it's a masterpiece, but one must be in the mood for it. "Fifth" came out in 1972 and is a lighter and more accessible effort still in the Jazz vein, but closer to Jazz-Rock. Side A of the LP has a different rhythm section to side B, yet the album as a whole retains it's integrity.Both albums are excellent and highly recommended.

Keith Richards, Willie Nelson: Dead Flowers[purchase Sticky Fingers version link] Anybody else late sending flowers to Mom this year? Hope yours arrived alive.I was an impressionable 16-year-old (just) in 1971 when Sticky Fingers came out. I went straight out and bought the LP: the d*#&@dthing actually had a real zipper on the cover! Meaning what? Sticky Fingers? From what? Anyone recall what was under the zipper? My memory tells me this was also the first time we saw the Stones’ iconic tongue logo as well. (Next up from the Stones: Exile on Main Street)Also included on Sticky Fingers: Brown Sugar. (Way too much for a 17-year-old white boy). Wild Horses? (We were certainly wild enough).Sister Morphine!? But then there was “Dead Flowers”: needles and spoons, heroin, death. Pretty extreme. Various folk have postulated that this was a reference to Keith Richards’ addiction. Or flowers that Gram Parsons’s girlfriend sent overseas and that arrived beyond their prime/dead. Yet someone else points out that heroin is made from dead flowers. In any case, the Stones were way out beyond normal. Very much a country song, Jagger has said that his singing isn’t “legit”. He says that he faked it (on Sticky Fingers), and insinuates that most of his country music involves an element of faking it (Think: Far Away Eyes/Some Girls). He says that country is more suited to Keith’s style.So … appropriately, Keith here, rockin' “Dead Flowers” with Willie Neilson, Ryan Adams & Hank Williams III.

Review by SouthSideoftheSky — "This is no dull rehearsal, this is your only chance. The stage is set for you, come on and dance!" World Of Wonder was Jump's sophomore album and here they showcase their "wondrous world" of eclectic Rock better than on the debut. Many of the band's trademarks were already present here (albeit in less than fully developed form) including the excellent vocals of Mr. (John Dexter) Jones, the commanding guitar playing of Steve Hayes and Pete Davies (one of the few guitar duos in Neo-Prog), and the keyboards of Mo (one of the few female keyboard players in Prog). The album opens with A Northern Man which reminds me a bit of 80's Jethro Tull with its tasteful flute-like keyboards, clean and sharp, almost "metallic" electric guitar sound, and the nifty acoustic-electric interplay. This is a good opening number that sets the stage for a good album. However, the next couple of tracks raise warning flags as to the quality and direction of the album (and the band). I wonder how many prospective fans switched off before reaching the album's much better second half. The title track and (the autobiographical?) Mr. Jones are rather mundane, conventional Hard Rock numbers, and definitely the weakest tracks of this album. To continue with the Jethro Tull comparison, these songs can perhaps be associated with style of the latter's weak Rock Island album. Louder Than Words is a bit better, but it too is not particularly interesting even if I do like the "we counted them in, we counted them out"- section which points towards the more "theatrical" style of the excellent follow-up album ...All The King's Men. As I said, the second half of the album is clearly better and more interesting than the first half. The better songs begin with the excellent Gryphan's Galliard, a rocking medieval-style dance tune. Poison In The Sea is a bit of a Reggae Rock fusion. Not one my favourite songs here by any means, but it is interesting enough. Four Winds Blow is a very good progressive Folk Rock number with accordion (or something that sounds like an accordion) and a nice acoustic guitar solo. Funny is another progressive track that fuses together Jazz Rock, Funk Rock, and Folk Rock in an interesting way. Like Poison In The Sea, this is probably an acquired taste, but I like it! At this point the album has recovered from the initial malaise, but some of the best is yet to come. The final two tracks, Where Silver Calls and Whip-Hand Jack, are both excellent progressive Folk Rock pieces; the kind of Folk Rock that really rocks. It is true that World Of Wonder suffers from the inclusion of a couple of weaker numbers, but you shouldn't let the few mundane rockers give you the wrong impression about the album and the band. World Of Wonder definitely has enough highlights to be an overall good Jump album that is even up to par with or even better than some of the band's more recent (rather different) albums. In its best moments it points towards superior subsequent albums like ...All The King's Men and Living In A Promised Land.

Huffington PostWhen this year's Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony airs on HBO Saturday night, Rush, Heart, Public Enemy, Donna Summer and Randy Newman, among others, will be seen joining those already enshrined in the Cleveland museum. But one group that won't be represented, yet again, is the self-proclaimed "hottest band in the world," KISS.Longtime fans can't believe the group that taught America how to rock and roll all night and party every day still hasn't made the cut. The Huffington Post asked lead singer Paul Stanley if there's hope of a reprieve. "Well, it depends on who lives longer, us or Jann Wenner," Stanley said, referring to the Rolling Stone editor-in-chief who co-founded the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame back in the mid-1980s. Fans have a tendency to blame Wenner for the KISS snub. (One brave loyalist even confronted Wenner on the street to demand answers.) But the real obstacle may be journalist Dave Marsh, who plays a key role in the selection process and once told MTV, "Kiss is not a great band, Kiss was never a great band, Kiss never will be a great band, and I have done my share to keep them off the ballot." Stanley, who has been making the media rounds to publicize the opening of a new branch of his Rock & Brews restaurant chain, questioned the legitimacy of the hall itself. "Look, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame is marketing," he said. "You've got a bunch of faceless people in a back room who trademark a name that sounds very official. Well, if you had thought of it first, you would have been the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame." Stanley, who turned 61 in January and has been playing with KISS for 40 years, also complained that artists who aren't generally considered rock 'n' rollers keep getting inducted, even as his group keeps getting overlooked. "I am one of the biggest Laura Nyro fans. I still listen to that stuff incessantly. Laura Nyro does not belong in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Songwriter Hall of Fame? Absolutely," he said. Some rock purists dismiss KISS as a "comic book rock band," to quote Steven Tyler, but their kid-friendly costumes and easy-to-learn riffs have arguably enhanced their influence over ensuing generations of musicians. Garth Brooks, Lenny Kravitz and Mike McCready of Pearl Jam have all expressed their indebtedness to the band. "It's absurd for anybody to look around and hear the acts and artists who cite us as an inspiration, and then tell me that we're not in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame," Stanley said. Not that he cares! "I'm not here to make converts, and I think that the people who choose not to see things, I'm not missing their adoration." If anything, Stanley said, he'd like to see KISS recognized for the sake of the fans. "I would certainly accept on their behalf because it seems to be a major sore spot for them," he said. "But I don't need the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame." The third Rock & Brews restaurant opened on the Pacific Coast Highway in Los Angeles on May 8. According to a press release, Stanley and KISS co-founder Gene Simmons, who are partners in the franchise, plan to open "as many as 100 Rock & Brews restaurants over the next five years." "I'm a real foodie," said Stanley, adding that he admires the chefs Thomas Keller and Julian Serrano. (KISS has deep roots in Brooklyn, but Stanley, who grew up in New York, admitted he hasn't yet sampled the borough's now-celebrated fare.) It's tempting to assume that Stanley handles the food and Simmons, who once vied for the approval of Donald Trump on "Celebrity Apprentice," is the marketing whiz, but Stanley said that's not the case. "I would say if somebody said to the two of us, 'You guys should make a cake,' Gene would tell me that it's gotta be six feet tall and what color it should be, and I'd say, 'Yeah, but there's gotta be a cake underneath it.' But we work great together," Stanley said. "Our track record together is far better than

www.ultimateclassicrock.comIt might surprise some to find out how many great Kiss 'without makeup' songs are out there. Of course the band is more famous in their face-painted incarnation, but for thirteen years and seven albums, Paul Stanley, Gene Simmons and company dropped the masks (they still dressed ridiculously) and relied almost solely on their wrongly maligned musical talent. It worked, too; many of these songs are still played in concert by the re-costumed rock crusaders to this day. Here's our list of the Top 10 Kiss 'without makeup' songs: See list HERE: http://bit.ly/15WqacM

View Upcoming 2013 Gigs by Michael Gray, Europe in a larger map Read this post in its entirety:MAP NO. 15: MY UPCOMING UK GIGS, JUNE & NOVEMBER

“I’m going back to New York City / I do believe I’ve had enough…”                                                       — Just Like Tom Thumb’s Blues Bob Dylan re-starts his “Never-Ending Tour” in June, but fans can experience on his 72nd birthday  ’The Complete Unknowns’, who will reverentially pay homage to the bard’s immense catalog at Manhattan’s The Cutting Room on May 24 at 8 p.m. ‘The Complete Unknowns’ serve up a live celebration of Bob Dylan’s music. With a repertoire that spans five decades of Dylan material, the band provides a complete Dylan experience that showcases Bob’s songs as well as the great musicianship that brought them to life. The band’s mission is to entertain while paying tribute to the freshness, relevance and integrity of Dylan’s immense body of work. Hear/see them at: http://www.reverbnation.com/thecompleteunknownsny A whirlwind of activity is underway for The Complete Unknowns. On May 24 (Friday) at 8 p.m., The Complete Unknowns play The Cutting Room, 44 E. 32nd St, Midtown, (212) 691-1900Advance tix $15/$20 day of the show: http://tickets.thecuttingroomnyc.com/event/240207-complete-unkowns-evening-new-york/ The Complete Unknowns will be playing live on the radio next Thursday night at midnight on legendary DJ Bob Fass’s WBAI (99.5 FM) show “Radio Unnameable.” Then, next Saturday morning (May 25) The Complete Unknowns will play live on WUSB-FM (SUNY at Stony Brook, Long Island) on Joe Vecchio’s “Beginnings.” Then on Monday, May 27 at 8 p.m., they play B.B. King Blues Club, 237 W. 42nd St., (212) 997-4144; Advance tix $25/$30 day of show: http://www.bbkingblues.com/bio.php?id=1945