Mick Jones and Kelly Hansen talk Foreigner

Been wondering what happening in the Foreigner camp?  With “Can’t Slow Down”, the first new release to feature the band’s name since 1995, recently released in the States this interview with stalwart Mick Jones and new lead singer Kelly Hansen should answer all your questions.

Broadcast on the GTFM Rock Show on the 11th November 2009 it features the pair talking about the new album, some 500 live dates worldwide undertaken since Hansen was recruited and the legacy of the band too, including an especially interesting piece where Hansen speaks of the difficulties in delivering some Foreigner classics.

CLICK HERE TO LISTEN

Mean Streak – Metal Slave

Details: 2009, Black Lodge Records, CD

A good, solid Scandinavian melodic metal effort that with the band’s name may hint at a bit of Y&T appreciation but in reality has more similarities to fellow mainland European bands Helloween, Hammerfall and Primal Fear whilst offering regular nods to the British metal gods of Maiden, Priest and Saxon.  Fairly generic stuff then you may think, and spotting titles like “Raise Your Hands”, “Rock City” and “Metal Slave” won’t change those intial thoughts but its all original stuff rather than retreads of old chestnuts and actually is all done rather well.

“Whom The Gods Love Die Young” provides an impressive welcome, emerging out of a sound effect laden intro tape that should be good in the live arena before “Battle Within” recalls Saxon with a few added Maiden-like backing vocals and hints of Iron Maiden again make themselves evident in the “Aces High” alike opening of “Eyes Of A Stranger” (another recycled song title!) which turns out to be a more impressive song than initial listens suggested.  Within a couple of spins I found I was looking forward to this and appreciating some more than decent guitar work.

The Priest-like thumping rhythm of “The Seventh Sign” doesn’t quite hit the same spot which the preceding songs achieved but doesn’t mark the start of a major downturn either, instead it introduces something of a mini Priest tribute section with “Raise Your Hands” something you could well imagine Halford delivering in post-British Steel era. The slower tempo of “Sin City Lights” with it distinctly Scorpions flavoured chorus works well mid-album as something a bit different, “Rock City” ticks the box in terms of a song possessing a radio friendly chorus and whilst “Sinner And Saints” won’t have Coverdale thinking he should have reversed his lyrics on the similarly titled Whitesnake ditty of many years past it does provide a finale that will encourage respins.

I guess it would be easy to dismiss this as run of the mill Euro-metal that in all honesty offers little new, guilty of lacking originality being the main critism one could level at Mean Streak.  However there is a phrase that goes “if it ain’t broke don’t fix it” and the four piece apply this principle well on this album simply offering a disc’s worth of decent material that the old 80’s metal fan in me can’t help but enjoy.

Highlight: Eyes Of A Stranger

Score: 3/5

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BL

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GTFM Rock Show Preview

This week, we feature the new album from Bon Jovi called ‘The Circle’, and we have an interview from Mick Jones and Kelly Hansen from Foreigner, talking about the new album ‘Can’t Slow Down’. We’ve got copies of the new Status Quo DVD,’Live in Montreux’ to give away as they begin their 31 date UK tour and new music this week from Muse, Babylon Bombs, Transatlantic and Slayer, plus as usual Rock News from the Web and a listener chosen “Rare Track”.

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email DJ Andy Fox via rockshow@gtfm.co.uk

Listen live in the Pontypridd, South Wales area on 107.9 FM

or on the Internet by pointing your media player at

http://qtss.lrc.glam.ac.uk:8000/gtfmmp3

——

The GTFM ROCK SHOW with ANDY FOX,

22.00 to 24.00 every Wednesday

Y&T and Ron Keel live in Cardiff

The Globe, Cardiff

5th November 2009

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Y&T

After so many years of waiting, seeing Y&T in concert is becoming something of an annual event for me now, this being the third year running I’ve caught them… the second year running that they’ve come to Wales’ capital to play too and there aren’t many bands that do that!   Unencumbered as they are by the need to shoehorn new songs into the set there’s none of that disappointment about past favourites dropped here either as the agenda is to simply to deliver a crowd pleasing set to another packed Cardiff house.

Following a journey along the M4 that featured a consistent Bonfire Night firework display, I wasn’t quite expecting just how hot an atmosphere Y&T would create this time though.  We got a sweat on last year when they visited during the summer but with The Point now sadly closed this tighter venue in the Roath area of the City provided just as sweaty a spectacle as classic “Earthshaker” material was given a welcome airing alongside just about every other band hit even the casual Y&T fan would recognise.

Y&T do mix the set up though and again for me there was considerable pleasure too in the unexpected.  The excellent “Ten” era power ballad “Don’t Be Afraid Of The Dark” for example appeared on the set last year but was overlooked in place of a request from the crowd.  This time around it, along with a late set extended blues workout that saw Dave Meniketti dripping sweat and emotion in equal measures, was a personal highlight.  Welcome too were inclusions like “Hell Or High Water” and “I’ll Cry For You” and even “Hang ‘Em High” and whilst I would rather something else off the aforementioned “Earthshaker” than “Squeeze” (especially given it was punctuated with the dreaded drum solo) you can’t really deny bass-player Phil Kennemore his moment in the centre-stage spotlight… even if he didn’t quite have the voice left for some of the screams!

No… nothing new yet although a new album is promised for 2010 but value for money nevertheless.  Y&T are a perfect example of a band who have taken the time to come to the UK, visit more than just London and the odd outlying city on their way, and from the evidence of the last few times I’ve seen them on the back of that effort have once again built a decent and receptive following.   See you next year!

Support: Ron Keel

It would be unfair to fail to mention the appearance of Ron Keel in support of Y&T.  I’m not one to make a point of getting to a venue early enough for the support act these days but I was there in time to catch the full set from the Keel frontman and was mightily impressed.  Armed with just an acoustic guitar  he ran through a half hour set that pretty much spanned his whole career.  Inevitably “Because The Night” got the best reception and any man who faces a crowd with just an acoustic and his voice deserves some recognition but this set has had me reassessing a band I’d generally ignored.  A new Keel album is also due next year but a vinyl copy of “The Final Frontier” is now on my wants list!

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BL

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Slade – Live At The BBC

Details: 2009, Salvo, 2CD

It’s a bit disappointing that this release hasn’t drawn a bit more attention as for me it’s something of the crowning glory of what has been an impressive repackaging of the Slade back catalogue.  It’s an important release too given that much of the content is pretty rare, generally only appearing previously available on unauthorised releases. Most intriguing though it that whilst most Slade collections tend to begin around the time of that first hit single “Get Down And Get With It” this effectively ends at that point, instead charting the rise of one of Britain’s best loved bands as they grew from promising newcomers to regular number one securing outfit.

A two disc set featuring the same artwork conventions applied to the previous discs in the reissue programme (meaning it will sit nicely alongside them on the shelf!) the first disc concentrates solely on the rise of the band via studio sessions culled from the BBC archives.   Often including the DJ’s comments either pre-or post performance you are faced with the band still some years from hitting their stride yet proving particularly adept when interpreting others’ work.  Indeed there is a certain irony in the fact that the least familiar material also appears on those first two formative albums of theirs, although “Play It Loud” album centre piece “The Shape Of Things To Come” is both somewhat prophetic and again impressive, culled here from a March 1970 “Mike Harding’s Sounds Of The Seventies” show.  Set against that and the likes of “Gudbuy Gudbuy”, “Raven” and the evolving “Know Who You Are” are surprisingly appealing rendition’s of the Moodies’ “Night’s In White Satin”, Janis Joplin’s “Move Over” and The Beatles’ “Getting Better” amongst other more unexpected choices and even some period band jingles promoting the then listen-able BBC Radio 1.  Most welcome for me though is a straight run through of the John Sebastian ballad “Darling Be Home Soon”.  A beautiful song that graced “Slade Alive” too only here it benefits greatly from not having Noddy Holder belch mid song!

And “Slade Alive” needs a mention because anyone who like me rates that as one of rock music’s finest live platters is going to be delighted by the content of disc 2.  Recorded in August 1972 at the Beeb’s London situated Paris Theatre it’s an eleven song blast through a set a little evolved from the “Alive” running order but sharing much of its force and directness.   “Hear Me Calling” and “In Like A Shot” join that premier hit “Get Down And Get With It” as present on both but by now material like “Look Wot You Dun”, “Take Me Back ‘Ome” and that greatest of Slade singles “Coz I Luv You”, given a rabble rousing run-through here, demonstrate a step change in ability had or at least was taking place.  One which would see Slade dominate the upper echelons of the singles chart in the UK for much of the early to mid 70s and, perhaps less well remembered these days, produce a string of well worth hearing albums that prove them so much more than a chart act.

In short then, disc one’s an interesting completist set for those of us that have followed this reissue programme with interest.  Disc two though, like “Slade Alive”, is a must hear that demonstrates in one quick hit so much about what makes Slade one of the best rock bands the UK have produced.

Highlight: Coz I Luv You

Score: 4/5

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BL

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New Section

Rock Of Ages has never been a site about regurgitating Press Releases readily available elsewhere so that it looks like I’m posting something new regularly, and we’ve stuck steadfastly to the practice of finishing our reviews with a mark out of 5 rather than follow the worrying trend of numerous magazines and sites and steering away from offering a rating for fear of upsetting the PR people and cutting off the supply of promos. However, I hope you’ll forgive me the pleasure of introducing a new section where I get a bit “promotional” and attempt to blow my own trumpet a bit!

I’ve been fortunate over the past few months to get pitch some reissue ideas to a record company and in partnership with Lyadrive frontman, long time music industry exec and occasional Rock Of Ages contributor Nicholas John have seen some of those come to fruition… or at least the first one gets released tomorrow (with more to follow hopefully)!

If I could be so rude then to draw your attention to the “Sleeve Notes” section added to the right hand “Contents” list… you will find details not only of the release -  “LITTLE ANGELS” classic debut album “Don’t Prey For Me” – but details of other projects I’ve had some involvement in, information on the extent of my involvement and if wordpress continue to allow it, links to where you can buy the discs.

Advert over…

many thanks

Bill

UFO – Headstone

Details: 2009, EMI, CD

Released as a double-album in 1983, “Headstone” was originally a cobbling together of UFO’s so-called “greatest hits” with odd tracks taken from the band members’ other famous groups, with the added attraction of five previously-unreleased live tracks to force the die-hard fan (who already had all the other stuff) to shell out their hard-earned ackers. Strewth! Only a major record-company could’ve come up with such a dastardly plan!

It failed on all counts, except as an exercise in marketing. “Greatest Hits” in record company parlance means “the singles” and you’d have to dig deep to find any UFO fan who’d include “Young Blood” in any “Best Of” compilation. The inclusion of a Pete Frame Family Tree and attendant tracks by bands who had vague lineage with UFO members was spurious to say the least: The Scorps, MSG, (of course), Lone Star with Paul Chapman, Wild Horses with Neil Carter, Whitesnake’s “Fool For Your Lovin” featuring Bernie Marsden (well, OK, just)……why not Larry Wallis’ “Police Car” then?

Then you were left with (on the original Side 4 of the vinyl) five live tracks from the billed “farewell” show at Hammersmith Odeon in April 1983. And it’s these live tracks that this new version of “Headstone” is built upon, with an additional six tracks being added. As many people have pointed out, it’s not the whole show, but by now even a fair-weather UFO fan will have countless versions of “Doctor Doctor” and “Lights Out” to listen to, so that should not prove an issue here. I’m in two minds – on the one hand your money gets you a well-recorded, well-performed live album featuring some great cuts from the Chapman-era: on the other, it’s hard to see why EMI couldn’t have included this show in the recently-released six-disc “Official Bootleg” box-set.

The track-listing is as follows: We Belong To The Night, Let It Rain, Couldn’t Get It Right (better than the studio version), Electric Phase (actually recorded on another night), Doing It All For You, Long Gone, Chains Chains, Lonely Heart, Blinded By A Lie, No Place To Run and Mystery Train. For the record, Pete Way was gone by this point, his bass duties taken up by Paul Gray, but the band are on great form: I was somewhere in the circle at Hammersmith for this “last ever” gig, but had seen them at Bristol a week earlier and they were definitely putting on steam by the time they arrived in the capital.
History has shown that this proved to be no “farewell gig” but, in this guise, “Headstone” is a great, if not spectacular, live testament to the Chapman / Carter line-up.

Highlight: No Place To Run

Score: 4/5

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NJ

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GTFM Rock Show Preview

This week, we feature the new album from Winger called ”Karma”, and we’ll preview this weeks live show from Y&T at The Globe in Cardiff plus we’ve got tickets to be won to see that gig. New music comes from Bon Jovi, Joe Bonamassa and new super-group ‘Them Crooked Vultures‘ plus as usual Rock News from the Web and a ‘Rare Track’ chosen by Rock Show listeners.

——

email DJ Andy Fox via rockshow@gtfm.co.uk

Listen live in the Pontypridd, South Wales area on 107.9 FM

or on the Internet by pointing your media player at

http://qtss.lrc.glam.ac.uk:8000/gtfmmp3

——

The GTFM ROCK SHOW with ANDY FOX,

22.00 to 24.00 every Wednesday

Magnum live in Pontypridd

Muni Arts Centre, Pontypridd
1st November 2009

In the genre of music that those of us who visit this website love, it’s pretty obvious to me that the scene is underpinned by a series of bands who have had lengthy careers, studded with many classic albums. Just a browse through this site reveals many many references to the likes of Iron Maiden and UFO. Magnum can fall into this category too. For years Tony Clarkin has managed to pen gems such as Les Morts Dansant and Don’t Wake the Lion.

Both those were in the set list last night in Pontypridd, but they were conspicuous in a running order that was drawn almost exclusively from their last three albums. Here lies Magnum’s difficulty; I’m the first to complain when a band keeps the same set list year after year and for a while (albeit with variations thanks to tours celebrating the release of classic albums On a Storyteller’s Night and Wings of Heaven respectively) Magnum have probably been guilty of that.

Tony Clarkin, however, is not a man to rest on his laurels. His reason given for splitting Magnum in the mid 90s was that he was fed up of playing ‘Kingdom of Madness’ over and over again. Ironically that track made an appearance as last song of the encore, sending the punters home smiling. By removing most of the ‘classic’ songs such as ‘Sacred Hour’ and ‘How Far Jerusalem’, Clarkin has shown he doesn’t want Magnum to just end up being a nostalgia act. He’s making a statement that here is a band that’s still vibrant and viable in the present day. The easy way forward would be to take the shilling, play the classics, go down the road of the Sweet or ELO.

One of the advantages of refreshing the set was that the band seemed to be more engaged than on some recent tours. There have been times recently when I’ve seen a great, fantastic live act seem to go through the motions on occasion. Here, we had Clarkin looking healthier than he has done for years, and Bob Catley defying the onset of time to deliver his usual impeccable vocal performance. Is there another singer of his generation with the confidence to still take on his entire vocal range in a live setting? Mark Stanway had a smile on his face all night, and Al Barrow delivered some tasteful harmony vocals in addition to his usual solid bass playing.

So why do I feel ever so slightly uncomfortable with the gig?

Unfortunately, what it proved to me is that the older songs are what goes into making Magnum Magnum. That’s not to say that the new material is bad, but when sat next to the swaggering pomposity of ‘Les Morts Dansant’ the newer songs seem a little forced, like they are trying to imitate the classics of yesteryear without quite reaching the same peak. As ‘Don’t Wake the Lion’ builds to its crescendo, it does so with a certain inevitability, it’s a path well trod and a path that allows the song to flow as a seamless whole. The newer songs seem, in contrast, to be a little contrived, an attempt to replicate past glories yet slightly missing out; there’s no melodrama in the choruses in the same way that ‘Vigilante’ thunders from the amps, grabbing you by the throat and forcing you to engage.

So I find myself asking for that which I complained about earlier, more old songs.

Yet here is a band with a huge back catalogue. Albums such as The Eleventh Hour are hidden gems that have been sorely neglected for years. It’s not like Clarkin has to throw the baby out with the bathwater if Magnum are to revise their set list, there are plenty of ‘classic’ songs that haven’t received an airing for years. Throw in a couple of the newer songs by all means, but don’t neglect what went into making the band what it is today. Keep it vibrant, refresh the songs played, but bear in mind the band’s heritage. The energy that flows from both band and audience is ratcheted up to a level few bands can match when it comes to the older tracks. Without them the gig remains a good gig, but not a memorable gig.

I have to finish off with a final thought however; are my views coloured because I’m a fan? Am I biased because I remember their last ever gig before they split in the 90s? That is still the best gig I’ve ever been to; there was a band on fire belting out track after track, determined to go out on a high, willed on by an audience there to worship and pay homage to their heroes. How can they ever match that?

Perhaps they can’t, and perhaps that’s the problem. Perhaps without those memories I would appreciate what I have so much more. And yet my friend had no knowledge of the band, and his view of the gig was that, well, it was alright but all a bit one-paced.

He liked ‘Don’t Wake the Lion’ though, one of their classic songs; but he didn’t know it was a classic song until I told him. He did know it was a league above the newer tracks though, just by listening to it.

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BE

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Uriah Heep – Celebration

Details: 2009, Ear Music, CD

Effectively a compilation of the best of Uriah Heep, albeit re-recorded by the current line-up with a couple of new tracks added, to celebrate “40 Years Of Rock” from one of Britain’s most underrated bands. Too often dismissed as a second division outfit in comparison to the likes of Deep Purple, Black Sabbath and Led Zeppelin they were their equals at stages in their career and despite the original players, with the exception of the venerable Mick Box, now missing this collection demonstrates why.

There are a couple of niggles to get out of the way first with this though. Celebration or not, an album of re-recorded hits is becoming the new “acoustic album”. Instead of concentrating on new music its a risk free process of wheeling out the best of the back catalogue, giving them a modern work over and (hopefully) generating some decent sales. We’ll see more and more of these in the next few years I’ll wager but it can’t go unmentioned that the likes of Journey and Kiss gave their efforts away as bonus discs of new releases. Had this come as a bonus disc on last years majestic Heep comeback “Wake The Sleeper” I’d have been delighted. As a stand alone release though I can’t help but have some reservations.

Not in terms of the music of course. Hearing “Sunrise”, the timeless “Stealin’”, “Look At Yourself” or “The Wizard” amongst the twelve classics offered is something I imagine never to tire of although Heep have been careful here and kept largely to the early years. Other than resurecting “Sonic Origami” opener “Between Two Worlds” and a pair of tracks from the John Lawton fronted “Innocent Victim” album it’s all David Byron era material. To overlook “Abominog” for example is surprising although the performances are strong however and the overall impression any listen through leaves is definitely positive. Bernie Shaw, now a veteran of something like 25 years with the band, impresses on vocals where comparison to the original singer has seen many come off badly, whilst that dominant organ sound is a reminder of both the original draw of Heep and why “Wake The Sleeper” hit the spot so nicely. The two new tracks actually fit in well too. The more measured “Corridors Of Madness” posesses more substance than the bouncy, Magnum-esq opener “Only Human” but both again feature that organ driven sound recently rediscovered to such good effect.

However with plenty of mid-priced compilations out there featuring just about all the other tracks on here the question you must ask yourself is do you need the two new songs, are you desperate to hear the current line-up run through what’s predominantly an oldies set and do you need another version of “Easy Livin’”? If these answer is yes (at least to the first two) then you’ll be well sorted.

Highlight: Stealin’

Score: 3.5/5

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BL

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