So it's been a while

Hey there, readers! Or whoever looks at this blog anymore. I don't know. I still get hits for this thing.

As you might've noticed, I haven't been posting a lot on this blog in recent years. Prior to my obit on Peter Green, I had only posted here once about Neil Peart. There's several reasons why I'm not posting here as much as I used to but I'm still writing. So let's break this down into several parts.


1. Lack of material- in the early years of my blog, I was posting things here like crazy- keeping you all informed about what was going on in the music world. I also used this for ways to promote myself as a writer. As the years have gone by, I've gotten a little lazier or feel that I've posted about my favorite albums and musicians oh so many times. I gave up on anniversary articles because I wasn't getting the hits and because of the amount of work it required. So without those, the blog has become a place for me to review new things and post about when musicians pass away.

2. My other writing job- I've been a volunteer writer for Pop Culture Beast since 2017 after discovering the Rock Solid podcast (hosted by Pat Francis) after Survivor contestant David Wright appeared on an episode. With PCB, I'm able to get thing from the record label to review. Ideally, I'd like to have my reviews posted here too but I'm always afraid to post one article in two places- as WordPress might pick up on it being plagiarism. I figured maybe I could review new things on PCB and come back here to share my thoughts on what's going on in the music world. However, I just never get around to it or feel that once someone posts it somewhere- it isn't worth it.

3. My podcast- since September of last year, I been hard at work with Albums Uncovered, a revamp of my pre-recorded college radio show in which I discussed classic albums celebrating anniversaries. I've really been enjoying it but it's a lot of work.

So that's the easiest way I can explain why I don't post here as much. Though let me get this straight: I'll keep posting stuff here. Perhaps every few months, I can share the links to my posts on PCB or episodes of AU.  I  also want to keep doing the Year in Review write ups as well.

While most of this post has been me rambling about stuff, I just want anyone who happens to stop by here and wonder why the decrease in activity- this is why.

For now, I'll lend you all a few links to things I've written so far this year related to music- along with the URL to AU.

Articles
Melody Makers Movie/App Review
Harry Nilsson's The Point Blu Ray Review
Peter Green- The End of the Game Reissue Review
Sir Lord Baltimore- The Complete Studio Recordings Review
X- First Four Albums on Vinyl Review
Bob Dylan- Rough and Rowdy Ways Album Review
The Residents- Metal, Meat and Bone Album Review

Albums Uncovered Libsyn Website

Peter Green dead at 73

Peter Allen Greenbaum

October 29, 1946 - July 25, 2020

Peter Green, guitarist and co-founding member of Fleetwood Mac, died yesterday at the age of 73. A statement released yesterday says that Green passed away peacefully in his sleep. 

Born in a Jewish family in Peckham, London, England, Green started playing guitar professional by the age of 15. After playing in and out of bands throughout the 1960s, he landed a spot in John Mayall's Bluesbreakers- replacing Eric Clapton in October 1965. By 1967, Green left to form his own blues band- with Bluesbreaker bandmate drummer Mick Fleetwood joining him. Along with guitarist Jeremy Spencer and bassist John McVie, Fleetwood Mac were formed- with Green taking the name from the band's rhythm section of Fleetwood and McVie (although at the time of their formation, McVie wasn't ready to join just yet- technically making bassist Bob Brunning the original bassist). 

Shortly after the release of their debut album, the band brought in a third guitarist Danny Kirwan. As a five piece band with three guitarists, Fleetwood Mac stood out amongst their peers. As a musician, Green would write several of the band's early hits such as "Oh Well," "Albatross", "The Green Manalishi" and "Black Magic Woman"- with those last two later being covered by Judas Priest and Santana respectively. However, Green would leave the band in May 1970. In March of that year, the band were on tour in Europe. While in Munich, it's been said that Green attended a party at a commune- where he took LSD. Many see this point as Green's decline in mental health. Soon after leaving the band, Green would released an instrumental debut album The End of the Game in 1970.  In the years after leaving Fleetwood Mac, Green found himself in psychiatric hospitals. There was also an incident where Green held his accountant David Simmons at gunpoint.  In the late 1970s, Green was diagnosed with schizophrenia and underwent electroconvulsive therapy. 

In 1979, Green went back recording- starting with In The Skies. In the late 1990s, Green would form the Peter Green Splinter Group- with some help from musicians Nigel Watson and Cozy Powell. The band would perform and record from 1997 to 2004. For the rest of his life, Green kept a low profile while also agreeing to the occasional interview. 

In his life, Green was married once to Jane Samuels from 1978 to 1979. They would have one daughter, Rosebud- who was born in 1978. 

Neil Peart dead at 67

Neil Ellwood Peart

September 12, 1952 - January 7, 2020

Neil Peart, drummer for Canadian power trio Rush, passed away earlier this week on Tuesday. The news was confirmed by spokesman Elliot Mintz- who is also known for his association with John Lennon and Yoko Ono. According to Mintz, Peart died after a private three and a half year battle with brain cancer. Peart was 67. 

Peart was born in Hamilton, Ontario to Glen and Betty Peart. He was the first of four children- with Peart's siblings being Danny, Judy and Nancy. At a young age, Peart had an interest in music. When Peart was 13, his parents bought him a pair of drumsticks- with Peart's parents promising their son a drum kit if he was still practicing after one year. By age 14, Peart had earned his first drum kit. Peart struggled in finding any success in his first few years as a drummer. At 18, he moved to London for a year and a half but with no luck. In 1974, Peart was asked by a friend of his to audition for a band called Rush. Their original drummer, John Rutsey, had just left the band and they were looking for a replacement. Peart auditioned for future bandmates bassist Geddy Lee and guitarist Alex Lifeson. In the end, Lee and Lifeson decided to hire Peart- officially joining the band on July 29, 1974. For the next four decades, this line-up would stick together. In Rush, Peart contributed his top-notch drumming skills to complicated pieces such as "2112," "Tom Sawyer," and "YYZ" just to name a few. Peart also served as a lyricist for the band, with his influences coming from the work of philosopher/author Ayn Rand and science fiction. 

While Rush's classic line up would stay together until 2015, there was brief hiatus between 1997 to 2001. In 1997 shortly after the band's Test For Echo tour had concluded in August 1997, Peart's 19-year-old daughter Selena was killed in a single-car accident. Just ten months later in June 1998, Peart's common-law wife Jackie Taylor succumbed to her battle with cancer. Given his tragedy, Peart took a sabbatical and traveled around America for a long time- which was documented in his book Ghost Rider: Travel on the Healing Road. By 2002, Rush were back with their next album Vapor Trails. The band would continue to tour until 2015 when the band quietly retired. 

Peart is survived by his wife of 19 years Carrie Nuttall and their daughter Olivia (born 2009). 

Top 30 Favorite Albums of the 2010s

This is a simple post just to bump this year's total number of blog posts to 10.

With this being the end of a decade, I decided to rank my favorite album in the 2010s. I used the website Topsters2 to make the picture. Enjoy.

1. David Bowie- Blackstar
2. Bob Dylan- Tempest
3. David Bowie- The Next Day
4. Iggy Pop- Post Pop Depression
5. Judas Priest- Firepower
6. Accept- Blood of the Nations
7. Uriah Heep- Into the Wild
8. Van Halen- A Different Kind of Truth
9. Rush- Clockwork Angels
10. Paul McCartney- New
11. Judas Priest- Redeemer of Souls
12. Riot- Immortal Soul
13. Uriah Heep- Living the Dream
14. Iron Maiden- The Book of Souls
15. Black Star Riders- All Hell Breaks Loose
16. Alice Cooper- Welcome 2 My Nightmare
17. Riot V- Unleash the Fire
18. Kiss- Monster
19. Accept- Blind Rage
20. Riot V- Armor of Light
21. Scorpion Child- Scorpion Child
22. Black Star Riders- The Killer Instinct
23. Scorpion Child- Acid Roulette
24. The Who- WHO
25. Slash- Slash
26. Black Star Riders- Heavy Fire
27. W.A.S.P.- Golgotha
28. Black Star Riders- Another State of Grace
29. Lucifer's Friend- Black Moon
30. Paul McCartney- Egypt Station

2019: Year In Review

2019 Year in Review

Even though my blog is now ten years old, I haven’t been posting here as much as I used to. I’m posting more on Pop Culture Beast, which I like. I’ve been kind of busy this year, I guess. However, I love posting my Year in Review articles and here’s the next one. Overall, this was an okay year for new releases.

NEW ALBUMS

  

Lucifer’s Friend

Black Moon

Rating: ****

            Now four years since reuniting, German hard rockers Lucifer’s Friend released Black Moon this year. Serving as the follow up to 2016’s Too Late to Hate, Black Moon is a superior album in both production and variety of songs. While Too Late to Hate wasn’t a bad album, it wasn’t a perfect album. With their second reunion album, the band came up with a new batch of tunes- going through their variety of styles during their original incarnation. With that, Black Moon makes for an enjoyable nostalgic trip.

Highlights: Call the Captain, Black Moon, Freedom, Palace of Fools, Black Moon

  

Hollywood Vampires

Rise

Rating: ***

            Following up their self-titled debut album from 2015, supergroup Hollywood Vampires released their sophomore effort. Whereas their debut was almost all cover tunes, Rise is a mostly all originals. While the debut was an album filled will faithful renditions of classic rock tunes, at least there was a concept and theme for it. With Rise, the tunes aren’t bad but they aren’t very memorable. While I respect what Alice, Joe and Johnny are doing- this was mediocre at best.

Highlights: Who’s Laughing Now, Rise, People Who Died

  

Black Star Riders

Another State of Grace

Rating: ****

            Serving as the follow up to 2017’s Heavy Fire, Another State of Grace is yet another killer album from Black Star Riders. The Thin Lizzy spin off band have made yet another great album- jam packed will ten new hard rockers. This album is a little more similar to The Killer Instinct in that the band seems to be drifting away from the Lizzy sound. Musically, it sounds like a Lizzy album but there’s some diversity here with the instruments used and lyrical content.

Highlights: Tonight the Moonlight, Another State of Grace, In the Shadow of the War Machine, Poisoned Heart

 

Iggy Pop

Free

Rating: *** ½

            While nowhere near as good as 2016’s Post Pop Depression, Iggy Pop’s latest album sees him experimenting with jazz. Pop’s voice sounds great and suites the music extremely well. Still, it isn’t a perfect album as it does fizzle out towards the end. While I personally prefer Post Pop Depression, I can appreciate Free for not being a retread of it.

Highlights: James Bond, Sonali, Glow in the Dark

 

Ringo Starr

What’s My Name?

Rating: ***

            With each of Ringo’s album, he follows a very simple formula. While not a bad album, What’s My Name is no different than Ringo’s previous albums in the last ten or twenty years. Still, you got to give the men kudos for still making music all these years later.

Highlights: Grow Old With Me

 

The Who

WHO

Rating: ****

FAVORITE ALBUM OF THE YEAR

            13 years after the somewhat underwhelming Endless Wire, the Who released a brand new studio album. The album, simply titled WHO, is a surprisingly consistent batch of songs. While Roger Daltrey and Pete Townshend are the only members left in the band, the two veteran rockers still deliver a great album- which range from hard rockers to ballads. As with modern day albums, the production is too loud. Still, this is an all-around good album from the Who.

Highlights: All of this Music, Ball and Chain, Detour, Break the News, I Don’t Wanna Get Wise

RANK

1.     The Who- WHO

2.     Black Star Riders- Another State of Grace

3.     Lucifer’s Friend- Black Moon

4.     Iggy Pop- Free

5.     Hollywood Vampires- Rise

6.     Ringo Starr- What’s My Name?

REISSUES

The Residents

pREServed Edition Series

The Residents continued their pREServed Edition Series this year with a plethora of new entries. Below are the releases that came out and the hyperlinks will lead you to my reviews on Pop Culture Beast.

Eskimo and The Commercial Album

The Mole Box

Eskimo Deconstructed (not part of the series)

God in Three Persons

Not Available and A Nickel If Your Dick’s This Big (WB Album/BS)

Iggy Pop

Zombie Birdhouse

Rating: ****

            Iggy’s long out-of-print 1982 effort was finally given a reissue on CD for the first time since 2003. After being dropped by Arista Records, Iggy was given one last chance on Chris Stein’s Animal Records Label. The album did nothing and Iggy wouldn’t record again until 1986. As a result, Zombie Birdhouse is a forgotten album. Now this isn’t The Idiot or Lust For Life. Nevertheless, this is a neat batch of tunes and an underrated album.

Highlights: Run Like a Villain, Life of Work, The Villagers, Bulldozer, The Horse Song

The Beatles

Abbey Road

Original Album rating: *****

Remix rating: ***

Session tracks: ****

            Following up the White Album box set from last year, Abbey Road was next to be reissued. While my all time favortie album by any artist, the super deluxe edition of this album is okay at best. The new remix offers nothing new and doesn’t sound too different from the original mix. The bonus discs of studio outtakes save the set from being a bust, along with the informative hardback book.

Mick Ronson

Only After Dark: The MainMan Years

Rating (for all albums): ****

For my review on this set, click here.

LIVE

Riot

The Official Bootleg Box Set Vol. 3

Rating: ****

For my review on this set, click here.

RIP

Peter Tork- bassist for the Monkees

Scott Walker- singer/songwriter

Paul Raymond- keyboardist for UFO

Roky Erickson- singer/songwriter (13^th Floor Elevators)

Philomena Lynott- mother of Thin Lizzy’s Phil Lynott

Eddie Money- singer

Ric Ocasek- guitarist/singer for the Cars

Ginger Baker- drummer for Cream

Neil Innes- comedian/musician (Rutles)

Ginger Baker dead at 80

Peter Edward "Ginger" Baker

August 19, 1939 - October 6, 2019

Drummer Ginger Baker, best known as one third of Cream, died today. The news comes one week after Baker's family announced that the drummer was "critically ill" in the hospital. While it was reported that Baker was "hold his own" days later, Baker eventually passed away. Baker was 80 years old. 

Born in Lewisham, South London, Baker earned his nickname Ginger given the red color of his hair. While athletic as a child, Baker took up drumming when he was 15 years old- taking lessons from British jazz drummer Phil Seamen. By 1963, he was a member of the Graham Bond Organisation- an R&B/jazz/rock band.  The bassist for GBO was Jack Bruce. In 1966, Baker and Bruce left the band- joining up with former Yardbirds guitarist Eric Clapton. Together, the three musicians formed Cream- with the name referring to the fact that they were the "cream of the crop." In their two years together, Cream would released four albums- Fresh Cream (1966), Disraeli Gears (1967), Wheels of Fire (1968) and Goodbye (1969). The band would have hits with songs such as "I Feel Free," "Sunshine of Your Love," "Strange Brew" and "White Room." While the band would split in 1968, the trio would reunite in 1993 for the Rock n Roll Hall of Fame induction and in May 2005 for a series of four shows at the Royal Albert Hall. This was followed by three gigs at the Madison Square Garden in October of that year. 

Following Cream, Baker was involved in various different projects. In 1969, he and Clapton joined up with Traffic's Steve Winwood and Family's Ric Grech. This became the short lived supergroup Blind Faith, who released only one album in August 1969. In the early 1970s, Baker formed another short lived band- Ginger Baker's Air Force. During the early1970s, Baker stayed away from rock music. Instead, Baker experimented with jazz fusion and Afrobeat. From 1971-73,  Baker spent time is Africa- which is documented in the Tony Palmer directed movie Ginger Baker in Africa. He would also collaborate with Nigerian musician Fela Kuti during this time. 

By the mid 1970s, Baker returned to rock music- join brothers Adrian and Paul Gurvitz- best known for their work with short lived bands such as Gun and Three Man Army. With Baker, the Baker Gurvitz Army was formed. From 1974 to 1976, the band release three albums- with the band splitting after their manager died in a plane crash. In the early 1980s, Baker was briefly a member in space rock legends Hawkwind. 

While respected as a musician, Baker was notorious for his temper- which is shown in the 2012 documentary Beware of Mr. Baker. In recent years, Baker's health declined. In 2013, he was diagnosed with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease- coming from his years of smoking. In 2016, it was announced that Baker was recovering from open heart surgery. In his life, Baker was married four times. He is survived by three children- two daughters, Nettie and Leda (born  1960 and 1968) and a son, Kofi (born 1969).  

In Memoriam: Eddie Money (1949-2019) and Ric Ocasek (1944/9-2019)

This weekend has seen the passing of two classic rock icons. I've decided to put them here in one blog post.

Edward Joseph Mahoney (aka Eddie Money)

March 21, 1949 - September 13, 2019

Singer Eddie Money died on Friday morning at his house in Los Angeles, California. As for the cause of death, Money is said to have died from complications of a recent heart valve replacement. Just several weeks ago, it had been announced that Money was diagnosed with stage 4 esophageal cancer. Money is said to have received the diagnosis in the fall of 2018, which was shown in an episode of Money's reality show Real Money on AXS TV the night before he passed. Money was 70 years old. 

Born Edward Mahoney, Money found success during the late 1970s and most of the 1980s. His self titled debut, released in 1977, featured the hit singles "Two Tickets to Paradise" and "Baby Hold On." With the launch of MTV in the early 1980s, Money's music videos for hits such as "Shakin'," "I Think I'm In Love" and "Take Me Home Tonight" were in constant rotation. For years, Money struggled with drug and alcohol addictions. In 2001, Money is said to have joined a 12-steps-program. By 2003, he was clean and sober. However, Money was a long-time smoker- which likely contributed to his cancer diagnosis. 

Money was married to Laurie Harris. The two wed in 1989 and would have five children- Zachary, Jessica, Joseph, Desmond and Julian. In recent years, Money had Jessica, Desmond and Julian members of his touring band. Just last year, the Money family started their own reality show Real Money. At this point in time, the show is currently in its second season. AXS TV have announced that they will continue to air the remaining two episodes in the season for the rest of September. 

Richard Theodore Otcasek

March 23, 1944/1949 - September 15, 2019

Musician Ric Ocasek, best known as the singer/rhythm guitarist for the Cars, was found dead in his home in New York City. NYPD officers are said to have responded to a 911 call at around 3 pm ET for an unconscious and unresponsive male. Ocasek was pronounced dead at the scene. At this time, the cause of death is unknown. Ocasek was 70, although other reports are claiming he was 75. 

Ocasek was one fifth of new wave rockers the Cars. Formed originally in Boston in 1976, the band consisted of Ocasek, guitarist Elliot Easton, bassist Benjamin Orr, drummer David Robinson and keyboardist Gregg Hawkes. The band's 1978 self-titled debut album catapulted the band to stardom- featuring hits such as "Just What I Needed," "Good Times Roll," and "You're All I've Got Tonight." In 1980s, the band's popularity increased with the launch of MTV. With this, the band scored several hits such as "Let's Go," "Shake It Up," "Drive" and "You Might Think" just to name a few. The band would release six studio albums before they split in 1987. Despite Orr's death in 2000, the band reunited in 2010- which resulted in the reunion album Move Like This in 2011. Along with his career with the Cars, Ocasek had a fairly successful solo career. In 1986, he scored a solo hit with "Emotions in Motion." In 2018, the Cars were inducted into the Rock N Roll Hall of Fame- marking the last time the band would perform together. 

In his life, Ocasek was married three times. He was married briefly to his first wife during the 1960s. He married his second wife, Suzanne, in 1971. In 1989, Ocasek married for a third time to model Paulia Porizkova- a woman he had first met on the set of the music video for the Cars' "Drive" in 1984. They were married until 2018- when Porizkova announced that they had separated.  Ocasek had six sons- two with each of his wives: Christopher (b. 1964), Adam (b. 1970), Eron (b. 1973), Derek (b. 1981), Jonathan (b. 1993) and Oliver (b. 1999).