Rock Music

Review by tarkus1980 — As suggested by the title, this particular Hackett offering (one of his classical guitar albums, featuring contributions from a chamber orchestra) is a musical interpretation of the Orpheus myth from classical mythology. I won't go into extensive detail about the story in this review; if you're not familiar with the basic story (there are some variations on it in different contexts, but the core story is pretty standard), you should take the time to become familiar with it. Suffice it to say that the story is a classic, featuring love, loss, near recovery, loss again (after an epic failure to follow instructions as given), and eventually a disembodied singing head. The Greeks were awesome.The first half of the album is nice, with some lovely themes (some of which get reprised later in the album, most notably the main theme in "To Earth Like Rain"), but because it covers the part of Orpheus' life before he experienced pain and sadness, it's a little monotonous in its cheeriness (and it doesn't even cover his time spent with the Argonauts). The only real moment of tension is in "The Dancing Ground," which breaks up a cheery minuet with a disturbing premonition of Eurydice's; otherwise, it's all happy happy happy, culminating in the upbeat but still overlong 12:27 of "That Vast Life." At least this track moves through several ideas, but it never shifts in tone, and thus it becomes more background-ish than I'd prefer for something with its length.Naturally, the story gets darker once Eurydice dies and Orpheus descends into the underworld to try and get her back, but I like that the music goes beyond formula in depicting these passages. Look, if you're going to make a musical depiction of the Orpheus myth, the quality of your presentation will ultimately rest on how you handle two parts: the attempted ascent from the underworld with Eurydice, and Orpheus' eventual horrible death at the hands of the Maenads. Given this, Steve's decision to write "Under the World - Orpheus Looks Back" as a clear homage to "Mars" strikes me as nothing elss than brilliant. The inecessant rhythm gives a maddening tension to the track, and the ascent portion, first moving in darkness, then briefly moving into triumphant cheer, then briefly moving into doubt, then clearly showing the moment where Orpheus screws up, gives a perfect depiction of the story. And "Severance," well, that's just fun dramatic darkness, hinting at but not fully playing up his horrible death; it might not be great by the standards of classical, but it's just fine by the standards of a rock guy writing a small amount of classical.The album then works through the happy ending of the story: Orpheus is buried, Orpheus' spirit is reunited with Eurydice, Orpheus' head keeps on singing, and his lyre becomes a constellation (with reprises of happy themes from earlier). Overall, then, it's not an amazing experience, but it's definitely one I like more than his 80s classical guitar albums (as of this writing I haven't heard the other classically-oriented albums he'd done in between those). Steve definitely shows himself as much more adept at writing for a classical ensemble than most rock musicians would be, and the presence of a coherent (and classic) story ends up providing a beneficial framework. Plus, a lot of the music here could have been reworked for use on one his "conventional" albums without a lot of fuss. If you're into later-period Hackett, this is a worthy purchase.

Photo: www.GeneSimmons.comHere's a photo of Gene Simmons and a few young Naval officers at Preakness 2013 in Baltimore on May 18, 2013.

Short video for “Drop the Bone,” the song I co-wrote with Peter Rowan. It’s on his new CD The Old School.

www.KISSopolis.com | Source: Paul BassettKISS are in rehearsals today for their upcoming tour of Europe which starts on June 1st in Stockholm, Sweden.European Tour Dates: June 1 - Stockholm, Sweden June 3 - Helsinki, Finland June 6 - Solvesborg, Sweden June 8 - Stavanger, Norway June 11 - Copenhagen, Denmark June 12 - Berlin, Germany June 14 - Prague, Czech Republic June 15 - Vienna, Austria June 17 - Udine, Italy June 18 - Milan, Italy June 20 - Zurich, Switzerland June 22 - Clisson, France

Review by bonestorm — Pain of Salvation's "The Perfect Element Part I" kicks off with a cascade of drums and guitar and amixture of several musical styles. In the opening track "Used" there's a distinct flavour ofDisturbed or any number of other nu-metal acts getting around circa 2000. Then the chorus almosthas a pop feel to it. "In the Flesh" and "Ashes" take a different and far superior direction, ditching the nu-metal vibein favour of some more interesting textures. The musicianship is excellent and the album begins tosound a lot more cohesive. "In the Flesh" features a stunning acoustic guitar and piano outro thatfeels both like an organic extension of the first part of the song, and also as a great introductioninto "Ashes". This track is the highlight of the album, with the most memorable guitar and vocal hooks."Ideoglossia" is a complex, chaotic number that once again showcases the band's prodigious talents,and also which cleverly incorporates the chorus of "Ashes" midway through the song. "King of Loss"also deserves special mention as a brooding, simmering track with a great buildup. The album closeswith another 10 minute epic "The Perfect Element", which takes the total running time up over the 70minute mark. It's a long album, but there are enough ideas incorporated over the duration to keepthings fresh.Overlaid upon all of this are some impressive vocal gymnastics by Daniel Gildenl?w, at times evokingMike Patton with a guttural, savage delivery juxtaposed with the silky smoothness of a seasonedcrooner. And of course, he has an amazing heavy metal high pitched scream just to top it all off.While not one of my favourite albums, this is still a great production to experience for the sheerambitiousness and talent on display.

www.KISSonline.comOn this day in KISSTORY - May 20, 2009, KISS rocked over 25 million Americans with Detroit Rock City and Rock and Roll All Night as the band was front-and-center on the American Idol finale show performing with runner-up Adam Lambert. - KISS was just about the best thing on Idol ALL SEASON LONG. - Rolling Stone - a jaw-dropping, fist-pumping, pyro-enhanced performance with legendary rockers KISS. - MTV - KISS Blow Up American Idol. Now that's the way to rock the house! - Associated Content - It was a night to remember for all those members (including me) of the KISS Army. - WBAL Radio - Carlos Santana had the unenviable task of following the act. He strummed out some of his famous licks, which felt very slow-paced after the unbelievable energy KISS brought to the theatre. I was actually screaming to see more KISS by this point. - TV Envy

Review by Warthur — Opening with radio static with the strains of the Stones' Satisfaction and the Beatles' All You Need Is Love fading in and out, Faust's debut album sounds chaotic at first listen, but care and dedicated listening reveals the carefully judged compositional calculations underlying everything. Maintaining a shrewd balance between being undauntingly experimental and keeping the listener's interest, it's a radical release which as well as representing the more disciplined and composed end of Krautrock could act as a sort of RIO manifesto when you consider how the experiments on this album would find echoes later in the works of the likes of Henry Cow.

Review by Warthur — If Roxy Music had proved that they could produce an interesting progressive-glam amalgam without Brian Eno on Stranded, they perfected it on Country Life. Bryan Ferry goes full crooner more often than on any previous Roxy Music album, but thanks to Eddie Jobson's more prominent contributions the band's art rock credentials never take a dent. And with the combination of tight compositions and genuine emotional resonance taking the place of the cool detachment of preceding albums, the band were clearly going places. Plus despite all, the band can still get weird; check out Prairie Rose, the album closer, for a perfect mix of new Roxy cool and old Roxy neurosis.

Ray Manzarek 1939~2013 Iconic Doors keyboardist Ray Manzarek has died at the age of 74, it’s been confirmed. He passed away in a clinic in Germany after having fought cancer of the bile duct for some time. He was surrounded by his family. Manzarek founded the band with Jim Morrison, Robby Krieger and John Densmore in 1964. They became icons of the psychedelic era, having found the inspiration for their name in a poem by William Blake: “If the doors of perception were cleansed everything would appear to man as it is, infinite.” A statement from his family says: “Ray passed away today at the RoMed Clinic in Rosenheim, Germany, after a lengthy battle with cancer. He was surrounded by his wife Dorothy and his brothers Rick and James. “The Doors formed when Ray had a chance encounter on Venice Beach with poet Jim Morrison. LA Woman, Break On Through To The Other Side, The End, Hello, I Love You, and Light My Fire were just some of the band’s groundbreaking songs. “After Morrison’s death in 1971, Ray went on to become a best-selling author and a Grammy-nominated recording artist in his own right. In 2002, he revitalized his touring career with Doors guitarist and long-time collaborator, Robby Krieger.” Guitarist Krieger says: “I was deeply saddened to hear about the passing of my friend and bandmate. I’m glad to have played Doors songs with him for the last decade. Ray was a huge part of my life and I will always miss him.” The Manzarek family, who have asked for their privacy to be respected, would like well-wishers to contribute to the cancer charity StandUp2Cancer.

Those wishing to pay tribute to Ray Manzarek can make a memoriam donation in Ray's name at www.standup2cancer.orgStand Up To Cancerwww.standup2cancer.orgStand Up To Cancer raises funds to accelerate the pace of groundbreaking research that can get new therapies to patients quickly, facilitating collaboration among the best and brightest scientists and physicians. SU2C draws on the entertainment community to build public support for this effort.