Yes' Jon Anderson, Rick Wakeman and Trevor Rabin To Work Together?

I was answering a question on Quora about famous rock musicians who also wrote film scores and the first guy to come to mind was Trevor Rabin from the 80s (and most commercially successful) version of the band Yes.

After the release of very under rated Talk album and subsequent tour, Rabin pretty much packed it in as a touring rock and roller and turned to film scores. He has penned the soundtrack to 40 films since the mid 90s, including Armageddon, Snakes on a Plane and The National Treasure movies. Full list on Wikipedia here.

My impression from some interviews is that Rabin is happy doing film scores and had no intention of returning to rock and roll. However, the Wikipedia entry had these little tidbits:

According to an interview with Rick Wakeman on the 6 February 2010 edition of Wakeman's Planet Rock radio show there is a possibility of Wakeman, Rabin and Jon Anderson getting together to recording a new album. Rabin has already written some new material with Anderson, but the project hasn't yet been confirmed, as they are busy with other commitments.

On 9 July 2010 Rabin accompanied Yes at the Greek Theatre in Los Angeles and played the encore, Owner Of A Lonely Heart.

In an October 2010 interview, Rabin confirmed that he has finished recording his greatly anticipated instrumental solo album. He plans to release it in a few months time. He also states that Rick Wakeman, Jon Anderson and himself are 'Itching' to start recording an album.

OK so WHAT? I think the ultimate fuck you to Steve Howe would be for Jon Anderson to work with Rabin. As you may recall, Anderson had a very serious illness that kept him off the road for a long time, and instead of waiting for him to get better, the other guys did an end run and hired a tribute band singer to replace Anderson.

Reviews have been pretty good but mostly because the band is doing songs Anderson never wanted to play like Machine Messiah from the Drama album - the one Anderson didn't sing on.

There is also no love lost between Rabin and Howe. I think Howe has a major stick up his ass that Rabin took his place in Yes and drove the band to great commercial success.

So yeah, a band with Anderson, Rabin and Wakeman - Yes' best keyboardist (well besides Patrick Moraz) - would be a great big 'eat it' to the other guys and would be an interesting recall of the 80s when there were two Yes' - The Rabin Yes, and the Anderson Bruford Wakeman and Howe version.

The other thing that made my head spin was this note that Rabin joined the tribute band-singer version of Yes on Owner of a Lonely Heart! Again, WHAT? Along side Steve Howe. Lo and behold I found the fucker on YouTube and even from afar I can feel the tension between those two guitarists.

I will watch with great interest to see if this actually pans out or not.

Roger Daltrey had Throat Surgery Prior to Superbowl Gig

As I think about the recent announcement that the Black Eyed Peas will perform at the Superbowl soon, I find myself actually longing for the shitfest Who, Stones and Tom Petty performances of recent years.

It's a tough gig - it's all lip synced except the vocals and whatever they can shove a mic in front of after setting up the fireworks displays. For example, the Who gig was only Daltrey's mic and Pete's guitar, and I think the drums - I read that everything else was mimed.

My biggest beef was the song selection, which was basically CIS theme music but a lot of people bitched about Daltrey's voice. Turns out the dude had just gone through throat surgery to remove suspicious growths.

From Starpulse:

In a CBS TV interview at the beginning of December Daltrey revealed his voice wasn't "performing in a normal way" and friends put him in touch with master throat surgeon Steven Zeitel in Massachusetts in late 2009.

Daltrey says, "It was becoming hard work to sing... He (Zeitel) saw me and told me that he didn't like what he saw."

One week before Christmas in 2009, Daltrey went under the knife, according to RollingStone.com.

The rocker adds, "He took off what he could from the problem area on my vocal cord. He said it wasn't cancer, but it was pre-cancerous, and you have to keep an eye on it.

"(Now) I see him every time after I finish a tour and he swears that he'll keep me singing into my 80s. That might upset some people, but it keeps me happy."

So cut the Rog some slack and just bitch about Pete's bogus hat!

Vote for Rush Songs for 2011 Tour

From RushIsABand.com this week:

If you've kept in tune with the online Rush fan community over the last few tours, you are probably familiar with the Rush Petition website which was just revamped this week in preparation for the upcoming 2011 leg of Rush's Time Machine Tour. 


The site was the brainchild of BOS Music co-founder, Rush fan and RIAB reader Skip Daly and his partner-in-crime Al Horta. The two created the site as a means for Rush fans to voice their opinion on which Rush songs they wanted to hear live. It was first launched prior to the Vapor Trails tour back in 2001 and has been re-launched prior to every tour since then. 


The band has admitted in interviews that they are familiar with the site and have taken it into consideration when building out their setlists. From the revamped website: http://www.rushpetition.com

My votes were for Jacob's Ladder, The Weapon, Territories, Afterimage and Fly By Night.

What are yours?

Gerry Rafferty Dies - and Birds Fall From The Skies

Breaking news is that 70s singer songwriter Gerry Rafferty has passed away at age 63. Rafferty battled alcoholism for many years and died this morning after battling a long illness, according to Billboard.com.

In his heyday Rafferty had a few hits that I love to this day: Baker Street, Days Gone Down, and of course, Get It Right Next Time. Prior to going solo, his band Stealers Wheel had a hit with Stuck In The Middle.

The below video for Get It Right Next Time was one of the first videos I remember seeing as a kid, on a show called (I think) Friday Night Videos. I always thought Rafferty looked totally cool and still think the song is fantastic.

(THE MAN has a nasty habit of pulling Gerry Rafferty videos down so enjoy this while you can.)

I wrote about Rafferty a couple of years ago when rumor had it he had vanished. It was a weird mystery but ultimately fell into the Paul Is Dead camp.

But speaking of mysteries, why in the ever loving hell are dead birds raining over the southern United States? They must have heard Kim Kardashian's new single.

RIP Gerry Rafferty:

Roger Waters to Film London "The Wall" Shows

Various sources yesterday reported that Roger Waters will film all six upcoming London Wall shows for release on DVD. So, that probably narrows down which show David Gilmour will show up to by, oh about six.

This tour has been incredible and although I was only able to catch one performance, I found some excellent HD video of every song and was able to make my own DVD of the whole gig, which ought to tide me over under Waters' official release comes out, probably by next Christmas - my guess.

Here is one of the videos. It's a multi-camera edit from two or three different shows, synced with probably the best bootleg I have heard from the tour. Enjoy:

Peter Frampton To Play Frampton Comes Alive Next Year

As evidenced by KISS' Alive 35 tour, where the band played all of KISS Alive end to end, and shows like the current Roger Waters Wall tour, the hot thing right now is to dust off a classic album and play it live all the way through.

Matter of fact, that is what Rush is doing on its current tour, playing Moving Pictures end to end every night.

I think it's a great idea. Such care goes into the crafting and sequencing of albums (or at least that used to be the case), and if the whole piece is solid, then why not play it true to its released form?

Along those lines, Peter Frampton will celebrate the 35th anniversary of the classic Frampton Comes Alive by playing the whole damn double album on tour next year.

From this article on Planet Rock:

In an interview with KLOS, Frampton reveals that after he has finished touring his latest studio album, Thank You Mr Churchill, he will hit the road once more next summer to play special shows in celebration of his massive live album.

"2011 is the 35th anniversary of Frampton Comes Alive so we're gonna do Frampton Comes Alive 35,” he revealed. “For the first time since the 70s we're going to do a show where the second half of the show is the whole of Frampton Comes Alive.

"We're gonna have to dust off a few [songs] we haven't done in a while. We're thinking about using the intro music that's on the record. We're gonna have a big production and take people back to that time.”

I hope he comes to Portland so I can hear him say "Bob Mayo, keyboards!" finally after all these years. Frampton played a few years ago here in Portland and friends who saw the show said he is in top form and really kicked ass. I'll be watching for this one for sure. In the meantime, enjoy this:

Concert Review - Roger Waters The Wall

I saw Roger Waters’ The Wall in San Jose last Tuesday and it took me a few days to put ‘pen to paper’ because I wanted to let it all soak in. Of course as expected the concert was unlike anything I have ever seen. I think the photos I took will do it far more justice than a detailed description but here are some thoughts:

Musically, Waters stuck to the script. There were the same extended pieces that the Floyd did back in the 1980 shows (three solos at the end of Brick 2 instead of one, the extended Mother solo, the ‘A Few More Bricks’ medley). These were included to add more time to the concert and allow more time for the Wall to be built. It was great to hear a really true rendition of the album with all of the music pretty much as I knew it.

His band was great – Snowy White and G.E. Smith on guitars. A younger guy who did the leads, who was a little over the top rocker-style for me, but played Gilmour’s parts very faithfully (on a Tele no less). Waters had a number of vocalists including a guy who did nothing but sing Gilmour’s parts. And of course Rog played loads of bass.

But truthfully I was not watching the band. They are all dressed in black and on a visual level, they are totally secondary to the Wall, the props and the amazing, amazing visuals that were broadcast onto the Wall itself. The Wall had an almost fluorescent glow to it all night when it was just being backlit. But most of the time, amazing videos were beamed onto the Wall, which then became basically a 240-foot long movie screen.

I mean, these visuals were insane and led the audience on everything from IMAX-style nausea-inducing 3D to transforming the arena much like the use of different movie sets would – look at my various photos below and you will see what I mean about how the Wall itself was the star of this show.

The props were all there: the enormous marionette teacher for Brick 2, the plane flying into the Wall at the end of In The Flesh?, the giant inflatable Mother, and of course the flying pig, which roamed the rafters of the arena during Run Like Hell. Rog used a number of videos from the Wall film, including the parrying flowers from What Shall We Do Now? and the whole The Trial sequence. It was great to see that original, grainy film animation and that Waters did not try and ‘update’ (ruin) it in any way.

One thing that was different was Waters himself. He admitted more than once during the show that when he wrote The Wall 30 years ago he was an ‘angry young man’ and even went so far as to say he didn’t feel that way anymore and was really happy to be playing the show for us. Which is great for Waters, but I kind of missed the angry, tortured guy in some of the gut busters like Don’t Leave Me Now and Nobody Home. He was almost campy in those songs and it didn’t work as well, but shit I wouldn’t wish him sorrow for my enjoyment, so what the hell! I am just glad to see this show.

My buddy and I were saying that The Wall stage show is an amazing concept that we really sort of take for granted because it’s been around about 75 percent of the time we’ve been alive. But what an idea, and to come up with this in 1980! Image the band meeting: “So we build a wall. In front of the band. After the first set, the audience can’t see the band at all. We have giant puppets and a flying pig. At the end we topple the wall into the audience and that’s it – no encore. Holy f’ing shit.

Thematically the visuals were true to the original themes of alienation between nations, people and institutions. Lots of imagery of the recent wars and the men and women lost in those wars and how senseless they are – driven by greed, and ideological and religious jockeying. On his Facebook site, Waters had asked people who lost loved ones in wars to send photos and information prior to the tour, and he used at least a couple hundred of those images over the course of the night.

I have heard that the crux of the story for Waters is the song Bring the Boys Back Home and I have to say that this was the only part of the show that gave me a giant lump in the throat. In Vera, he showed slow-mo footage of little kids in school classrooms in surprise reunions with their dads and this one girl’s face went from surprise to elation to just a waterworks as she jumped into her daddy’s arms. It may be the one image I always remember after the bitching animations and flying pigs and planes fade from my memory. It was heartwarming and heart wrenching at the same time when you really get to the emotion of what these wars do to little kids. I found someone's video of it and posted that below the photos.

So anyway, the North American leg of The Wall tour is almost over and I am damn glad I saw it. Here are some of my snaps for those interested:

Thoughts on The Anniversary of John Lennon's Death

December 8 is a day that usually sees me pretty melancholy. I recall when I was a mere 12 years old my dad coming into the family room and gently announcing that John Lennon had been shot and killed. I pretty much retired to my own room for the rest of the night. It was one of the first deaths, and for sure the first violent death, I had ever felt had hit home in any way. Was not sure how to process the emotions so I played some Beatles on guitar and cried a lot.

Big stars die all the time. They fall into one of two buckets for me. Either 1) most of their work had already taken place and they had been out of the spotlight for a long time, which somehow makes it easier to swallow or 2) they had been recently active (like Roy Orbison or Richard Wright) and are a bit of a gut punch. Lennon clearly falls into this latter category and much like with guys like Stevie Ray Vaughan I often wonder what Lennon would have done with the past few decades since his death.

Would he have reunited with the other Beatles for Anthology, or Live8? Would he have put out spotty albums in the 80s but then released scattered moments of brilliance like some other Beatles we know? Would he have had another good run of albums and tours and then retired, boring with the business again? Would I have ever been able to see him in concert or even meet him? Of course we’ll never know.

I saw Roger Waters live last night on the 69th anniversary of Pearl Harbor (the giant plane flying into the Wall in the first number was an interesting juxtaposition to this anniversary although I realize it happens every night – I will post a full review with photos soon). I am tempted to try and get a ticket for tonight’s show to see if he mentions Lennon.

Anyway, time to get muddling at work but wanted to get these thoughts out of my head.

Lennon we still miss you. Wish you were here.

The Stones' Gimmie Shelter Deconstructed

My friend Nedmusic turned me onto this incredible breakdown of the Stones' classic 1969 song Gimmie Shelter. Someone has been able to isolate the vocals, rhythm guitar, second guitar/piano, bass and drums into five separate tracks. It's breathtaking to hear all the parts broken out like this. Spend some time checking this out if you dig the Stones - unreal.

Also credit must be given to the original Dangerous Minds post, where all of this came from.

Vocals (Mick Jagger and Merry Clayton):


Keith Richards' main guitar. Note the interesting punch ins and outs of Keith's licks to compensate for the fact that this is probably a four-track recording!


Charlie Watts' drum part plus percussion:


Bill Wyman bass:


Keith's second guitar and Nicky Hopkins' piano (at the moment it looks like this one has been taken down by YouTube):

DVD Review - Ladies and Gentlemen: The Rolling Stones

The Stones are like cockroaches - they seem to have been around forever and just won't die. Despite the fact that their last truly great album was put out in 1981.

But every few years they churn out a new collection of tunes and hit the road to smash touring records yet again. There are glimmers of greatness - the Shine A Light movie for example has some really cool moments. And if their recent albums were pared down from 15 tracks to the 10 strongest, they'd be pretty good.

But honestly, the band jumped the shark once Keith cleaned up. Coincidence? No idea but I am reading his autobiography and we'll see if I can glean any tidbits for you all.

My favorite era of the Stones is the Mick Taylor era. So I was majorly geeked to get the recently released Ladies and Gentlemen: The Rolling Stones, a concert film from the 1972 Exile on Main Street tour.

This DVD reminds me of why I fell in love with the band in the first place. Charlie and Keith are the tightest rhythm section around. Bill Wyman pumps out some great bass lines. Jagger is at his full-throated screaming pilled-up best. But the real star of the show is Mick Taylor, who basically solos throughout every song, adding those tasty, tasty licks that seem so effortless but add incredibly to the music.

Highlights are the roughly 10-minute Midnight Rambler, Tumbling Dice, Gimmie Shelter and an unreal version of Love In Vain. In his book, Keith talks about how the young pre-fame Stones just wanted to 'be black guys' and play the blues. Later of course they got into other areas but the blues was always their fallback, and Love In Vain is top of the pile here. It does not hurt that Taylor gets two solos - one one slide and one not.

Even tracks like Dead Flowers - a song that seems like a bit of a novelty on the studio release - shine, as Keith and Mick share the mic for the harmonies and Taylor adds tasty leads throughout.

The bonus features include the band rehearsing stuff from Exile to get ready for the tour. That is worth the price of this DVD alone. Unreal.

Watching this DVD made me reach back into the bootleg community and score copies of live shows from 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975 and 1976. There are some real gems out there, people. This band was tight in the 70s, despite the stories of addiction and debauchery. Especially look for the March 1971 Leeds, the October 1973 Brussels, and the July 1972 Madison Square Garden shows. All very good.

And get this damn DVD - it's great! Here is a clip:

CD Review - The Doobie Brothers - World Gone Crazy

The Doobie Brothers are probably not going to achieve world peace or national economic liquidity with its new CD, World Gone Crazy. But it might get your foot tapping on your commute or get you to run a little faster on your morning jog. The Doobies in their prime delivered great rock and roll with solid grooves, great playing and gorgeous vocal harmonies – cue up Listen to the Music if you’re not sure what I am talking about.

The first two tracks on World Gone Crazy, A Brighter Day and Chateau, stand right up there with the Doobies’ best rockers and should go over very well live. Especially Chateau, which has loads of great singalong harmonies and some fantastic slide guitar by guitarist John McFee. Track four, the title track, is another solid foot tapper, as is My Baby (track eight).

Founders Tom Johnston and Pat Simmons are leading the group, with Johnston taking most of the songwriting and vocals as usual. Simmons’ songs are not quite as strong this time but at least he is trying to re-write Black Water instead of China Grove. There are some very pretty acoustic-based tunes a la Black Water such as Far From Home (nice McFee violin on this one).

The third track, Nobody, is a redone version of the same song from the band’s first album in 1971. Picked acoustic arpeggios, piano and acoustic slide guitar ease you into this track, and then the whole thing picks up and really highlights those Doobie vocal harmonies. This version is tighter and sonically superior to the original and I can see why they decided to bring it back. It’s a great song.

Two guest spots by Michael McDonald and Willie Nelson are surely included to drive CD sales but their tunes are a little distracting – I mean, McDonald barely appears on Don’t Say Goodbye, and honestly it’s a great song without him. Willie’s tune, co-written with Simmons, is just okay. I have always favored Doobies tunes that are slightly more epic and moody, like Clear As The Driven Snow from The Captain and Me. Nobody (the song) surely falls into this category.

There are some clunkers (Old Juarez is a cool tune but is a total rip off of Smooth minus the Santana guitar and Rob Thomas vocal), but overall it’s a nice, solid album and I have already listened to it more than I thought I would. The majority falls into that good old rock and roll category a la Rockin' Down the Highway or Listen to the Music. And that ain’t a bad thing. You a Doobies fan? Get the album.

And if you are wondering if the Doobies can still cut it live, check this out:

The Beatles on iTunes Store - Snooooore

I have bought and re-bought the Beatles. Got all the original releases on vinyl when I was a kid. Then bought some of them again when I realized I could get Apple issues at the used record store. Kind of cool to have Beatles albums first released in the 60s.

Then of course CDs came around and I had to get them all on disc. And then a couple of years ago they finally figured out how to make the CDs sound good, so I chose to re-buy them all over again.

Now thanks to the powers that be burying the hatchet yesterday, I have the option of getting them digitally via iTunes and of course I say no thanks. I already have all the superior-sounding CDs imported into iTunes for my iPod and have zero need for AAC quality versions.

I imagine I am not alone. But I guess for the younger set who may just want to buy a song here or there, it's nice to have the Beatles finally on iTunes. But I feel like that generation doesn't pay for its music anyway and probably got the tunes free from a file sharing service or their grandpa.

But dang SOMEONE is buying it up - According to this Mashable article:

Eleven of the top 25 albums on iTunes are Beatles records, including the full Beatles Box Set, which is currently at number 11 on the charts. In addition, more than 60 of the top 200 songs are Beatles tunes.

Sure, John, Paul, Ringo and George aren’t enough to knock Rihanna, Rascal Flatts and the Glee cast off the top of the charts, but these albums are 40-plus years old. We’re also smack dab in the middle of the biggest music release window of the year.

So what the hell do I know? I'm just glad people may be discovering this music for the first time. I wish I could do that all over again!

Speaking of Beatles discovery, I bet you've never seen this little clip:

Emerson Lake and Palmer Throw In The Towel

I remember back in the 80s going to see Emerson Lake and (Cozy) Powell in Oakland California and telling my brother who is 10 years older than me and grew up in the 70s (ELP's heyday). He said "Those guys are still playing that old shit?"

Yeah they were and they still rocked. The ELPowell album is fairly solid and at least had the pretty decent single Touch and Go. But touch and go sums up the band's career afterwards. Carl Palmer rejoined for a long stint in the 90s and the band put out some great DVDs of 70s stuff I had never seen. The studio albums were frankly pretty terrible and not worth mentioning.

The band called it quits (again) 12 years ago but reformed for a one-off gig last July headlining the High Voltage Festival event in Victoria Park, London for their 40th anniversary. Carl Palmer last week had this to say to Classic Rock Magazine:

...for reasons I won’t go into it’s always hard to rev it up. We rehearsed for it for a month, which almost killed me. Not the physical side of it, just keeping interested. Me personally, I didn’t need a month. But that’s what we did, and when it came to the gig what you saw was what you got. That’s as good as it will ever be (again). Everyone seemed pretty happy with it, and I think that gig will be far as the three of us can take things.

...I’m not the nervous type. I play all the time. Greg and Keith, on the other hand, were highly nervous and that was part of the problem though they both did the best they could.

And that’s about it, really. There are no plans to do anything else, not from my perspective anyway. I’ve let the other two know that. Being the 40th anniversary, it seemed a great way to finish things. Let’s just leave it there.

This interview of course got me all interested to hear this gig and I found a bootleg and yeah they are pretty scrappy. It sounds like Emerson's hands are freezing cold, and Greg Lake's voice is about an octave lower than in the 70s - all the tunes are in much, much lower keys to accommodate his voice.

Granted, Emerson sounds great for a guy who was diagnosed with repetitive stress syndrome (kind of funny if you are familiar with how he plays keyboards), and had nerve surgery on his arms a few years back. It's gotta be tough to bounce back from that. And he recently had a real health scare that you can read about here. Here's wishing Keith a speedy recovery.

But I agree with Palmer - they are done. But now I want to dig back into my vinyl and crank up Tarkus! Are you ready Eddie!?

For a little comparison, here is the band last July in London:


And in its prime:

Great Interview with Producer Nick Raskulinecz

Once in a while I will come upon an interview with a musician, producer, manager etc and just yell YES! Mainly this happens when I am getting insights I have never heard before about a band I love or music in general. Or someone who generally tows the line and says the same old shit finally opens up and tells me something I didn't already know.

A recent interview between MusicRadar.com and producer Nick Raskulinecz is just one of those interviews. Raskulinecz has worked with load of bands, namely Foo Fighters, Alice In Chains and of course Rush. He in fact discloses this little nugget about the band's upcoming album:

There's going to be a lot of cool stuff. We've got six other songs ready to record, and they're probably going to want to write some more when they finish this tour. We'll sit down and figure out how to record everything else. I can already tell you that the title track is going to be one of the coolest things they've ever done. It's going to be epic.

"I told them, 'Don't try to write a single. Don't try to do anything conventional. Give me Rush from back in the day.' They don't need to write something for the sake of radio play. They're Rush! [laughs] So I think the record is going to be a little more bare bones, a little less produced. It's going to be more direct, with killer riffs, solos, pounding drums and Geddy singing up high the way he should. That, to me, is the sound of Rush."

Are you fucking kidding me? Bring it on!

But Raskulinecz also dishes on the state of the music industry and how it has impacted more than just bloated record labels:

I'm more successful than I've ever dreamed I would be. But I still have a hard time finding work. I know a lot of guys wouldn't tell you that, but I don't pull punches. There isn't a lot going on, and I put a lot of the blame on the Internet and illegal downloading. And listen, they call it 'illegal downloading' for a reason, because it's just that: illegal. It really hurts bands, producers; it hurts people across the board.

I know people think that you should get everything free now with the Internet, but people have to realize that artists are trying to make a living from their music. The downloading has marginalized everybody and everything, from artists to producers to guys who drive the trucks to bring the CDs to the stores. Everybody in the music business has been affected.

Raskulinecz also talks about how he hooked up with Dave Grohl and the Foo Fighters, as well as his work with the new lineup of Alice In Chains and even a pretty killer Elton John story.

Raskulinecz is a true lover of music and is the real deal. Do yourself a favor and read the whole Nick Raskulinecz interview here.

Alice Cooper Loses His Head (and blood, and fake needles etc)

Some British Airways employee must have gotten a shocker when he went through a lost bag owned by Alice Cooper. According to an article in The Express:

As the star flew in from the United States yesterday for his Halloween Night Of Fear shows on Sunday and Monday at the Roundhouse, North London, he discovered that British Airways had lost his bags. He then had to describe the contents of his snakeskin suitcases to bemused airline staff: as well as missing his fake blood and a giant syringe (in parts) that he uses when he “dies” four times on stage, he was also missing his skulls and skeleton limbs.

Hopefully this won't put him on some sort of weird no-fly list!

It's Official - The Cars Reunited and Recording

I posted earlier this year about some cryptic photo posted to The Cars' Facebook page that showed the surviving four members of the Cars in a studio somewhere (Bassist Benjamin Orr passed away in 2000). On Friday it was confirmed that the band is reuniting and recording.

According to Yahoo! Music:

After a 23-year break, the Cars have reunited with original frontman/songwriter Ric Ocasek and are working on their first album together since 1987's Door to Door. On on their Facebook page the band recently posted a 73-second clip of themselves in the studio working on a new track called "Blue Tip," and Billboard reports that the Cars are recording a new album and may be planning tour dates.

In July the Cars hinted at a possible reunion with Ocasek, who previously said he'd never take part in one, when they posted a photo of the four surviving bandmembers together in a Boston studio. In 2005, keyboardist Greg Hawkes and guitarist Elliot Easton launched the New Cars with Todd Rundgren at the microphone, but that project ended in 2007. Any hopes for a full Cars reunion ended in 2000 when bassist-singer Benjamin Orr passed away from pancreatic cancer. The Cars' official website is currently "under construction," so more information is likely to come.

As I noted previously, The Cars were always boring as paint drying onstage but I gotta say that every time I hear an old school Cars tune on the radio, I think they were just a tight rock and roll band. The New Wave image put them in a weird box for me, but they are right there with bands of the era like Cheap Trick, Tom Petty etc who just made great radio-friendly rock songs with good players.

Ocasek's recent work with No Doubt showed me that he has not lost his touch. The songs Don't Let Me Down and Platinum Blonde Life from the band's Rock Steady album sound like, well, Cars songs! I was actually shocked how much Don't Let Me Down sounds like mid 80s Cars, down to the keyboard sound and part. Check it out for yourself.

Check out the video mentioned in the above article. It's full bore Cars but sounds very contemporary. I have feeling this comeback is going to go well.

Bloggers Unite!

Hey everyone, sorry for my lack of blogging as of late. Work has been insane and I have not been able to devote much time to anything else. Should lighten up soon though and I do have some CDs, DVDs and shows to review in the next couple of months, so there.

But I did make time to meet up last Monday night with fellow blogger and international spokesperson for the city of Philadelphia not taxing bloggers, Seano of Circle of Fits. Seano is a great singer who joined the Boston band Bang Camaro and toured the country, entertaining us all with his postings from the road. He is also a HUGE KISS fan. So be sure to drop him a comment if you see any news about Gene Simmons.

Here are the two of us. Sean looks great and I look like I am in a pressure chamber. What the hell happened to my HEAD?

Jason Bonham Trots Out the Zep

So let's recap. After the Zeppelin reunion a couple of years ago, there were loads of rumors that the band would get back together and tour. But of course Robert Plant scuttled the idea - he was doing great on his own thank you very much, and despite the fact that they totally pulled off that reunion show, a close examination of the bootlegs reveal some dropped tunings and Plant doing a great job but really JUST pulling it off. No way he could do a whole tour.

So next the rumors were that the other three guys were looking at singers so they could go on without him. Even this year there were confirmations that Page, Jones and Bonham had been chomping at the bit to get out and play but nothing clicked with singers, so it didn't happen. Jones joined the truly excellent Them Crooked Vultures, Page put out a book and Bonham re-joined...ahem...Foreigner.

Until this year. Bonham announced the Jason Bonham Led Zeppelin Experience - basically a Zeppelin tribute band with the son of a founding member. Like if Julian Lennon trotted out a John Lennon Experience Tour or something. A little bogus and kind of obvious.

I thought this was totally skippable until I saw the below video clip from opening night.

From Bonham's Web Site: [10-09-2010] The opening night of the Jason Bonham Led Zeppelin Experience tour was a fantastic show! Jason would like to thank the fans for the well wishes and support.

Setlist of the first show included: Immigrant Song, Celebration Day, I Can't Quit You Baby, Your Time is Gonna Come, Babe I'm Gonna Leave You, Dazed and Confused, Lemon Song, Thank You, Moby Dick, [Intermission] Act 2: Friends, Since I've Been Loving You, Black Dog, The Ocean, The Song Remains the Same, I'm Gonna Crawl, Stairway to Heaven, Kashmir. Encores: Whole Lotta Love, Rock & Roll.

Sounds pretty sweet. What do you think?

An Oldie But A Goodie - Geddy Lee My Favorite Headache

I ran into a video on the blog WeWillRockYou, of Geddy Lee making his one and only solo album, 2000's My Favorite Headache. I remember a couple of things about this CD - first off, it came out during Rush's hiatus when Neil Peart was dealing with his family tragedies. So I remember tripping out on thinking what this would sound like if it were a Rush album.

Next I thought - wow, Geddy can write lyrics! Musically there was some super heavy bass stuff and some ballady types of things, but pretty much what you would expect. My other thought was that he brings a LOT to the Rush equation and that a lot of these songs would be great Rush songs. But I also thought the same thing about Alex Lifeson's Victor CD. So I don't know. I think their contributions are pretty equal.

Anyway, overall the Geddy CD is good - the link to iTunes is here. At least blaze through the 30 second samples and see what you think. Oh, and I guess the reason this was posted in the first place is that there are various reports that Geddy might do a second one. But the closest I could find is him saying he wouldn't rule it out, which doesn't sound like much to me.

I had never seen this video. Enjoy:

Vote For My CD in 2011 Portland Music Awards - Please

Hey everyone. I have been blogging here for about five years - this is post #666 as a matter of fact (ooooh scary!) and I have done a minimal bit of self promotion in all of that time. I have posted videos from my various bands - colorfield, Flat Stanley and Pink Floyd tribute band The Floydian Slips but for the most part have blogged about the music and musicians we love to love and love to hate.

Of course this year I did pimp my first ever solo CD pretty hard, called A Fear of Flashing Light. The response to this CD has been past my wildest expectations and I am very proud of the effort. So it is in this spirit for the first time in 666 posts that I ask you to actually DO anything beyond indulging in my musical musings.

Portland's annual Portland Music Awards voting is open, and if you feel so inclined, I'd love for you to vote for my CD in the best Indie album category. You don't need to register, provide an email, name or anything. You simply copy "Paul Lesinski - A Fear of Flashing Light," paste it into the "best album - indie" category and hit submit. It will take you less than a minute. That's it! Can you do it now, while the idea is right in front of you.

A Million Thanks!

--Paul