CD Review – Ozzy Osbourne – Diary of A Madman, Blizzard of Oz

I didn’t think I’d review these CDs but I do feel the urge to post something. Basically, I had not bought the previous versions on CD because of the atrocious decision by Sharon Osbourne to replace the original bass and drums by Bob Daisley and Lee Kerslake in 2002 with new recordings by Robert Trujillo and Mike Bordin who were in Ozzy’s band at the time. Daisley and Kerslake had sued Osbourne for unpaid royalties and this was Sharon’s big F-U.

I read that the new versions in 2002 sounded horrible, and I just couldn’t support that decision anyway. I mean, who does that? Would Pete Townshend go back and replace all of John Entwistle’s bass parts on Quadrophenia if the former Mrs. Entwistle sued Pete for more money? God I hope not.

Or maybe is was continued business genius on Sharon’s part, who let’s be fair saved Ozzy from certain death to forge a very successful solo career with her firmly in charge. Maybe she knew people would buy these discs twice – once in 2002 and again when the original music had been restored.

Well, I didn’t. But I did get these new remasters and I have to say, I am impressed. I actually hadn’t listened to these two releases all the way through in years, due to the aforementioned issue of not being able to get a good version on CD. They stand up very, very well over the years. The songs are Ozzy’s best by far and stand up against a lot of 70s Sabbath if you ask me.

Whose responsibility was that? Guitarist Randy Rhodes.

Now, I was always the first guy in high school to dismiss Rhodes as a totally overrated guitar player who only got so famous because he burned up in a plane crash. But I have to say, hearing these CDs with fresh ears gives me a whole new take on the young man.

While all the tracks on Blizzard are credited to Osbourne, Rhodes and Daisley, and the same plus Kerslake on Diary (result of the aforementioned lawsuit), I can only imagine Ozzy and Randy sitting down to put these tunes together. Rhodes had fantastic musical ideas and Ozzy somehow put together lyrics that spoke to what was going on in his life at the time.

With a lot of stuff, the image outshines the music – but get rid of those lame album covers of Ozzy looking crazy and you have a collection of fantastic songs – I Don’t Know, Crazy Train, Over The Mountain, You Can’t Kill Rock and Roll, Flying High Again, Diary of A Madman, Mr. Crowley, Tonight. I mean come on, that is a seriously good two-album run of classic tunes.

Blizzard of Oz is a great solo debut, but Diary is an even better CD than Blizzard – the songs are more developed and Rhodes’ music ranges from heavy to classical. And on the reissue, you get a bunch of live tunes from the Blizzard tour. This is where Rhodes really shines.

Pretty sure this is the classic Ozzy, Rhodes, Rudy Sarzo, Tommy Aldridge lineup on these live songs. I have no idea how much of it was cleaned up in the studio, but Rhodes’ performance is pretty spectacular. Made me realize, for better or worse, that all those 80s hair metal guitar players were not trying to be Eddie Van Halen – they were trying to be Randy Rhodes.

I mean, you can’t really do EVH – he is one of a kind. But Rhodes took Eddie’s tapping and whammy bar dives, made them his own and added that classical scale shredding thing that became mandatory in every heavy band in the 80s. Which sucks, because most of it was crap – just an exercise in how fast you could play a scale. But it came from Rhodes who actually used it well and put some soul into his playing overall.

Ozzy’s voice is strong on these two albums and as I said, the songs are true heavy rock classics. It reminded me that outside of the bickering between parties, what a win-win that happened when Ozzy got kicked out of Sabbath. We got Rhodes-era Ozzy, and we got Dio-era Sabbath. With Dio’s death and the recent Heaven and Hell concerts and releases, it’s been great reliving and enjoying that Dio Sabbath. But now we can go back and refresh our memories on what Ozzy was doing between pissing on the Alamo, eating bird heads in board meetings and snorting ants. He was making great music with Randy Rhodes.

Neil Peart Interview on CBC's Strombo

Neil seems to be getting more out of his shell with the media these days, and the below video is a pretty insightful interview - I guess this is a preview and the full interview will run tonight (Friday June 17) on CBC at 11:05 PM ET. Great questions from George Stroumboulopoulos too, which is refreshing.



Also, in this clip from early June, Neil goes over Moving Pictures track by track with George! Glorious!

CD Review - Blackfield - Welcome to My DNA

It’s rare these days when I get totally geeked up about a new band (new to me anyway) and feel compelled to share but I have been totally blown away by the band Blackfield’s new CD Welcome to My DNA.

Now technically this is not a ‘new’ band to me, because it’s Porcupine Tree front-man Steven Wilson’s band, co-led with Israeli musician Aviv Geffen. On Welcome to My DNA, the band’s third release since 2000, Geffen wrote all of the songs except for one, so it’s really his vision. But Wilson, who sings a lot of the songs, brings that crisp, lush Porcupine Tree production to the whole affair.

I was actually pretty shocked to find that Geffen wrote all of these songs because the vocal melodies are so Porcupine Tree – just gorgeous vocal melodies with the PT Steven Wilson harmonies. The themes are similar as well – alienation, loss of innocence etc. The difference is that all of the 11 songs clock in between 3 and 4 minutes except for the title track, which is just over five minutes. That is a radical departure from Porcupine Tree and makes for the best of both worlds – concise songwriting plus the Porcupine Tree lushness I love. The songs are also not quite as heavy as many PT songs - rather, they are cut from the same cloth as Lazarus from Deadwing, if I had to make a comparison.

In an interview, Wilson said: Porcupine Tree would never be so focused on the art of a 3 minute pop song. Blackfield is all about the art of a great tradition pop song of verse-chorus-verse-chorus. Porcupine Tree has never been about that, although we have fraternized a little bit with the art of pop music. Porcupine Tree has always been more about horizontally complex long pieces and the album is an overall piece rather than lots of little pieces... Aviv is not a big fan of heavy music and he is not a big fan of long pieces so immediately the meeting point had to be somewhere where we were both focused on short melancholic songs.

So my take is that Blackfield songs are not pop songs, but Steven’s point is accurate otherwise. Short songs do not equal “pop,” nor do songs that have verses and choruses! But I do have to say that after just one listen to DNA I was totally hooked. I have listened to this CD more than 10 times since Sunday and I am very stoked to check out the band’s previous two releases.

Here is the first track, called Glass Houses. If you like this song, you will love this whole CD. Get it:

Neil Peart Drum Solo on David Letterman

Neil Peart made an unorthodox network TV appearance on Thursday, on David Letterman. Reports from the taping were that Peart was nervous and dropped his sticks twice in the middle. But they had him re-do it after the audience left and presumably the below is a combo of the two. Regardless, the man is a fuckin machine and here you go! Can't wait to see the band in Portland later this month.

Jimmy "Neil Young" Fallon Joined By Crosby and Nash

Props to nedmusic for turning me on to this. Jimmy Fallon has been doing these dead-on Neil Young impressions for a while now, but this one takes the cake. He does a song by Miley Cirus a la 70s Neil and has fuckin David Crosby and Graham Nash come out to harmonize. Not only is his version of Neil so creepily accurate, but Crosby and Nash laying on gorgeous harmonies makes me think this is the best Neil has sounded in a long time! Ha ha. Below is the clip, and below that is the song they are actually covering.

Paul McCartney Digitizes A Lifetime, Puts It In HP Cloud

It's well-known by Beatles fans that John Lennon agreed to film and record most of his life, long before reality TV and Big Brother. The treasure trove of audio and film was tapped for the fantastic Imagine movie, as well as the Anthology series, which used loads of interviews from John's life to match the volume of fresh interviews from the other three guys, all of whom were alive at the time.

But you know who else kept the cameras running, and for much longer? Paul McCartney. And now, McCartney's lifetime of home movies, videos, photographs, documents, unreleased music, paintings and numerous other items will be stored in perpetuity on a new private cloud system designed, built and maintained by HP, according to this eWEEK article.

According to the article:

McCartney has been one of the world's most-renowned entertainment content creators for two generations. Like many people, his personal collection has been stored all these years on old-school media that's considered at risk.

"This is quite an undertaking, and the process is ongoing--and will be for awhile," Scott Anderson, HP's entertainment marketing manager, told eWEEK. "We believe there are more than 1 million assets in this library; there are shelves and shelves of boxes containing all sorts of things, personal and business. It all will eventually be digitized."

"He [McCartney] is one of the most prolific artists of all time--he's got thousands of hours of videotape that's been taken through his career; he's got artwork, he's got his music, of course," Anderson said. "Much of it is on media that's susceptible [to physical damage]." McCartney was looking for a company "that he could trust to work with him to preserve his unique assets," Anderson said.

The article also discusses the possibility of McCartney opening access to parts of this vast library to the public. I for one will be happy to roam those halls! You?

Backstage Details and Hi-Res Video of Floyd "Reunion" Emerge

As discussed earlier and known by any Floyd fan who has had their ear to the ground this week, David Gilmour and Nick Mason shared the stage with Roger Waters at a recent Wall show in the UK last week.

Waters has been pretty transparent about posting high-res video clips of the appearances (below), and now Rolling Stone has published a short article with an interview with Mason, here. Some of the more interesting tidbits:

When Pink Floyd drummer Nick Mason got to London's O2 arena last week, he had no idea that he'd be walking into David Gilmour and Roger Waters performing "Comfortably Numb" in a soundcheck for Waters' show that night. "It hadn't ever been quite finalized – there'd been talk about maybe playing in Paris or something else," Mason tells Rolling Stone. "So it was very nice to get there and see that [David] was there."

After soundcheck, the three took seats at a table in a backstage room and had a light dinner. "We were all just a little bit nervous, because it was a pre-show moment so it wasn't that sort of totally relaxed, 'Let's all chat about everything.' Since [David] hadn't played the track in so long, he was probably worried about the technology of lifting him up on the Wall. It's quite scary up there – I've been up there once and it's a long way up."

Next, Mason retreated to his seat on the floor of the arena, where fans greeted him enthusiastically, and watched The Wall for the first time as a spectator. "It was mind-blowingly good," he says. "It's a shame in a way . . . if you could turn the clock back and have access to that sort of technology, 40, 30 years ago, it would've been fantastic. I mean, it's interesting because I think The Wall has been brought up to date. When you look at the stage sets and the lighting that goes on now, it so eclipses what we used to do."

This is all great but it really made me miss Richard Wright because you know he would have been a part of this too. It would have been so cool for the original four guys to get together one more time, and in front of that giant Wall. Makes me all that much more thankful for Live8 (also below).

Enjoy:

Outside The Wall


Comfortably Numb


Live8:

Paul McCartney Reissues His Crappiest Albums

I was surprised to see all the promo around Paul McCartney reissuing his two solo albums McCartney and McCartney II. Both albums were put out as transitional exercises and were really Paul blowing off steam between formal recording projects.

I know there are a lot of people who hold McCartney close to their hearts, but as much as I have tried to enjoy that album, I still think it's mostly garbage. And don't get me started on McCartney II. A total piece of crap.

But I guess Paul is trying to save up for honeymoon number three, so he is putting out major packaging options around these reissues, such as double-disc Special Editions and Deluxe Editions, with DVDs and more bonus content. They will also be available on vinyl and digitally. Both versions come with all sorts of bonus tracks, including live material and B-sides.

The packages look gorgeous but you can't polish a turd. Hell, even in the below promo videos, Paul admits these were fun projects and were not supposed to be consumed as real top-notch recordings.

Unlike Pete Townshend's Scoop series, which offer loads of raw, unpolished noodlings and Who demos, Sir Paul is basically reissuing dross.

Paul is almost apologetic in the below but you tell me - are you going to buy any of this? Am I smoking dope here?

Gilmour, Waters and Mason Unite at Wall Show in London

Well it happened! David Gilmour joined Roger Waters at the Thursday night Wall show in London. Atop The Wall, he sang the chorus and ripped the solos, while Waters mugged some 50 feet below.
 
Of course this was expected, as Gilmour had promised an appearance at one show in return for a favor from Waters.

But the surprise of the night was Nick Mason showing up, along with Gilmour and Waters after the bricks fell and the dust was settling, for Outside The Wall. How very fucking cool. Closest thing to a Floyd reunion we’ll ever get, due to the death of Richard Wright a few years back. And I’d bet it’s the last time, too. These guys don’t have many reasons to do it, really, except charity.
 
This is obviously a hugely exciting thing. But how did it sound? Based on the videos, Gilmour’s voice was a bit pitchy, and his middle solo was great but standard. The end solo? Not the best I’ve ever heard but pretty goddamn good, and it gets better and better towards the end.
 
Of course due to the magic of YouTube, lucky motherfuckers in attendance have posted these for us to enjoy. Sweet!
 

 

The Wrecking Crew Film Tells Story Behind Huge String of 60s Hits

The Wrecking Crew was the name given to a group of session musicians in Los Angeles in the 60s who played on hundreds and hundreds of songs (Mr. Tambourine Man by the Byrds is one of the most famous, and they were on loads of Beach Boys tunes too) but never got credit by any of the artists.

Now there is a film that tells the whole story. Trouble is, it's not being released broadly yet as the producers need to raise funds to secure the proper rights for broad distribution. In the meantime, check out the trailer below. This film looks awesome!

Flat Stanley Video Journal - Eminence Front

Been working on some new songs with Flat Stanley (my power trio cover band) and put together this video from last week's rehearsal. Basically, we found the backing keyboard track to a few classic Who tunes and have decided to do two of them at our next show, which is this Friday.

It's a short clip but you get the point! Enjoy:

William Shatner Album Taps Hark Rock Greats

OK this is such a wank I was not planning on posting anything. The 'news' is that William Shatner is putting out an album of space travel-related covers called "Searching for Major Tom," with various big-name guests. I assume the music will be semi-decent while the lyrics will be delivered in the same over-dramatic spoken word style that graced his 60s album, The Transformed Man.

The songs he has chosen to butcher are some of the all time greats, including Space Trucking, Rocket Man, Space Oddity, Learning to Fly, Iron Man, Walking on the Moon, etc. Wait - Iron Man? Hmm.

Then I looked at the list of guests and just had to share: Ian Paice, Johnny Winter, Bootsy Collins, Patrick Moraz, Michael Schenker, Warren Haynes, Ritchie Blackmore, Alan Parsons, Peter Frampton, John Wetton, Dave Davies, Zakk Wylde, Steve Howe.

Ok what the fuck? How in the hell did Shatner get Ritchie Blackmore off of the bench for a rock album? Unless he is going to play nylon string renaissance music with his warbly wife for Shatner to bleat over.

Likewise, Dave Davies? I thought he had retired. Patrick Moraz and Steve Howe? They ought to just do Relayer while they are at it.

The Huffington Post has all the details, but if it's anything like the below, I don't care if Shatner reunited Levon Helm and Robbie Robertson. I ain't buying it.



And my swipe at Blackmore? It's totally justified. Got to 2:34 and behold Spinal Tap mach 3.

Paul McCartney and KISS? Say It Ain't So!

Seano is gonna love this one. Word on the street is that Paul McCartney has tapped a number of bands to play some Beatles and Wings tunes for some kind of tribute CD. Didn't know people were supposed to coordinate their OWN tribute CDs but it's all good...

Anyway, several sources say that Paul McCartney is asking KISS to play on the disc, and the rumor is that they will do Venus and Mars. Now, I assume what they really mean is the Wings tune Rockshow, which follows the short Venus and Mars intro on the album of the same name.

Bill Joel and The Cure are also rumored to be contributing. In terms of KISS, I could totally hear Paul Stanley belting this one out:

Carmine and Vinny Appice To Tour - Drum Wars!

Hard rock drummer brothers Carmine and Vinny Appice have always led very separate careers, going so far as to alter how their last names are pronounced - Carmine's is pronounced "a-piece" and Vinny's is "ap-ah-see." Hell, I didn't know they were even related for years.

But I can't think of any other brothers who have laid down beats for such a who's who of hard rock and metal stalwarts. According to fellow drummer Vic Firth on the brothers' Drum Wars web site:

Vinny and Carmine break out the heavy artillery in this entertaining no-holds barred battle to the finish. Carmine and Vinny...Vinny and Carmine! Don't know which one comes first, which one had the moustache first, or which one has the best legs! However, they are both great artists in their own genre. Carmine's track record includes Vanilla Fudge, Cactus, B.B.A. (Beck, Bogart and Appice), and Rod Stewart, to name a few. Not bad! Vinny has driven John Lennon, Black Sabbath, Dio and Heaven and Hell. Not bad! (I've been stuck with one band for 40 years - The Boston Symphony).

I am not really sure what this is going to be exactly, but here is a video from eight months ago that gives us a bit of a clue:



I wonder if it's an actual gig with a band or more like a drum clinic. Either way, it could be fun if they told stories from their careers, took questions, played together etc.

There is a pretty funny but sort of campy video on the Drum Wars site here. Could have used some editing but it's interesting to hear these guys break each others' balls, and sets the event up to be fun. So far there are two dates this month in New York but we'll see if they tour it around.

Trevor Horn Produces New Yes Album

The Jon-Anderson-less Yes keeps chugging along, with a new album set for a July release on Frontier Records.

Called "Fly From Here," the album is named after an old song penned by the other Jon Anderson-less lineup from the 1980 Drama album. Trevor Horn (half of The Buggles with Geoff Downes) sang on that album, and truthfully it is one of my favorite Yes albums. Songs like Machine Messiah, Tempus Fugit, Does It Really Happen? and Into The Lens stand up with anything else in the band's repertoire.

ed note: I found this photo tonight, confirming that Geoff Downes is back in the band for the moment. Not sure who Grandma Jones in the middle is, but that might be Trevor Horn who didn't get the memo that only some of the band is dressing like old ladies for photos shoots.

I am always going to consider the current Jon Anderson-less Yes as slightly bogus, as Chris Squire and company decided to end-run around Anderson and replace him with a tribute band singer while he was ill and couldn't sing. Obviously the band is happy to not be under Anderson's thumb, hence the continued touring and new album.

But to add an interesting twist, Trevor Horn is back as producer! After the Drama tour and subsequent split-up of the band, Horn reemerged to produce the astounding Yes comeback 90125, where Trevor Rabin had replaced Howe on guitar and ushered in a whole new generation of the band. But Horn and the band had trouble on Big Generator, the follow up, and had not worked together since.

From a press release on Yes' website: Horn and YES bassist Chris Squire re-discovered the track FLY FROM HERE which has never been recorded as a studio track. “Chris and I were talking one evening about a song ‘Fly From Here’ that we never recorded,” explains Trevor Horn. “I said I was prepared to spend two weeks with ‘YES’ recording that song. When I arrived in America to record it, I was taken prisoner by the band and only allowed my freedom again in return for producing the whole album. It was an offer I couldn’t refuse!!!”

So, here is the deal. Fly From Here has been released. A live version is on the 3-disc The Word is Live set, released in 2005. Credited to Horn and keyboardist Geoff Downes, it's...how do I put this?...shitty.

If that song is the central track on this new CD I will likely pass. But we'll see - I am more interested to see if Howe can still play guitar anymore. His performance at a recent Asia reunion I saw in Portland left me feeling like he has jumped the shark.

Another interesting tidbit is that I have seen three separate reports that Downes is back on keyboards for this album, which for sure makes it more interesting to me. Rick Wakeman's son Oliver has been in the current lineup for the last couple of years. Yes' site still has Oliver listed as the current ivory tickler. But we'll see...

Current Jon-less Yes doing 1980 Jon-less Yes (at a total snail's pace at that):

Book Review: Sammy Hagar - Red: My Uncensored Life in Rock

I mowed through Sammy Hagar Red: My Uncensored Life in Rock in two days. It was pretty riveting. Sammy co-wrote it with Joel Selvin from the SF Chronicle, which probably means Sammy dictated it to Joel and Joel banged it into shape.

But however they did it, the book is very conversational and is a great read. Sammy is indeed a funny guy and I was laughing before I even turned to the second page.

Hagar's family history is pretty interesting. I usually want to skip over the childhood years in music bios, but this was a good one. Sammy had a pretty tough childhood yet he presents it with a refreshing objectivity and it shows how his strong work ethic and easygoing nature were formed.

Also, he grew up in a very rural area (Fontana, California), and he paints a vibrant picture of what life was like back in the 50s as kid.

His teenage years were spent in the 60s, and he got the rock and roll bug in time to attend the Monterey Pop Festival and take all sorts of the usual chemicals of the time. The cool thing is, after a close call with the law, he decided to clean it up and really focus on his dream of making it as a rock and roller.

In fact Hagar reminds me of Tom Petty (from Running Down A Dream) and Don Felder (from Heaven and Hell: My Life in the Eagles), who both were so driven to succeed that they left wreckage in their wake - wives, bandmates etc.

Hagar marries young and his wife sticks with him through the poverty and selfishness of living on nothing to chase a dream that few ever achieve, all the way through the payoff before and during the Van Hagar years, where Sammy is gone so much his kids never see him. And of course he ultimately dumps her for a newer model. There is more to the story than this (the wife train wrecked a bit), but it's a common theme and was the only bummer in Sammy's  story.

Otherwise, you'd be hard pressed to find a more easy-going, motivated, smart guy in rock and roll. Most know of Hagar's Cabo Wabo venue and tequila franchise, but he was starting businesses all the way back in the late 70s. Some tanked and others did OK, but he diversified and invested wisely. Very few rockers grasp that concept without the nudge of the accountant!

Of course the big dirt in the book is all about Van Halen. If you believe Sammy's story, he was the great motivator behind getting the songs written and recorded on the numerous Van Hagar albums. The Van Halen brothers were disorganized and dysfunctional - basically rich rock stars who never grew up and always had some screws loose. The magic was prevalent from the start of their collaboration, but the seeds of the breakup were already sown as well, namely in the form of the Van Halen brothers' alcoholism.

Talk about head trippers - mostly Eddie, but Alex was a major enabler. I mean, I already knew Eddie has zero respect for his fans and is generally a clueless genius with no manners - that was clear from his Guitar Player interviews in the 80s. But Hagar really tears the cover off of it and it's pretty astounding. Did nothing to change my opinion of Eddie Van Halen as a human being, which was already pretty low.

I knew very little about Alex Van Halen, though. According to the book, he was a major alcoholic (possibly cleaned up at this point but hard to tell) and very co-dependent with Eddie. Not as off the rails as Eddie but didn't do anything to help him put the brakes on either.

And David Lee Roth? Wow, what a weird dude. Another deluded head tripper but I guess we knew that already. The stories of the Sam and Dave tour, and the Van Hagar reunion are worth the price of the book alone.

Hagar also talks about his breakthrough with Montrose, the arc of his solo career and his recent new band, Chickenfoot. The book inspired me to listen to that CD again and it's a good band. Great chemistry. I reviewed that CD here in 2009.

Overall, the book paints a solid picture of Hagar - an amazingly successful, talented, driven, slightly ego-centric rock and roller and business man. Despite some of the lifestyle and personal choices I wouldn't have done myself, I came away with a lot of respect for the man. And overall, the book is a fun, easy read.

Former and Current Stones Jam at Ian Stewart Tribute

I heard on the radio today that former Stones guitarist Mick Taylor announced intent to write a memoir book a la Keith Richards' book Life.

Taylor told BANG Showbiz,"I kind of loved it. I loved it and I hated it. The more successful the Stones became the more seriously they took themselves. I jot down my memories all the time and have done for years in case I ever lose my mind. I don't want to write the kind of book that will shock people, about the scandals, sex, drugs and rock and roll because Keith's done that with his book."

I would love a book by Taylor on his years in the band - their most prolific period by far. But then he said, "It's a hard book to write. My time will come but it's not yet."

So is he writing it or not? I dunno. So I dug around some more and found this far more interesting gem:

Examiner.com reports that Taylor joined Charlie Watts, Bill Wyman and Ronnie Wood onstage at a tribute to the Stones' late pianist and co-founder Ian Stewart. The story goes:

What may be the closest thing to a Rolling Stones concert in 2011 happened on March 9 at the Ambassadors Theatre in London. As previously reported in this column, Rolling Stones drummer Charlie Watts, Rolling Stones guitarist Ronnie Wood and former Rolling Stones bass player Bill Wyman were rumored to perform at a tribute concert in honor the late Ian Stewart, who was an original member of the Rolling Stones. That rumor turned out to be true, and former Rolling Stones guitarist Mick Taylor was also part of the all-star event (consisting of two separate concerts in the same evening), which was billed as a Ben Waters show "with special guests.

What? Holy shit. And YouTube, being the second most popular search engine on the planet, of course has front row video for your edification:



Footnote - the author of the article, Carla Hay, who has interviewed all past and current Stones? I knew her in high school. Oh Carla, I knew you way back when! You've come a long way, baby! Ha ha ha.

Schoolchildren Sing Iron Maiden - Priceless

Props to Seano at Circle of Fits, who found and posted this already but I just had to steal it. Why in the hell was my elementary school music class not this cool? Holy shit. This needs zero explanation or analysis. Just watch it.

Well, actually two notes - see how the BOYS are much more animated by this music, and I do love the ripping air guitar solo section. 'Nuff said.

Sammy Hagar Book Coming March 15

Got the new Rolling Stone in the mail - Snooki on the cover? Really? That is just insulting. At least that Bieber guy sold some records. Snooki is just a white trash piece of crap that no one will remember in one year.

But I rescued the issue from the recycling pile because I noticed there was an excerpt from Sammy Hagar's new book that dishes dirt on the Van Halen reunion in 2004. That is worth a read. I am actually pretty interested in his book, as I really enjoyed most of Van Hagar and it will be interesting to get Hagar's take on what went right and ultimately wrong in that band.

The book covers his whole career from Montrose to solo to VH to Chickenfoot - a band I love almost as much as Them Crooked Vultures. Plus he's a funny fucker and I bet it'll be a good read.

I have not read the Rolling Stone excerpt yet but I did see this Q&A with the magazine online, as reposted by Eddie Trunk. A few interesting quotes:

RS: Are there things you didn't put in the book because you didn't want to piss off Ed or David Lee Roth?

SH: Oh, hell no. I didn't really consider that, because they know what happened. I didn't make up anything. I didn't embellish anything. The only thing is that I didn't go as crazy as I could have about the sex, drugs and rock & roll part of my early years. I have a nine-year-old daughter and a 14-year-old daughter. I'm cringing as I'm writing this book going, "Oh, jeez. I really don't want them to read this." But how can I not? My wife looked at some chapters and went, "You're not going to put this in there, are you?" I'm going, "Yes I am!" I hope my daughters understand. I might have them read Keith Richards' book first.

RS: What do you think the percent odds are that you'll ever play in Van Halen again?

SH: I'd say it's up there around 90 percent. I would love to make another record with Van Halen. If Eddie was totally cool and was back to the guy I used to know, or a new guy, not the guy I knew the last time [laughs]. He can’t be that guy. I wouldn’t do it if he was like that. It’s below zero, minus zero. But if Eddie really got his life together, which it seems he has judging by the pictures I've seen, then definitely.

RS: You really think there's a 90 percent chance?

SH: There's no rumor. There’s no reason to say, "Yes, I’ve got this vibe going on." Right now, zero chance. When my book comes out, zero for a while. But someday, before we all die, fuck yeah. We might be in our nineties though. Back to burning bridges: If you choose to write an autobiography, which I did, then you only have one shot. If you don't tell it all then you sit there for the rest of your life telling stories and people are like, "Well why wasn’t that in the book?" I don’t wanna have to do that. It’s all right there.

Jeff Beck and Rod Stewart Writing and Recording

ClassicRock Magazine is reporting that Jeff Beck and Rod Stewart are writing and recording an album, which would be their first full project since the late 60s/early 70s. Rumors flew around in December with reports of the two hanging out and talking about a project but Beck told CR.com many more exclusive details.

Beck is a funny fucker. Seems like he's tough to nail down. I don't know. Read the below snips and the full article and you tell me - what do you think the odds are of this actually happening?

There have been rumblings in the studio, and yes I have done some demos for him and with him. This happened after our lunch liaison in Los Angeles, but just as matters were proceeding his new baby came along and completely screwed up the whole thing.

Over our next lunch Rod and me will probably beat each other to death, but the fact remains he’s coming to see me and we are going over the material, all of it. I want to see that Rod is genuine into the idea and that it’s not just a weekend’s fancy. I don’t think it is because his manager (Arnold Stiefel) is well into it.

Stage One was just agreeing that it was basically a good idea and then Stage Two was the actual collaboration and co-writing. Stage Three was me lending my studio in Los Angeles to Rod for the demos, to the tune of $17.000! So I’ll be expecting a cheque from Rod for that! But I’ve got two chances there! No chance and no flippin’ chance! But while he’s sitting there listening to the tracks I’ll sneak out and….nah I can’t say that!

The article continues:

In 2004, the Jeff Beck Group reunited to play at the Royal Albert Hall with Ronnie Wood on bass, Rod at the mic and Jeff on guitar. They rehearsed a lot of classic material from their original albums and a couple of choice numbers like Rock My Plimsoul and I Ain’t Superstitious. And in 1985, Stewart guested on the Beck album Flash; the pair performed a cover of The Impressions’ People Get Ready.

“It sounded fucking brilliant,” Stewart recalled. But the concert was cancelled when Jeff phoned Rod and said he’d had a change of heart. Subsequently they did perform together in Los Angeles, and Beck caught the bug again. Now he has said that he “Would have to turn the clock back 20 or 30 years to match what Rod does, stylistically. Not that that is meant to be a derogatory statement. He loves the 60s. He loves blues he loves old stuff.” So no stretch for Beck there then.

Speaking of Jeff Beck-era blues guitarists, I missed the highly overrated Eric Clapton at the Portland Rose Garden last night. Friends who went (and share my opinion on him) said he was in fine form and that I should have gone. Shit. I do love his work when it's with other people (Roger Waters, Santana, BB King, soundtracks, etc). Oh well...

And back to Beck and Stewart, why should we care? Dig this ole gem for some context:



And Jesus H, scroll this to about 2:00 to see what it sounds like to have Jimmy Page in your back-up band!