The ’80s poised to be the next ‘big thing’ in Music Memorabilia

Every collector dreams of owning a top-shelf, holy grail item. But how do you ensure you’ll have spot at the head of the collecting class someday? Well, it’s kind of like a 401(K) plan. There’s a lot of saving and planning, some discipline, and quite a wait for payoff.

“If you buy to collect, then the golden rule still is to keep whatever you have sealed, whether you buy an album or a CD or toy or anything,” said Jacques van Gool of Backstage Auctions. “Don’t be tempted to open it or listen to it. The moment you do, the item will lose value.”

Oh, sure, the item may still be in pristine condition. But breaking that protective seal is a lot like driving a brand-new car off the dealer’s lot: The depreciation starts the minute you do.

If you have any open or unsealed items, be sure to invest in good storage materials and bag them up now, because at the end of the day, the value of the collectible is driven by its condition. If you have vinyl, be sure to store it with a backing board, so the corners won’t bend.

For those of us who have limited impulse control, consider buying today’s “limited-edition” collectibles in duplicates — one to enjoy, and one to save for the future as a true collectible.

Just don’t expect to see a massive return on your investment overnight, van Gool warns. You need to be patient enough to keep the piece long enough so it can grow in value.

“Everything in music collectibles are like wine. There’s an incubation period, and they need to ripen and they need to season,” van Gool said. “If you buy something now and try to sell it or trade it in the first 10 years, the chances are the piece you bought is at the same value, or it might have lost a little bit of value,” he said. “That’s not different than the bundles of money we pay today for items from the 1960s and the 1970s. Back in the ’60s and ’70s, they were worth nothing.”

So, what are the items you should be saving today for your collecting investment tomorrow? Keep in mind that there is no such thing as a “foolproof” investment. That said, for the most part, everything that was collectible — records, posters, signed memorabilia —is still collectible, van Gool says. But a few specific areas have enjoyed a bit of a growth spurt in recent years.

“One type of item that has become increasingly popular over the past five years are vintage T-shirts, and that entirely has to do with the fact that five, six years ago, vintage concert T-shirts became fashionable, so they were, all of a sudden, in style, and it was cool to be seen in style with a 1976 Peter Frampton T-shirt or a 1974 Blue Oyster Cult T-shirt,” van Gool said.

Vinyl is also enjoying a bit of a rebirth. “There’s more new vinyl that’s being sold,” van Gool said. “When you see large retailers such as Best Buy jump on the bandwagon to start selling vinyl again, that’s a good sign.”

And it’s not just Baby Boomers buying back their old albums.“It’s people in their 20s and 30s, who did not grow up with a record player who are now discovering the wonderful world of vinyl,” he said.

When it comes to a certain “genres” that are on the rise, new wave, post punk and metal all land on van Gool’s list.

“If there’s a category lately that is really jumping and more and more demanding high prices, it is the ’80s hard-rock, heavy metal, whether it’s Iron Maiden or Judas Priest or Metallica or Def Leppard or Saxon,” van Gool said.

When Backstage Auctions conducted a Motley Crue auction a few years ago, it was kind of a gamble for the auction house, van Gool said. “It ended up being our first completely, 100-percent-sold-out auction. It was an over-the-top auction.” The event was such a success that Backstage is planning another auction around hard-rock/heavy-metal items.

“I think this current decade, meaning 2010 through 2020, is probably the decade where you might start to see the popularity decline of a lot of 1970s bands,” van Gool said. “I think that is going to be replaced by the Madonnas and the U2s and the Princes of the world. They are already collectible. But I think they will become serious collectibles to the tune of where you see auction houses really honing in on what I call the late ’70s and 1980s pop and rock artists,” van Gool said.

Duran Duran, Spandau Ballet, Boy George … they’re all heading for their day in the collectible sun, he predicted,

“Whatever you fell in love with as a teenager and as a high school student and college student … once you’re in a job and made a career and bought a house and have a couple of cars, you’re at a point where you start looking back and becoming sentimental, and you start to associate a lot of happy moments of those years with the music you listened to,” van Gool said. “You want to reconnect with that time in your life; you want to own something, whether it’s as simple as a poster or T-shirt or album, or something really big.”

-Susan Sliwicki, Goldmine Magazine
http://www.goldminemag.com/collector-resources/80s-poised-to-be-next-big-thing-in-music-memorabilia

-Backstage Auctions Rock Gods 'n Metal Monsters Auction - coming this fall. For more information visit our website for auction details.

CD Review: Johnny Winter: "Live at the Fillmore East 10/3/70"

CD Review: Johnny Winter "Live at the Fillmore East 10/3/70"
Collectors' Choice Live
All Access Review:  A-

It was a curious decision to say the least. After Johnny Winter split with the band – bassist Tommy Shannon and drummer “Uncle” John Turner - that had backed him on 1969’s Johnny Winter and 1970’s Second Winter, an album that also boasted the instrumental multi-tasking of brother Edgar – the Texas blues guitar dynamo took a flyer on three members of The McCoys. That’s right, those McCoys, the same gang responsible for the 1965 smash hit “Hang On Sloopy.” 

Playing matchmaker, it was Johnny’s manager, Steve Paul, who suggested the pairing, and what an inspired union it was. At first blush, the trio of guitarist/vocalist Rick Derringer, drummer Randy Zehringer and bassist Randy Jo Hobbs and the roughneck, garage-flavored R&B they were known for seemed unlikely to push and prod Winter to new heights. But, by the late ‘60s, the McCoys were experimenting more and more with psychedelia, and their performances at Paul’s Scene club in New York indicated to Paul that maybe, just maybe, they weren’t so different that they couldn’t make a go of it.

Immediately, Winter and his new band mates fell into lockstep. A couple of weeks of jam sessions led to the recording of 1970’s brilliant  Johnny Winter And, an edgier, more rock-oriented record than anything Winter had previously done, though still thoroughly basted with Lone Star state blues. Many consider it to be the high point of Winter’s recorded output, and the former McCoys, now sharing musical recipes with Winter, were now getting their just due.

The very month Johnny Winter And, doubling also as the name of this new super group, was released Winter and company invaded the Fillmore East and burned the place to the ground, as this seven-song concert document, one of the first rare vintage live recordings being issued by the Collectors’ Choice Live label, of that fiery performance proves. With Derringer and Winter trading wild, uninhibited solos, their duels like Old West shootouts with bullets, or, in this case, notes, flying everywhere, Johnny Winter And sizzle on the opener “Guess I’ll Go Away” and follow it up with the equally potent “Good Morning Little School Girl” – two simmering blues numbers that rapidly are brought to a boil.

After showcasing the Derringer-penned, slash-and-burn rocker “Rock And Roll Hoochie Koo,” a song he would later score a Top 30 hit with and a featured track on the then-newly released Johnny Winter And, the foursome downshift into the tantalizing, smoky blues workout “It’s My Fault,” which flies off into an extended jam that could have gone on forever … and almost does. Anyway, the slide-guitar frenzy of “Mean Town Blues” and the locomotive power of “Rollin’ And Tumblin’” close out the proceedings in breathless fashion, following a completely unhinged, ramshackle deconstruction of Dylan’s “Highway 61 Revisited” that’s deliciously blasphemous.

As entertaining as it is to witness Winter and Derringer play with reckless abandon, without the sure, confident, and often combustible, movements of a well-oiled rhythm section binding it all together, their efforts would have resulted in a chaotic, self-absorbed mess. Bounding to and fro, Hobbs and Zehringer, bashing it out with controlled violence, are a force in and of themselves. While the playing is smoking and white-hot, there’s also a loose and carefree vibe that comes across clearly, and the occasional rebel yell signals just how much fun this hastily put together, if short-lived, unit was having at the time. Now, those who weren’t at the Fillmore East back then can beat their heads against the wall with regret over missing seeing them in person.

-         Peter Lindblad

DVD Review: Jane’s Addiction "Voodoo Live"

DVD Review: Jane’s Addiction "Voodoo Live"
Eagle Vision
All Access Review:  B+

Part Oscar Wilde, part Liberace, with a little bit of P.T. Barnum thrown in for good measure, Perry Farrell played the pied piper of excess and debauchery to wide acclaim in the late ‘80s and early-‘90s, leading Jane’s Addiction out of the L.A. underground and into the light of alternative-rock godhead with dark, puzzling lyrics, controversial album covers and a sound that was impossible to define. Freely sexual and embracing the ethos of “better living through chemistry,” Ferrell wanted to party and indulge in orgies, while grunge, handcuffed to a pipe in its own dank cellar of cynicism and despair, tapped into the angst and anger of America’s flannel-clad youth and simply overwhelmed the recording industry.

There was no room for self-pity in Jane’s Addiction. With a guitarist in Dave Navarro whose chops were dizzying, frenetic and atmospheric, plus a rhythm section – drummer Stephen Perkins and bassist Eric Avery – that laid down powerful, seductive grooves, Jane’s Addiction offered subversive poetry that plumbed the same depths of humanity Lou Reed did with the Velvet Underground, along with a multi-faceted, visionary attack that embraced art-rock, hard funk, psychedelia, island rhythms, punk, dark wave and heavy metal. And it had Farrell, a Dionysian showman in the tradition of Jim Morrison, only not quite so bent on self-destruction.

Almost 20 years removed from their heyday, the original Jane’s Addiction lineup reunited in 2009, performing on Halloween night in New Orleans – what better setting could there possibly be for a revival of their surreal alternative-rock circus? “Voodoo Live,” a new concert DVD from Eagle Vision, captured the band’s colorfully theatrical live set at the Voodoo Experience, a thrilling, captivating performance that again makes you wonder why, oh why, they’ve only given the world a scant catalog of just two sensational studio albums, one lukewarm comeback LP (2003’s Strays) and an early live manifesto.

Amid smoke and ever-changing colored lights, an older, but no less dangerous, Jane’s Addiction put on its own Mardi Gras, complete with a pair of burlesque dancers performing x-rated stunts with and without Farrell. Opening with a hypnotic “Up The Beach” before launching into the rumbling, Zeppelin-like avalanche of chords that rolls down “Mountain Song” and “Ain’t No Right,” Jane’s Addiction fires on all cylinders. Down-shifting for a spell, Jane’s plunge into the moody, enthralling abyss of “Three Days” and the track’s somewhat jazzy, not-so-distant cousin “Then She Did …” before blitzing through the frenzied classic “Been Caught Stealing” and the funked-out “Stop.”

Looking resplendently alien in a glitzy cape and bodysuit and occasionally guzzling a bottle of wine, Farrell takes care to acknowledge the hardships New Orleans has seen in recent years and the city’s ability to recover. To salve their wounds, he and the band offer the massive waves of sonic bewilderment that pound away in “Ocean Size” and a wonderfully life-affirming “Jane Says,” where the band is joined onstage by what seem like a hundred costumed partygoers in joyous celebration of putting off rehab for one euphoric night of glorious insobriety.

Accompanied by a New Music Express featurette on Jane’s return, plus two scorching, up-close-and-personal live versions of “1%” and “Ocean Size” performed in a tight, sweaty little club, with the crowd right in their faces, “Voodoo Live” is a quintessential Jane’s Addiction experience, even if Farrell’s somewhat weakened vocals don’t always match the intensity of what’s going on behind him. The camera work, clear with images coming at you from a variety of angles, is professional and thankfully free of tricks, and even if there’s a paucity of extras and Farrell’s voice isn’t what it used to be, this DVD is still remarkable. And Farrell’s charisma is magnetic, with Navarro, Avery and Perkins, often seen in grotesque masks as he bashes away at his drum kit, giving absolutely jaw-dropping performances, their playing the perfect balance of passion, precision and unpredictable direction.

-         - Peter Lindblad

Herman Rarebell and the fascinating tale of ‘Heya Heya’

Isn’t it strange how a little rock novelty ditty can rise up and become an unexpected smash in one country or region and be almost completely ignored by the rest of the world?

Such is the case of “He Ya” by the early ‘70s cult outfit Jeronimo (mislabeled on the cover on a Holland release as Geronimo). A huge hit in Germany and other European countries, “He Ya,” along with another success in “Na Na Hey Hey,” helped Jeronimo merge into hard rock’s fast lane, as the band shared stages with the likes of Deep Purple, Golden Earring and Steppenwolf, who once served as their touring partners.

In the U.S., though, Jeronimo was barely a blip on the radar screen. Being a native of Germany, Herman Rarebell remembers Jeronimo well … so well in fact that the former drummer for The Scorpions has reworked the song for his new Herman Ze German solo album, Take It as It Comes, out now on Dark Star Records. Ghostly Native American chanting and tribal drums give way to monstrously heavy guitars riffs from Horst Luksch, more chanting from the Children Choir of Unterensingen, Germany and dark electronic washes in Rarebell’s version, called “Heya Heya.” The total package is incredibly compelling.

Rarebell explains how “Heya Heya,” perhaps the most strikingly original track on the album, evolved.

“It’s an Indian tribe song and ‘Heya Heya,’ you know, is actually a cover song,” said Rarebell. “It was done in 1971 here in Germany and it became a big hit by a band called Jeronimo. It was written by two Americans, and they’d covered it in ’71 and it became #1 in Germany and it stayed #1 in Germany for nearly six months.

It was one of the longest #1s. But it never ever got outside of Germany. So, you know, my version is completely different, of course. As you can hear, it sounds really big, but basically, being a drummer, I always liked that Indian beat and I decided to make it really heavy. So it sounds really big, that kind of thing.”

Marquis De Schoelch plays keyboards and Jens Peter Abele trades off between bass and rhythm guitar on the track, which Rarebell recorded for one of his favorite charities, World Vision, an organization that seeks to assist children worldwide. But it is Luksch who plays a starring role on “Heya Heya.”

“When we did this, we did it for charity in the beginning for an organization called World Vision,” said Rarebell. “On World Vision, you literally can support a child in the Third World for about $25 a month. So basically, they really bring those kids up there, educate them. I have, for example, two kids that I’ve supported for over 25 years now; they are now doctors in Germany. So they go to school with that $25, they buy clothes, they buy their school books. They probably feed half their family with it too. And we had 30 children sing on it. We recorded it in Unterensingen. That’s where the studio is, near to Stuttgart. So when we recorded this in this place, this village actually, there was the school and the teacher. We told her this and she made the kids sing along with the song. She rehearsed it with them for about an hour and then she came down and we recorded it, because it was good fun to do this along when they’re singing “Heya heya heyay,” and when you go to YouTube, you can order the video. Yeah, I made a video of it, too.”

“Heya Heya” is not the only surprise Rarebell has in store for everyone. An interesting re-recording of the Scorpions’ biggest hit, “Rock You Like a Hurricane,” also makes an appearance on Take It As It Comes, the album title being a mantra of sorts for Rarebell.

“When you really look at the world nowadays, there’s not that much you can do about catastrophes and look at the thing that’s happening right now here in Europe and in Russia (wildfires were raging across the region at the time of this interview),” said Rarebell. “The whole of Russia is burning down at the moment, and then you look at east Germany right now, which is completely under water. What I’m talking about is if there’s a higher thing structuring you, natural catastrophes, you can only make the best out of them and look forward and take it as it comes. There’s not much you can do about it. And it literally could be your last days, so live it like this. And that’s my philosophy. You know, looking back on life nowadays how are you going to change it. See what I mean? Take it as it comes, think positive and it’s the same in America. You have recession there and it’s very difficult for a lot of people. You have to take it as it comes and look forward. Otherwise, you’ll never get out of this shit anymore. This is just what I think, you know? It’s better to think positive to the future rather than negative.”

Looking forward, and not back, seems to have worked out pretty well for Rarebell.

- Peter Lindblad

Official Herman Rarebell Website:  http://www.hermanrarebell.com/

CD Review: Herman Ze German "Take It As It Comes"

CD Review: Herman Ze German "Take It As It Comes"
Dark Star Records
All Access Review: B

Some dime-store philosophers and would-be poets choose to drown themselves in misery, and who can blame them? The nightly television news is a horror show of unimaginable human suffering. Great numbers of people in the United States are out of work and desperate to escape the financial straits they’re in. Massive earthquakes, tsunamis, mudslides, drought and a whole host of other natural disasters have been visited upon the third world, wiping out fragile infrastructure and causing death, disease and homelessness.

How could anyone with any sort of sensitivity and compassion not gaze upon it all and succumb to incurable melancholy? Big-hearted and a true humanitarian, former Scorpions drummer Herman Rareball, aka Herman Ze German, won’t turn a blind eye to such tragedies. Nor, however, will he simply throw his hands up and give in to despair, as the title of his latest solo LP indicates. Rarebell enjoys life. Our time on this earth is fleeting, after all, and to not have any fun and joy during our short stay would be a waste of such a precious gift.

Believing wholeheartedly in the words emblazoned in scary movie graphics across the album cover, Rarebell is anything but dour here. Blazing away with heavy doses of adrenalized pop-metal spiked with saxophone flourishes courtesy of wife, and actress, Claudia Raab, Rarebell points a double-barreled blast of rock straight at your heart in the somewhat bluesy title track and the life-affirming epiphany “Don’t Lose Your Trust.” The dirty underworld of phone sex operators is explored on the darkly erotic “Rough Job,” before the seductively sinister “Freak Show” tears into reality TV and its shameless pandering to the worst in all of us.

Of course, there’s the obligatory string-laden power ballad “Your Love is Hurting” and it’s not without its melodic charms, even if it is a somewhat predictable exercise at this point in Rarebell’s career. “Let Me Rock You,” espousing how great rock and roll is, is also a fairly obvious cliché. But when Rarebell experiments with moody atmospherics and exotic rhythms, like he does on the mysterious, heavy cover of the obscure “Heya Heya,” a hit in Germany by the long-forgotten German trio Jeronimo, or Geronimo as their name mistakenly appeared on record in Holland, he reveals a restless artistry that is continuing to expand and grow. With its Native American beats and chanting, not to mention the heavy guitar magic courtesy of wunderkind Horst Luksch, “Heya Heya” is a beast of a track and clearly the heavyweight champion of Take it as it Comes.

But what of the mix of black electronica, robotic metal and almost spoken-word lyrical delivery of the Rarebell’s new, and possibly controversial, cover of “Rock You like a Hurricane”? Well, it’s different, that’s for sure, and Rarebell certainly doesn’t play it safe in tackling this Scorpions’ classic. Perhaps he should have played it safe and left well enough alone. In its original state, “Rock You like a Hurricane,” often cited as one of the greatest hard-rock songs ever, was perfectly carnal, a rush of sexual heat and desire that dripped blood and other bodily fluids from its mouth. This one, while perhaps a little more evil and aggressive, feels somewhat disjointed and awkward. Still, give Rarebell credit for not simply rehashing an old chestnut. This version is interesting, and given time, and an open mind, you might just warm up to it.

There are moments of astonishing brilliance on Take it as it Comes. “Backattack,” with its frenzied harmonica and hell-spawned, country metal vibe, is really a unique and thoroughly satisfying blending of genres, and Rarebell’s ability to mesh modern-rock elements with old-school metal is work in progress that is undeniably compelling.

-        -  Peter Lindblad  

CD Review: Hawkwind "Blood of the Earth"

CD Review:  Hawkwind "Blood of the Earth" 
Plastic Head North America
All Access Review:  B+

Major Tom is presumably still out there sitting in his tin can far above the moon, and from time to time, every couple of years or so, the unfortunate lost astronaut longing for his earthly home has probably watched the space-rock voyager Hawkwind rocket past his doomed ship, heading to parts unknown to any other musical entity of the last 40 years. Blood of the Earth is another mind-blowing trip through the psychedelic/prog-rock cosmos for a band that blasted off in 1969 and has put on more miles than all the space shuttles and astronauts in NASA combined.

Not quite as wild and wooly as 1973’s Space Ritual Live [live], but far more visionary than some of the atrocities of the late ‘90s and early 2000s committed in Hawkwind’s name, Blood of the Earth looks backward and forward, and eastward, for inspiration. On occasion, this version of Hawkind, with longtime leader Dave Brock (guitar, keyboards and vocals) still manning the captain’s chair and ably assisted by crewmen Richard Chadwick (drums), Niall Hone (guitars), Mr. Dibs (bass) and Tim Blake (keyboards), is capable of stirring up awesome cosmic tempests on command and shifting into the kind of maximum, hypnotic overdrive that would propel rhythm sections of the band’s glorious past through storming guitars, as they do on “Green Machine.” Pushing the needle into the red, Hawkwind takes off on a careening, metallic re-make of “You’d Better Believe It” from the 1974 LP Hall of the Mountain Grill with all the powerful thrust of Apollo 11, while the blurred rush of late-‘60s pyschedelia, propelled by airy horns, on the pulsating opener “Seahawks” is reminiscent of the Moody Blues in their prime.

The ultimate counter-culture tribe, one that is constantly creating planets of sound rather than visiting them physically on some “Hitchhikers’ Guide to the Galaxy”-like holiday, Hawkwind again merges prog-rock complexity, not to mention pomposity, with the sonic bombast of its space-rock imagination to stun us earthbound mortals as “Comfey Chair” builds and builds to a dramatic conclusion. But, Hawkwind doesn’t confine itself to building sci-fi soundscapes of wonderfully strange and trippy elements. The tribal beats that ground the soaring electronica and guitars that seem the aural equivalent of the Northern lights on another re-make, “Sweet Obsession,” from Brock’s 1984 solo effort Earthed to the Ground, lend an organic feel to the track, while the Middle Eastern-tinged “Wraith” is an exotic bazaar of instrumentation that has one foot in Persia and another in ancient alien worlds. 

Blood of the Earth doesn’t always captivate. There are valleys along with the peaks, places where everything is stagnant and seemingly not sure of where to go next. But overall, Blood of the Earth is typical Hawkwind in that it’s difficult to predict what direction their spaceship will go and the propulsive ride evokes a myriad of images and spacey effects that stirs the imagination.

- Peter Lindblad

More visitations expected from metal legends UFO in 2011

There was something different about UFO when original drummer Andy Parker re-enlisted in 2007 with the long-running British hard-rock champions for a third tour of duty. Michael Schenker was gone.

That raging guitar burn Schenker brought to UFO in 1973 after leaving The Scorpions was just the Molotov cocktail UFO had been looking for as they sought to set the world of heavy metal on fire. Schenker’s furious shred ignited a string of four-alarm UFO blazes starting with 1974’s classic LP Phenomenon on through albums like 1975’s Force It, 1976’s No Heavy Petting, 1977’s Lights Out, 1978’s Obsession and 1979’s Stranger in the Night.

Parker was a key cog in the UFO machine, his rugged, precision drumming providing the muscle in support of Phil Mogg’s distinctive vocals, Pete Way’s thumping bass and UFO’s Swiss Army knife keyboardist/rhythm guitarist Paul Raymond, not to mention Schenker’s frenzied fretwork. But Parker left the band in 1983, returning for a brief early-‘90s reunion of that classic ‘70s UFO configuration that included, of course, Schenker, and then soon bowing out again.

But as the new millennium arrived, so did UFO, with Schenker helping to carry the flag for the metal diehards. Then, 2002 came, and this time, it was Schenker’s turn to leave again, but not before powering UFO recordings that included the double-CD Covenant and then Sharks. Enter Vinnie Moore, charged with the unenviable task of filling Schenker’s shoes. And when Parker came back to the fold in 2006, he found it a little odd not be working with Schenker anymore. It wasn’t long, though, before Parker began to appreciate Moore’s skill and working with him on Monkey Puzzle and 2009’s The Visitor, album No. 20 for UFO, was an absolute pleasure.

“Pretty much most of the albums I’d done with the band before that were with Michael, so Vinnie brings a whole different feel to the band, and I just love the guy,” says Parker. “He’s an incredible guitar player and he’s a great guy.”

Moore wasn’t the first UFO crew member to replace an integral member of the group. Parker himself, who’d been there almost since the beginning, departed in the early ‘80s after 14 years with UFO. Schenker, though, is a special case, his six-string fireworks so spectacular and influential over the years that his profile rose to mythic proportions. Moore has proven to be up to the task, however, as a new UFO greatest-hits package, The Best of a Decade, a hard-hitting, bluesy and often melodic mix of choice live and studio cuts from UFO’s releases in the 2000s, bears out.

As for Parker, he wasn’t sure he’d ever return to UFO. A phone call from Raymond convinced him it was the right move, and now he’s looking forward to a long and bright future with the band he helped build into a metal empire.

“The thing is, they’d asked me several times over the years,” explains Parker. “It’s difficult because life doesn’t always go the way you plan and this is my third stint in the band. I quit in ’83 for pretty much personal reasons. And there was a lot of stuff going on with the band, a lot of problems within the band, and we were just pretty much burned out from constant touring and studio work, and you don’t have any time to deal with your private life. I left and I had a very young daughter when I left in ’83; she was only three years old, and I wanted to spend some time with her. That was the first time. I came back in ’94. The guys asked me to rejoin. I did the Walk on Water album, and that was great. It was a great experience. But there was still a lot of stuff going down in the band that I didn’t really want to deal with. They still had a lot of inner kind of tension going on there, and I chose not to tour, which, in hindsight, turned out to be the right choice. And I’ve said this before, as much as I love and admire Michael - he’s an amazing guy - but there was a lot of problems with him and stability-wise with the band. I just didn’t feel like I wanted to be in a band that was that unstable at that time. They asked me to come back in 2005, and I knew that Vinnie was in the band, and initially, I came back and did one show for them, because Jason [Bonham] had left and they had a show booked in Spain. So the moment I did that show and got to play with the guys again, and with Vinnie, it was just such a pleasurable experience that they asked, ‘Will you stay?’ And I said, ‘Yeah.’ You know, this is really what it’s all about, what I remember UFO being and how it should be.”

Not all UFO devotees might agree. Parker knows that the band’s most recent material has, perhaps, strayed a bit from that powerhouse ‘70s-era sound. For him, though, the return to a more blues-oriented attack, which still packs a mighty sonic wallop, is a welcome one.

“It’s almost like it has come full circle, because what I’ve noticed is I’ve been back in the band the last two albums and there’s a lot of blues influence surfacing in this material, and that’s where we started,” states Parker. “I mean, the big blues boom in the mid- to late-‘60s in England is where I kind of met the guys during that, and that’s what Paul Raymond came out of, with Savoy Brown.”

UFO honed their chops doing blues covers, before expanding their horizons and exploding in a giant space-rock supernova that set the stage for the edgier metallic meltdowns that occurred when Schenker arrived. Getting back to the blues, however, has been a satisfying move for Parker and the rest of UFO in last few years.

“I know there are probably people out there who think we’re kind of, you know, softening up, but I really like the way the band is going,” says Parker. “I don’t think I can sit still and try and kind of recreate what [we] were doing in the past. And then one thing I’ve always loved about UFO is we weren’t trend followers, you know? I mean, basically, what we play comes from the heart and it’s wherever we happen to be at that point in time. So I’m real happy with it, and I think it’s a great direction for us.”

And, as Parker sees it, there is no need for UFO to veer off course, not while the creative juices are still flowing.  “The band’s playing great, and sounding great, so I just hope it continues for as long as possible,” says Parker. “Everybody’s happy to be back and I think the band still has a lot to offer. We’re getting ready to start work on material for another album, so hopefully, in the new year there will be something out again – no. 21. So that’s something to look forward to, but yeah, I mean, we’ve got the greatest fans. They’re so loyal and they’ve stuck with us over the years. Hopefully, we won’t disappoint them.”

Just as working on an album like The Visitor didn’t disappoint Parker, who picked that album when asked which UFO studio LP he likes best – even though he says his favorite will always be the live effort Strangers in the Night.

“I’m pretty happy with the last one, The Visitor,” says Parker. “Yeah, because, you know, I love them all. You know, the fact that we can still turn out and play that good now … and I really enjoyed making the last one. It’s a different experience, these days, you know. It’s a lot quicker, and a lot more efficient, but I just think that after 20 studio albums to be able to turn out an album of that quality … and there are some great songs on it. I’m really happy with it.”

- Peter Lindblad

Y & T - The "Bruce Springsteens" of Heavy Metal

Herbie Herbert's Agenda

Several years ago, Backstage Auctions had the privilege of hosting an auction for legendary manager and entrepreneur Herbie Herbert, who is best known for ‘creating’ Journey by taking Neal Schon and Gregg Rolie with him from Santana (1973) and adding additional local San Francisco talent. While morphing Journey into the stadium giant that went on to sell 75 million albums, Herbert also had his eyes set on another local band; Yesterday & Today. Part of the auction was a set of Herbert’s personal agendas from 1974 through 1976, which gave a brilliant day-to-day insight of the infancy of both bands.

Vintage Backstage Passes

Once Herbert landed a record deal for Yesterday and Today, the umbilical chord was cut and both went their own way. The first two albums did very little but enter the “eighties” and Y&T (who had now shortened their name from Yesterday and Today) released arguably the three most epic rock albums from that decade in succession; ‘Earthshaker’ (1980), ‘Black Tiger’ (1982) and ‘Mean Streak’ (1983). Growing up in Europe I never had the opportunity to see Y&T in their prime and – as with so many other bands – they eventually became a (fond) memory.

Fast forward to August 11, 2010. As sponsor of the Houston Music Awards, Backstage Auctions attended the award ceremonies at the ‘Warehouse’, where co-owner Kelli van Gool presented the ‘Best Heavy-Metal Band’ Award. Leaving the venue later that evening, my eye caught the illuminated billboard, which read ‘Fri. Aug.13 - Y&T’. Needless to say, I couldn’t pass that up. Knowing that the original line-up had been decimated to its backbone (Dave Meniketti – Guitar/ Vocals and Phil Kennemore – Bass), I wasn’t quite sure what to expect. Not sure if “Friday the 13^th” had anything to do with it, but as soon as I arrived at the venue, I learned that Phil Kennemore was replaced, due to surgery that week (Phil, we wish you all the strength and a speedy recovery).

Whatever doubts I might have had leading up to that point, they vanished as soon as Y&T set the tone for the evening with a sensational ‘Open Fire’, which is hands down one of the best rock songs to kick-off any show. Meniketti’s voice was as strong as it was 3 decades ago and his impressive skills had – if anything – improved. The entire band sounded tight, displayed joy and delivered – with an abundance of youthful energy – a set that included a selection from their most recent album (‘Facemelter’), rarities and naturally, all their classics such as ‘Hurricane’, ‘Mean Streak’, ‘Hang ‘em, High’, ‘Rescue Me’, ‘Dirty Girl’, ‘Black Tiger’, ‘Forever’ and the incredible ‘I Believe In You’ (with its superior crescendo that makes every rock band wish they wrote this song).

Dave Meniketti & Jacques van Gool

All this made for a fantastic evening, but was really struck me was that we were treated on a show that lasted close to three hours. Yes, that’s THREE with a ‘3’. I mean, here’s a band that’s been around for over 36 years, more or less “wings” it with a (fantastic) replacement bass player, charges a meagerly 13 dollars for a ticket and still gives you literally everything they’ve got. In a day and age where most concerts are deprived of spontaneity – at an often outrageous price – I realized that I just witnessed something very special. Less than 10 minutes after the show Dave Meniketti and co. came out to hang with an appreciative crowd, making sure that every fan had the opportunity to shake a hand, get something signed  or have their photo taken.

Yes, I still wonder what it would have been to see Y&T in the 70s or 80s but it’s hard to imagine that it could have been any better than in 2010. If you ever have the opportunity, please make sure that you too can witness this phenomenon. Trust me, it’s a privilege. Short of that, go to their website and pick up any of their outstanding albums (I know, it’s called CD but you….old school). Driving back home at 2 in the morning with a bucket list that was a name shorter, it occurred to me that if there ever was a Bruce Springsteen of Heavy-Metal, it’s called “Y&T”.

- Jacques van Gool, Backstage Auctions

DVD Review: Emerson, Lake & Palmer "Pictures at an Exhibition" (Special Edition)

DVD Review: Emerson, Lake & Palmer "Pictures at an Exhibition" (Special Edition) 
Eagle Vision
All Access Review:  B+

Leaving themselves wide open for a hailstorm of criticism from all corners of the music world, the absurdly ambitious Emerson, Lake & Palmer resurrected, in 1970, Mussorgsky’s tour de force “Pictures at an Exhibition” in a live setting for the great unwashed – i.e., the brutish masses that had turned on to rock and roll and had long ago turned off classical music – at London’s Lyceum.

Eager to bridge the ever-widening gulf that separated these two warring factions and somehow negotiate a truce, or even initiate a greater understanding of each other’s points of view, ELP, only together for almost a year by the grand unveiling of this extraordinary undertaking, went for the jugular in this triumphant showcase of their musical virtuosity and uninhibited, almost Barnum & Bailey-like showmanship. If the Stones had their “Rock and Roll Circus,” this was ELP’s Cirque du Soleil, and this colorful, vintage concert DVD of that show captures the band in full, majestic splendor.

With an armada of keyboards at his disposal, Keith Emerson, in particular, plays to the crowd, heaving an organ to and fro to coax strange, tortured sounds from its mechanized soul. His fingers flying across the keys, Emerson makes you wonder if Robert Johnson wasn’t the only musician’s soul the devil has in his back pocket. But his playing is dazzling, frantic and fluid, as is Carl Palmer’s intricate, preternatural feel as a drummer and Greg Lake’s transformation from a gentle, expressive acoustic folkie to galloping, swinging bassist. And the cameras, with a variety of well-framed close-ups and revealing shots from odd angles, display, in fantastic detail, what adventurous, supremely confident and playful players all three are, especially on “Blues Variation” and the fiery opening twin salvo of “Promenade” and “The Gnome.” There is a kind of chemistry between them that cannot be understood by any kind of science, but it’s palpable and it blazes with energy as they leave the closer “The Great Gates of Kiev” in wondrous ruins.

Mussorgsky is said to have composed “Pictures at an Exhibition” to re-create, musically, a stroll through an art museum. There is nothing in ELP’s version that would suggest an easy, carefree walk while studying lines, use of color and all those other elements that make great art. Lively, grandiose and vibrant, ELP’s take is gutsy, at times dangerous and funny, and not at all respectful, which is what you want from an art-rock combo that always walked a tightrope without a net.

Closing the Lyceum performance with ELP classics “Take A Pebble,” “Knife Edge” and “Rondo,” the trio draw a lineage from their classical influences and in their capable hands, “Pictures at an Exhibition” was a rousing critical success, just as their 1972 live “Pictures at an Exhibition” LP actually won the day commercially as well. This DVD is an essential document of how the classical rockers and their sometimes dark and scary art-rock proclivities, as self-indulgent as they were, absolutely destroyed anything that smacked of convention.

Watch the bonus 1971 Pop Shop performance also included on this DVD, even with its inane, throwaway interview footage, to see how ELP was just as wild and unpredictable with its own material, Emerson’s multiple stabbings of that old organ of his with a set of knives being just one of the sensational, over-the-top moments that made you either giggle or gasp. Either way, ELP never, as this incredible concert film shows, played it safe, and for that, they should always be lionized.

-         - Peter Lindblad

CD Review: Lillian Axe "Deep Red Shadows"

CD Review: Lillian Axe "Deep Red Shadows" 
Love & War Records
All Access Review:  B

Keeping to those Deep Red Shadows referred to in the title of their ninth album, Lillian Axe, their solid hard-rock credentials built on blazing heavy-metal riffs, strong-as-steel song structures and a melodic sensibility that’s always ranged from unremittingly dark to sweetly poisonous, hardly ever emerges from them to find the world waiting with bated breath for whatever new sinister creations they’ve dreamed up. And that’s unfortunate, because Steve Blaze and his hardy crew of metal miscreants rarely disappoint, even if their albums never seem to rise up to that glorious metal nirvana reserved for only the chosen few God, or perhaps Satan, have blessed.

With song titles like “47 Ways to Die,” “The Quenching of Human Life” and “Sad Day on Planet Earth,” Deep Red Shadows would appear to be obsessed with human mortality, but that’s only one side of the story. Actually a passionate indictment of apathy and the blind eye mankind increasingly turns toward human suffering “Sad Day on Planet Earth” is all wrapped up in a fairly complex web woven of cycling, silvery acoustic guitar. Similarly cast, the follow-up, “Nocturnal Symphony,” is a dreamy, romantic meditation on eternity and the afterlife that you wish had something that set it apart from its predecessor, but is, none the less, interesting in its own right, if a bit devoid of emotional resonance.

As for “47 Ways to Die” and its black, sweeping embrace of more pop-oriented tricks, this is the song that would have AFI fans all in a tizzy if Lillian Axe weren’t so unnecessarily pigeonholed as a “metal” act. There are irrepressible vocal hooks hidden in its slowly building wave of guitars, setting the stage for the heavy, ponderous riffing and death-trip fantasy of “The Quenching of Human Life” and the stained-glass vision that colors the crushing quiet-loud-quiet dynamics of “A Minute of Years.” Better still is the pounding epic “Under The Same Moon,” a relentless battleship of a song thrashed by storms of guitars as its black clouds open up ever so slightly to reveal a bit of pale acoustic sun midway through, before dropping the hammer of the gods one more time and ending up in some protective harbor of melodic goodness and light.

Deep Red Shadows is a nice effort, but one that, aside from how wonderfully “Under the Same Moon” unfolds and how “47 Ways to Die” simply crashes against the rocky coast of your ears, contains less memorable and majestic moments than you’d for from a band that’s been fighting the good fight for so long. Consistently good, but somewhat clinical and bloodless, the album draws out the intricate guitar work of Blaze and Sam Poitevent and the power and grace of Derrick LeFevre’s vocals. Former Metal Church singer Ronny Munroe replaced LeFevre this summer, and perhaps he’ll push the band to greater heights. Until then, enjoy Deep Red Shadows for what it is, not what it could have been.

-         - Peter Lindblad

Odd Couple: Cavaliere and Cropper take to the air with ‘Midnight Flyer’

Worlds apart in the 1960s, geographically speaking and perhaps musically, as well, Felix Cavaliere, of the British Invasion-influenced, East Coast R&B gang The Rascals, and Steve Cropper, the quintessential Southern soul guitarist who powered the Stax label house band Booker T. & the MGs, would, occasionally, pass each other like strangers in the night.

“You know, we used to know each other in the past from the Atlantic (Records) family,” explains Cavaliere. “We used to cross paths once in a while in the studio. Matter of fact, Booker T. did cut ‘Groovin’’ – they cut an instrumental version of ‘Groovin’’ and had a hit with that.”

A sunny, summery ode to carefree Sundays spent loving the one you’re with and gazing upon nature’s wonders, with bird sounds flitting about the instrumentation, the organic “Groovin’” was a massive #1 hit for The Rascals in 1967 and proof of the band’s increasing sophistication with regard to pop arrangements and songwriting. They were the kings of blue-eyed soul.

Meanwhile, down South, Cropper was creating that signature guitar style of his, one so fluid and expressive that it seemed the very embodiment of hot, humid Dixie soul. No ordinary sideman, Cropper’s skill as an arranger, writer, player and producer gave Otis Redding’s “Sittin’ on the Dock of the Bay” a certain glow and introspective depth, while pumping heated blood through the huffing, puffing circulatory system of Wilson Pickett’s “In the Midnight Hour.”

“I think what’s unique about his playing is, he’s got sort of a style that he’s developed from listening to people like Curtis Mayfield and a lot of the blues guys, but it’s not any of those, it’s his own,” says Cavaliere.

From afar, the two artists shared a mutual admiration for each other’s work. But, working together? That seemed a far-fetched notion in the late ‘60s, back when Cropper’s Southern cooking was still simmering in Booker T. & the MGs’ soul kitchen, and Cavaliere and the Rascals were branching out into psychedelia and jazz. Years went by, and both bands dissolved, leaving Cavaliere and Cropper as free agents. And Cavaliere, along with his New York accent, would, shockingly, wind up moving to Tennessee, home to Cropper.

“We just started writing together, and it kind of jelled and we had a good time, and he got us a [record] deal,” says Cavaliere, explaining how the partnership that’s resulted in not one, but now two albums, that latest being Midnight Flyer, on Stax, came to fruition. “It was a total surprise to both of us. It kind of went on from there, and we went on to do the second one, which was just a lot of fun. And the reason that it works so well is because we both have kind of similar musical kind of identities, you know.”

Although, being from places that couldn’t be more different, Cavaliere and Cropper have their own approaches when it comes to lyrics and music. “He, being from the South, has these kinds of little idioms that really go well with music, and they come out in the words,” says Cavaliere. “They just have that kind of Southern charm to them that I think people like. On the other hand, I come from a more jazz background, more of an R&B/jazz type world; he’s like more of straight-on blues world. So, the mixture of the two, I think it works because, as I say, both of those formats are kind of cool.”

The marriage works, at least in part because of Cavaliere and Cropper’s interest in exploring diverse musical styles. From the high-stepping funk workouts of “Move The House” and “Do It Like This” to the seductive grooves of “Sexy Lady” and the sweaty soul faceoff between Cavaliere and his daughter Aria on “I Can’t Stand It,” Midnight Flyer is a multi-dimensional effort from two old dogs who’ve been teaching others tricks for a long, long time. And yet, there’s still something about Midnight Flyer that harkens back to the good old days for both.

“He gets a kick out of my chord changes, and the grooves that come out,” says Cavaliere, “because he relates it to like ‘Groovin’’ and the same with his stuff. You know, there’s kind of like a Wilson Pickett feeling in some of these songs.”

It’d be easy for Cavaliere and Cropper to fall back into familiar working patterns, but on Midnight Flyer, they took inspiration from advanced technology. But they did draw some lines in the sand.

“Well, you know, we tried something different this time, a little bit more modern,” relates Cavaliere. “And you know, whenever two older guys do modern stuff you’ve got to really be careful. I used Apple products called Logic, and we set up in a studio. It is so much fun to write in the studio because you’re getting like immediately great sound, and we found these loops to write to and kind of just composed on the spot live to those loops. You know, drum patterns, and it just, you know, brought a different type of inspiration to the project. And then, of course, we went back and did the traditional bass, drums, of course guitars, keys. But it started from kind of like the more modern, computer type of thing.”

As for Aria, the young singer didn’t back down being the in the company of legends. Her dad wouldn’t have had it any other way.  “I wanna tell you, she kind of freaked me out a little because I know she’s good, and she came totally prepared and just like belted it out, man,” laughs Cavaliere. “Everybody was just like that old Pioneer speaker commercial, you know, they were just kind of blasted against the wall. She kicked it. It’s a thrill, you know. I can’t describe how good you feel when somebody really comes to a job and does well like that. You know, she looked at it like a job. I mean, I told her, I said this is for real. You’ve got to be prepared when you come in the room. Nobody’s going to sit around and teach you anything. And she did great. She did … I took her on the road with me for a while, although I’m not really encouraging this type of life for anybody. It’s very difficult. She loves it.”

So far, as it relates to their partnership, so do Cavaliere and Cropper, two artists intent on letting the world know they still have something to say.

-Peter Lindblad

CD Review: Otis Redding 'Live on the Sunset Strip'

CD Review: Otis Redding 'Live on the Sunset Strip'

All Access Review: A

Awkward, clumsy, maybe even a bit oafish, Otis Redding didn’t dazzle crowds or make girls swoon with suave, sophisticated dance steps. He left the polished choreography to those slick, twinkle-toed Motown crews, with their impeccable footwork and stylish moves. Redding, being the showman that he was, albeit one who wasn’t afraid to show genuine emotion, would be more inclined onstage to fall on the ground in tent-revival ecstasy and rip those snazzy suits he wore right off his body. And if he could have, he would have plunged his sweaty hand deep into his chest cavity and pulled out his still beating heart for all in the audience to see.

Nothing like that happened at the 1967 Monterey Pop Festival, which served as Redding’s coming-out party. Still, his raw energy, infectious smile and powerful drive, presented without the slightest bit of guile, left no doubt to anyone in America, including those who had no idea who he was before that monumental event, that he could deliver the goods live.

But, what was it exactly that set tongues wagging from sea to shining sea about this tall, gangly African-American soul singer from the South? Was it that his singing, at once soulful and pleading, before exploding with joy and inexhaustible emotion, was so passionate and honest that it simply couldn’t be ignored? Could it be that he was one of the most physical and hardest working of all soul and R&B men, James Brown included, and that he always wore his heart on his sleeve, wringing every drop of blood, sweat and tears out of every song he did and never reaching that point where he just simply gave out?

Yes, yes and, again, yes, but Redding was doing this long before Monterey. In fact, California had witnessed his power to galvanize an audience the previous year, when Redding brought his own band to Los Angeles’s Whisky A Go Go and turned the place inside out, as the two-CD, 28-song Live on the Sunset Strip points out in such strikingly rich sound and unadulterated realism – all the good-natured between-song chatter, crowd applause and riot-inciting introductions that yell out “Are you ready for star time?” transporting you back that hot, sweaty club.

In 1966 having marked a turning point for Redding in terms of national, and perhaps international, exposure even before Monterey, he was at the top of his game when these recordings were made. What sets them apart from other live recordings of the time that Redding made with the Bar-Keys or Booker T. & the MGs was the simple fact that … well, those famed backing bands weren’t there and Redding’s own hand-picked unit was. For that alone, this release might be considered a historical artifact.

But, holy God, don’t believe for a second that that is all there is to the lively, combustible Live on the Sunset Strip, which features three start-to-finish, guns-a-blazing sets in their entirety. Backed by tight, radiant horns and full-bodied instrumentation that bleeds with him when he bleeds and rejoices when he’s ready to summon angels from heaven, Redding tears through multiple covers of The Rolling Stones’ “Satisfaction” (Disc 1and Disc 2) and stomps (in the best way possible) gleefully all over The Beatles’ “A Hard Day’s Night” (only on Disc 2), while injecting “Respect,” the song made famous by Aretha Franklin that he wrote, with a lethal dose of testosterone. And he huffs and puffs his way through three powerhouse performances of “I Can’t Turn You Loose,” each one leaving you more breathless than the last, and pleads, or perhaps “prays” is a better word, expressively for second chances in “Just One More Day,” three gripping versions of “Chained and Bound” and “These Arms Of Mine.”

Speaking of Brown, Redding embraces “Papa’s Got a Brand New Bag” in Set 2 of Show 3 on Disc 2, stopping midway when the mood strikes him and then starting again, adding his own lyrics, in an improvised throwdown that includes a jazz-flavored sax solo that fits perfectly and unstoppable, tasty grooves that never once let up. When Redding asks the crowd if they’re tired and they answer, “No,” you can’t help but scream in agreement, even while reading the detailed and smartly written, well-researched liner notes by Ashley Kahn in the accompanying booklet, a great color photo of Redding flanked by go-go dancers adding to the overall experience.

Thrilling to the absolute last note, Live on the Sunset Strip is a must-have for any Redding fan and should be required listening for today’s soul and R&B pretenders. This is how it’s done, kids.

-         -  Peter Lindblad