the (original) iron maiden

So.... its been a while, a strange few months with not much done or said and time has flown on by. What better time to start getting back into the swing of things than on the day of the release of Iron Maiden's eagerly awaited new album. Now anyone who's into the band or following the rock/metal world lately is likely to have already picked up their copy, or will find a way to listen to it over the weekend. 

So, the obvious thing to do would be to put up the video for the new single which is already all over the internet and been seen a gazillion times by those who are interested. So we wont do that.

However, I will point you in the direction of this gem. Found by chance while trawling through the vast amounts of Iron Maiden material online, I came across this interesting album by a lesser known band that went by a familiar name. For those who didnt know, it turns out the Iron Maiden name had been used before Steve Harris and co. made one of the biggest heavy metal bands of all time.

The original Iron Maiden is another English band, coming from Essex in the late 1960's. Their only album, Maiden Voyage, released in 1969 is a great example of musicianship and influences of that time. After seeing Cream and Led Zeppelin the band adopted a heavy rock style mixing the sound of traditional rock of the time with psychadellic and what would become doom influences, even though the style hadnt been developed yet, something that would become the familiar sound of Black Sabbath later on.

The album is full of great guitar work and lyrical subjects, just a shame its a little let down by the poor production of the time.

Listen to the full album, Maiden Voyage...

ian mclagan RIP

Ian Mclagan died yesterday (Dec 3rd) of a massive stroke age 69. The keyboard player for the Small Faces, The Faces, The Stones on occasions, along with his own bands was still playing and even expecting to be on stage the day he died. Living in Austin, Texas for the last years of his life, and still playing with his band in local bars and clubs in probably much the same way as he'd begun his young music life. Although the huge success in the UK and eventually the US with The Small Faces brought international fame it was one also of the cautionary tales a rock and pop musician could find themselves sucked into -

In 1965, he (McLagan) was hired, for the princely sum of £30 a week, to join Small Faces by their manager, Don Arden, replacing Jimmy Winston. Once the 'probation' period ended, his pay was reduced to £20 a week, which was what the other band members were getting. They never received more than that because Don Arden collected all the proceeds of their hard-earned work, and it wasn't until 1997 that they started receiving any royalties.
WIKI ARTICLE

His interview for the documentary - Small Faces : All Or Nothing 1965-1968 (The British Invasion Series) he explains much of the story behind the band without any signs of being too scarred by the whole Faces/Arden business.
When he's asked about which Small Faces song was his favourite. In that familiar affable London manner of his he replies -

"The Small Faces finest moment was when we cut Tin Soldier. I don't think we cut a better track, a better tune, a better performance from all of us. It's the best thing we ever did as a collective, as a band, song, everything."

And who can argue with that.. here's the video of 'Tin Soldier' with Steve Marriot in outrageous form, PP Arnold having real fun with the backing vocals and Mclagan's keyboard driving the song along with that 60's mod swagger.
As one YouTube commenter said "The happiest guy in Austin has left town".
So long Ian.

and this byrd can sing

Yesterday Fox News ran a screen flyer to one of their ad breaks on how The Byrds "Turn,Turn,Turn" was the No1. single 50 years ago! It wasn't.. but then that's Fox News for you.
It's next year The Byrds would be celebrating their 50th anniversary, and later in the year their first top selling single "Mr Tambourine Man". All very nice if The Byrds were still active. Crosby would definitely give it a go and McGuinn would definitely not. A recent interview in 'Uncut' Magazine revealed the extent of his divide with the past began back in the 80's when one more road trucking tour with at that time The Rolling Thunder Revue had convinced him it was time to go solo and quit the heavy traffic that comes with full size bands. Which is very achievable when you have a back catalogue as influential as McGuinn's, his solo performances still include some of those classic Byrds songs.

But what really separates him from many is a real hands on approach to how he produces his current work. In particular his output on the web.
He's had his Folk Den Project for years.
His web site has continued to give access to all his other projects. He records independently in his own studio (check out the Digital Recording Setup or his website map for loads of other stuff)
His wife Camilla and tour manager, runs his blog which is really a travelogue postcard of the places they go to on tour but fun to see and hear what they do all the same.
And most impressively of all has no record label "Who do you think would get all the money?".
And his final words on the whole reunion thing?
"I'm not afraid to talk about The Byrds. I just don't want to be in The Byrds"

Here's a good sample of his home base and him doing a reworking of that Byrds classic "Rock And Roll Star". And doing a pretty sharp job playing that limited edition signature Rickenbacker 360 12 string.
Wonder if he's still got those shades?

the song remains the same

Jimmy Page still wittering on about Zeppelin's 2007 reunion gig tells Rolling Stone.

“Led Zeppelin wasn't a corporate entity, Led Zeppelin was an affair of the heart. Each of the members was important to the sum total of what we were. I like to think that if it had been me that wasn't there, the others would have made the same decision. And what were we going to do? Create a role for somebody, say, ‘You have to do this, this way?’ That wouldn't be honest.
“There were attempts that didn't work – trying to push it together in a hurry, that's why the show had to be done with such intent – rehearsing as much as we could so Jason felt he was part of the band as opposed to a novelty. He was filling big shoes, and we needed all of that.”

For gawds sake let it go Jim... let it go.

And in last nights 'Later...' (BBC Two) the appearance of Robert Plant and The Sensational Space Shifters, had Jools Holland, renowned for his clunky interviews, asking a visibly impatient Robert Plant (with two of the band sitting alongside)
"So what does it take to be a Sensational Space Shifter?"
to which Robert was quick to reply for his two bemused looking band mates,
"being with old people".
They then proceeded to have a lot of fun performing "Little Maggie".
Which is why you won't be seeing him reuniting anything any time soon.

neil young saves the planet

PHOTO VIA EXCLAIM

Just as we were bemoaning some of the old rockers being a bit mean with their previews of new work along comes Neil Young, of all people, and despite his previous miserly previews proves at last he isn't shy of letting us hear some unreleased songs. Albeit 3 different versions of the same one. Yep, that's our Neil, never one to go for the obvious.
Here he gives us 'Who's Gonna Stand Up?' which comes from his new (gulp) orchestral album due in November.
In an interview with Billboard Magazine he explains why he wanted to do it -

"I'd like to make a record with a full-blown orchestra, live -- a mono recording with one mic. I want to do something like that where we really record what happened, with one point of view and the musicians moved closer and farther away, the way it was done in the past. To me that's a challenge and it's a sound that's unbelievable, and you can't get it any other way."
VIA HENNEMUSIC

A press release describes the new song, (NY not having left his 60's routes far behind)

"is a plea to end our dependence of fossil fuels and realize our responsibility to protect our earth's fragile eco systems to ensure the quality of life for future generation."
VIA EXCLAIM

He's already been performing this song acoustically and with Crazy Horse on a few shows but to take it on with an orchestra is a completely different risk, not that he ever cares about risk taking, and if it all sounds nuts you can bet Young can't wait to prove us all wrong. You have to say though, this orchestra sounds huge.

The three versions are on Warner Brothers at Soundcloud along with a whole load of other WB stuff so be careful.
Anyway now here's the live version of 'Who's Gonna Stand Up?' with Crazy Horse making this version really take off.
Gawd only knows what the old boy will come up with next.

the richard thompson dynamic

A new release from Richard Thompson (Fairport Convention) is always a welcome sight. 'Acoustic Classics' are from his recent live shows covering his own compositions over 4 decades of work. Taking arrangements for a full band and stripping them bare he adds a new dimension to many of his classics. An inspirational guitarist and songwriter it's criminal negligence that the man still goes largely unnoticed or played on radio here in the UK except when they want to use an old Fairport track, which is rare enough in itself. Thompson's near unequaled reputation in folk music has left him unconsidered when compared to how other rock guitarists and songwriters of his generation are recognised .
Want to see why this is really dumb? How about his last years Electric Trio tour in the US. Here's a very good video taken in Iowa City by one of the audience (uploader 'bdball69') and with his typical good humour Thompson chats to the audience at this free concert, quite knowingly telling you "the story of my life" as it were.
"...to the classic power trio's of the 60's.. wish we could be that. Sometimes we even go so far as to play things like..um"
and as you'll hear proceeds to give you one mother of a reading of Creams "White Room".
With Taras Prodaniuk on bass/backing vocals and drummer Michael Jerome with a terrific rendition of Ginger Bakers instantly recognisable rhythm, when Thompson hits the wah and over drive pedal at 4.08 even Clapton would be hard pressed to improve on this solo.
Richard Thompson.. just a folk musician !
As one audience member describes "Two of the best shows I've ever seen have been in downtown Iowa City.. and this was one of them".

The new album is available from the Richard Thompson website

rock musician speaks out against war... causes outrage !

After another week of watching more grim news broadcasts from areas of conflicts we can all understand why Eddie Vedder of Pearl Jam at last Fridays gig in the UK had one of the mother of all rants.
He made an anti-war "statement" ! Yes, it's that modern day rarity a rock musician speaking out against war. It use to happen quite a lot once, it used to be called a protest.
Here it is. And an excellent example of an anti-war protest it is.

“What the f***? What the f***?”, we can have this many people having a peaceful time. We can have modern technology. We can reach our friends. We know what they’re thinking before they’re thinking it. The advertisers know what we’re thinking before we’re thinking it. We have technology – all this in our hands, but the same time that something this positive is happening, at the same f***ing time, not even that far away, [people are] f***ing dropping bombs on each other. What the f***ing f***?”.

“I swear to f***ing God, there are people out there who are looking for a reason to kill!, they’re looking for a reason to go across borders and take over land that doesn’t belong to them. They should get the f*** out, and mind their own f***ing business. Everyone wants the same goddamn thing: to live our lives, to have our children, eat, procreate, draw a painting, make some art, listen to music, f*** some more, have another baby, eat, work, eat, work, love, love, love, everyone’s the f***in’ same! So why are people at war? Stop the f***ing s***, now! Now! Now! We don’t want to give them our money. We don’t want to give them our taxes to drop bombs on children! Now! No more! Now!”
Published on HENNEMUSIC

And the backlash outrage from that is Eddie being accused of making his statement about the Israel/Palestinian conflict presently filling our screens.. until this week that is when a whole load of other grim news fell out of sky.
Well who ever they are behind that piece of assumption is not reading or hearing Eddie's message clearly enough because nowhere does it mention anything to do with that. The guys obviously very frustrated,sad and angry about it all. War that is. Jeez it seems to never stop eh.
But Eddie made a rebuff on those that accuse him of not minding his own business leading off with a quote from a Lennon song, and as we all know you could quote any number of his songs on this subject.
You can read it at Pearl Jam News.
And here is Pearl Jam live and "World Suicide". Its odd that when you have a rant in a song no one notices. Then it's only rock and roll.

the spirit lives on

We don't hear Randy California's name mentioned often these days so as it's his birth date today, born 20th Feb 1951, it might be a good time to remember... boy could he play.
He was in Hendrix's band The Blue Flame as a 15 year old and was considered to join The Experience in it's formative years in the UK, but his parents thought him too young to leave school (ouch that must have hit the kid). He went on to form Spirit a few years later.
Randy never made it through to the new century, died on 2nd January 1997 when rescuing his 12 year-old son after he was sucked into a riptide in the surf off Hawaii.
Here's the multi layered psychedelics of his "Hey Joe".

r-evolution revaluates the doors

It's always seemed a bit of a mystery why The Doors never released much footage from their 1970 performance at the Isle Of Wight Festival and as it was just 4 months later on December 12th the band played their last performance with Jim Morrison you would have thought that film stock would've been a precious commodity.
Bootlegs of the soundtrack eventually circulated in later years and these days there's some good quality FLAC files sitting around the web, but the film has taken a whole lot longer to surface.
It's probably more likely the whole thing comes down to who owns what, and until some people start dying off or time starts running out that's how it's gonna stay.
Although that still doesn't explain why parts of the footage have shown up, in particular the songs "The End", "When The Music's Over" and now thanks to this December's DVD release of 'The Doors R-evolution' one more track is shown of the IOW footage with 'Break On Through To The Other Side'.
With this release it does rather confirm a possible and very good reason for the missing IOW film. The lighting is nearly non existent. DIm and murky.
It's rumoured one JM wanted lights out for more than this concert over fears he might be shot at from the audience. If true, what ever it was Jim was into or had been taking it had produced a fairly high level of paranoia.
Although at the time it might even be seen as rather a trend of the times for several out of face years in rock stardom you just might just believe "they are out to get me".. conversely at the same time other lesser lights with substantial egos might also be concluding "if not me, then why not". But after all that lets not rule out Jim might have just liked hearing the music and singing in the dark.
No. the plain truth of the IOW footage is for what ever reason lights were dimmed, it rarely flickers above candlelight. The one spotlight that occasionally falls onto Manzerak or Krieger puts them in stark relief as full technicolour, it then makes you realise how monochrome the rest is. So, here was a last chance to see one of the great rock bands of the 60's and it's in the dark. These really were strange days.

Back then to the new DVD. It does make the story of The Doors a lot easier to evaluate than in previous archive footage. For the first time a compilation of appearances through the bands short life, covering about 3 years of film clips from TV appearances and their own films shows the evolution of the group as much visually as aurally, with added bonus material for the dedicated fan.
"The Deluxe Edition is packaged in a 40 page DVD sized hard back book with a scrapbook style presentation on each track including lyrics, background info, trivia & photos."
The price is reasonable as well, at about £12 (UK). It's a compilation that should have been released years ago. Amazon have it along with others.
Here's the Isle Of Wight footage in all it's dimly lit glory. The music's just fine though.

warner brothers stream neil young's 'live at the cellar door'

December 1970, and Neil Young now aged 25 had been in the eye of a storm of success and disillusionment. First off his marriage had fallen apart, by June his role in the super-group that was CSN&Y and had debuted their hugely successful album 'Deja Vu' had finished their June tour with what was to be the first of their repeated bust ups. By contrast to that by the end of summer his own solo album 'After The Gold Rush' had ripped up the charts and had made him just about the hottest property of the year. His gigs at the Cellar Door in December had to be seen as a sublime end to the mayhem. But it wasn't because then came the slipped disc putting him out of action for months. And if you can walk through that series of doors you'll most likely survive the rock and the roll that comes in later years.

The highly rated 'Cellar Door' and part of Young's archive recordings have been just released for streaming by Warner Brothers. Whether Young's notoriously prickly views on digital downloading have softened is difficult to tell, maybe he see's streaming as a good option to encourage sales, or maybe Warner Brothers have made it clear for him. Yesterdays post on the results of Iron Maiden's South American file sharing turned album sales should be enough to remind all record labels it's not good enough anymore to just dangle the bauble before the fans, but reach out and prove how good an album might be. The gold rush then might just be waiting.
So here it is then, Neil Young's 'Live At The Cellar Door'. Listen to it now (before someone decides no you can't do that). And if you dig, go and buy it on December 10th in all manner of versions, CD, vinyl and download.

alice in chains uk tour

 

On 9 November, Alice in Chains kicked off their return to the UK with a concert at Londons Alexandra Palace. This was a no nonsense, all out rock show and although only a handful of songs were played from the latest two albums, the setlist was full of favourite classics making it a night for the fans.

Every member of the band was on top form, with Jerry Cantrell's guitar work flawless as usual, getting the crowd jumping and head banging alike. A special mention needs to be added to vocalist William DuVall, who's performance of the classic Chain's tracks just went to show that he has now made the music his own and delivered a first class performance...

 

Earlier in the evening were two bands playing in support of the main event, the first of which appeared to be nothing more gripping than a bunch of middle of the road wannabe rockstars.Following the uninspiring opening to the night the crowd were then graced with the presence of Papa Emeritus II and his nameless ghouls, collectively known as the band Ghost. The Swedish band, with all their theatrics turned out to be an added highlight of the evening, putting on a great show with a fantastic atmosphere.

old rockers never die they just release a new album

Who'd have thought that 2013 would be a year when the 60's rockers would find a second wind, or 3rd or 4th depending on how you see their contribution. Either way this year Macca, Bowie, Elton John, Black Sabbath, Roy Harper and the list goes on, released albums that brought some attention if not from a young audience then certainly with the media.
Which ever one first caught the bug to take to the studio "one more time" the virus sure spread fast and one set the rest off in not being left out of the old act. Just like the 60's, when one band rushed to beat the other to the No.1 slot in the album charts. Of course those days are long gone now and their succession of releases landed without a thud onto the web rather than major labels beloved record stores which are virtually all gone.
Nowadays the big labels just pump there old catalogue through to Spotify and hardly anyone earns a nickel from the machine, which Thom Yorke will tell you all about over and over again.
Those who didn't get the bug to release full on albums did a respectable job with a new track or two and went back on the road, which was The Stones route. And don't bet on them not showing up next year to start it up again, again.
The Who also took the Stones way minus the single, and went walk about too promoting their anniversary bumper mega buck box set of the forthcoming 'Tommy' reissue. Which was slightly less ambitiuos given that Townshed hasn't written a new song in years, well maybe he has but he ain't telling. But what has surfaced amongst the reissue is previously unheard material in the form of 20 demos from Townshend’s archive one of which is this.. “Amazing Journey". It's obviously a more raw version than on the original album but from about 3 minutes in you hear the Pete Townshend guitar take off like a large firework and you have to think why the hell haven't we heard that more recently on something new. After all PT if that other lot can do it...

VIA HENNEMUSIC.COM

scary monster at the mercury awards

David Bowie didn't win the Mercury Award prize last night.
Held here in the UK and sponsored by that house of cultural importance 'A Bank' (no they're not getting their effin' name mentioned), the awards winner usually goes on to be not as important as the selectors would like to think.
This expensive piece of inflated music confectionery with it's preening and redundant TV presenters puffing themselves up with the media's insistence that "with the CD sales falling drastically the Mercury becomes even more important", although in reality they're even more irrelevant for the same reason.
Bowie, not at the ceremonial glad hand, did not send his kind regards but a rather frightening portrayal of himself in his new video. Having made the video in his office (lavatory) over the weekend without "celebrity guests or flashy production"
David then declared that "he thought the Mercury's would be the best place to showcase it".
Well quite. Our thoughts exactly Mr Bowie.. here it is and don't frighten the kids with it.

richard wilson latest release

Richard Wilson's latest album 'Fanfare' has just been released and some comment it's made too. Many declaring it as a songwriters masterpiece. Richard Metzger and one of the best modern commentators on rock, we won't call him critic because that's not his style, has declared -

"Best rock and roll album of the year. No competition, nothing else even comes close"

'Fanfare' in many ways is a remarkable beast and that's just by the way of a songwriter adapting so many styles and musical quotations in an entire album. A very esoteric project for any songwriter.
As the tracks roll by moving easily almost one style within another to another you have to marvel at the imaginative guile of his compositions, and his obvious knowledge of a decade of rocks history, in particular the late 60's - 70's. Even the way it's been recorded has it's techniques from another era, right down to the Steinway Grand Piano he's tracked down.

“From the initial idea of the record, I knew I wanted a concert Steinway piano to be the centerpiece—the beating heart—of Fanfare"
Richard Wilson

So Richard really did have grand designs for this album and that even included having David Crosby and Graham Nash guest on one of the tracks. And anyone who hasn't heard the track yet it's called "Cecil Taylor", which is a first for rock as it's an unexpected hommage to the famous free jazz improvising pianist and his playing on the White House lawn.. yes really, although the music to "Cecil Taylor" is far from avante garde with its pure 70's vocals harmonies as you'd expect with Crosby and Nash as the backing.
Not that the songwriting is obscured by the avalanche of all of his inspirations but it does give thought to another observer on modern popular culture, Mark Pilkington at Boing Boing.

"Whether it’s musicians pastiching multiple vintage styles in a single track, the endless cycle of remakes and sequels in cinema, or historical genre mash-ups in pop literature, our future is looking increasingly like our past, which now looks like the future, which looks increasingly like the past, and so on." Mark Pilkington.

But the final say in the end will come down to history itself and whether Richard Wilson has recorded a masterpiece in 'Fanfare'. In a decade we'll know.
Now judge for yourself. The man has been decent enough to put the whole lot on Soundcloud.
'Fanfare' is available from Bella Union in the UK/Europe and Downtown in the US and is also available on vinyl. Well of course it would be.

george duke RIP

This week shouldn't go by without notice of the sad news of George Duke's passing on August 5th. Not just a pioneer of the keyboard he was an arranger, music director, writer and co-writer, record producer and professor of music.
For rock fans he'll always be remembered for the dozen or more records he recorded with Frank Zappa throughout the 70's, Chunga's Revenge, Waka Jawaka, The Grand Wazoo, Over Nite Sensation, Apostophe and Bongo Fury are just some of the Zappa albums George featured on and went on to reach millions of listeners.
At the age of 67 there should have had many more success' before him. It's a sad loss.
Here's George taking a solo during Zappa's 'Cosmik Debris' ('Apostrophe' album, 1974).

scout niblett

English born Emma Lousie Niblett or better known as "Scout" Niblett, (she derived the name from Harper Lee's 1960 novel 'To Kill a Mockingbird'), has one mean delivery. It's minmal and highly effective. Many of her songs consisting merely of vocals accompanied by either drums or guitar, which she primarily plays herself.
"Her newest record "It’s Up to Emma" is powerful and manic. Spartan drum and guitar parts serve to accent raw vocals that sound backed-in-a-corner furious. “Gun” is one of the best vengeful spurned-woman songs I’ve heard,"
Amy Seidenwurm. BOING BOING

She's half way into a tour of the States at the moment. This track of hers is an absolute killer. Understated and expressive she delivers a blow that says you do not double deal with this woman.
Here's the track "Gun". Part of the excellent Sound It Out free song download at Soundcloud. Click 'Download' on the widget below and get your MP3.

vagrant records

Every month it seems that great canister of music streaming, Soundcloud, has yet another independent record company pouring in its catalogue. A good thing too because this is how music should be heard. For free. Then you hear something great and you want to buy it. It works. That's what radio was all about in the first place. But now mainstream radio is in the grip of major labels and DJ picks are replaced by preset playlists. You hear the commercial disc jock deploring the state of the business. The likes of a John Peel now don't exist, not in the UK anyway
But while major labels still struggle to get to grips with this 'interweb' thingy after just what er... 15-20 years!, Soundcloud amasses a vault of contemporary music from all comers of the world. That's what makes it so relevant. Of course the main problem now is how the devil can you get to find things you never knew about in the first place.
Well for one Vagrant Records have a serious upload of tracks to hear. They're a Los Angeles label founded in 1996 with a collection of releases by The 1975, Active Child, Alexander, AlunaGeorge, Band of Skulls, Benjamin Francis Leftwich, Black Joe Lewis, Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, Blitzen Trapper, California Wives, Craig Finn, Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros, EELS, The Elected, Fossil Collective, French Kicks, The Grates, The Hold Steady, James Vincent McMorrow, John Gold, Mark Lanegan, Missy Higgins, Pete Yorn, PJ Harvey, Placebo, Reptar, Rogue Wave, School of Seven Bells and Wake Owl.
Heard of some? Heard of none? Just go to their SoundCloud page and dig in. There are some gems.
Try this new track by Blitzen Trapper. A classic style of country folk blues that sounds so familier to the ear.. a slice of American Southern Rock you'll feel you already know the story.. almost. Their new album is due October 1st.

Or now try this piece of heavy psyche by Black Rebel Motorcycle Club released in 2010.
It's never been so good for the rock music fan. Go and check Vagrant Records here. They're just one label, you can be sure many more will be following.

new arctic monkeys song

FRIDAY UPDATE : IDIOTS HAVE MADE A COPYRIGHT CLAIM SO BPI HAVE PULLED IT.
Which could mean anything from the image in the video, lyrics, unofficial release, the weather, how long is a piece of string, what time of day it is, what year it is (somebody already owns '2013')...
..so thank you for the effort one and all.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

2013 and the Arctic Monkeys have been really busy. World tour, festivals and recording the new album AM, of which they've just released a song from on YouTube.
A song of our times titled '2013', with it's back reference to Dylan's 1964 'Times They Are A Changin' in the opening lines rewritten to "Well the times are so a'changin". Alex Turner goes on to describe the munching consumerism of Apple, Smart Devices and the virtual world his/this girl is caught in.

"On the back of her transmitter
There's a little shiny fruit
And it's coming after you"
As for instagram and twitter
She got caught in both pursuits

It's a dark brew of a tale, as reflected by the black and white lo-tech video still, with a decidedly Lennon/Beatle like middle section.
The albums due out September 10th. (Advance orders from here) and further touring this Autumn. It should be very good judging by '2013'.

jonathan wilson

Now here's a rarity these days. An American band completely underrated in their home country yet highly rated in Great Britain and Europe. That scenario has a somewhat familiar feel about it especially in the UK when it use to be a pattern set decades ago with some American bands that went on to eventual success back home.
Although to be fare there are fans of Jonathan Wilson (yes another Wilson on the music scene, no relation of course) who are feeling righteously miffed right now because they do recognise the quality behind this band and are becoming increasingly fraught that the rest of their countrymen really haven't recognised the talent of his band, songwriting and guitar playing.
It's amusing to see how this is all beginning to annoy those that are fans in the States and just how much of a throwback to another era this is becoming.
One of the best writers and observers on American music, Richard Metzger writes in frustration "Seriously America! WTF?".
Then you hear just what Jonathan Wilson is producing and if ever their was a band that had that familiar blood of US rock running through it's veins then this is it... so WTF exactly are you waiting for America?

Now all you do is figure out just where and when you've heard this sound before. You'll agree there's many an influence in there.
Here's a splendid video of Jonathan Wilson joining his band in a warehouse somewhere, and along with the song title is a very good metaphor for the whole business, "The Way I Feel"

macca on the colbert report

On June 13th the American satirical late night television program 'The Colbert Report' (with Stephen Colbert) broadcast an hour long show featuring Paul McCartney describing his music career with the Beatles and Wings, finishing up with his band playing live.
For those that saw the Rockshow post a week ago, on the 1972 show of Wings in concert it might have come as a surprise to see just how hard that band did rock back then. Now some 40 years later, many have their doubts as to how the now 71 year old (2 days ago) can keep the music rocking?

Hear this band playing 'Birthday' on the 'Colbert Report' and you'll wonder what all the fuss is about with old rockers visiting their old songs. With it's classic 12 bar sequence it's also a reminder McCartney was as cute as it gets in working a song form from anything that took his attention, whether it be from rock and roll, 1920's music hall, classic ballad or as with 'Birthday', a blues.
So how's that raw rock and roll vocal able to stand up on this belter?
With some recent open air performances, like the Olympic Games opening ceremony, it was showing signs of age but in context it's going to take most singers a song or two to find their voice when pitched cold in an outdoor venue, so judgement based on open air performance is somewhat unfair.
But here in the confines of a TV studio and no doubt plenty of warm up time McCartney shows just how strong the voice still is and defies his age once again (there has to a portrait somewhere in his attic aging drastically).
There's also that familiar Hohner violin bass with it's fat beat era sound, and a style of playing that has become admired by other musicians more and more as the years have gone by. You have to ask why haven't more bass players used a Hohner? Maybe the image of the violin bass in McCartney's mits is so fused in the mind know one can quite face owning one.

Then when it comes to driving a song like 'Birthday' you need a big back-beat, and it doesn't come much bigger than the mighty Abe Laboriel, Jr.
Laboriel has been holding that drum stool firmly in place with McCartney since The Concert for New York City in 2001 and has played on every tour the band has played since, and also provided a substantial backing vocal while beating the daylights out of a song.
You want rock steady power? Abe Laboriel Jnr is as good as it gets.
All together this is as tight and punchy live band as you'll hear.