Ultimate Supergroup: Part 1

It's a pub conversation had many times; who'd be in the ultimate supergroup?
Most real life attempts have failed to reach the heights the collective talent merits.

CSNY? Live, and in their heyday, certainly. But nothing on Deja Vu would displace a song from "Tonight's The Night" or "On The Beach".

Cream? Yes, but given the artistic output of the individual members post-Cream, I'd question the 'super-ness'.

Temple Of The Dog? Don't really count as they only really became a supergroup in retrospect. At the time, Pearl Jam hadn't yet broken and Soundgarden hadn't fully scaled the heights they would go on to do.

The Travelling Wilbury's? The ultimate in star power, but seriously with this much talent, did anything that they produced even approach the back catalogue work of these behemoths?

Given all that here's my attempt at the ultimate supergroup line up. I figured there were 3 ways to do this.
1. Pick the best player at each position
2. Pick your favourite player at each position
3. Try to create a balanced line up that might actually work in real life.

Approach 1 would naturally bias toward modern players as teaching methods and equipment, in addition to the general level of technique have got higher.

Approach 2 is the easiest by far.

Approach 3 seems almost impossible given what a fickle beast band chemistry is.

Naturally I'm going with approach 2, and I'll attempt a light sprinkling of 3.

Up first: drums

If you did a poll of rock fans I would imagine the John Bonham would win this slot by a landslide.
However my pick is another legendary wild man, Keith Moon.

(photo from thewho.com)

Was he a technically 'correct' drummer, no. Did he play 'correctly', no. Did he constantly overplay trying to grab the lime light? Absolutely.

But, oh what playing. The energy, the power, the inventiveness. By far my favourite drummer to listen to, he sounds like every 8 year old's dream of the Muppet's Animal brought to life.

It won't be dull with Moon manning the drum stool.

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Iron Maiden & Killswitch Engage: Live at the O2 Review

One of the glaring gaps in my live music experience was filled on Friday night, after catching Iron Maiden at the O2 in London.
Before the main event though, support was provided by a band I'd happily pay to watch a headline set by, Killswitch Engage.
The Massachusetts natives hit the stage at 1930, tearing into "Strength Of Mind" to a decent reception. Given that everyone was there for Maiden, the arena was far fuller than normal for an opening act, indicative of the quality of the metalcore pioneers.

The power of their performance and material really struck me at the end of the 2nd track "A Bid Farewell" and the beginning of the following song, "Hate By Design". The two guitars of Adam Dutkiewicz and Joel Stroetzel, along with the bass of Mike D'Antonio all locked in on the same riff, doubling and then tripling for a visceral audio punch.
" My Last Serenade" from the seminal "Alive Or Just Breathing" was a mid set highlight, but…

Teenage Fanclub - Live At The Barrowlands

As previously mentioned, there was a certain sadness attached to this run of gigs by Bellshill's finest. My fear was that the imminent departure of Gerry Love would change the atmosphere from one of celebration to regret. Fortunately this was not to be the case. Whilst the atmosphere WAS different from a normal Fannies gig, that had more to do with the set list and personnel on stage.

Billed as 'The Creation Years- Songs From 1994-1997', this was exactly as advertised. What we got was "Grand Prix" and "Songs From Northern Britain", (SFNB), top to tail and in order.

Given that those two albums are the finest work the band produced, there were no complaints from me. What it did highlight was the difference between a live show and an album in terms of sequencing. Whereas most gigs will build to a big finish, "Grand Prix" for example finishes with "Hardcore/Ballad", a mash up of the early raw sound cutting immediately into a heartfelt sol…

A Musical Epiphany: Bruce Springsteen

Have you ever struggled to understand the appeal of an artist?

In the case of Bruce Springsteen I was in this camp until August 2002. I appreciated that he was a significant figure in music, and enjoyed some of his hits, "Born To Run" and "Thunder Road" in particular. "Born To Run" and "Greatest Hits" were the only albums of his I owned, and found the almost religious fervour of his most passionate devotees baffling.

All that changed in early August 2002 when on the basis of many positive reviews at the time I bought his just released, (9/11 addressing & E-Street Band reuniting), album "The Rising". I was walking the dog, listening on headphones, and had found the first 10 tracks, enjoyable, if not spectacular. Track 11,"Mary's Place", changed all that. The old time gospel hall feel with it's saxophone licks caught my attention. I wasn't prepared for what happened at 3:34 on "...drop the needle and pray...…

Neil Young - Songs For Judy - Album Review

Whilst Shakey's new output has been patchy to say the least over the last few years, the Neil Young Archives keep dispensing the goodness. After "Hitchhiker" last year we've already had "Roxy: Tonight's The Night Live" in 2018. Now we get a 23 track, 22 song single disc of solo live Neil with a difference.

A mono soundboard mix recorded on cassette and then transferred to reel-to reel for posterity from a 1976 U.S. tour by photographer/guitar tech Joel Bernstein. In conjunction with his friend Cameron Crowe, (yes, that Cameron Crowe) they compiled the best versions that comprise this release.

It is a real treat. The track listing is superb with plenty of lesser known gems alongside the staples. "White Line", which didn't finally appear on record until 1990's superb "Ragged Glory".

"Human Highway" which Neil introduces with a comment about the abortive attempts to get it recorded.

"Give Me Strength" which surf…

Def Leppard - Live In Glasgow

Musical trends come and go, but when you've sold as many albums as Def Leppard you are to a certain extent immune from the shifting sands of the taste makers.

Never a band beloved by the music press, the rock legends have always relied on their craft to find them the fans, rather than the hype machine.

Having last seen them as one of 40'000 at their homecoming gig in Sheffield on 6th June 1993, I was looking forward to seeing if they still had 'it'.

The answer is a resounding yes. From the minute Phil Collen emerged into a red spotlight to play the opening riff to "Women" it was clear that this was going to be good. The band sounded fantastic, the guitars squealing, Joe Elliot's voice still husky and the layered harmonies hitting the spot.

This tour was billed as "Hysteria 2018" and was the first time other than their 2013 Las Vegas residency that they'd played the 25 million selling album in full. This was not false advertising.

"Women&q…

Best Of 2018 - Redux Springsteen On Broadway Review

A short series of posts looking at the albums that either arrived too late, or I discovered through other peoples 'best of' lists, that I feel warrant discussion in the 'Best Of 2018'.

Next up,

Springsteen On Broadway

This double CD came along in December as the complete soundtrack to the Netflix recording of the Broadway show.

I had managed to avoid any spoilers about the show, other than picking up the general vibe that it was good. It was therefore a surprise that it was unlike any other Springsteen album, indeed a show and not a concert. More monologue than songs it is nonetheless a fascinating document and a must listen/watch for any music fan.

Using some of the material from his autobiography to take us on a journey through his life in word and song with sincerity and good humour, this is an enjoyable ride. Are any of the versions of songs here the definitive versions? Not really, but that is not the point. The unique format is the selling point. If you want classic …

In Defence Of....."Outlaw Pete"

On a recent episode of the Set Lusting Bruce podcast, host Jesse Jackson along with guests Chris Bloom and Tim Arnold ranked their five top opening tracks from Bruce Springsteen albums. Whilst the show was as enjoyable as ever I couldn't help but note the universal disdain for the epic opener from 2009's "Working On A Dream", "Outlaw Pete". A response was required, so here we go....

Let's deal with the elephant in the room first, KISS. As a Brit KISS were never the big deal here that they were in the US. In fact before doing some research for this post, the only KISS song I'd ever heard was "Crazy, Crazy Nights". The similarity of the melody line from "Outlaw Pete" and "I Was Made For Loving You" was therefore not something that had ever bothered me as I'd not heard the KISS track until about 10 minutes ago!

I'm not going to try a claim there is no similarity, or to pass judgement on whether it was intentional or …

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