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Monday 31st January
It’s hard to believe that Little Caesar’s
last UK gigs took place in 1992, circa the US band’s
little known second album, ‘Influence’. Back
in the saddle with a new album called ‘Redemption’
(for the low-down on their reunion check out my interview
here),
wild horses could not have kept me away from last night’s
show at the Underworld.
One of my current new favourites, The Treatment, opened
the show. With the headliners hailing them from the stage
as “a fucking good band” the buzz on these
retro-kids from Cambridge keeps growing. Singer Matt Jones
announced: “We’re a bunch of 19-year-old kids.
We don’t give a fuck about politics, we just want
to rock ‘n’ roll”, and the quintet seem
to have gone up a gear or two the last few times I’ve
seen them, on this occasion ending with a raucous version
of ‘Way Of The World’, a song from More’s
debut album ‘Warhead’ (for those that do not
know, The Treatment drummer Dhani Mansworth is the son
of that band’s former guitarist, Laurie).
Back in the 1990s, Little Caesar’s
name was poised on the lips of all the significant media
soothsayers. That they failed to take the world by storm
is explained in the above web story, but clearly they
cannot believe their luck at being granted a second bite
of the cherry. “You guys are like Viagra ’cos
you made a bunch of old pricks rock hard,” singer
Ron Young told an adoring crowd that knew the lyrics to
all three of the band’s albums. The set was split
mainly between ‘Little Caesar’ and comeback
disc ‘Redemption’, plus three tracks from
‘Influence’ and a final encore of Rod Stewart’s
‘Every Picture Tells A Story’. The band, who
have toned down their muscle-bound, tattooed image for
something a little more age-appropriate, still look like
Biohazard’s fathers, but boy can they lay down some
hook-laden, gritty rock ‘n’ roll? Here’s
the set-list: ‘Rock ‘N’ Roll State Of
Mind’, ‘Hard Times’, ‘Supersonic’,
‘Loving You Is Killing Me’, ‘Down ‘N’
Dirty’, ‘I Wish It Would Rain’, ‘Ballad
Of Johnny’, ‘Slow Ride’, ‘Wrong
Side Of The Tracks’, ‘Real Rock Drive’,
‘Redemption’, ‘Sick & Tired’,
Medley: ‘Drive It Home’/‘Mustang Sally’,
‘Pray For Me’ and ‘Chain Of Fools’,
plus ‘Same Old Story’ and ‘Every Picture
Tells A Story’.
The new Firefest
line-up is out. Unruly Child? Jimi Jamison?! Strangeways
performing ‘Walk In The Fire’??!! Coney frickin’
Hatch???!!! How that’s what I call a festival. I
only hope that the great god of the football fixtures
list will smile on me – just for once – and
award Palace an away game during the weekend concerned.
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Sunday 30th January
The result of yesterday’s
game at Selhurst Park was Crystal Palace 0, Norwich 0
– a score-line that I’d have accepted in advance
of the kick off. With the Canaries seeking an automatic
promotion place, the Eagles did well to ride a wave of
early pressure, doing enough during the second half to
have taken all three points. If we play as well for the
rest of the season, there’s a good chance that the
drop can still be avoided.
In a welcome development for disciples of pomp-rock, Saga
have been rejoined by Michael Sadler, the co-founding
vocalist who quit the veteran Canadian group in 2007,
citing family reasons. Saga are expected to record a new
album very soon, as will their outgoing singer, Rob Moratti.
The latter’s is to be titled ‘Victory’
and released via Escape Music. I wish both parties well.
Speaking as a follower of Saga from the early 1980s, the
album they made with Moratti – 2009’s ‘The
Human Condition’ – was a decent enough record,
but it didn’t sound enough like the band I knew
and loved.
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Saturday 29th January
Mr Mister’s long-lost
‘Pull’ album and ‘Last Woman Standing’,
the debut from Sweden’s Miss Behaviour, have both
been attracting great reviews of late. After securing
copies of both, my Friday afternoon was spend in a hazy,
melodic rock dream-state. That fans of Mr Mister have
had to wait twenty years to hear ‘Pull’, shelved
by their record label (RCA) at the beginning of the 1990s,
is unforgivable. What a classy record – buy it here,
and hope the band’s mooted reunion tour comes to
pass. Realistically, however, European-based music lovers
have far more chance of getting to see Miss Behaviour,
whose video for the song ‘Till We Meet Again’
can be seen here.
The album is a good deal pacier than this moody power-ballad,
but the song gives an idea of the group’s quality.
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Friday 28th January
This morning the new issue of
Classic Rock (dated March, Eric Clapton on the cover) dropped
onto the mat. Thumbing through, I laughed aloud at the opening
to a review of ‘The Storyteller’s Collection’,
a newly released two-disc set that Universal Records allowed
me to put together for them last year. Beneath a sub-heading
declaring ‘It’s not our fault, blame Ling…’,
Hotten had written: “Prefaced by the terrifying words
‘compiled by Dave Ling of Classic Rock magazine’
comes another Magnum anthology.” Now that’s
genius. Actually, Jon went on to award the album seven out
of ten – generous by CR’s standards –
summing up: “If Magnum’s quirky charms have
eluded you, this is a fine place to start.” Nice to
know that the label’s brief of supplying a disc of
hits and another of beneath-the-waterline catalogue gems
was fulfilled.
Ginger is in the hotseat of the Ever
Meet Hendrix? section this month, giving a fine goss-strewn
interview to Philip Wilding. His anecdote about The Wildhearts’
implosion whilst supporting AC/DC on the ‘Ballbreaker’
tour is great, likewise the tale of finding his way into
UFO’s Newcastle City Hall dressing room by complete
accident as a young, impressionable lad in 1980. “It
was the first dressing room I ever went into,” he
marvels. “They sat me down, gave me drink, gave me
some drumsticks and plectrums. Them being so nice to a kid
they didn’t even know, I still find that incredible.”
Lovely tale…
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Thursday 27th January
Oh, what joy! Peter Klapproth,
one of my favourite PRs, has sent a package of finished
product from Inside Out Music. Now I’m the owner of
the new Transatlantic and King’s X DVDs – both
filmed in London at shows I attended, plus James LaBrie’s
‘Static Impulse’ and the (relatively) newies
from Arjen Lucassen’s Star One, Pain Of Salvation
and Spiritual Beggars. There’s some serious listening
and watching to do at the weekend.
Having been handed a copy at last
weekend’s Thin Lizzy/FM gig, I was extremely impressed
by PG Brunelli’s photographic tribute to Ronnie James
Dio. I’ve known PG (known affectionately by the book’s
late subject as ‘Tips’) for many years, having
carried out many assignments together, but I didn’t
realise the Italian had photographed Ronnie quite so many
times. I happened to leave the book on the living room table
and Mrs L was moved to comment regarding its quality. It’s
available here.
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Wednesday 26th January
Well, well, well… England’s
cricketers have decided to award Australia a three game
head start in the one day internationals, finally pulling
a game back this morning to make the score 3-1. With three
more fixtures to go, the result of 4-3 remains eminently
possible.
It’s been another ridiculously
busy day. In between trying to sort out my tax return I
interviewed three more musicians. Bruce Soord had some interesting
things to say about his group The Pineapple Thief, who I
will be investigating at London’s Underworld on March
19. Dan Leigh, the frontman of New device, explained the
myriad line-up changes his band have undergone, also looked
forward to Powerage Records’ Power Supply tour, co-featuring
Lethargy, Million $ Reload and The Treatment. Later in the
evening I called Alia O’Brien for a chat about the
new album and tour from her band Blood Ceremony. I’ve
been playing said disc, ‘Living With The Ancients’
(available via Rose Above on March 7), for the past week.
It’s even better than the Canadian band’s self-titled
debut. Although Blood Ceremony cite Black Sabbath and early
Jethro Tull as their primary influences it came as no surprise
to learn that vocalist, flautist and organist is a massive
fan of Uriah Heep and Ken Hensley in particular. Give them
a listen here.
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Tuesday 25th January
What a dreadful day to be suffering
a hangover. The white wine was flowing at a central London
playback of Lemmy’s new DVD, 49% Motherfucker, 51%
Son Of A Bitch. Think I enjoyed myself just a bit too
much, especially with three phone interviews to take care
of. I enjoyed talking to Mark Chadwick, singer of the
Levellers, a band I’ve been meaning to check out
onstage for quite some while. Wasn’t expecting to
have a conversation with Wolf Hoffmann, but the Accept
guitarist was fed the wrong information and called 24
hours early – cue panic! In the evening I had an
extremely long chat with John Waite, who is always fantastic
to interview. John told me some cracking tales about his
time in The Babys; that’s a story I can hardly wait
to write up.
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Monday 24th January
Oh dear, I’ve
just been lampooned by Ross Halfin following our brief
chat at the Thin Lizzy ‘after show’ party. F**k
a duck, I like Ross but he don’t half exaggerate.
Still basking in the afterglow of
Thin Lizzy’s show, and having failed to chat with
him afterwards, I fired off a congratulatory email to Ricky
Warwick. “I have never worked so hard at anything
in my life,” he said in his reply. “I wanna
do Phil, Lizzy fans and myself proud. Then I will be a happy
man.” Then, torpedoing the feelgood moment, he signed
off with: “My football team is as bad as yours at
the moment.” Thanks for the reminder. I don’t
think.
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Sunday 23rd January
I felt slightly morose upon
arrival at Hammersmith Apollo for last night’s gig
from Thin Lizzy and FM. Earlier in the afternoon, Palace
had failed to do the business in a ‘must win’
game against Bristol Shitty and for the first time this
season the very real probability of the club’s relegation
was starting to sink in.
Luckily, I had a sympathetic companion
in my Eagles-supporting boozing buddy Kev Denman, and
after claiming our after show passes we carried on with
the serious business of drinking the Apollo dry. The venue
was sold out, with approximately two-thirds of its seats
occupied for the evening’s special guests, who purred
through 45 minutes of their repertoire’s cream (although
sadly, ‘Frozen Heart’ was omitted). The response
was superb and by the end the FM-ers received a standing
ovation. The band are on again at Download in the summer,
and it’s odd – slightly heartwarming, even
– to think of their current reunion incarnation
faring so much better than the original group ever managed,
despite being backed by the power of CBS Records.
Lizzy were much, much better than I expected.
After some apparently difficult preceding dates, Ricky
Warwick seems to have grown into the role of fronting
the show, though bass duties are handled by Marco Mendoza.
Meanwhile, Vivian Campbell, on holiday from the Leps,
locks in tightly with Scott Gorham’s guitars and
the keyboards of Darren Wharton. Needless to say, Brian
Downey’s drumming was inspirational. Wisely, the
band had gone to great pains to side-step the material
played with such regularity during the era fronted by
John Sykes. This ‘spring clean’, along with
the input of fresh blood, made all the difference. I thought
my pal Kev would do himself a mischief when he heard the
opening chords to ‘Whiskey In The Jar’, but
for me a final full-length encore of ‘Róisín
Dubh (Black Rose): A Rock Legend’ was as satisfying
as the previous night’s display from The Cult had
been turgid. Yes, Thin Lizzy 2011 get the thumbs-up from
yours truly. Here’s set set-list: ‘Are You
Ready?’, ‘Waiting For An Alibi’, ‘Jailbreak’,
‘Do Anything You Want To’, ‘Don’t
Believe A Word’, ‘Dancing In The Moonlight
(It’s Caught Me In Its Spotlight)’, ‘Massacre’,
‘Angel Of Death’, ‘Still In Love With
You’ (complete with a solo from Campbell, and vocals
shares by Wharton and Warwick), ‘Whiskey In The
Jar’, ‘Emerald’, ‘Wild One’,
‘Sha La La’ (including Drum Solo), ‘Cowboy
Song’ and ‘The Boys Are Back In Town’,
followed by ‘Rosalie’/‘Cowgirl Song’,
‘Bad Reputation’ and ‘Róisín
Dubh (Black Rose): A Rock Legend’.
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Saturday 22nd January
After seeing the band in dazzling
form at last summer’s Sonisphere Festival, I was looking
forward to seeing The Cult again. The added attraction of
Masters Of Reality as a support act made Astbury and Duffy’s
gig at Hammersmith double appealing. In the end, for me
at least, it was Chris Goss and his Masters that stole the
show. Probably best known to a generation of newer fans
as the producer that helped to make Queens Of The Stone
Age into stars, Goss breezed through 50 minutes of provocative,
dreamily off-kilter hard rock, backed by a band that included
guitarist Dave Catching of the Eagles Of Death Metal. I
thought they were superb, the likes of ‘Third Man
On The Moon’ and ‘The Blue Garden’ especially
outstanding. Would love to see MOR open for Hawkwind someday;
they’d go down an absolute storm.
At Sonisphere, The Cult had delivered
a joyous ‘greatest hits’ display. However, as
Astbury explained, they are now sick and tired of being
a jukebox, electing instead to burrow deeper into a sizable
catalogue. This extended right back to their debut album,
1984’s ‘Dreamtime’, with ‘Go West’
and ‘Spiritwalker’, and even to pre-Cult days
with ‘Ghost Dance’ (recorded a year earlier
as Death Cult). I enjoyed myself for the first third of
their performance, till things went horribly downhill. With
the audience standing up and sitting down as songs familiar
and obscure rolled by, I swear I almost felt dizzy. And
when Astbury announced: “We crave a few minutes of
your indulgence” and the group left the stage as a
b/w clip of an Indian reservation rolled… well, it
felt like being back at Saturday morning pictures; everybody
larking around and chatting as the film went ignored. Astbury
is well known as a rock star with a social conscience but
he should know by now that forcing his views down the audience’s
throat will never work. The final encore of The Doors’
‘Break On Through (To The Other Side)’ was a
nice surprise, though. Here’s the set-list: ‘Every
Man And Woman Is A Star’, ‘Rain’, ‘Horse
Nation’, ‘Sweet Soul Sister’, ‘White’,
‘Saints Are Down’, ‘Dirty Little Rockstar’,
‘Nirvana’, ‘Ghost Dance’, ‘Embers’,
‘War Play’, ‘Go West’, ‘Wild
Flower’, ‘Until The Light Takes Us’, ‘She
Sells Sanctuary’ and ‘Love Removal Machine’,
plus ‘Rise’, ‘Spiritwalker’ and
‘Break On Through (To The Other Side)’.
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Friday 21st January
I was blown away by last night’s
gig from New Orleans heavyweights Crowbar. Their leader/vocalist
Kirk Windstein is known best for his role as the guitarist
of Down but his band have accumulated around 90 of their
own songs across nine studio albums. Crowbar were greeted
like long-lost lovers by a sell-out crowd… and why
not? It had been five years since the quartet last graced
a UK stage. Newly sober and coming across as extremely focussed,
Windstein had some witty song introductions, reminding us
that Down band-mate Jimmy Bower has “the fattest tits
in the world” and prefacing ‘Subversion’
with the quip: “This song is so old we haven’t
played it since Lemmy was 30” but the biggest plaudits
go to Crowbar as a whole. From the opening bars of ‘Conquering’
to the closing feedback-ridden chords of ‘Cemetery
Angels’ the band slammed down some of the heaviest,
sludgiest, most murderous sounds you’d wish to hear,
even injecting ‘Self-Inflicted’ with a teasing
snippet of Sabbath’s ‘Into The Void’.
I can’t wait for their new album, ‘Sever The
Wicked Hand’, which drops via Century Media on February
14, and I hope that Crowbar come back soon – they
would absolutely slay at the High Voltage festival. Here’s
the set-list: ‘Conquering’, ‘High Rate
Extinction’, ‘The Lasting Dose’, ‘Burn
Your World’, ‘I Have Failed’, ‘All
I Had (I Gave)’, ‘Thru The Ashes (I’ve
Watched You Burn)’, ‘New Dawn’, ‘Self-Inflicted’,
‘I Am Forever’, ‘Subversion’ and
‘Planets Collide’, plus that parting shot of
‘Cemetery Angels’.
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Thursday 20th January
I must admit, 2011 has been a bit of a slow starter.
However, this afternoon’s highly enjoyable chinwag
with Peter Frampton – my first real interview of the
year – has served to kick things into gear. Frampton
was in fine form and as Sarf Londoners (though he now resides
in Cincinnati Peter was born in Beckenham, just down the
road from Ling Towers and sunny Catford) we got on like
the proverbial house in fire. As we discussed his British
dates, which include a visit to Shepherd’s Bush Empire
on March 5, Peter revealed that he will be coming back to
the UK in November for a 35th anniversary tour in celebration
of the double-live classic ‘Frampton Comes Alive’.
That should be pretty special. |
Gig-wise, there’s also
some activity at last. This evening I shall visit the Underworld
to see Crowbar, followed by two consecutive nights at the
Hammersmith Apollo… Masters Of Reality and The Cult
on Friday and then Thin Lizzy, supported by some bunch of
whippersnappers called FM, 24 hours later.
Those that saw Monday’s diary entry concerning Crystal
Palace’s proposed move to the National Sports Centre
may perhaps have surmised my own preference of remaining
at Selhurst Park.
However, the newly revealed plans for the club’s proposed
return to Crystal Palace Park and a stadium which would
eventually hold 40,000 people and cost £50m to build,
look absolutely stunning. I await developments with baited
breath.
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Wednesday 19th January
Vince Neil is headed for another jail term.
Following his now legendary blink-and-you-missed-it
15-day incarceration for the vehicular manslaughter
of Hanoi Rocks drummer Razzle in 1984, Mötley
Crüe’s frontman will spend the same amount
of time behind bars from February 15 for his repeated
DUI offence. Neil is to plead guilty when he appears
in court in a week’s time. “I have recognized
that you can’t drink and drive at all,”
he says. “I take full responsibility for my
actions and will learn from this experience.”
I hope Vince sticks to his promise...
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Tuesday 18th January
Rock Candy Records’ newest releases have
just arrived. I’m happy to own Greg Lake’s
1981 album for Chrysalis Records – the one
with Gary Moore on guitar – on CD at last.
I saw Lake and Moore at the Reading Festival that
year and their partnership blew me away (if you
haven’t heard it, a really good King Biscuit
Flower Hour release documents said show). RC have
also repackaged the follow-up, ‘Manoeuvres’,
an album I haven’t heard in aeons –
not since finding it in the bargain racks several
years after a low-key arrival in 1983, in fact.
I wonder how it stands up…?
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Monday 17th January
The revelation that Crystal Palace FC are considering
a return to their original home of Crystal Palace
Park leaves me slightly miffed. I love the fact
that opposing clubs call Selhurst Park a shithole
and claim it’s impossible to reach (when,
in reality, it’s served by three main-line
stations). Yes, Selhurst is a shithole, but it’s
**our** shithole. It requires refurbishment, but
at least it has a soul – unlike so many of
the identikit concrete bowls I’ve visited
whilst following the fortunes of my beloved club.
And of course, having seen my first game there in
1976 and even proposed to Mrs L on the scoreboard,
it carries a great deal of emotional attachment.
My eldest lad’s full name is Eddie Lemmy Selhurst
Ling (I kid you not). Should the club up sticks
and force us to change it by deed poll, well…
Eddie Lemmy Crystal Palace National Sports Centre
Ling hardly has the same ring, does it?
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Sunday 15th January
This morning I arose with the lark at 4.30am
for the first of the one day internationals between
Australia and England. The home side took a lead
in the series thanks to an inspirational innings
from Shane Watson (161 NO – respect where
it’s due), romping home by six wickets, but
it was an engrossing game of cricket. During the
interval I finished the final few pages of Is This
The Real Life? The Untold Story Of Queen. Its author
Mark Blake is known for meticulous levels of research,
and once again he delivers the goods. Should you
care to know about Freddie Mercury and Brian May
bickering over the rights to an almond slice during
the recording of the ‘Sheer Hear Attack’
album then fear not, that particular tale is fully
exposed (I kid you not). Queen were responsible
for one of the very first gigs I ever saw, at Lewisham
Odeon on the ‘Crazy Tour Of London’
in 1979, and although I ended up falling out of
love with them for quite some time (notably during
the excruciatingly bad ‘Hot Space’ era),
Is This The Real Life? dredged up quite a few treasured
memories. It’s amazing to think that 2011
marks their 40th anniversary.
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Saturday 14th January
FFS…
Final score from the (Taking A) Liberty Stadium…
Swansea 3 Crystal Palace 0. Two soft penalties were
awarded to the home side but it was a rather poor
display from Freedman’s Eagles. As a consequence
I’m sitting here in my office, drowning my
sorrows and supping white wine by the bucketful,
with a new DVD from Martin Turner’s Wishbone
Ash, ‘The Life Begins Tour: Live At The Y
Theatre Leicester’, blaring out at top volume
from the PC. The band give a great performance in
what looks like a lovely, intimate auditorium and
the show includes the ‘Argus’ album
in its entirety, plus the classic ‘Phoenix’
(albeit with a few bum vocal notes). It’s
helping… a little.
P.S. Kansas have been added this summer’s
Sweden Rock bill. I wonder whether we’ll see
them at High Voltage as well? Don’t ask me
for inside info… I haven’t a clue. But
I’m keeping my fingers crossed, definitely.
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Friday 13th January
The
sun’s over the yardarm so I’m focussing
on tomorrow’s game between Swansea and Crystal
Palace – the first since Dougie Freedman became
the Eagles’ manager on an official basis.
This afternoon Freedman purchased Jermaine Easter
from those in-bred MK Dongs and the striker is available
for selection in tomorrow’s game. I wish that
I was making the trek to the Liberty Stadium, a
ground I’ve yet to visit, but the early kick-off
time of 12.45pm would have made it hard to reach
the levels of drunkenness required to watch CPFC
in such a vital fixture. As it is I shall probably
be pouring wine onto my cornflakes in a bid to attain
numbness in advance of the Sky TV coverage.
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Thursday
12th January
With a complete dearth of gigs and interviews
there ain’t much to report right now. The
closest I’ve come to anything rock ‘n’
roll-related was catching upon a few episodes of
Married To Rock, a ridiculous reality TV series
that follows the vacuous lives of Duff McKagan’s
wife Susan Holmes, Perry Farrell’s missus,
Etty, Josie Stevens, a living Barbie Doll who shares
a marital bed with Steve Stevens (lucky ol’
Steve), and AJ Celi, the girlfriend of Billy Duffy
whose mission in life is get The Cult’s guitarist
down the aisle. The episode in which the Stevens
renew their vows in a haunted house with a ridiculously
overblown and ostentatious ceremony, Josie descending
towards the pastor and guests on a trapeze, almost
beggared belief. Aside from the fact that it makes
The Jeremy Kyle Show seem like the cultural equivalent
of Mastermind, Married To Rock made me wonder how
overpaid our rock stars must be in order to live
such casually affluent lifestyles – yes, that
includes Billy Idol’s guitarist. Money certainly
doesn’t buy you class, that’s for sure.
Speaking of matters financial, I’m slightly
peeved at having to cancel my plans to attend this
evening’s playback of the new Amon Amarth
album, ‘Surtur Rising’ (due via Metal
Blade in the Spring) following an urgent communication
from my accountant. Filing income tax returns are
one of the most infuriating aspects of my job.
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Wednesday 12th January
Smelling salts and hankies at the ready: There’s
some dreadful news to impart. Rock is dead. Well,
the BBC
and Paul
Gambaccini both say so, so it must be true.
Then again, we all know that statistics can be made
to say just about anything, and I have just emailed
Classic Rock’s ever-soave Al King with the
offer of a few drinks after he penned this
passionate response to the bunch of sensationalist
claptrap that preceded it. Nice work, Mr King.
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Tuesday 11th January
Following Crystal Palace’s doomed attempt
to lure highly-rated Bournemouth boss Eddie Howe
into the Selhurst Park hotseat, CPFC 2010 have given
the job to current caretaker boss and former player
Dougie Freedman. I’m still not sure how I
feel about the appointment. Legendary ex-heroes
such as Peter Taylor or Steve Kember have previously
been elevated to the ‘top job’, followed
by the sack and severe damage to their halos. Palace
are faced with a relegation fight. Freedman is inexperienced
but has (apparently) taken his badges and knows
the place better than anyone else, but it's a huge
gamble. I’m left praying that the combination
of Freedman’s passion for the club and the
wisdom of some ‘older heads’ as advisers
will keep the Eagles in the division. Can we have
Sir Steve Coppell as Director Of Football please…?
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Monday 10th January
The first live reports
of Thin Lizzy’s reunion are emerging –
mostly positive ones, though Ricky Warwick is in
an impossible position. The former Almighty frontman,
now filling Phil Lynott’s boots (whether or
not he agrees with the terminology) has given a
good, frank interview
to the Rock AAA website in which he reveals that
he still cannot believe he is fronting his boyhood
heroes – it takes turning round and seeing
the Thin Lizzy sign behind him to force home the
reality of the situation. I love Ricky (in a manly
way, of course) and hope that it works out for him.
Certainly, all of the group’s protagonists
are saying the right things. It’s very brave
of Vivian Campbell to have stated that joining Lizzy
has “reconnected [him] to the electric guitar.”
Campbell says: “I’ve been in Def Leppard
for twenty years, and if I'm honest, it's not a
terribly challenging job for me as a guitar player.
Phil Collen plays most of the widdly guitar parts
and I do what I do. But this job has reignited my
love for guitar playing.” Read the full interview
here.
I shall be seeing the ‘new’ Thin Lizzy
at Hammersmith in a couple of weeks. They’ve
got some up ‘n’ coming band called FM
supporting them, apparently. Have heard good things
about the latter so it’ll be interesting to
check them out.
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Sunday 9th January
What
a rubbish weekend it’s been. On the grounds
that it threatened to be a bit of a non-event I
decided against travelling to Coventry for yesterday’s
Third Round FA Cup game with the Palace, earmarking
the time for my sleeve essays to accompany the Strangeways
re-issues. These plans were scuppered when the power
in my office died… no computer, lights or
heating. BASTARD!! As I awaited the arrival of an
electrician, a battery-powered radio informed me
that the Eagles had given Cov a two-goal head start,
pulled one back and then proceeded to miss a penalty.
Oh well, it’s time to concentrate on the league
(yet again)…
The
only ray of sunshine was the arrival of Toby Jepson’s
third solo EP, ‘Guitar, Bass And Drums’.
An EP comprising 11 songs and a guest appearance
from ‘Fast’ Eddie Clarke? That’ll
do nicely. Scanning through the ‘special thanks’
credits I was taken aback to spot the words: “Dave
Ling, who is still the source of all rock knowledge.”
The cheque’s in the post, Tobes. Let me know
if it doesn’t get there by Friday…
_
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Saturday 8th January
After the extra-long festive period –
though I wasn’t one of them, many folks had
a fortnight off – attending my first live
gig of 2011 felt slightly odd. A large crowd had
congregated at the Garage. Special guests Breed
77 were well into their set by the time I arrived.
I’m quite partial to this British-based group
from Gibraltar and their Mediterranean-kissed metal,
which went down rather well with the audience (despite
the fact that, for unknown reasons, singer Paul
Isola wore a Huddersfield Town shirt onstage), though
one person left underwhelmed by their flamenco-fuelled
exploits was my friend Chas, who quipped: “There
was a reason we sank the Spanish Armada.”
Named after the 1981 Electric Sun
album and featuring Ozzy Osbourne’s current
guitar hotshot Gus G, Greek metalheads Firewind
have outdone themselves with their current (sixth)
album, ‘Days Of Defiance’. Juxtaposing
three of its best selections with all the expected
fan favourites before an enthusiastic Friday night
crowd, this gig should have been an absolute corker.
That it fell slightly short was due, in my opinion,
to abysmally bad pacing. What on earth possessed
the quintet to include a keyboard solo, a guitar
solo and a drum solo, plus an unremarkable instrumental
track (‘The Fire And The Fury’) in the
first 40 minutes, I’ll never know. Though
I wouldn’t repeat the hand gestures he kept
making towards the stage, I was in agreement with
the bloke that stood in front of the mixing desk
bellowing: “Just fucking get on with it”
over and over again. Rounded off by a three-song
encore, the show began to fulfil its potential towards
the end – despite the inclusion of Firewind’s
dreaded cover of Michael Semballo’s Flashdance
pop hit ‘Maniac’ – but for a while
there it was touch ‘n’ go. Here’s
the set-list: ‘The Ark Of Lies’, ‘Head
Up High’, ‘Destination Forever’,
Keyboard Solo, ‘Angels Forgive Me’,
‘World On Fire’, Guitar Solo, ‘The
Fire And The Fury’, Drum Solo, ‘Insanity’,
‘Heading For The Dawn’, ‘Chariot’,
‘My Loneliness’, ‘Mercenary Man’,
‘Till The End Of Time’, ‘Maniac’
and ‘Tyranny’, plus ‘Into The
Fire’, ‘I Am The Anger’ and ‘Falling
To Pieces’.
_
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Friday 7th January
I’m feeling almost jetlagged after too
many nights of nocturnal cricket observation. It
was well worth it to see the scenes of celebration
as jubilant England finally lifted the Urn in Sydney,
a 3-1 landslide ending almost a quarter-century
of hurt. Like all fans of the English game I was
embarrassed at by being walloped by 5-0 during the
last visit Down Under four years ago. But although
the home side strolled it during the test in Perth,
briefly threatening a reversal of form, the Aussies’
capitulation has been even more pathetic still.
Strauss and company have clubbed them relentlessly
and methodically, like some helpless seal cub. To
have won by an innings in three games (out of five)
is unprecedented in these fixtures. Australia have
been shockingly clueless in just about every area
– which, of course, is fantastic! –
but in the rush to malign the Convicts as the “worst
ever”, the media has almost forgotten to praise
Andrew Strauss and company’s magnificent achievements.
Right… I’m off to bed…
[Edit: Oh no! Talk about putting
things into perspective… Phil Kennemore from
Y&T has lost his battle with lung cancer. How
incredibly sad. The bassist had sat out the band’s
last bout of touring whilst he was treated for the
condition. As somebody that followed Y&T’s
career from their legendary Marquee Club shows in
’82, it’s hard to believe that I’ll
never hear Kennemore belting out the lyrics to ‘Squeeze’
again. RIP, Phil…].
_
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Wednesday 5th January
England look in complete control of the fifth
and final test match against Australia. I stayed
up to watch Alistair Cook complete his century.
Somehow managed to haul myself out of the pit once
more at 5am just as Bell notched his own (albeit
with a bit of help from the umpires). Am now feeling
rather groggy, but my satisfaction justifies the
feeling of sleep deprivation.
There seems to be quite a lot of
deaths at this time of year, yesterday bringing
no less than two rock-related fatalities –
Japan bassist Mick
Karn and Gerry
Rafferty, whose ‘Baker Street’ was
among the first 45 RPMs I ever bought. I picked
up most of Japan’s back catalogue at a car
boot sale a few years back, partially as a consequence
of their keyboard player Richard Barbieri being
a member of Porcupine Tree. The bloke unloading
his vinyl haul seemed especially sad about the transaction
– “I’m only selling these ’cos
I don’t have a turntable anymore,” he
almost blubbed (I always find such talk ridiculous…
so **go and buy one**, then!!!) – but his
loss was my gain.
I’ve just had one of those ‘spooky coincidence’
moments with the chiropractor. After spotting my
red and blue scarf, the practitioner made small-talk
during the treatment by asking whether Palace were
any closer to hiring a new manager. I replied in
the affirmative. Shortly before leaving home, the
bookies had suspended bets on Eddie Howe of Bournemouth
being installed as CPFC’s new supremo. “He’s
only 33 years old and regarded as one of the best
young managers in the league,” I waffled enthusiastically.
“He’d done an amazing job down there
but now wants to leave because the board at Bournemouth
are refusing to give him any money to spend.”
Feeling a little guilty at hogging
the conversation and aware of my over-zealousness,
I asked: “So who do you support, then?”
The reply was inevitable: “Bournemouth”.
Ouch!
_
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Tuesday 4th January
Crystal Palace emerged triumphant in yesterday’s
showdown with PNE thanks to new signing Steffen
Iversen, though it was a poor contest between two
shockingly dismal sides. Thankfully, Preston were
just the teeniest bit more woeful than the Eagles.
Save for Iversen’s header, both teams were
farcical in front of goal. The visitors were six
or seven first teamers light due to the recalling
of key loanees and the sale of Parkin – an
awful lump that somehow never fails to score against
Palace – to Cardiff Shitty, and **still**
we struggled to deliver the killer blow. Such was
its air of undisciplined, diabolical ineptitude,
also the undercurrent of sheer desperation, at times
the game felt like watching two drunken old tramps,
scrapping on the pavement over some half-empty can
of Diamond White found abandoned in a bin. But three
points are three points, and we’ll take them
thanks very much…
RIP Philip Lynott, who died 25 years ago today.
I only met Thin Lizzy’s leader the once –
when I waited outside the end of your party, circa
the ‘Chinatown’ album, as a fan, and
he took me inside and introduced me to everyone…
“This is Scott Gorham, this is Brian Robertson,
this is Jimmy Bain…” I’ve still
got the signed invite somewhere. A true gent, and
still much missed.
_
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Monday 3rd January
In an hour or two I shall be heading off to Selhurst
to roar on Crystal Palace in a must-win relegation
derby with Preston North End. Just like the Eagles,
the visitors are manager-less, short on form and
stranded in the bottom three, so nothing less than
three points will do. With CPFC legend Dougie Freedman
standing in as boss, the team – and indeed the ground
– will be pumped up for these crucial 90 minutes.
The fifth and final test match has begun. Australia
opted to bat and were making a decent fist of it,
all ten of their first innings wickets still standing
as I retired to bed. The news that they had capitulated
to 134-4 in a rain affected day’s play must award
the tourists the edge.
P.S. I was sad to hear of the death of one of my
favourite actors, the grim-faced Pete Postlethwaite
OBE. Yet another victim of the Big C. Very sad.
[Edit: Still on the subject of my favourite thespians,
today’s CPFC vs PNE match programme featured
an interview with another fine example. I knew that
Bill Nighy was a Palace fan but had no idea how
much he loves the club. I, too, share Bill’s
wish that Lionel Messi will someday sign for the
Eagles… but I’m not holding my breath!]
_
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Sunday 2nd January
Just
home from the Orpington Record Fair. There was very
little to get excited about, I’m afraid. Picked
up a few bargain basement bits ‘n’ bobs
but my only real acquisition of note was a mint
condition vinyl of the first, self-titled album
from Texan Southern rockers Point Blank, issued
in 1976 and produced by Bill Ham of ZZ Top fame.
Apart from the group’s 2009 comeback disc,
‘Fight On!’, ‘Second Season’
(’77) is now the only gap in my collection.
On the bus journey home I read the latest edition
of the Led Zeppelin appreciation magazine Tight
But Loose, kindly supplied by Dave Lewis after the
Black Country Communion gig. It contains an excellent
interview conducted by Lewis with Bill Curbishley,
long time manager of Robert Plant, The Who and Judas
Priest. Dave asks all the right questions; ‘How
did Led Zeppelin’s O2 concert evolve?’,
‘Was there any chance that Robert Plant would
be up for more shows?’, ‘Will the O2
concert be issued on DVD?’ and ‘What
would you advise Jimmy Page to do now?’ among
them, and Curbishley doesn’t duck his answers.
I was impressed by BC’s honesty throughout.
The part in which he admits: ‘The fact is,
if life’s a two-week holiday then I’m
on the second week, and it’s Wednesday’
is especially poignant. To order a copy go HERE.
P.S. Look out for updates at the Playlist
and YouTube sections.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Saturday 1st January
What an eventful day for Crystal Palace fans.
I declined the chance to attend the away game with
Scumwall – I wouldn’t give those Neanderthals
the steam off my piss, let alone pay to visit their
rusting hovel of a ground – but to have lost
the game concerned by three goals was simply unacceptable.
The CPFC 2010 consortium obviously felt the same
way, giving manager George Burley his marching orders
shortly after the final whistle. I felt a little
sorry for Burley who, in a six-month reign, had
tried to get the team playing decent football. The
problem was that he had no ‘Plan B’,
and the club was in danger of sinking deeper and
deeper into danger of getting relegated. In the
long run the right decision was made, I feel.
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