The Talking Blues-Doug MacLeod’s Break the Chain I’ve always liked the blues. In some ways the simplest, yet often the most difficult music to play: the changes are easy, and while many players stun with instrumental virtuosity, what really sticks (for me) is the raw, emotional outpouring, not the flashiness. Sometimes it just falls flat because it seems like you’ve heard it a million times, and it is being played by rote. Doug MacLeod’s Break the Chain, recently released on the audiophile label, Reference Recordings (more about the label and production below), is in some... Read More
Randy Holden- Guitar God (Interview)
Randy Holden- Guitar God For those of you with an appreciation for hard, heavy guitar-centric rock from the period, it doesn’t get any better than Randy Holden. His solo album, Population II, is now a highly collectible rarity for good reason: it’s a monster album. If you only have passing knowledge of the man, or look him up on the Internet, the accepted wisdom recites that Holden is “best known for” his work on Blue Cheer’s New, Improved! But that album doesn’t even scratch the surface. In fact, it is partly a Blue Cheer album and partly a Randy Holden album; the dividing... Read More
Atomic Rooster- Death Walks Behind You– Two Pressings
Atomic Rooster- Death Walks Behind You Two pressings: US and UK An interesting heavy rock record by an oft-overlooked band, this album—which was probably their best and most commercially successful– has gotten some play here lately. I decided to buy both early US and UK pressings—the price difference can be considerable for those of us in the States—to see how they compared. The UK clearly wins on artwork, with its disturbing William Blake image (above). The band grew out of The Crazy World of Arthur Brown—a strange piece of wackiness that resulted in a radio... Read More
The National Reserve- Motel La Grange
The National Reserve- Motel La Grange You can listen to Sean Walsh and The National Reserve’s Motel La Grange and be reminded of so many different strands of music from the past without being quite able to put your finger on what memories are being tickled. There are elements of the old Bob Seger in the vocal parts, of The Band in their roots Americana vibe, of Little Feat in sheer funk but it’s nowise derivative of any of these; it stands on its own, even if it does bring back memories of something else. If I were a musician, I’d hate to be compared to someone else, even if... Read More
Comus: First Utterance + Interview with Members of Comus
Comus: First Utterance The folk music revival of the ‘60s not only revitalized interest in traditional music but also sparked the creation of more contemporary sounds that were influenced by the cultural tides and musical shifts of a turbulent decade. Although it was not released until 1971, First Utterance stands today as a “Ur” album of the psychedelic folk movement; it is a wild ride even by “modern” standards, inured to a post-punk, industrial, hip-hop, noise rock sensibility. It must have been shattering to listen to at the time of its release. Roger Wootton... Read More
Josefus-Dead Man & SXSW
Josefus-Dead Man & SXSW Before we get to Josefus, and their classic, Dead Man, a precursor album of hard rock that was seemingly lost except to an informed group of fans and enthusiasts, I have a story to tell. As full time resident of Austin, I am now entitled to complain about SXSW.The first few years we were living here during the winter-spring season (and returning to New York for the remainder of the year), we’d “do” SX—take in some shows, go to a few panel discussions and just walk the scene. I’m told, like everything else here, that it was “way better”... Read More
Sabbath’s Heaven and Hell: Your Choice
Sabbath’s Heaven and Hell: Your Choice One of the greatest Black Sabbath albums was delivered after the early albums on Vertigo Swirland subsequent to Ozzy Osbourne’s departure: Heaven and Hell, released in 1980, featuring Ronnie James Dio as vocalist. This album represents a high water mark in the band’s recorded performances, not only for its two sides chockful of rhythmic, driving songs with the heavy riffage characteristic of the best of Sabbath; the album was a fresh take on the classic Sabbath sound that breathed new life into the band. Dio’s involvement didn’t... Read More
GRANICUS –s/t; Interview with Woody Leffel
GRANICUS –s/t; Interview with Woody Leffel Hailing from Cleveland, Ohio, Granicus recorded one self-titled album for RCA in 1973 that received little support from the label before the band called it quits. Even today, the album remains relatively obscure among aficionados of hard rock for reasons that remain a mystery: unlike many early hard rock records that have achieved cult status (often, with prices to match), it contains consistent, powerful performances and sounds neither derivative nor dated. I was sufficiently intrigued by the record to reach out to the re-formed band, which... Read More
Blackwater Park- Dirt Box
Blackwater Park- Dirt Box An early hard rock release from Germany featuring an English singer, Blackwater Park is familiar to Opeth fans because it is also the title of an album that may represent Opeth’s peak as a metal band (before Opeth eventually turned to more naturally voiced, progressive rock sounds). Beyond name-checking this early band, I don’t recall much similarity to the Opeth album but admittedly, it’s been a while since I played Opeth’s Blackwater Park. This record, by contrast, is more straight ahead hard rock of the heavy variety; original pressings on BASF are... Read More
Orne –Tree of Life
Orne –Tree of Life Ever listen to “doom prog”? Tree of Life by Orne is a beautiful, dark journey that manages to avoid some of the clichés of the genre but shines in unexpected ways. Orne is an offshoot of the doom metal band Reverend Bizarre and started life as Mesmer. By the time of this release in 2011 (on Black Widow Records of Italy), Orne seems to have captured their muse, delivering a moody, delicate brooding sound without too much sameness. The album is very atmospheric—you let it play, rather than “listen” to it. The spoken word bit at the beginning of the album... Read More
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