Rock Music

Photo: Paul BassettHere's a photo of KISS guitarist Tommy Thayer behind Eric Singer's drum kit on the last day of rehearsals before KISS starts the European leg of their "Monster Tour 2013" on June 1st in Stockholm, Sweden.

Review by progaeopteryx — I had wondered about this band for quite some time. With a name like Art in America, featuring a harp player and being produced by the one and only Eddy Offord, one can only imagine big things. The band apparently had some success, played live as an opening act for a number of big artists, and even made it into the MTV rotation during its early years. I was around in 1983, but what on earth was I doing? Dissecting worm gizzards in biology class?? I didn't hear about this group until they had long disappeared from the music industry. And then I find their CD on Ebay for one dollar. Hey, why not, let's take a chance...Well, it certainly didn't turn out to be some amazing progalicious masterpiece. And I wasn't expecting it to. For heavens sake, it was 1983. Remember 90125? Asia? The Genesis yellow shapes album? But it doesn't really sound like Asia, or Genesis, or Yes. No, I have to give these guys some credit. They did have a rather original sound that showed some prog rock influences, but mostly heavily slanted towards an art rock/pop rock mixture. What they really remind me of... and here's the kicker... ELO Part 2. If you took ELO Part 2 and formed it in 1983 and forgot to include the orchestra, it would sound like this. Maybe a little Alan Parsons and Saga thrown in.The version I purchased was made in 2008 and features 7 additional tracks. Some of these bonus tracks sound like they were recorded much later, but the CD insert says nothing about them. Here I thought I would be listening to nine tracks, popped it in the CD player, and whoa, 16 of the buggers! I only found the names of the tracks by looking for the album on Amazon. The bonus tracks sort of sound like what one might guess the band would sound like in the 1990s. I haven't the foggiest idea when these were recorded, so 1990s I guess? They couldn't have possibly been from Middle Ages. We can certainly rule that out.So, some confusion, the odd thought of ELO Part 2 transporting back in time, a harp player that seems to only make her mark in the first 10 seconds or so, and I'm left thinking I just dropped pop tarts in the engine cavity of my van. OK, whatever...Anyway, an enjoyable listen of pop-art-prog-AOR-art-pop-thing-something or other. If you like early 1980s Saga, or ELO Part 2, or other stuff like that, this might be OK for you. I doubt the rest of the prog community will be clamoring for this, even if you do find it for a dollar.

New man: Leon Cave Status Quo have named Leon Cave as their new drummer after Matt Letley bowed out following a 13-year stint. Multi-intrumentalist Cave has been a member of Francis Rossi’s solo band and an in-demand session drummer, guitarist and bassist. He’ll make his live debut with the band in Germany tonight. Quo say in a statement: “Leon has been in rehearsal with the band and will be playing at the Wolkenkratzer Festival in Frankfurt, Germany.” Cave is described as “a fast learner of new material with the ability to play across all genres of music.” Last year Letley announced his decision to move on. He was scheduled to make his final appearance at the O2 Arena in London on December 19, then stayed on to cover the band’s Australian tour in February this year. He said: “It’s been a fantastic journey – but I have decided that now is the right time for me to leave Quo and move on to something new.” But he denied the move was anything to do with the band’s Frantic Four reunion shows, played by Rossi and Rick Parfitt alongside founding members Alan Lancaster and John Coghlan. The last of those concerts, in London March 17, was filmed for a later DVD release. The veterans released their feature film Bula Quo! in July and tour the UK in December with 10cc: Dec 6: Liverpool Echo Arena Dec 7: Birmingham LG Arena Dec 8: Cardiff Motorpoint Arena Dec 10: Plymouth Pavilions Dec 11: Bournemouth BIC Dec 13: Brighton Centre Dec 14: Nottingham Arena Dec 15: London O2 Dec 17: Leeds Arena Dec 18: Glasgow Hydro Dec 19: Newcastle Metro Arena

Iggy Pop: “My pants fall down a lot” Despite his mantle of the Godfather Of Punk, Iggy Pop isn’t actually a fan of punk rock music. Oh yeah – and he’s never intentionally displayed his penis on stage either, saying: “That’s an urban myth.” To celebrate the release of The Stooges’ second comeback album Ready To Die, Iggy is interviewed in the latest edition of Classic Rock. When asked how he deals with the fact that everyone and their dog calls him the Godfather Of Punk, he responded: “[Industry suits] have to think in boxes. They have to have a place to put me to reference the whole thing. And they think they have to explain that to an audience of people who are similarly lacking in intelligence or education. So you get that. It’s okay. But it’s tedious. “We hadn’t sold out one of the shows, so the promoter wanted me to go on the radio. So I said: ‘Alright, I’ll do an interview.’ Well, then that wasn’t enough. They wanted me to talk about five punk songs. And I told them: ‘I don’t like punk.’” Iggy also denied threatening the audience that he’d take his penis out while performing at the recent South By Southwest festival. “I wasn’t threatening them… I mean, I never really have displayed my penis. That’s sort of… that’s an urban myth. Once in a while it slips out here and there, or my pants fall down a lot.” Ready To Die contains social commentaries on modern America in the form of songs such as Burn, Sex & Money, Job and Gun. There’s also a track called DD’s, on which Iggy declares his passion for big breasts… “Well, yeah,” he agreed. “Tits are very big in America, y’know? I mean, we have lots of big tits. And people don’t have big tits, they have the operation to get them. I always liked Russ Meyer, wonderful movies. I used to go when I was making Raw Power if I wanted to relax. They’re beautiful. The attitude’s great and the tits are fucking amazing.” Read the full interview with Iggy Pop in the latest edition of Classic Rock, on sale now. Got an iPad or iPhone? Download our free app to get the digital edition of Classic Rock – plus grab your free awards issue! Simply go here http://goo.gl/z4Yhu (in the UK) or here http://goo.gl/YUnR9 (for the US) to get well and truly digitized. Buy the print edition from all good newsagents or direct from www.myfavouritemagazines.co.uk. Get the Classic Rock Spotify app for must-hear mag-related playlists. Go to http://open.spotify.com/app/classicrock or find us in App Finder in Spotify.

Review by Master of Time — This review is a long time coming, as I was asked to write one all the way back in November, but I'm finally writing it now. The core of the band consists of just a drummer, a bassist, and a guitar player, but there are many guest musicians, including saxophone, trumpet, and strings. This album was actually my introduction into math rock, a genre I have grown to love, and it is still my favorite album of the genre. The piece starts out much like Close to the Edge, building quietly for a bit until it finally comes frantically crashing in. The whole thing is very high energy, with a constant unrelenting rhythm section. Guitar is for the most part the main focus, but sax will occasionally take over and there are times where they both are coming at you at the same time. It being so frantic and high energy you might expect it to kind of meander on at times, but it feels focused, and never tires. The frantic battle of guitar and sax continues for awhile until about 13 minutes in when it shifts and the sax disappears. The drum and guitar just start hammering in, fading out, and hammering back in. Then starts to dramatically pick back up in a very Crimsonian way. After that it starts to sound very playful and maybe a little Zappa-esque. It then gets a bit jazzier and starts shifting tempo multiple times. It's a very bright sounding piece with tones they use, if also quite chaotic. I have to comment that I love Sean McDermott's guitar tone.About 19 minutes in trumpet comes, sounding a bit like King Crimson's Lizard, but with perhaps's experimental edge and constant rhythm keeping it sounding their own. As it continues it develops into more of a psychedelic krautrock sound that works fantastically with the addition of trumpet. It starts to progress into more of Hawkwind psychedelia as guitar becomes more and more prominent. It begins to calm down, which is short lived and it becomes louder and energy picks back up as the drums start crashing in louder and louder. At about 27 minutes in it shifts moods again, becoming more playful, until after a minute it suddenly stops, doing something similar to what they did back at 13 minutes. The drums and guitar keep hammering on for another minute until it descends into a calmer post rock atmosphere. After a few minutes strings are added in as it starts to pick up. It reaches a powerful crescendo until suddenly dropping. It immediately picks back up even higher then it was before. The guitar goes into a solo over the strings and pounding drums that is just fantastic. The drums continue to pound louder and louder over the guitar and the strings until finally it is all brought down into the powerful conclusion of a masterpiece.This album is truly amazing. I cannot recommend this enough to any fan of progressive music, and it is a fantastic introduction to the post/math rock genre if you've yet to explore it.

Review by Harry Hood — ProjeKct Two Space Groove is the best King Crimson album because nobody knows it exists.I was first introduced to this album by someone who was not really a fan of progressive rock at all. They were big into 80s and 90s alt rock dinosaurs like Dinosaur Jr., Butthole Surfers, and The Flaming Lips. But for whatever reason they had this album as part of their collection and held it in high regard.So being something of an obsessive King Crimson fan and wanting to impress this other person I began listening to this album. This was nearly a decade ago now, and I'm still not sure what to think.It does stand out as being one of the most unique albums in the King Crimson discography. Its really hard to find anything else in their catalog that even sounds kind of like this.Basically this consists of three musicians with some new toys to play with. Trey Gunn with his recently acquired Warr Guitar, Adrain Belew and his V Drums (which had just arrived prior to recording), and Mr. Fribble with his ever expanding collection of effects units and pedals to run his guitar through. The latest and most advanced in late-90s musical instrument technology.So the three Crimsos gather together and hit record, and these are they results.Being an album that consists almost entirely of improv (with some vague compositional ideas scattered throughout) it can't really be judged on the same merits as a traditional written and composed album. It is spontaneous music-making by a group of musicians who are basically professionals at it. Probably the most intriguing thing about the music is it is sometimes hard to tell exactly who is playing what. Was that sound I just heard a V-Drum sample, a Frippertronic, or a Warr Guitar worked through some pedals? These sort of things can only be dissected on repeated listens, and even then there's always something new to discover. The improvisations were always the most interesting part of a King Crimson show anyway, this album is one of the few occasions where the audience gets to experience a candid improv session in a private setting, without the pressures of a live audience and pesky flash photography.This is what progressive rock is all about. Put on some big headphones, pick out a particular instrument, and listen to all the amazing things going on, the various intricacies and quirks of the musicianship. You know you're a prog! It's time to listen like one.

Review by Dr?mmarenAdrian — I found this band and record today, the same day their second studio record was released. The people who play this eight track music record is Gino Terribile (drums, vocals), Giuseppe Terribile (bass, vocals), Franco Piccolini (keyboards), Roberto Giordana (guitar) and Piuccio Pradal (vocal, 12 string guitar). They built this group back in the seventies but the didnt make a full scale record. In recent days they have and they are totally amazing. Perhaps the don't have the best singer but otherwise this music is brilliant. This is amazing symphonic rock. I am so surprised of Italy, what a marvelous prog nation, mostly of what that land has brought us seems to be fantastic. Every track here is very good. The music is virtous and it has some form of feeling of the seventies prog. The music is very distinct, you can hear every instrument very clear. Mostly they use their common instruments but I can alse hear flute and saxophone it it. One of the best tracks is the instrumental "Labirinto" which is calm but has a wonderful melody with nice organs and flute work. The longest track "La Promesa" starts distinct with vocals and has a great and smart composition driven by guitar and organ. "Una nuova realt?" is another strong and fast track with different sections and the vocals begins at four minutes. A winning piece of prog. "Oggi voler?" has heavy rock. Every track is wonderful and interesting. It happens a lot int their music, it has a lot of drive. It's never indecisive but allways powerful and harmonic. This is very melodical music. Perhaps they didn't experiment so much but this is absolutely a full scale symphonic prog record. I say it again, I am surprised of the music of Italy which is so great. I know very little, almost nothing about this band but I will listen more and do some research. This is splendid prog from the twentyfirst century.

Review by Second Life Syndrome — This is a terrific album! This crossover prog band has a great melodic style. They don't try to overdo it on technicality or speed. They write beautiful music that arouses the emotions and lifts the spirits. Amazing, soaring melodies are the key here. The band even plays around with some Spanish sounds here, too.This album is great from start to finish. "Spanish 411" and "Faded Photographs" are both fantastic songs, but the unequivocally best song on this album is "The Willing Victim". This song is simply stunning in every way. The structure is superb and the vocals are breath-taking!! It takes you and allows you to soar on the crest of the melody. This would have been a 5-star album for sure had the rest of the album been as fantastic. As it is, it is a strong 4-star album. Highly recommended!

Greetings from Laurel Canyon! Since we’ve crossed into the millennium, time seems to roll on so fast. Before you know it, summer will be upon us. Just as I got used to the idea of May, Memorial Day weekend is here. “TGIFF.” Thank god it’s fucking Friday! I can certainly use a long weekend. No one here seems to have much going on over this holiday. A bunch of my band friends are headed to Spain to play Primavera. Friends in New York and London are dealing with rain and sleet. For Memorial Day, I will be saying a prayer for ol’ Ray Manzarek. “Cancel our subscriptions to the resurrection.” I can’t help but wonder if Ray and Jim have connected on the “other side.” My next Idelic Hour will surely be dedicated to the meaning of The Doors. In the meantime I am about to cross a milestone, well almost. This is the 99th episode of the Idelic Hour. As I have mentioned recently, I’ve felt the need to be “reliable” to the music. It’s this reliability that has led me across the country to state of Ohio for this week’s inspiration. Last weekend I drove around the Canyon listening to the wonderful new album from Ohio natives, The National. Matt Berninger’s warm and familiar voice soothed my soul. Ah, at last an album that seems to slow time down. On Monday, Pitchfork gave the album an excellent review at one point stating, “Most people attribute the National’s escalating popularity to their reliability…” It made me think “reliability” deserves an Idelic Hour of music. Why not Ohio? When the word comes to mind, I think of Republicans, guns, motorcycle gangs—but most of all, cool rock ‘n roll. Let’s plug in and explore Idelic “Ohio”. The Idelic Hit of the Week: Kingswood – Ohio Advertise here with BSA

The Los Angeles music scene in the early 1980's was a place of diametric opposites in the early 1980's;  the punk scene had become a form of conformity with cartoonish thugs churning out loud for the sake of being loud and held tightly to fashion while the last gasp of the bloated, cocaine driven superstar acts were still massive commercially but beginning to suffer a massive comedown culminating in a crash 'n' burn thanks to the visual media of MTV.The Rain Parade were formed in 1981 by a pair of roomates- one California native (Steven Roback) and a transplant from Minneapolis (Matt Piucci). The pair were devouring music of the '60's, and found their creative calling within the sound of their The Byrds, The Doors and Love; bands that are the spiritual and geographical older brothers of The Rain Parade. The band drew inspiration from those groups and added the lilting drone of The Velvet Underground to the mix and created something that was entirely out of step with the rest of the L.A scene. The band was rounded out by Steven's brother David, Will Glenn, and Michael Murphy and within their first year together self released the incredible single you're about to enjoy. In a recent interview with The Austin Chronicle, Matt Piucci said of the times "When we started playing in Los Angeles, if you weren’t sweating like a pig in a ripped T-shirt and screaming at the top of your lungs, then you weren’t cool. It wasn’t valid. And we thought that was bullshit. We thought it was very punk of us to play waltz tempos slowly with acoustic guitars at punk clubs. We thought that was punk because nobody else was doing it." What She's Done To Your Mind I had the pleasure of asking Matt the other day if he had any special memories of the record, and he says "It sure was a trip seeing that thing spin around for the first time. Recorded 8 track at Radio Tokyo n Venice with the late Ethan James. It was a tiny house that had been converted. I remember going in thinking I am putting a sitar in this no matter what! Weird coincidence, I later learned that right before Ethan got it (the house that the studio was built in), my wife (who I was yet to meet) had lived there. Good karma" Much has been made of the so-called 'Paisley Underground", and while the other bands associated with that scene drew on some obvious '60's influences, none matched the sheer blissed-out visionary droning brilliance of The Rain Parade. At this time, the only other band that was even performing were the still developing Bangles, who were known earlier as The Colors, then The Bangs, then by their more famous name. Bangles leader Susannah Hoffs was a neighbor of the Robacks and they all attended Pacific Palisades high school. Matt's sitar is heard in all its glory on the b-side, the lysergic sugar cube bomb that is "Kaleidoscope". Kaleidoscope The Rain Parade went on to release a 5 star LP in 1983 (Emergency Third Rail Power Trip), and a 5 star EP in '84 (Explosions In The Glass Palace), as well as a live album and another studio effort. David Roback left the band after Emergency and formed (the also brilliant) groups Clay Allison (which became Opal), and eventually Opal morphed into Mazzy Star. Steven Roback formed Viva Saturn, and Matt Piucci Gone Fishin' and also played in the (Neil Young less) Crazy Horse. One of the thrills of my life as a musician was sharing the stage (my band played on the same bill) with the recently reformed Rain Parade, last December at Cafe Du Nord in San Francisco. I stood in awe listening to these magical sounds which I never thought I'd be able to hear live. Several times I had to politely ask people "please talk to me later, as this is a big deal for me to LISTEN to this set!!!" I watched in awe as Matt laid out the same whammy bar moves on the same Gretsch Tennessean as on the videos I've seen of the group back in the early '80's. Check out these two performances of "No Easy Way Down"; the first from 1983,