Thursday
31st August
A
finished copy of Iron Maiden's 'A Matter Of Life And Death' dropped
through the letterbox a day or two ago, and it's as good - probably
even better - than I recall from the playback down in Reading back in
June. Bruce Dickinson has surpassed his own impeccable standards as
a vocalist, and the arrangements of the songs are awe-inspiring. The
album hasn't left my stereo since it got here... no, I tell a lie, I've
also been blasting 'The Essential Judas Priest' (a killer two-CD anthology
of just about all their best songs) from time to time. We might've seen
the last of this year's blink-and-you-missed-it summer, but life really
doesn't seem too shabby at all.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Wednesday 30th August
After the awful passing of Jesse Pintado and that ghostly
reminder of Paul Samson's legacy, how theraputic it was to head
into town for yesterday's interview with one of my all-time
favourite bands - the mighty It Bites. I met up for an hour
or two with keyboard player/guitarist John Beck and newcomer
- to IB, at least - John Mitchell, in a central London boozer.
A member of Arena and the prog 'supergroup' Kino, guitarist/vocalist
Mitchell has been on the scene for ages, and as a long-time
devotee of the group from Cumbria his enthusiasm for the task
of succeeding Francis Dunnery couldn't have been more apparent.
Of course, to many Dunnery was It Bites and vice versa. Along
with original bassist Bob Dalton and drummer Dick Nolan, the
two Johns are fully aware that they have a difficult task on
their hands in turning this perception around. With a UK tour
lined up for the autumn and the recording of a new album underway,
Mitchell has promised to email me one of their new tracks in
the next few days. I've got my fingers firmly crossed like everyone
else.
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Tuesday
29th August
I'm
gutted to learn of Jesse Pintado's death in a Dutch hospital
this past weekend. Pintado was a guitarist with the one and
only Napalm Death, before returning to his reunited previous
band Terrorizer in '04. I've spent quite a bit of time with
the Napalm chaps down the years - vocalist Barney Greenway is
a godfather to my boys Eddie and Arnie - and my dealings with
this gentle giant of a man were always positive and pleasurable.
Indeed, he once insisted on quite literally giving me the shirt
off his back (a long-sleeved, green Sepultura garment, still
soaked in sweat from a gig) when I expressed admiration for
it. On another occasion we sat up into the early hours of the
morning on the band's tour bus returning from gigs in Paris
and Belgium, boozing and philosophising like idiots after the
rest of the band and crew had turned in. A musical pioneer and
darned nice fella into the bargain, Jesse Pintado will be much
missed.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Sunday 27th August
Excuse me if I get a little teary-eyed here. I've just played
'P.S...', a posthumous album from my good friend Paul Samson,
of Samson, Paul Samson's Empire and Metallic Blue fame. It's
not the first time I heard its 11 songs; he proudly previewed
rough mixes of them when I visisted him in Norwich during the
last weeks of his life, in the summer of 2002. The story behind
the album is fascinating. Paul bequeathed the unfinished recordings
to producer John McCoy in his will, knowing that the former
Gillan bassist would do a good job of sprucing them up and finding
a way to release them.
It took a little time, but McCoy has finally ticked off both
boxes. Nicky Moore does a sterling vocal job on songs like 'Brand
New Day', 'Mean Woman' and the album's slowburning swansong
'Shooting For The Moon'; it's terrific to hear him teaming up
with Samson again for what would be the last time. The pair
fell out following the demise of Samson (the band), and had
only just repaired their friendship when the full effect of
Paul's sickness from cancer started to become apparent. In an
interview for his new group From Behind, Nicky recently told
me: "Paul and I fell out for many years when Samson split
up - we were all a lot younger then. But we made up and I was
gutted when Paul died. It was a year before I could even discuss
it."
'P.S...' will re-open old wounds for all those who knew Paul
Samson - sometimes a prickly and sarcastic man, but a great
musician with a heart of gold and a fabulous sense of humour.
Regardless, it's a welcome addition to his catalogue.
After the departure of Samson's Bruce Bruce (later Dickinson),
Paul never had much time for Iron Maiden manager Rod Smallwood.
So if he was logged on celestially somewhere yesterday he'll
have split his sides laughing at a rumour that appeared in yesterday's
Times Online. Let me stress that this is only at the speculation
stage, but if wagging tongues can be believed then Maiden are
allegedly considering uprooting themselves from Smallwood's
Sanctuary Artist Management empire to sign instead with Andy
Taylor, Sanctuary's acrimoniously ousted co-founder and former
chief executive. Rod discovered the band in a London pub 27
years ago and nurtured them every step of the way since, so
the very suggestion of a parting of the ways is incredible.
Then again, incredible things happen on a daily basis in the
music business.
Frustratingly, Palace drew their home game with Burnley, twice
coming from behind to rescue a point but offering yet another
woeful first half performance. The Eagles could and should have
nicked it in the final frantic 15 mins. As the vistors' manager
Steve Cotterill rightly remarked afterwards, the match was a
great advertisement for the the Fizzy Pop League. Yet it also
exposed weaknesses (above all some pace in the defence, a passing
midfielder and someone with an eye for the goal) in Palace's
squad that need plugging by the transfer window's close.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Saturday 26th August
It's
a Bank Holiday weekend here in England, though I won't have
too much leisure time apart from heading off to Selhurst again
in a few hours for Palace's game against Burnley. After a couple
of annoying defeats (admittedly, one was in the meaningless
League Cup) Taylor's Red & Blue Army need to get back into
a winning streak, and fast.
A soundclip of UFO's new album, 'The Monkey Puzzle', has been
posted at their website
and is well worth checking out. The full album is out on September
25 in Europe. Meanwhile, I've been busy working my way through
some finished copies of the Warrior Soul re-issues, kindly sent
to me by Gerry Kelly of Escapi Music. Those records were far
ahead of their time, and I'll definitely be checking out former
WS frontman Kory Clarke's latest though terribly named band
Dirty Rig when they visit Britain next month.
Oh yeah, some new Ask Daves and a
few more Classic Quotes are now up.
Thanks to those that submitted questions, and keep 'em comin'!
_
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Friday 25th August
Just got off the phone with Kip Winger - a pleasure as usual.
We were talking about the band's reunion album, 'IV', and their
one and only UK date of 2006 at the Firefest
on October 28. I know that some people find Kip a little conceited,
but I've never seen him that way. Quite the opposite, in fact.
After the interview was over we chatted for a bit about the
state of the scene and which music we were diggin'. The good
news is that if people appreciate 'IV' then Winger might be
back for good, or at least for an extended burst. That pleases
me immensely.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Wednesday
23rd August
Last night I took my eldest son Eddie to Selhurst for Palace's
Carling Cup game against my good friend Dave Reynolds' beloved
Notts Country. Mr Reynolds had warned me in advance that if
Peter Taylor fielded a half-assed team we could end up being
giant-killed, and so it proved. Despite taking the lead Palace
succumbed to a goal in each half from the League Two team. The
Eagles had very little cutting edge all game and I wouldn't
dream of denying the plucky visitors their five minutes of glory.
Playing as toothlessly again on Saturday against Burnley is
simply not an option.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Monday
21st August
In
a fantastic interview with Swedish magazine Close Up, Bruce
Dickinson has been speaking frankly about Iron Maiden's appearance
at last year's Ozzfest, the tour's "corporate" nature
and, of course, it's ill-fated conclusion in California. Asked
whether the band had expected the spoiler tactics they received
from Sharon Osbourne and cronies, Bruce replied: "No, they
were extraordinary, weren't they? Childish and uncalled for,
and quite dangerous, really, when you consider there could've
been a riot. She is obviously completely mad!"
Responding to a question about the merits of reality TV, Bruce
stated: "What we do is we are a heavy metal band and what
we care about is our fans. That's it. So our strength comes
from that simplicity. What do I care if I never appear on reality
TV? 'Fucking great, thank you! Can I have it in writing?' But
in her world, that's really important. In her world, it's really
important what you look like. In her world, facelifts are really
important. In my world, I don't give a fuck. I get old and I
get wrinkly. Who gives a shit?" Yay, Bruce!
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Tuesday
22nd August
Still
writing my story on Man,
which given their somewhat convoluted history is proving to
be a pretty time-consuming task. According to ex-guitarist Deke
Leonard it was once calculated that they'd made 17 albums, had
just as many line-ups, played 7,601 gigs, travelled 1,200,000
miles, signed 121,000 autographs, blown 161 amplifiers, burnt
out 121 road managers, slept with 4,163 women, smoked 16,000
packets of Rizlas, crossed 330 borders in and out of 17 countries,
staying in 6,424 hotels - only being thrown out of 32 of those.
Oh yeah, they also spent over £200 on clothes. Strangely,
it omits to mention how many sheep they've exchanged bodily
fluids with. Just reached an embarrassing part in the interview
tape. I suggested to bassist Martin Ace that someone should
attempt to condense all of this down into one of those nice
Pete Frame-style Family Trees. "One's already been done,"
replied Martin patiently. "Oh, yeah? Who was mad enough
to take on a job like that?" I enquired. "Pete Frame."
I'll get me coat.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Monday 21st August
What unbelievable and unprecedented scenes occurred at the
Oval yesterday. Taking a break from writing a story on those
fascinating Welsh rockers Man, I stared at the telly with increasing
disbelief as the Pakistan cricket team declined to come back
onto the pitch after the tea break, having been accused by the
umpires of ball tampering. Quite rightly, Daryll Hair and Billy
Doctrove reached the conclusion that Pakistan had forfeited
the Fourth Test, only for Inzamam ul-Haq to lead his team back
out after all. Then it was the umprires' turn to dig in their
heels. Pandemonium and confusion reigned, among the 22,000 fans
in the ground and the Sky Sports commentary box. It probably
says plenty that more than 14 hours later, although the last
day's play has been officially called off and the result handed
to England, we still await a definitive statement from the game's
national governing body, the ICC.
Here's some interesting music news. At the Soapbox section of
Brian May's excellent website,
I was surprised to learn of the former Queen guitarist's tentative
plans to record with Roger Taylor and Paul Rodgers. The trio
head into a studio at a mystery location in October, presumably
after Rodgers completes his UK tour. May writes: "We turn
our heads towards studio interaction which, just possibly, will
bring us all to a new place. We will take it gently at first,
the priority being to feel good, and put ourselves in the mood
to create." What a mouth-watering prospect.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Sunday 20th August
Ain't
it nice when you know you've made a right decision? A group
of fellow Palace-obsessed mates drove up to yesterday's game
with Birmingham. Accompanying them would almost certainly have
meant missing the start of Celtic Frost's gig at the Mean Fiddler.
So wisely, considering that Satan Bruce's team stung us with
an inury time winner, I decided instead to witness the Swiss
avant-garde metal band promoting 'Monotheist', their first album
in 13 years. Good call!
Verdicts on the show were pretty varied. I enjoyed it but spoke
to several people who snuck out early, complaining that the
band lacked personality. I understand completely. Mainman Tom
Gabriel Fischer often left the song introductions to bassist
Martin Eric Ain, whose microphone sounded like it was switched
off. But the music... ah, now that was mostly pretty special.
Beginning with 'Procreation (Of the Wicked)', the band played
most of their classic songs, including 'Dethroned Emperor',
'The Usurper', 'Necromantical Screams', 'Dawn Of Megiddo', 'Mesmerized',
'Sorrows Of The Moon', 'Visions Of Mortality', 'Into The Crypts
Of Rays', 'Inner Sanctum' and 'Circle Of The Tyrants'. Without
a set-list I'm uncertain of which ones they did from 'Monotheist',
but 'Ain Elohim' was in there and a preposterously heavy and
ponderous 'Synagoga Satanae' brought the all-too-short 85 minute
show to an end.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Saturday
19th August
Just returned from another raid on Beanos Records'
closing down sale - nine vinyl gems for obscenely low fiscal
renumeration. Picked up one of the last remaining Moody Blues
records I didn't have, a fabulous Outlaws compilation (you can't
beat a song as shit-kickingly good as 'Green Grass And High
Tides'), a couple of vintage Boz Scaggs platters, an album by
Thin Lizzy/Bolan/Bowie producer Tony Visconti, an intriguing-looking
jazz-rock project featuring Stanley 'We're not worthy' Clarke
and George Duke and some obscure melodic rock just because the
covers looked good.
What else has been on the Ling Towers death deck? Well, Winger's
'IV' is an album you have to grow into, and I'm slowly getting
there. Trivium have smoothed out those growled vocals a little
and perhaps made their sound a smidgin more radio-friendly,
but 'The Crusade' (released on October 9) is an album that will
make them bigger than ever. I've also been enjoying Dream Theater's
excellent, orchestrally embellished 20th anniversary concert
DVD, 'Score'.
Oh yeah... in honour of Heavy Pettin' guitarist Punky Mendoza
having signed the guestbook and saying how much he's enjoying
the site, I've posted a rather
silly pic of us together back in the day. No tongues were
used, honest.
_
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Thursday 17th August
Well,
I was disappointed that Asia had finished yesterday's rehearsal
by the time I arrived at the studio. But the band all looked
and sounded genuinely enthused to be back together after so
many years - even the two members who I suspected might've been
along for the ride. Bassist/vocalist John Wetton revealed that
the first time they'd played together again Asia had sounded
like "a pub band", but after two weeks of nailing
things things were sounding back at the top of their game. Scarily,
Carl Palmer didn't look a day older, either. He must've signed
some sort of pact with the devil to stay looking as young as
he does. All were extremely proud and supportive of Wetton,
who seems to have exorcised his well-publicised demons. I can't
wait for December's British dates and am hopeful that the story,
for which I've also spoken to ousted bassist/vocalist John Payne,
will make interesting reading.
Arrived back in Catford for the England-Greece friendly just
as England started banging in the goals. It finished 4-0, which
was very pleasing. In typical CPFC style, however, it was a
game of two halves. The team performed well during the opening
45 minutes, but the Greeks recovered after the break and were
unlucky not to have reduced the deficit. A good beginning to
the McLaren era, all the same. Sven who?!
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Wednesday 16th August
Well, those nice American Dog boys got home safely to Ohio
after the 'No Sleep Til The Loaded Dog' tour swansong, the journey
back via the security-conscious airport being "20 hours
of madness", according to Mr Hannon. Here's a nice dressing
room pic he sent from the Croydon show.
I'm more than a little excited just now, as this afternoon I'll
be heading to a location somewhere in England to see the original
Asia line-up - John Wetton, Steve Howe, Geoffrey Downes and
Carl Palmer - in rehearsal for their upcoming US and British
dates. Although I've attended many concerts by the John Payne-fronted
band, like many of their existing fans I was too young to have
seen the original grouping before it broke up. More news tomorrow.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Tuesday 15th August
Oh, postie... thanks a lot, mate. I'm all trembly for having
received a promo of Winger's brand newie, 'IV' (released October
20), but after many years of putting up with scuffled vinyl
am now also the proud owner of Stray's best three albums - 'Suicide'
(1971), 'Saturday Morning Pictures' (1972) and 'Mudanzas' (1973)
- on CD for the first time, complete with bonus tracks. I haven't
been so happy since Millwall last lost 5-1 to Chesterfield (hang
on a minute - wasn't that last weekend?).
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Monday 14th September
Well, Palace bounced straight back to the top to the Championship
again after yesterday's hard-fought home victory over Leeds.
United played much of the game with ten men after Geoff Horsfield
saw red for senselessly elbowing former Fulham team-mate Mark
Hudson in the face. The Eagles had to wait intil the 90th minute
to break down the massed away rearguard, and when Clinton Morrison
managed the feat the stadium erupted in a cauldron of emotion.
Speaking of which, manager Peter Taylor is quoted in today's
Sun newspaper as saying: "I wanted [goalscorer Morrison]
to kiss me, but he bottled it. I don't ask all my players to
kiss me - just Clinton because I fancy him." Well, to be
fair Taylor was once boss of those Godawful nancy boys Br***ton,
but let's draw a line under any of that shirt-lifting shenanigans
at Selhurst in future please.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Sunday
13th September
Just got in from another American Dog show - this one even
better than yesterday's. The band are known for enjoying for
a wee drinkie or 28, so ending their debut British tour in a
pub called the Loaded Dog was asking for trouble. What made
it worse was that they hit the stage at midnight. Because my
friend Harj and I arrived at the venue in Leytonstone at around
eight, there was little to do but sup for four straight hours...
on an empty stomach.
Killing time, we sat around telling a few good ol' rock 'n'
roll stories - one of guitarist/vocalist Michael Hannon's funniest
involved his previous group Dangerous Toys exacting their revenge
on a club that'd stiffed 'em for a gig fee by dumping 50 gallons
of urine at its front door - and of course swigging for our
respective nations. This is a band that puts the word 'hospital'
into 'hospitality'.
Fans had travelled from Belgium, France and Scotland for the
show, webmistress Batttttty making the trip from Derby to ensure
that nobody dared to leave the building without having bought
a t-shirt. With future single 'Sometimes You Eat The Pussy,
Sometimes The Pussy Eats You' once again the highlight, plus
covers of Ted Nugent's 'Wang Dang Sweet Poontang', 'Black Night'
by Deep Purple and Motörhead's 'Bomber' augmenting the
Ohio trio's own repertoire, those 90-odd minutes were very well
spent indeed. Come back soon, guys.
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Saturday
12th September
Uggghhhh...
feelingly ever so slightly frail. Mrs L and I went to the Cartoon
in Croydon to check out a headline gig by American Dog last
night. Alas, the attendance wasn't great but the band still
gave it their all. So much so that I felt compelled to buy a
round of Jack 'n' cokes and place them on the stage. It's not
something I could afford to do for the massed ranks of Electric
Light Orchestra or Osibisa, but as the three-piece were slogging
their guts out for precious little reward, an ice-cold snifter
was the least they deserved. Such kind fellas, the Dawg let
us help them finish off their rider once the show was done,
though we declined an offer to go back to their hotel and assist
in the demolition of several litres of Scrumpy Jack cider.
_
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Thursday 10th August
Woken
by the clock radio with the astonishing news that Scotland Yard's
anti-terror squad has swooped on several houses in London and
the midlands to foil a plot to "commit mass murder on an
unimaginable scale" by blowing up several America-bound
passenger jets. The world is becoming a sadder place by the
day. I've also got a stinking hangover following last night's
visit to the Crobar. Not only was it Metal Hammer editor Jamie
Hibbard's birthday but myself, Messrs Dome and Ewing and various
other gang members had a brief editorial meeting to discuss
the contents of our fanzine, Cro-Mag. Spurred on by numerous
cold beverages, some quality ideas were thrown around the tube
- and under it.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Wednesday
9th August
Excuse me while I enjoy this for a moment - Crystal Palace
are top of the league! Just like Saturday's game against Ipswich,
we were pretty appalling during the first 45 minutes of last
night's match against Southend Utd, but turned things around
in style after the break. Peter Taylor's new-look team are beginning
to gel.
My late summer reverie is also due to the receipt of several
stonking new albums - the return of former City Boy/Streets
guitarist Mike Slamer and his band Slamer (co-starring Terry
Brock of Strangeways on vocals) on 'Nowhere Land', 'Bezerk 2.0'
by the mighty Tigertailz and perhaps best of 'em all, Gov't
Mule's newie, 'High And Mighty'. A promo of Juicy Lucy's rather
fine forthcoming CD, 'Do That And You'll Lose It', has also
been on heavy rotation. Must make a point to check those fellows
out on October's UK tour.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Sunday 6th August
Yesterday's 2-1 victory at Ipswich notched three valuable
points for Palace. We were appalling during the first half, but Peter
Taylor's decision to bring on Freedman for a woefully ineffective
Morrison changed the game. Well done to the Eagles faithful, who roared
on the players until the final whistle. "We're not a promotion
team yet," sums up Taylor - quite rightly on this spirited but
flawed evidence. "We've got a good team and a good squad, but
need to improve it."
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Saturday 5th August
Huuuurrraaaahhhh! Football's back! I'm off to see Palace's
opening Fizzy Pop League fixture in Ipswich in a few hours and can
barely contain my excitement. Regardless of how the previous term
ended, that first day of the season feeling - going to the game in
shorts 'n' shirtsleeves, full of cider 'n' boundless optimism - is
always something to savour. We've a good record at Portman Road in
recent years, and there's a great 'away' pub right outside the gates.
Whatever happens I'll be hoarse and hungover tomorrow.
Wish I'd been at Wacken Open Air this year. Just saw some reports
of the Scorpions' show there on Thursday night, at which they were
joined onstage by by former members Uli Jon Roth, Michael Schenker
and Herman Rarebell. The set-list featured an incredible 26 songs
from all stages of their career. Grrrrrrr. Just hope someone filmed
it for DVD or something.
Here's some sad news. Arthur Lee, frontman of the hugely influential
60s West Coast psychedelic band Love, has died of Leukaemia at the
age of 61. Too young to have known much about 'em in their prime,
I discovered Love when UFO covered 'Alone Again Or' on 'Lights Out',
though artists as diverse as Alice Cooper, Robert Plant, The Damned,
Ramones, Lenny Kravitz and, err... Sarah Brightman have since paid
lip service to the group's catalogue. Saw Lee onstage just once, at
London's Forum in March 2004, and only bought the seminal 'Forever
Changes' album a few years back. I guess that makes me a Johnny-Come-Lately,
but I join all those who mourn his loss.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Thursday 3rd August
Okay, okay... my throwaway comment about Vixen not even having
penned their best song (see July 29) was a cheap shot. Last night's
headline set at the Underworld left me far more impressed than expected.
Only Jan Kuehnemund remains from the original line-up, but the guitarist's
enthusiasm for the show was refreshing to behold and songs like 'Love
Made Me', 'How Much Love', 'I Want You To Rock Me', 'Love Is A Killer',
'Cryin'' and 'Edge Of A Broken Heart' are just too good to be allowed
to fade away - no matter who collects the songwriting royalties. Couldn't
work out why the so-so 'Streets In Paradise' (from 1990's 'Rev It
Up') got the nod over the same album's 'Not A Minute Too Soon', but
at least the material from the new 'Live & Learn' album sounded
pretty good. In fact, not even singer Jenna Sanz-Agero's passing facial
resemblance to Leanne Battersby from Corrie could put me off!
House Of Lords... or rather James Christian and hired hands... had
already warmed up a maybe two-thirds full crowd. The band's last co-founder,
Christian still has a fabulous voice, but HOL have always been a keyboard-based
act and without ex-Angel icon Gregg Guiffria or indeed an ivory tinkler
of any sort (though samples were being not so discreetly used), James
and company had a mountain to climb. It helped, of course, that new
album 'World Upside Down' is leagues ahead of 2004's dismal reunion
turkey 'The Power And The Myth' (a fact easily confirmed by 'Rock
Bottom', 'All The Way To Heaven', 'These Are The Times' and 'I Am
Free'). But the quartet's hour was mostly stacked with oldies; 'Sahara'
and 'Can't Find My Way Home' from the second album, and 'Talkin' 'Bout
Love' representing the third. Naturally, the immortal 1988 self-titled
debut was most widely plundered, including 'Love Don't Lie', 'Edge
Of Your Life', 'I Wanna Be Loved', 'Slip Of The Tongue' and 'Pleasure
Palace' - the latter appropriate given that the mighty Eagles will
be kicking Ipswich's arse this weekend. Overall? Could've been a whole
lot worse. I just missed Gregg and the other guys.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Wednesday 2nd August
Last night I braved a steamy 100 Club to investigate a band
I've fallen in love with. London-based Captain's debut album 'This
Is Hazeville' is released through EMI in 10 days' time, their latest
(aptly titled) single 'Glorious' poised to slam into the Top 30. The
album was produced by none other than Trevor Horn of Buggles/Yes/Frankie
Goes To Hollywood fame and sounds like Jellyfish meeting It Bites
with echoes of Prefab Sprout, Radiohead and the Beautiful South along
the way. Chatted with them before the show and disovered that whilst
they refute most of those alleged influences, the whole group are
fans of Steely Dan - which makes complete sense! Comprising most of
the album and some B-sides, ending with a swoonsome 'Glorious', the
show was short but very sweet indeed. Although the outcome's already
fairly cut 'n' dried, I predict big things.
A quick word about two interesting one-track promo CDs. Lifted from
Atlanta band Mastodon's 'Blood Mountain' album (due mid-September),
the song 'Capillarain Crest' is a monstrously heavy widdle-fest that'd
make even Yngwie Malmsteen weak at the knees. No wonder Rock Sound
wrote "Goodbye Metallica, hello Mastodon" with regard to
'Leviathan', their last album.
Expect equally satisfying things of Audioslave's third platter, 'Revelation',
which lands on September 4. Guitarist Tom Morello describes the record
as "Led Zeppelin meets Earth Wind And Fire", and 'Original
Fire' is a hard-driving motherfunker that suggests his claim's not
so outrageous.
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