Willie's Iconic Classic Stardust Gets An Upgrade
Music Review: Willie Nelson - Stardust (30th Anniversary Legacy Edition)

Over the short course of the history of popular music (at least as we define it today in the mostly American sense), there are but a handful of artists who stand out as truly iconic figures.

These are those rare artists whose appeal transcends boundaries both artistic and generational. Gershwin, Berlin, Sinatra, and Bennett certainly all fall into this category. A decent argument could be mounted that the likes of Ray Charles, Duke Ellington, Johnny Cash, and even Bob Dylan (at least in terms of his songs) do as well.

But there are also iconic moments within that same short history.

Snapshots in time where a single artistic work changed the rules as we know them. You could certainly say this about an album like the Beatles Sgt. Pepper in the sixties, and the way these British upstarts nonetheless impacted American culture. Or, going back earlier, when Miles Davis taught us all the real meaning of A Kind Of Blue. You could also say this about songs like "Jailhouse Rock," "I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry," or even something as trite on the surface as "Staying Alive" in the seventies.

Hey, I wasn't a big disco fan either. But there is no denying that the song changed American culture at the time, for better or for worse.

My point here is that there are unique points in time where a song, an album, or an artist changes the way that the game is played forever. And for my money, Willie Nelson is a guy who did exactly that with his landmark 1978 album Stardust.

In 1977, when Willie first informed the executive brass at Columbia's country division in Nashville of his intent to record an album of pop standards from the Great American Songbook -- produced by Booker T, of "Green Onions" fame with the MGs no less -- I can almost imagine their collective gasp of horror.

Willie had already changed the rules once, practically inventing the seventies "outlaw country" genre with his collaborations with fellow malcontent Waylon Jennings, and on his own 1975 classic Red Headed Stranger. But this was something else entirely.

Sure, Willie was a guy who, like one of his biggest idols Frank Sinatra, always did things "His Way." But I can imagine those execs at the time were probably thinking something along the lines of "do we have to take it to quite this literal of an extent?"

The rest of course is history.

If Willie was already a legend at the time, Stardust would forever cement his status as an icon. The album had a run on the Billboard charts which at the time was simply unprecedented for a country artist. It spent ten and a half years dominating the country charts, and 117 weeks on the Top Pop Albums side. Long before the days of Garth, Kenny, and the rest, this was a feat that was nothing short of astounding. The album is five times platinum, and remains a strong catalog seller to this day.

Earlier this year, Sony Legacy began the process of digitally restoring and upgrading Willie's catalog with the excellent career spanning boxed set One Hell Of A Ride. This Tuesday, July 1, they will continue to do so with the two-disc, expanded and digitally remastered Stardust (30th Anniversary Legacy Edition).

I don't have to tell you how timeless the music that Willie recorded on this original 1978 classic is. Or at least I shouldn't have to.

Stardust is worth its weight in gold for Willie's timeless takes on both the title track and "Unchained Melody" alone. On the latter, Willie strips down the symphonic blast of the version Phil Spector produced for the Righteous Brothers -- classic that it is -- to a simple, plaintive sort of plea, anchored by that unremarkable, yet unmistakable voice.

As unique as Willie's lonely voice is, the sound he gets from that beat up old guitar is likewise unmistakably his own. Willie's guitar hero, flamenco jazzman Django Reinhardt, would definitely be proud. And while Ray Charles version of "Georgia On My Mind" may be the definitive blueprint, Willie's take on Stardust comes damned close.

Willie's visits to the Great American Songbook have remained a recurring theme throughout his career, and on the Stardust (30th Anniversary Legacy Edition), the second disc explores those from the years 1976 to 1990. The highlights here include Willie's take on Louis Armstrong's classic "What A Wonderful World," as well as a trio of standards recorded with the great Leon Russell for the 1979 album One For The Road.

The way Willie Nelson wears his inspirations -- which, outside of country and bluegrass, range from ragtime to rock to jazz to R&B -- on his sleeve, especially on this seminal album, is what makes this American original the true icon that he is. Seriously, when it comes to Americana, this guy's face belongs on Mount Rushmore.

Stardust (30th Anniversary Legacy Edition) will be in stores this Tuesday, just in time for that July 4th barbecue. So if you don't already own it, fire up that grill, and own an iconic piece of American history.

And if you do (already own it that is), it's time for an upgrade.

Genesis Feed The Prog For The WalMart Crowd On "When In Rome"

Music DVD Review: Genesis - When In Rome 2007

When Genesis first announced that they would be reuniting for a world tour in 2007 -- just like everyone from the Police to Van Halen that year -- I'll admit that I was pretty skeptical upon learning it would be the Phil Collins led version of the band. You know, the guys responsible for all those bad MTV videos for songs like "I Can't Dance" and "Invisible Touch" in the eighties.

This was especially disappointing considering that earlier reports (which turned out to be more like rumors) had floated a reunion of the more progressive seventies model, that also included original members Peter Gabriel and Steve Hackett.

Disappointed? Hell, crushed was more like it.

That said, this 3 DVD set -- recorded during a huge free stadium concert in Rome, at the end of the Turn it On Again tour -- is pretty damned amazing. Yes, it features all those eighties pop hits like "Turn It On Again" and "Land Of Confusion".

The good news here is that Genesis divides the set-list up much more evenly than you'd expect -- devoting equal time to songs from their more musically adventurous years like "Ripples" and "The Carpet Crawlers".

In fact, the three remaining original members of the band -- Collins, keyboardist Tony Banks, and guitarist Mike Rutherford -- embrace rather than run from their progressive-rock roots here in a way that I haven't seen since back on their Seconds Out tour in 1977. Joined by their longtime sidemen, drummer Chester Thompson and guitarist Daryl Stuermer (who apparently finally earned their full band member stripes on this tour), the fact that they look and sound magnificent here doesn't hurt either.

The fact is, this concert is so good in places it damn near brought tears to this old prog-dog's eyes. Genesis have always been great musicians, but here they sound more inspired than they have in years. On the old Wind & Wuthering chestnut "Afterglow" for example, while Banks lays back a bit on the mellotron strings (at least compared to the old days), Collins on the other hand sings his heart out.



The band, for its part, collectively play their asses off here -- with highlights ranging from a rocking version of the guilty pleasure hit "Land Of Confusion," to the always amazing duel drumming of Collins and Thompson on "Los Endos."

On a medley beginning with the Gabriel-era "In The Cage" (from the rock opera The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway), the band sounds great charging through another Gabriel-era gem "Cinema Show." The medley then ends with "Duke's Travels," from Duke, an album which served as a bridge between the band's seventies prog-rock and the more commercial pop direction of the eighties.

Always known for dazzling lighting effects during their shows, Genesis also out-do themselves in that department. The stage here is absolutely massive, and the lighting effects are simply out of this world on songs like "Domino" and the aforementioned "In The Cage," where a computerized running man seems to come right at you before exploding into a million pieces. It's an amazing 3D sort of effect.

Nowhere are the visuals more effective though than on another Gabriel-era medley that begins with "Firth Of Fifth." Daryl Stuermer handles what used to be a showcase for Steve Hackett's guitar effectively enough here, though it doesn't quite match the subtle nuances of the original guitarist.

From there comes another segueway to the song "I Know What I Like In Your Wardrobe." During "Wardrobe," the massive screen runs a slide-show history of the band, including several shots of Gabriel and Hackett. This is a great touch, and yet another indication that the eighties pop hit-makers seem ready at long last to make peace with their prog-rock past.



While the first two discs capture this great concert, the third disc is an eye-opening documentary on just how the Turn It On Again reunion tour came together. Come Rain Or Shine takes the viewer into actual meetings between the band, manager Tony Smith, and various promoters and tech guys, where everything from logistics to staging are discussed down to the most minute detail. It's fascinating stuff.

My only real complaint here is the band's decision to sell When In Rome 2007 exclusively through mega-retailer WalMart. I won't rehash my opinions about that here. But for those interested I did recently share my feelings on How Exclusivity Deals Are Nailing The Coffin Shut On Music Retail on Blogcritics.

Just follow the link.

In the meantime, for those who can't find a nearby WalMart, but do have cable, VH1 Classic has been showing a shorter version of this concert. If you can catch that, I'd recommend it. Just be prepared to hold your nose while you then search out a WalMart.

Because you'll be needing this DVD once you see it on TV. Trust me.

Coldplay: At Least They're Not Trying To Sound Like Radiohead Anymore

Music Review: Coldplay - Viva La Vida (or Death And All His Friends)

I think the first time I really became aware of the band Coldplay was with the song "Clocks."

I was vaguely aware of who they were before that, of course. The song "Yellow" from the band's debut album Parachutes was one of those cloying, annoying sort of songs that once heard, you just couldn't get it out of your head. This at the time was not a good thing at all as far as I was concerned.

On the other hand, how on earth could you deny a song like "Clocks"?

I had no idea whatsoever what all the words about "shoot an arrow through my head" and "a tigers trying to be tamed" actually meant (insert your favorite over-analytical music critic joke here). But with that ridiculously catchy piano riff, I also didn't really care. Add to that the sort of irresistible bass line that Chris Squire himself would be proud to call his own, and I was all but sold.

Whiny Chris Martin falsetto vocals aside, I decided right then and there that Coldplay was for real.

And while were on the subject of those whiny vocals, let's address that right here and now. Because like it or not, they were always there, okay? If Chris Martin, as both a singer and songwriter, is a guy who is somewhat, okay, in touch with his more "feminine side" in some of Coldplay's songs, so be it. It's not exactly like this is some sort of brand new revelation.

Yet somewhere in between the band's second (and still best) record, A Rush Of Blood To The Head, and right before they legitimately became one of the biggest bands on the planet with 2005's X&Y, everybody seemed to realize this -- and simultaneously recoil from it in horror -- all at once. This is about the point where the jokes took hold about fans admitting to liking Coldplay being either female, gay, or maybe even both.

My personal theory on that resulting backlash is that it had as much to do with the fact that Coldplay got enormously big rather quickly, as it did with the criticisms most often leveled at the band. Legitimate as many of those may be -- including the aforementioned whiny vocals, and the often overblown (and overwrought) arena rock production of X&Y -- it's not like any of these minor annoyances were things we didn't already know.

I mean, correct me if I'm wrong here.

Even so, I'm sure none of this went unnoticed by the band themselves. To that effect, the just released Viva La Vida (or Death And All His Friends) seems to be Coldplay's attempt to fend off said backlash, and regain back some of their original critical mettle.

Not that Viva La Vida isn't without its fair share of pretensions. There's that damn title for starters. Add to that the fact, that retaining a producer like Brian Eno practically guarantees comparisons to U2, as Eno's very name conjures visions of the atmospheric soundscapes of Joshua Tree and the like.

Still, for the most part I think this album works. And at times, it works amazingly well.

Not that there aren't a few problems. Coldplay were already a band that really didn't do a lot to hide their U2 influences. With the guy behind both The Unforgettable Fire and The Joshua Tree twisting the knobs, it was pretty much inevitable that some of those influences were going to creep into the mix.

Which they do, and right from the get-go I might add.

Take the opening instrumental track "Life In Technicolor," for example. As the swirling synthesizers and creeping sound of that chink-a-chinking guitar slowly bubble up to the surface, you almost expect the familiar lyrics "I want to run...I wanna hide" to bust through the mix at any moment.

Likewise on "Lovers In Japan/Reign Of Love," all of the piano in the world can't hide the trademark Eno layering, and the Edge-like chiming guitars lying just beneath the songs surface. For the second half of the song (there is after all a dual title here), they switch things up to what at first also sounds suspiciously like something straight out of "With or Without You" territory.

The thing is though, much as it sounds like Coldplay are trying to beat U2 at their own game here, I'll be go to hell if it all doesn't sound pretty damn gorgeous just the same.
I also have to give these guys their props for breaking out of their comfort zone somewhat here. As familiar as much of this will sound to anyone who has worn out multiple copies of The Joshua Tree, at least it represents some new musical territory for Coldplay. The fact is, in strictly musical terms, they are stretching out here.

Viva La Vida is definitely not the paint by numbers, verse, chorus, verse record you'd normally expect from this band.

On one of the most interesting tracks, "Yes," Chris Martin sings the lyrics in an uncharacteristically low register (no whiny falsettos here), as eastern sounding instrumentation swirls about in the background. Then just as quickly, the song shifts to the sort of multi-layered, psychedelic guitar sound that wouldn't be at all out of place on a Sgt. Pepper-era Beatles record.

This part of the song also really rocks by the way. And just when was the last time you heard somebody say that about a Coldplay record?

From there, fans of the more familiar romantic Coldplay sound will be able to take some solace in both the title track and the single "Violet Hill," which despite its slightly harder sound just hit #1 on Billboard's singles charts.

So as much as Viva La Vida sounds at times both like a band trying to reinvent itself after recently being stung by the critics, and at others like they are worshipping just a bit too much at the altar of U2, I'm going to give them the benefit of the doubt here.

At least they're not trying to sound like Radiohead anymore.

The bottom line is that this is a damned good sounding record.

The Rockologist: How Exclusivity Deals Are Nailing The Coffin Shut For Music Retail

Although it's been pretty much common knowledge for awhile now, let us start by stating the obvious. The record industry, at least in the traditional sense we once knew it, is all but dead.

There I said it okay?

The list of suspects as to who actually fired the fatal shots is of course a long one that most of you reading this have all seen before. This would include everything from the advent of easily accessible downloads on the internet, to the short-sightedness of the traditional record companies themselves in their failure to embrace the emerging new technology rather than fight it, as they initially did.

I could go on and on about this. But in the end what's the point? If today's music market is going to embrace a technology that sacrifices both warmth and sound quality for the mobility of a delivery system that is often delivered through a speaker no bigger than your thumbnail, there's just really not a lot the rest of us can do about it.

And as much as I admire the efforts of guys like Neil Young and T-Bone Burnett to come up with a viable alternative, the expense of warmer sounding technologies like Blu-Ray or even going back to vinyl, make it somewhat cost prohibitive for the rest of us at this point.

So this is the new revolution. Welcome to it.

Just don't expect to be seeing any artistic works with the same sort of sonic depth as a Sgt. Pepper, Pet Sounds, or Born To Run anytime soon. When today's music delivery systems of choice don't exactly measure up to that sort of ambition, what would be the point of it?

What I really want to talk about here though is the ever-increasing, and to me at least, quite disturbing trend of "exclusivity deals," with mega-retailers like WalMart.

My good friend and fellow Blogcritic Donald Gibson recently sent out an e-mail to the rest of us here at BC about AC/DC's deal with WalMart for their upcoming album, with the rather humorous headline "AC/DC Signs Walmart Deal; Glen Boyd's Head Explodes."

And while I can assure you that my head remains quite intact -- and that Donald was obviously having a little good-natured fun at my expense -- my feelings about such deals are both real and I think quite valid.

The fact is, I take this shit both seriously, and yes, quite personally.

Not only did I gain much of my knowledge and appreciation about music as I was growing up by going to locally owned record stores staffed by people who actually gave a shit about music. I also eventually worked and managed a few of them myself. In time, I even ended up briefly owning a record store of my own.

For me, there is simply no substitute for the experience of walking into a cool record store, browsing through its racks, and bonding with the fellow music geek behind the counter. Not Amazon. Not MySpace. None of it. I also can't begin to count the number of great bands I was introduced to in this way -- from Issac Hayes to Joy Division to Public Enemy. Bands I would have never otherwise discovered on my own by listening to the crap they spoonfed us on the radio.

Later, I also had the pleasure of being able to do the same as the guy on the other end of the counter. To this day, I'll run into somebody at the supermarket, the drugstore, or wherever from time to time who will stop me to thank me for introducing them to the Clash, Elvis Costello, or R.E.M. before they got big. It all goes back to when I was cutting my own musical teeth in retail.

Now, I can almost excuse guys like the Eagles, Garth Brooks, or even Journey for their deals with the devil, who in this case goes by the name of WalMart.

All three have huge fanbases consisting of what I would mostly call casual music fans. They may buy the new records, listen to them once, and then go back to their tried and true copies of Hotel California or Infinity for example. The bottom line is these guys are simply cashing in, and far be it from me to rain on the parade of good old American capitalism in action.

AC/DC and Genesis -- who just signed their own deal with WalMart for their live When In Rome DVD -- don't get off the hook so easily however.

Genesis owe their very existence to geeky guys like me who poured over the lyrics of albums like Selling England By The Pound and The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway, back when most folks knew them only as a bunch of weirdos with a lead singer who had an odd habit of putting on foxheads and the like while performing in concert.

No excuses there.

But AC/DC in particular oughtta' be ashamed of themselves. Much like Metallica, this was a band who was built from the ground up largely through word of mouth, and equally so through independent music retail. This was back in the days before Highway To Hell hit big, and long before rock radio would touch them with a ten foot pole.

I can actually remember going to a concert where AC/DC was on the bottom of a bill with Cheap Trick and Ted Nugent. This was back when Bon Scott was still alive. And although they ended up eventually winning the audience over, the crowd initially wanted nothing to do with them. The common consensus at the time was that with a name like AC/DC, they must have been a bunch of punk-rockers. You had to be there to understand, but back in the mid-seventies the punk and metal crowds were about as far apart as fans of the Village People and Led Zeppelin.

Okay, so most of these people have long since grown up right? True enough. But have you ever noticed how most WalMart stores are located either in the suburbs or in out of the way rural areas? With today's gas prices, you might as well figure in a couple of extra bucks for the drive.

And once you get there? You'll probably be greeted by a pimply faced teenager in a blue shirt that says something like "Hi, My Name Is Steve," who likely doesn't know the difference between AC/DC and Jay Z, and is even less likely to give a shit. After all, he's working for minimum wage and no benefits, which WalMart is all too glad to pass along to the consumer in the form of dirt cheap prices.

It's the American way.

I also understand that WalMart is in the process of shrinking its already not exactly deep selection of music. Think you're gonna' find that great new record by a developing buzz-band like Seattle's Fleet Foxes there? Think again. And even if you were so lucky to find it, do you honestly believe that the hapless employee working the music department that day will be able to steer you towards any other great new music? Again, highly doubtful.

Back in the day when independent music retailers actually broke as many records as radio did, they of course also committed a multitude of their own sins. Anyone who has ever walked into a Tower Records store, and endured the condescending, snotty attitude of the pierced and purple haired guy behind the counter can attest to that.

Still even there, at least there was a personal touch about it. You may have wanted nothing more than to tell the hipper than thou clerk to stick it where the sun don't shine as you brought your John Denver album up to the counter. But at least you were interacting in a personal way with an actual human being.

Between the instant access offered by the internet, and the grocery store sort of experience offered by big-box retailers like WalMart, I fear this sort of personal interaction may be close to being lost forever. The one thing I know for sure is that WalMart won't be breaking any future AC/DC's anytime soon.

The good news is that there are still a few independent music retailers out there. But in most cases, the key to their survival has been diversification. In my own West Seattle neighborhood, Easy Street Records probably saved their ass by expanding their space to include a cafe. Good for them too, as they seem to be thriving.

Maybe it's partially because I'm getting older, but I just find myself missing a lot of things about the good old days. Like most everybody else, I miss $1.50 a gallon gas, drive-in movies, and mom and pop burger joints not called McDonalds or Jack In The Box. I miss the days when someone named Bush or Clinton wasn't my president.

But most of all I miss my neighborhood record stores, snotty hipper than thou counter jockeys and all. What's most sad, is that I think they are going the way of the 8-track tape and won't be coming back anytime soon.

Millennium: This Is Who We Are. The Time Is Near.

DVD Review: Millennium: The Complete Second Season

As weird and wonderful as the X-Files was -- particularly when it came to capturing the sort of weird conspiratorial paranoia of its time -- I've always felt that producer Chris Carter's real masterpiece was the "other" series" he produced for FOX, Millennium.

And as pleased as I am that somehow they convinced David Duchovny to come back for this summer's new X-Files movie, what I'd really like to see is a final conclusion to the far more complex -- and unresolved -- issues left unanswered when FOX canceled Millennium after its third season.

The thing is -- from The Twilight Zone to The X-Files to most recently, Lost -- I've always been a sucker for those television shows that leave the viewer hanging with far more questions within the plotline than are ever really answered. Millennium, especially during its amazing second season, did this more effectively than any show I can ever remember watching.

I loved this show so much at the time, that I had no problem leaving my buddies waiting just up the street at the Rocksport for me to join them, while I watched that particular week's episode.

As good as The X-Files was, with its then fashionable mythology of UFO's, Aliens, and government conspiracy, Millennium was a show that really cut to the chase of the Y2K sort of apocalyptic paranoia of those times, leading right up to the dawn of the year 2000.

In its first season, the show began innocently enough as a sort of dark crime thriller based on FBI profiler Frank Black (Lance Henriksen). Week after week, Black chased down what amounted to a sort of serial killer of the week, aided by his unique ability to be able to "see" the crimes. It was definitely dark stuff, especially for network television airing in a primetime spot on Friday nights.

But much like the mythology of The X-Files, there was also a recurring storyline with Millennium involving Black's membership in the mysterious "Millennium Group." This was a secret group consisting of shadowy sort of cloak and dagger types, who seemed to harbor insider knowledge of the relationship between the growing evil of the killers in society, and the impending biblical apocalypse of the soon approaching millennium.

This relationship was explored much further in the series amazing second season with some of the most revolutionary dramatic television of its time, or for that matter any other. Here, the storyline delved much further into the inner workings and machinations of the Millennium group itself. The plotlines also grew increasingly darker, burrowing ever deeper into the various motives of Millennium's splinter groups like the Roosters (who seemed hell bent to bring the carnage on), and the Owls (good guys who were more like a "Watchers" type group).

Season two also introduced a fascinating new character in Lara Means (played by Kristen Cloke), whose visions of angels usually meant all hell was about to break loose. As television goes, this was definitely heady stuff even by today's standards of the bizarre plotlines of something like Lost.

The other thing about this show though was the way they made such incredible use of music to bring home the message of impending doom and gloom. Nowhere is this more apparent than in the episode "The Time Is Now."

Here Lara Means apparently is driven completely insane by her nightmarish visions of the approaching apocalypse, to the tune of Patti Smith's "Land." It is what I would have to call just about the most riveting ten minutes of televison I have ever seen.

Season two ended with Frank Black and his family holed up in a cabin waiting for the world to end courtesy of something called the Marburg Virus.

By the time of the third season -- in one of the greatest examples of a great show failing to deliver a payoff ever -- everything was more or less back to normal with Black once again investigating serial killers. Not surprisingly, the series was canceled not long afterwards.

Still, it has remained a cult favorite. For the longest time, it was also unavailable on DVD. I obtained my own bootleg copy through a fan website, and have to sit through japanese subtitles whenever I decide to watch. Fortunately for the rest of the world, it has long since been released on DVD.

Recently, the upstart cable channel cable Chiller has began running old Millennium episodes. With any hope, this will spur a revival of interest. Then perhaps fans like myself will finally get some answers, and a real conclusion to the one of the best, if largely unappreciated TV series ever.

Now That's A Whole Lotta "Smoke On The Water"

Music DVD Review: Deep Purple - Around The World Live (4 DVD Boxed Set)

I probably should have known better.

When I signed on to review this massive DVD boxed set, I just didn't yet realize what I was getting myself into, nor that I was probably biting off a bit more than I could chew. You see Around The World Live isn't just any live concert DVD, but rather captures four complete Deep Purple concerts filmed between 1995 and 2002.

That's 540 minutes -- as in nine freaking hours -- of ear-splitting live rock and roll from the band who to this day holds the Guinness World Record of being the loudest in the world. That my friends, is a whole lot of "Smoke On The Water."

So at the risk of coming off like that guy from Maxim magazine who got busted for writing about a Black Crowes record he never actually bothered listening to, I'll also admit that I haven't quite gotten through all nine hours yet.

But I am working on it. I also like what I've seen and heard so far. A lot, actually.

I have some very fond memories of Deep Purple from my high school years. Most of these revolve around the classic live album Made in Japan, which was always in heavy rotation at all of the keg parties I attended back then. It was also a perennial favorite on the 8-Track tape deck in the car, occupying a sacred spot somewhere in between Uriah Heep Live, Alice Cooper's Billion Dollar Babies, and Black Oak Arkansas' immortal live classic Raunch And Roll.

I also have a distinct memory of actually losing my hearing after attending one of their concerts, and standing a little too close to the P.A. For three days after that, I actually found myself stumbling around like a sloppy drunk, and walking into walls due to my equalibrium being knocked completely off-kilter by the temporary deafness.

That band, in its classic incarnation featuring guitarist Ritchie Blackmore, organist Jon Lord, and vocalist Ian Gillan probably did more than anyone to popularize what we today call heavy metal, though the music itself bares little resemblance to the current 2008 genre model.

What is seen and heard on Around The World Live is not the same band.

Actually, not even close. Deep Purple have been through so many personnel changes since the glory days of the classic lineup, you wouldn't be far off in calling them the real life Spinal Tap. At one time or another, everybody from the late, great Tommy Bolin, to Joe Satriani, to Whitesnake's David Coverdale has done time in the 'Purp.

So what we have here, is the more or less current model that features Gillan, drummer Ian Paice, and bassist Roger Glover (from the classic lineup). Jon Lord is also on board -- at least for the first concert, recorded in Bombay, India prior to the keyboardist and founding member leaving the band.

For the subsequent concerts seen here, they are joined by relative newcomers Don Airey on keyboards and Steve Morse on guitar. Both prove to be more than up to the task of filling the respective shoes of Lord and Blackmore here. Morse in particular was a great choice to follow the long line of A-list guitarists who've done time in this legendary band.

The new incarnation also sounds great on the concerts I've viewed thus far, from Australia in 1999 and the U.K. in 2002. Gillan shines here as well, hitting those familiar shrieks from "Highway Star," "Woman From Tokyo," and "Space Truckin" with ease. Well mostly, anyway...

But for me the most interesting part of this set -- and the DVD I went straight to after opening the box -- is "Access All Areas," a documentary feature that traces the band from its inception in the 1960's, through all of its various incarnations and members from subsequent decades, right on up to the present lineup. A second documentary, "A Band Down Under" is featured on another of the discs here. There are also interviews with original members Gillan and Glover.

Around The World Live comes housed in a nice purple bound cover (of course!) that folds out to reveal the four discs, and a nice 32 page book featuring lots of photos and incisive writing by Joel McIver from Classic Rock magazine. From the same folks at Eagle Rock responsible for both the Live At Montreux and Classic Albums DVD series, this stands as a great live document of this still kicking current version of one of rock's most legendary bands.

Return To Forever's New Anthology Arrives Just In Time For Reunion

Music Review: Return To Forever - The Anthology

Earlier this year, jazz-rock fusion supergroup Return To Forever announced plans for a reunion tour after something like twenty years. They are actually playing tonight here in Seattle, and quite frankly I'm kinda' pissed that I'm going to be missing it.

You see, back in their day, RTF was what you would call a band of "musician's musicians."

Simply put, these guys were the shit.

Keyboardist and bandleader Chick Corea ("Our fearless leader," as bassist Stanley Clarke likes to call him) had already long since established his own reputation as a virtuoso on the keys with his work on seminal jazz albums like Miles Davis' groundbreaking fusion masterpiece Bitches Brew. Guitarist Al DiMeola was something of a prodigy at the time, though his lightning fast runs would later influence no less an axe slinger than Jeff Beck on albums like Blow By Blow. Drummer Lenny White's only real rival at the time was Billy Cobham.

And as for bassist Stanley Clarke? Well, he was simply something else entirely -- basically reinventing the bass, and along with Larry Graham forever popularizing the "popping" style that remains a cornerstone of funk to this day.

But the other thing about RTF was that this was a band that rock audiences really got. In an era where the progressive rock of bands like Yes and Genesis raised the standards of pure musicianship within the game, this was a group of guys who were really without equal. Well, with the possible exception of Joe Zawinul's Weather Report and John McLaughlin's Mahavishnu Orchestra anyway.

Their run was brief, producing four great albums in the mid-seventies: Hymn Of The Seventh Galaxy, Where Have I Known You Before, the Grammy winning No Mystery, and their commercial breakthrough Romantic Warrior. On this just released two disc anthology, the best of those four records are brought together just in time for the reunion tour.

So rather than get into a track by track breakdown here, I'm just going to cut right to the chase. If, like me, you are in any way dazzled by blinding displays of four great musicians playing their asses off, then you need to get this CD. The way these four guys gel together is simply nothing short of amazing from a strictly musical standpoint.

Again to cut somewhat to the chase, Corea's "light as a feather" keyboard flourishes provide the color. DiMeola's lightning fast guitar runs provide the flash, while Clarke's bass popping and White's razor tight drumming anchors it all down with a rock solid funk foundation.

These guys were a once in a lifetime combination of some of the greatest pure musical talent in the world. The good news is I hear they plan on sticking around long enough to make some more music together once the reunion tour is done. In the meantime, this collection will do just fine.

Vintage Video From The Psychedelic Sixties...Man

Music DVD Review: - Ralph J. Gleason Presents Go Ride The Music & West Pole (Featuring Jefferson Airplane, Quicksilver Messenger Service, Grateful Dead & More)

For a period that was as artistically rich and historically important to the evolution of American rock music as the late sixties psychedelic era out of San Francisco was, it's simply astonishing how little of that scene has been documented on video. That's why, with the release of the double DVD Ralph J. Gleason Presents Go Ride The Music & West Pole, Eagle Rock Entertainment has officially just become my favorite music video label.

Culled from the personal collection of the late, great San Francisco music critic Ralph J. Gleason, this set follows up on last year's A Night At The Family Dog DVD, which also featured the cream of the Bay Area's crop of psychedelic bands like the Airplane, the Dead, and Santana. It's really amazing this stuff has survived at all, which is why Eagle Rock gets a little extra plug here for bringing it to light all these decades later.

The backstory here is that Gleason, then a critic for the San Francisco Chronicle, was also probably the guy most responsible for what we know as rock journalism today. Part of it was luck of course. Gleason just happened to be located smack dab in the middle of what was at the time the most musically vibrant city in the country. With a melting pot of bands that were expanding the parameters of possibility within music (among other things), the Bay Area scene was exploding with creativity.

Gleason's part in all of this was that he was the first critic to approach this music as the serious art form that it was, rather than just dismiss it as mere "teenaged music." As the pioneering critic he was -- and as the music began to catch fire first in the Bay Area, and then across the country -- Gleason soon began producing a series of shows documenting what was happening for public television. This DVD brings together two of those historic broadcasts.

On Go Ride The Music, the music itself is the main focus, or at least it tries to be.
As I already mentioned, it's a wonder this footage survived at all. But since it was shot way back in the sixties, it also suffers at times from the fact that it would be several decades yet before filmmakers actually learned how to shoot live rock and roll.

Rule number one: we want to see the band. All of them.

There are some electrifying performances captured here by Quicksilver Messenger Service, and especially Jefferson Airplane. The trouble here is that the guys shooting the video are so busy half of the time experimenting with things like psychedelic gimmickry and the dreaded split screen images of the day (anybody seen Woodstock lately?), that the bands seem to be occasionally forgotten about altogether.

Still the focus is for the most part on the music, and what is seen (when not obscured by split screens and video of hippies doing that fertility dance they do), is both fascinating and revealing. In the Airplane's set, it's hard to believe that the band was in the early stages of disintegration at the time.

Everybody seems to be getting along great here, and the band sounds damned inspired on songs like "We Can be Together," "Volunteers," and "Wooden Ships." Watching Grace Slick do that thing she always does where she cups one ear, is a reminder that as great a singer as she was, she was never much of a performer.

Marty Balin on the other hand is a house of fire, and guitarist Jorma Kaukonen's stacatto blasts of fuzz guitar sting like an angry hornet. Sadly, Jack Casady -- who besides probably being the best damned bassist of his day, was also hands down the coolest looking -- is rarely seen. New drummer Joey Covington, who was still in the process of being broken in at the time, also plays a bit too busy. During "Plastic Fantastic Lover," Balin seems at times to be the only guy who can keep up.

During Quicksilver's set, there is also not so much as a glimpse of keyboard great Nicky Hopkins, though he can be clearly heard throughout. I never much cared for Quicksilver once they recruited pretty boy vocalist Dino Valenti anyway, and this is clearly his show. You do get the good stuff here for one song though, as guitarist John Cippollina shreds his way through vintage Quicksilver's "Mona."

The second disc here, West Pole is a bit less satisfying as it takes more of a documentary approach dealing with the scene itself. Gleason, looking for the all the world like a clone of movie critic Bill Harris (right down to the goofy handlebar mustache), narrates this disc in the sort of scholarly fashion one would expect from the godfather of rock journalism.

This disc works more as a period piece than anything else, and includes footage shot at such historic San Francisco venues as the Avalon Ballroom and the Fillmore West. In one particularly (and unintentionally) funny scene, Gleason recalls trying to list all of the bands at the time as they flash across the screen. It's no small wonder that bands with names like Truman Coyote and The Wakefield Loop never hit the big time.

But there are also some great performances here. In addition to seeing an earlier Steve Miller (with a really young Boz Scaggs in the band) prior to becoming that Fly Like An Eagle guy, you also get live sets from lesser known Bay acts like the Sons Of Champlain and the all-female Ace Of Cups. In the case of the latter, watching them play makes you wonder how they missed the big time with their great "chicks with chops" gimmick.

So, yes this set is not without its flaws. But in a strictly nostalgic sense, the glitches largely work simply because they drive home the authenticity. And again, you gotta give big props to Eagle Rock for bringing a piece as historic as this to light.

Hopefully, there will be more to come.

Southside Johnny Live: A Classic Show From That "Other Guy" From Jersey

Music Review: Southside Johnny & The Asbury Jukes - 1978: Live In Boston

You'd think a guy like Johnny Lyon would have been a gimme as far as success in the music business goes. He certainly had all the necessary ingredients. Start with the fact that he was, and still is, one of the best white soul singers in the business. When you add to the mix a crack band anchored by one of rock 'n' roll's best horn sections, and then figure in a close relationship with guys like Bruce Springsteen and Steven Van Zandt writing and producing the lions share of the material, you'd think this guy's path to superstardom would've been a slam-dunk.

Or so you'd think anyway...

As it turned out, the man better known to the world as Southside Johnny was never quite able to escape the shadow of his more famous pals from Asbury Park, NJ. After the initial promise of his first three albums for Epic Records in the seventies -- the third of which, Hearts Of Stone is considered by many fans to be something of an unheralded masterpiece -- the label then dropped him.

Since then, Southside Johnny and his Asbury Jukes have toiled on through decades of revolving band members and record labels, playing an endless series of gigs at the same sort of juke joints and roadhouse venues they started out in way back when. Yet, even though I'm sure Southside himself has spent more than a few restless nights pondering what might have been, I still get the feeling that he's basically okay with it. What may have been the music world's ultimate loss still comes down to what really matters most for guys like these who live, eat, and breathe this stuff. And that is the music itself.

1978: Live In Boston is a recently unearthed concert recorded back during that giddy time when Southside Johnny & The Asbury Jukes seemed to be right on the cusp of making it really big. Recorded on a particularly cool night in 1978 just a few days before Christmas at Boston's Paradise Theater, this album has long since been an out-of-print collector's item coveted by fans. It has just now been reissued by indie label Airline Records, in a no-frills sort of package that includes little in the way of remastered bells and whistles. Well, other than newly written liner notes anyway.

Which is just fine, because what is actually captured here is a smoking hot
performance, featuring several songs from those first three great albums. Southside Johnny himself -- who is revered by many of his Asbury Park brethren as one of the finest white blues shouters this side of Mitch Ryder -- has never sounded better.

As for the Jukes?

We're talking well oiled machine here. Running through their set with the breakneck pace of a Stax style R&B revue, the band slows down only once for a smoldering eleven minute version of Bruce Springsteen's song "The Fever." For his part, Southside one-ups the Boss himself here, belting out the bluesy number like a champ. The horn section -- better known to the world as the Miami Horns, and led by the great trombonist La Bamba (yes, the same guy who plays with Mighty Max on Conan O' Brien's show) -- also sound as tight as a drum here.

The set features several other Springsteen songs written for Southside Johnny like "Talk To Me" and the should've-been-a-single "Trapped Again" (from the great Hearts of Stone album). Sadly, the title track of that album (another great Springsteen song) doesn't make the setlist here. Steven Van Zandt, who by this time had left the Jukes to join Springsteen full time in the E Street Band, contributes a few originals as well. These include the title tracks from the first two Southside Johnny albums, I Don't Want To Go Home and the horn-heavy This Time Its For Real.

In between all of the Springsteen and Van Zandt songs, the band rips through well-chosen covers like Sam Cooke's "Havin A Party," which is given a raucous sounding rave-up treatment here. Guitarist Billy Rush in particular shines here, filling Van Zandt's shoes so well you'd swear it was actually Miami Steve himself. The set closes out with a festive pair of holiday rave-ups in "Santa Claus Is Back In Town" and "Merry Christmas Baby."

1978: Live In Boston is proof they just don't make live albums anymore that sound as much like a party as this one does. Basically equal parts frathouse party rock a la Mitch Ryder and the Detroit Wheels, and chitlin circuit R&B in the vein of folks like the original Ike And Tina Turner Revue, Southside & The Jukes tear the house down here.

Not too bad for that "other guy" from Jersey.

Here's a vintage clip of Bruce and Southside performing "The Fever." Enjoy.