For Those About to Pod, We Salute You - Episode 65

[00:00:23] Speaker A: Well, hello, everyone, and welcome to episode 65 of the rock podcast. For those about the pod, we salute you. On this episode we have the latest news. We have reached the letter r in our a to z of rock, and we review the new releases from slash, the karma effect and fm. But here he is back from his stateside sojourn, Mister Matt Rogers. Hello, mate. [00:00:51] Speaker B: Hello. [00:00:51] Speaker A: I nearly went. G'day, mate. [00:00:54] Speaker B: Think of that far. That was a very good interest. So much better than the last few intros. Oh, I did those, didn't I? Yeah, that's good. That's very what that was. That's polished. I was as polished as an FM album. [00:01:07] Speaker A: Oh, yeah. [00:01:09] Speaker B: I would suggest, yes. Vegas. I went to Vegas and I went to Los Angeles, actually. It's good. I didn't get to go to the Rainbow. I did. I did pass by the whiskey ago, some rock landmarks. The whiskey ago and the troubadour. I said to my wife, flirt the whiskey. And she's like, where, when, what, why? Okay, troubadour, where, when, what, why? And so on. You get the Gerald idea. That's very nice. Vegas was amazing. And we were there for my, well, our friend Kelvin's wedding. And he was. And he was. It was, it was Elvis. He was married by Elvis. Well, they were married by Elvis. He and his lovely wife Maria. Congratulations to you guys. And yes, they were married by Elvis. That was surreal, but really funny. Really, really good. If anyone's considering getting married in Vegas, get married by Elvis. It's a fantastic experience. Sings a few songs. He's got the moves, does a few jokes. Great. It's great. We also, we also went to see raiding the rock vault when we were there, which is a show I'd been to before, which is basically. It's really, really good. Really, really well done. A run through the history of rock music, basically from the whole. The stones through the sixties, seventies, eighties, and kind of, that's where it sort of ends, with guns n roses and stuff. It was good. Good visit, good trip, and probably not somewhere I'll be going back to unless someone else decides to get married there and I have to drag myself back to Vegas. But for now, yeah, that would do a good trip. And you've been to see Brian Adams for again, for the umpteenth time. [00:02:51] Speaker A: He knows. Bryan Adams now has overtaken King's x as the band artist I've seen the most. I've now seen Bryan Adams 13 times. [00:03:04] Speaker B: Wow. [00:03:05] Speaker A: And Matt, he's 65 years of age. He was doing his, as you say, I went to see him two years ago and he did a three night residency in the Royal Albert hall and he did the same last week. He did. We went to two nights of the three. The first night was he played 18 till I die, which by the end of the first half of the show, I worked out that I really didn't know many albums or many tracks off 18 till I die, but the second night was just probably one of the best gigs I've ever been to. It was reckless. 40th anniversary of reckless. Matt. [00:03:46] Speaker B: Wow, that's a killer. That's an absolute killer album, isn't it? I mean, there's no weak songs in that album. [00:03:53] Speaker A: No. [00:03:54] Speaker B: Is there? [00:03:54] Speaker A: No, there's not at all. And Brian's son agreed. It's a shame, actually, because he played. He played reckless the first half of the show and then he comes out and he starts playing other tunes and you're going, well, you've done run to you, you've done somebody, you've done summer 69. So it was a little bit of a into climax and he climaxed in the second half, as you. But he sounded sounding great and such a different atmosphere from night one to night two. Everybody was. Everybody was up for it. So, yeah, Royal Albert hall again. Brian was in great form. Super good. [00:04:36] Speaker B: You know that song it's only love, which famously duetted with Tina Turner, who duets on that. Or does he sing it as a solo piece? [00:04:46] Speaker A: He does it as a solo piece now. Yeah, that's. [00:04:48] Speaker B: He does he. Yeah, that's a great. What a riff that is, isn't it? We'll have to put that on the playlist. [00:04:53] Speaker A: He did. He did a little bit of a tribute to Tina, actually. He only did it. He did it on the first night where he played its only love and then he went into simply the best. And then he tried singing a little bit of. I think it was what's love got to do with you? And then the second night he played. It's. It's only love, properly. [00:05:17] Speaker B: Right. [00:05:18] Speaker A: Yeah, okay. Yes. Yeah. [00:05:21] Speaker B: Well intended. [00:05:22] Speaker A: Yeah. It'll be released at Christmas. [00:05:26] Speaker B: Yes. So I hear private dancer, I only heard recently by the private dancer by Tina Turner. That song, along with. Along with what's love got to do with it? Private dancer was written by Mark Notfler. [00:05:40] Speaker A: He was indeed. [00:05:42] Speaker B: I didn't know that till recently. The things you learn, the older you get. You still learn useless bits of trivia to use in pub quizzes, don't you? Yeah. Martin Offler wrote private dancer 14th. The late, great Tina Turner. Anyway, we digress. Talking about tours and gigs and all things live music. AC DC, the latest incarnate. Well, I say latest incarnation. They got a couple of new guys filling in for Phil Rudd and Cliff Williams is retired. And Phil Rudd, who can't seem to get a visa to get out of wherever he lives, New Zealand or Australia. They kicked off their world tour of Germany, including some dates in other parts of Europe in Gelshenkirchen. I love saying gelshenkirchen. I always have done. From the 1974 World cup onwards, Gelshenkirk. Probably the same stadium as used in the 1974 World cup. They kicked off their world tour. Was it the world tour? Just the european leg of their tour. Anyway, setlist looks good, doesn't it? For those that, with all due respect, Brian managed to get tickets for Wembley and or Dublin. And the settler. Settler looks amazing. 24 songs, greatest hits set, I would. [00:07:05] Speaker A: Suggest, and split equally twelve songs of Bon era and twelve songs of Brian era. [00:07:11] Speaker B: I like that. That's very good because, I mean, Bon Scott died in 1980. I mean, that's a long time ago. But to still play songs from that era, I think, is a credit to them. [00:07:22] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:07:24] Speaker B: And. And they played back. Back in black is song number two, the set list. I imagine the set list won't change very much between now and when folks see them in Wembley or Dublin or wherever on the tour. But. [00:07:37] Speaker A: But there are. [00:07:37] Speaker B: Looks amazing. [00:07:38] Speaker A: There are two opportunities to go to the bar, though, Matt. Yeah. Demon Fire and shot in the dark. [00:07:46] Speaker B: Yeah. But do you know what fairly Aussie song they do? A tribute to? Aussie cover of the Aussie song. Now, that's from. They're both from the. Well, it is called the power up tour, so they might as well do some songs from the power up album which came out. We were all excited about that. And then we're like, eh, okay, let's listen to back in black again for old times sake. They do a lot talking to back in black album. They do six songs now, which is a lot, isn't it? Considering they'd only doing twelve from, as you say, twelve from the Brian Johnson era. Just says a lot about that mega selling back in black album. [00:08:27] Speaker A: And though there are those people who were complaining on social media going, oh, you haven't played, you know, one of the three tracks that they missed off it, you know, whether it was giving the dog a bone or have a drink on me, one of those two tracks didn't make the settlers, so the people going, not playing. My favorite. But in fairness to Brian, I've seen some of the, uh, footage on YouTube. You know, Brian Johnson's 76 now and, and he still, you know, they start the. So start the set with, if you want blood, you've got. It's just like. Yeah, and you hear. You hear the. It's. It looks. It's a massive stadium and the footage that they've been playing is, you can hear Brian singing, but you can hear the particularly highway to hell. You hear the stadium just like singing over Brian. It must have been a great night, but I think they're doing the smart thing where they played. I think they've. Are they, are they doing maybe two, three, maybe three, four days between shows? Just. Yeah, because I think they're doing the same in, at Wembley where they're doing like a Wednesday night and then a Wednesday and a Saturday and Sunday, actually. Wednesday and Sunday. So, yeah, that's a good recovery time for the band because. [00:09:48] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah, gone are the days where it's like 25 gigs in 27 days. It's like 15 gigs in three months or something. But you can forget, as you say, they're getting on a bit and. But it still sounds good. And the new, the new recruits are, you know, fitting in very nicely. [00:10:11] Speaker A: Are you excited? [00:10:13] Speaker B: Well, I am now. I mean, I'm looking forward to it. Do you know, I'm more excited for people. We talked about this when the tickets came on, so I'm more excited for people that haven't seen AC DC before and this will probably be their last chance. Wives, children, you know, kids. My wife, for example, has never seen act and friends of ours, kids and so on. So, you know, I'm pleased for those folks. I mean, I first saw ACDC in 1981, so which to some people, oh, you know, I was a bit late. I saw them Bon Scott in 1976. Well, fine, but you know, it's all relative. Yeah, I am excited. I'm also tell what I'm also excited about because I'm a big Led Zep fan. These segues just get better and better than I. Brian, the word excited has taken me through to the Led Zepp documentary, which we talked about, I think, when it was first mentioned. Or did I dream about. [00:11:10] Speaker A: No, we have mentioned it. [00:11:12] Speaker B: We did. We? Yeah, I think we did. We mentioned a lot of stuff, don't we? So it's difficult to decipher what's true and what's not. But this, this documentary called because over the years, Led Zepp since, I mean, Jimmy Page has done a good job of kind of bringing out rarities and demos and that kind of stuff. But essentially, you know, since dvd, which was released in 2003, which was a, you know, a kind of a collection of all the, all the films, all the, you know, stage footage and so on from various gigs over the years, they've been fairly kind of, you know, reluctant to, you know, go through the archives, as it were. But this, this new documentary called Becoming Led Zepp. Becoming Led Zeppelin is, is scheduled for yet for theatrical release soon. There's no, there's no particular date, but it's through Sony. Sony Classic Pictures movie has been gestating. Gestating for some time now. This is a statement was announced in 2019, completely 2021. So it's, it's on its way. So Led Zepp fans, you know, keep your eyes peeled for any announcements regarding becoming Led Zeppelin. The trailer looks pretty good. It's the same old footage, though, unfortunately, I don't think there's going to be anything particularly new footage wise from the archives, but, you know, interesting all the same. [00:12:37] Speaker A: And somebody else legendary, who will be, who has a new album coming out 6 September this year, is Mister David Gilmore. Don't call me Dave. He's got a new album, Lookin Strange, released a single not so long ago called the Piper's Call, and he has announced a residency at the Royal Albert hall in October. As you lucked out on tickets for AC DC, I lucked out on some tickets to go and see David in the Royal Albert hall again. However, that's the good part of it. The worrying news about this, Matt, is it's rumored that David may not be playing any of the seventies Pink Floyd material, which would mean he wouldn't be playing wish you were here, comfortably numb, any of the. Yeah, any of the classic Pink Floyd. And it got me thinking, well, I was wanting to ask you, how would you feel if you're going to see David Gilmore, the guitar player and the main lead vocalist in Pink Floyd, if he wasn't going to be playing the hits. [00:13:56] Speaker B: Yeah, it's quite as sort of bold statement, isn't it? You know, if he'd have said that before the tickets went on sale, I imagine ticket sales would have been, you know, a lot less than what they are. But yeah, I mean, because, you know, when you play, when you, when you go and see Dave Gilmore, you and I went to see him a few years ago, didn't we, at the Albert hall in London. You expect comfortably numb, you know, you expect, you know, the wish you were here and, you know, I don't know, shiny, you crazy diamond and so on do you expect. Because he, you know, he was instrumental in those. In those songs. He wasn't just a kind of bit part player, but yeah, yeah. To say that it's very. Wow. Yeah. We'll see how many tickets, you know, go back into circulation. I don't really want to go and see him without pig Floyd stuff. [00:14:46] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah, yeah. Very true. [00:14:48] Speaker B: You know, going back to AC DC, it's a bit like if AC DC said we're not doing any Bon Scott era stuff, there would be. There would be some sort of outcry, I think. So we shall see. But, yeah, you paid your, you know, small sort. We had to get to remortgage, didn't you, to get a ticket, which. Well done. Well done. You another star of the. Of the seventies and eighties. Seventies and eighties. Steve Perry. We talked about Steve Perry many times. The great Steve Perry, who was the singer of journey, I think, until 2013. We talked about it many times. And he had an album back in 2018. He's carved a decent solo career. And of course, he does fairly well out the royalties of the journey songs that he was involved in writing. But Steve Perry, for many, the voice of Journey, he has signed. He signed with a new label, new record label. I don't know who it is. Might be earache. Frontiers. I don't know frontiers. Do we get two pounds there? I think he last performed. This is amazing. Really. Think about it. For someone of his caliber. He last performed, he hasn't mounted, this is from classic rock News. Mounted. That's a strange word to use. He hasn't mounted a solo tour. He hasn't mounted a. So I can't get over that word in that context. He hasn't kind of been on a solo tour since 1980. Well, in 30 years. He performed a full length concert in 1987 with journey. It's amazing for someone of his caliber. Anyway, he says now, this will be a big ticket gig if he does it. He says something I'm missing terribly. I can't even tell you how much. Well, yeah, I'm sure that you will at some point, and that will register in terms of millions of dollars in revenue. So we shall see. Steve. I'd love to see Steve Perry live. Never saw him live, but I love Steve Perry. What a brilliant singer. And you've seen him presumably, have you, Brian? [00:17:15] Speaker A: No, I haven't. [00:17:17] Speaker B: Did he play Limavardi back in the day? Limavardi town hall? [00:17:21] Speaker A: Yeah. I think, I'm thinking there might be somebody called Steve Parry who I think was a. Was he not a Liverpool player or Steve Parrish who was a football chairman. [00:17:33] Speaker B: Crystal Parris. [00:17:35] Speaker A: It'll one of the. I read. I read similar story but one of the intriguing developments and on why Steve Perry is considering coming back to live work was there's a band called the Effect which has been put together and it features Nick Collins, who's Phil Collins son, great drummer Nick Collins and Trevor Lookiter, who is obviously Steve. Look at their son. So they've put a band together called the effect and they remade a track called it could have been you and they actually got Steve Perry to come in and sing the vocals on it and whilst they were in the studio, you know, Trevor. Trevor looketh her was like chomping away at him going come on, you've got to get back out and sing, Steve. There's lots of it. So I think Trevor Looketh there has been one of those people that's been whilst in the studio saying there's an audience out there waiting to hear you, Steve. So yeah, be fabulous. I can't see him coming, you know, coming maybe. Maybe 2025 steamed at festival. Steve for storm dead. [00:18:56] Speaker B: Steve for Storm dead. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Backed up by Slayer. Slayer Zigbee's back in bed. It'd be funny doing like rain in blood, Steve Perry singing rain in blood or whatever the slightest song you care to throw it in. Yes, very interesting. [00:19:18] Speaker A: Anyway, so just to finish off on news, Martin, I think this story opens a bit of a. Whether you want to call it a can of worms or just an interesting dynamic in music, the Marriott family, mainly. Molly Marriott has put a statement out. Her late dad, the late great Steve Marriott of humble pie and small faces. Steve's widow, Tony has agreed with a record company to allow the record company to release and work on some demos and have some AI generated vocals of Steve on these tracks. Now, I think Molly Marriott has put out a statement to say, you know, obviously she's got. No. She's got, you know, she doesn't own any of Steve's music. It's all owned by the Marriott estates. She's saying, look, dad was an amazing live singer. He would not have approved of this. And quite a few other artists, Robert Plant, David Gilmore, Paul Rogers, even Peter Frumpton, you know, former bandmates and Jerry Shirley have come out and said, look, I think Jerry Shirley has heard some of the demos and has gone, oh, I'm not really quite sure about this. So I think we're starting to go down a very. We could go down a very strange path here, Matt, if we start to. If record companies or bands are going to use AI generated vocals of deceased members of bands, something I don't. It's just the way of the world how AI is being very informative, you know, it's great. It's great for some things, but resurrecting singers who've passed away in order to sell new material, not really one for me. Matt, where are you on this? [00:21:34] Speaker B: Well, same, same. Yeah, I read that story and it's funny. Jerry Shirley, who doesn't mince his words. He said. He said it's horrible. This is a recording of Georgia on my mind using the AI generate vocals of Steve Marriott. It's horrible. So like someone who tried to sound like. Someone tried to sound like Steve Marriott. Yeah, something like that. Anyway. But no, I think it's. It's very worrying because where does it all end? Do we get, you know, Jimi Hendrix guitar solos reanimated through AI? Do we get Freddie Mercury's vocal enhanced by AI and so on? I suppose the tip of the iceberg. We talked about it a couple of times with the. With the. What do they call the kiss things. [00:22:23] Speaker A: Oh, the avatars. [00:22:25] Speaker B: The Avatars. [00:22:25] Speaker A: That was it. [00:22:26] Speaker B: I mean that's. That's kind of technology. And we all kind of turned our nose up a bit about that, even though the other thing does look pretty spectacular. But even so, it's still computer generated. Yeah, I don't think this is a good thing. And as you say, there's been so much outcry. Peter Frampton, Jerry Shirley, Molly Marriott, the great Paul Rogers and so on. I think it's not a good idea at all. And it smacks, in a way, desperation. Why would you want to resurrect the career, the vocals of someone who died, you know, several years ago, many years ago? [00:23:03] Speaker A: Steve Marriott. [00:23:04] Speaker B: Yeah, it does seem a strange thing to do. And I imagine and reading and listen to what you just said about Steve Marriott's widow Tony and his daughter Molly and indeed her siblings. They're all against it and they might have driven a wedge between them and their mum, which is quite sad when obviously relates to their dad slash departed husband. So. Yeah, yeah, let's keep an eye on that. But yeah, that's. That's not. Not the best sort of solution, I don't think, to kind of the. Someone's legacy. Right, let's move on, Brian. [00:23:38] Speaker A: Yes, and I think we'll move on to new rock on the block. We've got new, new records. Good to review? Well, we could review old records. Let's review back in black, Matt. Yeah, it was good. [00:23:58] Speaker B: Like it? Well, what have we got then? Where do we want to start? [00:24:04] Speaker A: I think we should start off with the karma effect. Top 20 album. [00:24:12] Speaker B: Yes. Good on him. [00:24:14] Speaker A: Well done. The karma effect. [00:24:16] Speaker B: Yes, well done, lads. Got to number 19, the official UK album charts, which is quite something, really, when we talk. We talked to the guys and they formed in 2020 during where they were kind of rehearsing in the sort of lockdown bubble. And four years later, this is the second album on Earache Records have just signed a deal with Earache. [00:24:42] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:24:43] Speaker B: And, yes, number 19 in the uk album charts. Quite an achievement. And good on you, lads. What did you make of it, Bry? What did you make of promised Land by the karma effect? [00:24:57] Speaker A: No, we've got their previous recordings as well, too, that they put out independently. And the album itself, as you say, it's their first major label album. It's very, very radio two friendly. There's some tracks on it where better days, for example, you know, which is the back end of the album, really radio friendly tracks on it. Even the likes of. Oh, my goodness. The opening track itself, living it up. See you again. See you again, is great because if you didn't see the video for it, it has that really Rolling Stones. I love rock and roll played when it's got a piano on it. And the mix of the piano and the organ with the karma effect just gives it that little really old school feel to it. So I really, really enjoyed it. Yeah, there's Bob Seger. There's a real Americana Bob Seger feel to some of the tracks. Title track, is it be my Salvation? Not the title track, which is promised land, but be my Salvation's got a real black crows feel to it. It's probably my favorite track in the album. And what I liked about it, matt, it was ten songs, 39 minutes. I listened to the album the whole way through and it just was a nice, good bite, a good bite sized chunk of an album. So I really enjoyed it. I thought it was. I thought it was really, really good. A little bit smooth around the edges from the. From the first album, but, yeah, really good. You can see it getting played on Planet Rock and radio two, in my view. [00:26:56] Speaker B: Yes. And Scotland rocks radio. Of course, I would tend to agree with you. It's. It's. It's got some great songs on it. I think the. The first few songs are the strongest songs on the album. Living it up. It's got one of the catchiest hooks, the catchiest choruses. And in bet, indeed, one of the best kind of, you know, sentiments you could ever wish for in a song. See you again is a cool sort of song about, you know, someone who's kind of, you know, you want to see him again. You know. It's good, positive stuff. Wild Honey has got this really good. As you say. There are, there are shades of that. They do wear their influences on their sleeve. The guys, I remember when we spoke to them, they're big fans of Aerosmith black crows. I think there's little bits of white snake in there as well because you say they got. They bring the Hammond orchid up set Emmons keyboards and it was a brilliant keyboard player. And he needs. He deserves to be up in the mix. Good singer too. And a really nice guy. Guys. It's hard to say something, something, you know, negative about their album because there isn't anything to say. It's a really good debut on a major label. I'm pleased it's selling well. There are some songs and it's still falling for you. And be my salvation clearly written from the heart by Henry Gotelier the lead singer, main writer Lee guitar I storms second league guitarist great band. Check them out. They're always on tour and you probably see them again this year, the playing festivals. But the album's really good. Go buy it. It's really good. It's a really good album. Really great. Major level debut from the guys from his land by the karma effect. Which brings us to let's go with Orgy of the damned. Orgy of the damned. What a big title. Orgy of the damned by slash. It's his second album wherein he's kind of recruited his friends, his buddies to play on, sing on them during his first album, which was his debut album as slash as opposed to guns or snake pit or whatever that came out. And I think about 2011 20 1011 oh, okay. Yeah, yeah. It's a good album. I enjoyed that album. And this is, this is more of a kind of blues r and b album. And he's recruited friends such as Gary Clark Junior and Brian Johnson and Stephen Tyler's on there. Iggy Pop is on there and. And so on. What did you. Should I go first in this one? [00:29:50] Speaker A: You go first in this one. I'm interested. [00:29:54] Speaker B: Well, it's all of them. I mean, all songs. All the songs are good. All the songs. I won't. All the songs are classics. Go ahead. [00:30:07] Speaker A: Sorry, I was just gonna say, matt, I won't tell slash where you live. [00:30:11] Speaker B: No, please don't. I'm not gonna sound any particularly negative. I mean, I don't. I think. I think most of the songs are strong and good interpretations. Others maybe not. So, I mean, for example, I thought Gary Clark Junior on Crossroads was absolutely amazing. What an amazing voice. And I think what we'll find is a lot of the performers, the lesser known performers on this album will get a real boost from being on the album because slash is, of course, his rock royalty, as we know. And the same would apply to, I mean, I know Demi Lovato's huge star in her own right, but in a rock context, maybe not that well known, but a bit like Ferguson on the, on the first slash album, I think she's done a really good job of Papa was a rolling stone. Personally, Brian. Brian's kind of like, you know, rolling his eyes and born under a bad sign with Paul Rogers. I was a little bit disappointed in, however, knowing the trials and tribulations, medically and health wise, that Paul Rogers has been through in the last year or so, you've got to forgive him. Awful dream featuring Iggy Pop was truly awful. You know, when we, when we first started this podcast back in whatever it was, 1968 or whatever it was we started, we always said we're going to be trying to be positive, but I can't. Iggy Pop cannot sing the blues. And this was, this was hard work listening to that. But elsewhere, Hujukuchi man with Billy Gibbons from ZZ Top's good. I really enjoyed living for the city featuring Tash Neil and Stormy Monday featuring Beth Hart. I mean, Beth Hart's got an amazing voice and she suits that kind of delta blues type vibe perfectly. So all in all, I thought was good. Killing floor featuring Brian Johnson. A lot of people said he sounds like Tom Jones. I can't see it. I mean, it's Brian Johnson singing in his kind of normal, normal almost speaking voice, as it were. But it was, you know, I would. I'll give it a go. It's worth, worth it even maybe, maybe skip over the Iggy Pop song. Sorry, Iggy, if you're listening, Iggy, Jim's runner. Sorry, Jim, if you're listening, sorry. Go on, Brian. [00:32:28] Speaker A: I have a theory on who I think Brian Johnson sounds like in that lower register. And when I say it, you might go, yes. Eric Burden from the animals. [00:32:43] Speaker B: Oh, yeah. It's a good show, actually. Yeah, we're both about from the northeast, of course. [00:32:47] Speaker A: Yes. [00:32:48] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:32:49] Speaker A: Do you know what I think you've the. I have to say, the track. The track with Iggy Pop, he actually. He sounded like John Lee Hooker. You know, the way John Lee Hooker. [00:33:06] Speaker B: We said like, I don't know what it's. [00:33:08] Speaker A: Yeah. However, it's more narration than singing Johnny. [00:33:13] Speaker B: Cash style almost, but not as good as Johnny Cash. [00:33:16] Speaker A: Yeah, I loved. The opening track was fab. I loved the pusher with Chris Robinson. That really set a nice tone for the album. For me. Gary Clark Junior was fabulous. I didn't enjoy Ol Ol, which was done with Chris Stapleton. That was a no for me. Born on a bad sign was. Yeah. It just didn't go anywhere. It was quite flat for me. The standout tracks, I'd have to say, was the Tash Neil one living in the city. Yeah. The Stevie Wonder cover and. Yeah. And Beth Hart where Slash got in. Really good blues singers like. Like Abeth Hart and the Gary clout Junior and Chris Robinson. You know, that's. That's where it really was. The blue albums, when he. When he sort of mixed it and matched it, tried to mix it about a bit. It just didn't work for me. But I suppose that's the problem. That's the thing that you. When you go back to his self titled debut album, you know, there were some of the singers, obviously, miles sang on the album and. And Miles been singing with them ever since. But some of the tracks, you know, Ian Asbury was on it and the lead singer out of Wolf mother, there was. There were some collaborations worked and some didn't. And I think similarly on this, you like to think in my. I'm sort of going, if slash were ever to tour this, you love them to begin out with, uh, with Tash, Neil, Beth Hart and Dorothy, who sang keys to the highway. Just, just. She was just Janis Joplin, but yeah, yeah, I would give it a seven out of ten. [00:35:10] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah, same, yeah, same, yeah, absolutely. Which takes us to the new album from FM, Old Habits die hard, which is because you could say, sort of sums them up, really. We're going since the late eighties. FM had a bit of a hiatus, got back together in 2007, and since then I've been hugely prolific and not some good stuff. Always on tour and growing old gracefully, let's say. What did you think of old habit? Like us all, bry, what did you make of old Habits die hard by FM? [00:35:50] Speaker A: Yes, the album, which was released on the 3 May 2024. I'm on Frontiers Records, Matt. [00:35:57] Speaker B: Oh, for crying out there. Okay, pitching, pitching. [00:36:03] Speaker A: Now, do you know a bit like the karma effect album where they front loaded the bases with the great tracks like out of the Blue reminded me of when I was listening to this track, I was going if Alana Miles was doing a. Remember she did her gazillion selling black velvet. Black Velvet, out of the blue has that same sort of pulsing baseline to it, you know. So I was thinking I was in that kind of vibe of just that. Yeah, Alana Miles reminded me of that. Don't need another heartache was great. No easy way out. Again, great, great tracks. The track of the. I love the first two opening tracks. The track of the album for me is a track called Blackwater. [00:37:03] Speaker B: Absolutely. Couldn't agree more. Absolutely. Killer song, isn't it? [00:37:06] Speaker A: Did it remind when I was listening to it, Matt, I was thinking if the white snake lineup for Saints and Sinners was making an album this year, they would have recorded Blackwater and the solo on it as well too. And I know Jim was very close friends with Bernie Marsden. When I hear the solo on that, and Jim's playing as well as the other band, but Jim's lead guitar playing on this album, it's so tasteful. Chooses his notes, but the guitar player and the guitar solo on the outro and this was just fabulous. So, yeah, you know, it's a great album. However, the karma effect album was 31 minutes. The FM album is eleven tracks and it's 50 odd minutes long. [00:38:10] Speaker B: Matt, 39 minutes kind of effect. Let's give him some credit. [00:38:13] Speaker A: 39 39 minutes, the FM albums eleven tracks. 51 I have to say the last two tracks, which are another day in my world and Blue Sky Mind, just dipped a little bit for me in terms of just songwriting and I just thought the album really, the nine tracks I thought were great. And then when I listened to the last two tracks, it just dipped a little bit for me and the album and I just thought maybe it was a couple of tracks too long or it would have been just an absurd belt there. I do not understand, Matt, why FM are not bigger than they are. Steve Overland is just fabulous vocalist, but you know me, I'm a fan of FM. Where are you on this album? [00:39:07] Speaker B: Well, firstly, I think everyone should ever listen to it because if you never listened to FM before, this is a good entry point because it is FM all over. It's polished, it's got, as you say, Steve Overland is one of the greatest british rock singers I think there's ever been. And as you say, the Jim you were referring to earlier as Jim Kirkpatrick, who's a brilliant guitarist and he's got, as you say, he's got that sort of bluesy rock, sort of aor style about him to kind of combine three genres in one. The album's really good. I mean, it sort of speaks volumes for. For FM in that, you know, they've been going since the late eighties and they can still produce quality material. And this is polished. Yes, this is so polished you can see your face in this album. I mean, it's just, just incredible. And the quality of songs is generally good. As you say, black Water is a modern classic. It's gonna be one of our songs of the year. I'm sure there's a lot of songs on here. There's two. Steve Overland's lyrics, I presume. Steve writes the lyrics. There's two things he writes about one, heartache. I imagine Steve's a married guy and happily married and the rest of it. But he talks about heartache a lot. You know, love, lost and unrequited love and all that sort of stuff, cut me loose and whatever it takes and so on. Lost. And he also talks about sort of not achieving in a way. It's sort of in a way reflective of FM. He does. There's a lot of songs about he's looking back on his life and things have not worked out the way he liked them to be, but he's going to carry on, soldier through and all that sort of stuff. And in a way that kind of sums up FM, as you say. They should be huge. I think there's an apocryphal tell that they were going to go to the US. Was it either them or thunder? One of them, around about 1991 or so were off to the US and their tour got cancelled because grunge basically blew everything out of the water. I can't remember whether it's them or thunder, but I think probably the same applied to both. You're right, they are good. They're always on tour. Check them out. Check out this album, old habits die are hard. It's. It's a really good album. Maybe takes a few listens, but it is, it's. It's great, great songs, great singing from Steve overland. Polished so you can see your face in it. But that said a really good album. A solid sort of eight out of ten, I would say so. Brian. [00:41:47] Speaker A: Yes, we have. [00:41:49] Speaker B: Are you paying attention? Paying attention, boy. Um, we have reached the letter r in the a to z of rock. We got through Q. That was okay, actually, wasn't it? Turned out all right. [00:42:01] Speaker A: Sorry. [00:42:01] Speaker B: Um, a lot of people said to me, oh yeah, thanks for reminding me of Queen's Reich and Queen, obviously, and so on. Queen's Reich particularly. Ah, now, ah, r stands for rock music. And I was looking at wikipedia. Rock is a. Is a broad genre, you can say that again. Broad genre of popular music that originated as rock and roll in the United States in the late forties and early fifties, developed pinning into a wide range of styles in the mid sixties. I quite like that because as we've established many times on this podcast, rock music is a very broad church indeed. From, you know. Yes to Slayer, for example. [00:42:46] Speaker A: We're the new, we're carrying the Slayer flayer, aren't we? [00:42:51] Speaker B: Bring back Slayer. We almost reviewed Kerry King's new album, but it was just too much on the ears. Kerry King of. The guitarist of Slayer, of course, but maybe, maybe next time. Good on you, Kerry. But rock music, that's why we're here, Brian. That is the r that over overshadows and underpins everything we do. However, I think we should start with the Rolling Stones. Remember them should be all right. I think they're gonna be good, those guys. Yeah, they got a future ahead of them or a past behind them. They've just celebrated. I mean, they started in. I saw them in 2012. The only time I saw the Stones. And that was their 50th anniversary then. [00:43:34] Speaker A: Yeah, he's 80 years of age, Mick Jagger, and he's prancing around the stage and still sounding great. [00:43:42] Speaker B: I know. Yeah, well, our friend Kelvin saw them in Vegas, actually, when he was there. He stayed on for another day, saw them. They said. I think he said something online. So men of that age shouldn't really be, you know, that good. Yeah, they still carry it off. Formed in London in 1962, a chance meeting between Keith Richard and other art, of course, the Mick Jagger at Dartford railway station, where they started talking about, you know, albums. Remember the good old days when you carry an album under your, under your, under your arm? And the Stones were essentially born from, from then. Other ups and downs, of course, over the years, but produced, well, some of the greatest songs in the history of music. I mean, you name it. I mean, everyone's in a way a kind of a closet Stones fan, whether you're sort of, you know, sixties, seventies, eighties or even recent era Stones fan. They're still producing Hackney Diamonds, of course, with their last album that came out, I think last year, wasn't it? [00:44:46] Speaker A: Wasn't it? [00:44:47] Speaker B: It met reasonable critical acclaim. So, yeah, the Stones. You've seen the Stones a few times, of course. Famously you, you stole Keith Richards plexum, didn't you from his pick, from his roadie, didn't you? [00:44:59] Speaker A: No, I asked. I asked politely, Pierre, his. His Rudy, if I could have a plectrum. Actually, I just. I sort of gesticulated at him and just went, you know, did you do the universal gesture? I did the universal. [00:45:16] Speaker B: You gotta be careful with that one because it's got another. If you go the other way, it could be other connotations and the universal gesture for. Can I have your pick? Could I have Keith Richards pick? [00:45:24] Speaker A: Yes. And he moved. [00:45:25] Speaker B: I always. And then Keith Richards looked around and said, where's my. Where's my. Where's my pick, man? I haven't got a pick. I can't play jumping Jack Flash without pick. Um, that's another impression to add to the collection. [00:45:38] Speaker A: Of course. Well done. [00:45:41] Speaker B: Yes. The Rolling Stones. Anyone else? You got any r's, Brian? [00:45:45] Speaker A: Oh, did you know somebody here I'm going to mention? And we. We didn't even talk about this in pre production. [00:45:50] Speaker B: Hmm. Pre production. Oh, my God. Do we do pre production now? [00:45:55] Speaker A: We do know you. [00:45:57] Speaker B: Do we? Okay, great. I'm glad you told me. I'll turn up next time. [00:46:01] Speaker A: Exactly. Yeah, yeah. I was at the. I was at the pre production meeting on my own, somebody who I am going to call out that we never give that much love to. And he was in two great bands, Mister Mick Ralph's. [00:46:15] Speaker B: Oh, my goodness. [00:46:17] Speaker A: Who was obviously in. He was obviously in Mot the Hoople, and then he was the guitarist and one of the main songwriters, you know, when you think. Yeah. Of bad company. And I just think we give Paul Rogers lots of love on the show. And Mick Ralph's is somebody who is underrated as a guitar player, underrated as a songwriter. So, yeah. Mick Rolfs map. [00:46:44] Speaker B: That's a really good shout, actually. And, yeah, famously, he, as you say, left who Paul to join Paul Rogers formed. What do they call that? When they bring lots of, like, really kind of bicoliber musicians? That's it. They form one of the first super groups with, as you say, Paul Rogers and Simon Kirk. Simon Kirk and boss Burrell. [00:47:07] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:47:08] Speaker B: Yes. Sorry, I had a mental block then about Boss Burrell and the late, great boss Burrell, but, yeah, brilliant. That's a good shout, actually, because Ian Hunter didn't want to come get enough or. [00:47:18] Speaker A: No, he didn't. [00:47:19] Speaker B: Ready for love or anything like that. No, no, they're not. They're not mother Hoople songs. No, no, you can have those. Keep them to yourself. Go and play with Paul. Roger that. Blow from free and the rest, rest is history. Well, yes. I mean, you mentioned Paul Rogers. [00:47:32] Speaker A: Yes. [00:47:34] Speaker B: That's a cool surname, isn't it? Rogers, Arthur Rogers, of course. Different spelling, of course, but Paul Rogers, I mean, we've talked about. I think we probably talked about him more. We talked about many people lots of times over the years. [00:47:47] Speaker A: Yes. [00:47:48] Speaker B: Whether it be Campbell or Diamond head or thin Lizzie or King's edge. But Paul Rogers has certainly come up many times. The greatest, in my opinion, and probably yours too. The greatest rock vocalist there's ever been and probably ever will be with free bad company and, and the firm and queen and solo career and so on. [00:48:12] Speaker A: I'm not going to disagree with you there. [00:48:14] Speaker B: No, I know you're not. No, we both are in tune with that, with the great Paul Rogers. We mentioned Keith Richards earlier, but another guitarist that is sadly no longer was not. Well, Keith Richards is with us, but sadly Randy Rhodes isn't. We touched on Randy Rhodes last time, didn't we? Another guitarist who was in two mega groups. Quite right. And of course Ozzy's band and died in 1982. That very sad situation with the pilot who'd been discredited, lost his license and decided to buzz the tour bus and crashed and that was there. I mean, very, very sad end to Randy Rose. By all accounts a nice guy, a really quiet guy, wasn't happy with the rockstar lifestyle and was instrumental, of course, in re establishing Aussie as a solo performer in the early eighties. I remember that buying that first Aussie album, the Blizzard of Oz album. And I mean, it's, it stands in the test of time. Some of those songs on the album, I don't know. And of course, crazy Train, mister Crowley and so on, and he was instrumental in creating those songs. Randy Rhodes, thoughts on him, brian? [00:49:23] Speaker A: Yeah, he. I can. As a, as a guitar player, not a very good one, as you know, Matt. [00:49:30] Speaker B: No, you are now. I'm going to set the record straight once and for all. Brian is a really good guitar player. He's a really good singer. I give him a lot of. But I'm going to put, I've got to draw a line under there. Not the princess Dinah love, but the guitar player. Brian's a very good guitarist. Back to you, Bryce. [00:49:47] Speaker A: I stayed, I stayed away from Randy Rhodes. I've never tried to learn any of Randy Rhodes guitar playing. He just, you know, when you've been listening to the status quo and Francis Rossi and Rick Parfitt and then you hear crazy tree and, and you hear, I don't know, there's little bits of it, you know, the riffs are brilliant. The. I don't know, riff is fabulous. But then when it goes to the guitar solo, it's like you're looking around the stage going, can somebody else do this bit? Because he just. He, to me started that whole genre of really shredding, you know, in terms of that. Ingrie Malmsteen, the classical, you know, I remember when. When they brought out the live album tribute and you hear the outtakes of the classical piece d and he's so, as you say, he was so softly spoken and there's a couple little. You hear him talking to the engineer and he was recording it. He's just a masterful guitar player. Like Gary Moore was a massive fan of Randy Rhodes. He should be held up there in the pantheons of great, great guitar players like Hendrix and. And, you know, Eddie Van Halen, Richie Blackmore, those guys. [00:51:03] Speaker B: Yeah. D written for his mum, by the way. Yes, that piece. Music. Yeah, very nice. [00:51:09] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:51:10] Speaker B: Moving on. Rainbow. Not the children's tv show from the seventies, of course, featuring Zet, Zpe and George. [00:51:21] Speaker A: I can't do Bungalow's voice. [00:51:23] Speaker B: No, no one can. Jeff. JP keeps picking on me. Star shutter. Sorry, Brian, go ahead. That's Rainbow. Richie Blackmore's Rainbow. An interesting story there. Richie Blackman was getting disgruntled with deep purple in the mid seventies because of Glenn Hughes and David Coverdale. [00:51:45] Speaker A: Kind of more funky shoeshine music, as he called it. [00:51:48] Speaker B: Exactly. And he decided to steal basically majority of the support band on one of the last Deep Purple tours, bangled elf and create record a solo album which became Richie Blackmore's Rainbow, the first, in a way, Rainbow album, 1975. Then he fired everyone except for Ronnie Dio and recruited Jimmy Bain and Tony Kerry and Cozy Powell. And in a way, the rest is history. But yeah, that Seventies Rainbow stuff with rainbow rising and long lived rock and roll and even down, well, down to earth with Graham Bonnet. I mean, that's a. That's a quality piece of work, isn't it? I mean, they're all the calibre of work. And we mustn't forget the Jolene Turner era of rainbow in the early eighties. I mean, some great stuff there with that, you know, can't happen here. And I surrender and so on. I mean, aided and abetted by Russ Ballard to an extent, but great stuff. Rainbow. You must be a rainbow. Richie. [00:52:47] Speaker A: I loved. I loved Rainbow. Rainbow were brilliant because you could just buy the greatest hits of Rainbow and you would get, you know, when you think of three iconic singers. And you go, right, Gates of Babylon. [00:53:03] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:53:04] Speaker A: Absolute killer. Since you've been gone with Graham Bonnet. And the down to earth album, as you say, is just great. And then you've got Jolynn Turner, who's doing, you know, can't happen here. And I surrender. And you go. So you package that. You package up the greatest hits of Rainbow. And it's in such a short period of time as well, too, as you say, Matt, 75 through to maybe 83. [00:53:33] Speaker B: Well, he went back to purple, didn't he, in about 83. Four. So, yeah, I mean, less than ten years they were done. [00:53:39] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:53:39] Speaker B: Obviously had incarnations with Doogie Wyatt and Roddy Romero. We saw them a few years ago. Um, famously when Ronnie Romero came on stage and said good night when he meant good evening. That didn't set things off on the right foot. But anyway, we forgive him for that. Um, yeah, rain, the might. The mighty rainbow. Yes. I've got to stop saying mighty so much. The great, revered rainbow. Um, let's, uh, let's move on to rush. How can we forget rush? We talked many times about Rush. We went on Rush of my favorite bands, no longer an entity, of course, with the death of Neil Peart several years ago. But wow, I mean, what a canon of work. Rush from Canada. Toronto, Canada. Rush. That's what they say on the night of all the words of stage. Are you a rush fan, Brock? I remember now. We've talked about Russia. [00:54:39] Speaker A: Yeah, I'm a lottery day rush fan. I'm. [00:54:42] Speaker B: I'm pretty much last album. You got it on the last album? [00:54:45] Speaker A: No, no, these guys are great. [00:54:46] Speaker B: I like these. [00:54:47] Speaker A: No, I got in a rush from power windows. [00:54:53] Speaker B: Okay. [00:54:54] Speaker A: 1985. You know, when you. When you do. Yeah, that's. That's usually the reaction I get from, from real rush fans. They go, I got in for power windows. It's like patting me in the. Pat me in the head one. [00:55:07] Speaker B: Like the never. Here's. [00:55:08] Speaker A: Here's. Here's hemispheres and permanent waves. There's a little album called moving pictures you might like. [00:55:14] Speaker B: Off you go. Off you go. Go play those. Better late than never. I mean, it's not late. It's 85. It's still 20 odd years of their career to go. Yeah, that's good album. Power windows. [00:55:24] Speaker A: I love it. [00:55:25] Speaker B: Yeah, it's got good stuff on it. Right, let's move on from Rush. So, notable mentions Brian Rambling man festival. We talked about that many times. Our spiritual home in Maidstone. We'll be back there. Well, I'll be back there this summer. For the made of stone festival, the Royal Albert hall. You mentioned that earlier. You've been there recently. I've been there many times. Amazing venue historically, bands wise. I mean there's so many, so many. We really need like 2 hours to go through the Ramones, red hot chili Peppers, REO speed wagon, rage against the machine, radio head. Yes, he says controversially. Ratio, Ramstein Reef. Have I mentioned some of these? Roxy Music, Royal blood and many many many more. [00:56:14] Speaker A: And I would only add one person to that list, Mister Trevor Rabin, who saved. Yes, in the 1980s. Again, another band, another band that I got into with 901 90125. So all of that earlier proggy stuff I didn't get into till 20 years later. So Trevor R was good, wasn't it, Matt? [00:56:39] Speaker B: Well, it was good. And we're just going to add finally the late, great Paul Raymond, who played guitar and keyboards of course on the greatest live album ever, Stranger in the night by UFO. And then of course loads of songs and albums. So many to mention. I mean, lots of songs that start with running, run like hell, running with the devil and so on, or ride, ride on by AC DC and. And so on. You had a couple, didn't you, albums wise, didn't you? Up your sleep? [00:57:09] Speaker A: No. [00:57:11] Speaker B: You sure? I thought you did. [00:57:18] Speaker A: Rumors. [00:57:19] Speaker B: Rumors. [00:57:24] Speaker A: Yeah. Which I played on my record player. [00:57:27] Speaker B: Indeed. Yeah. Yeah. My record player still going strong, so taking it on the train, of course. My portable record player. [00:57:34] Speaker A: Exactly. [00:57:34] Speaker B: Funny looks, but there you go. Right. Next time it will be s. That'll be fun. So bright. That brings us to everyone's favorite part of the podcast, as we've established many times, hidden gin ties. Thanks, Lola. Appreciate it as always. What you got for Spry Matthew? [00:57:58] Speaker A: For this episode I have going with a band which I have to thank Spotify for. So this is a band or it's actually an artist called Oliver Hartman. So Oliver Hartman is a german guitarist. He's played with all lots of projects like is it Avantasia? Quite a lot of the power rock. He's appeared in Rocdo's classical in Germany. You know the way when Paul Rogers and members of Europe where they'll all get together and do a show and play with a full orchestra. But Oliver has gone out on his own and he's been recording since probably the early two thousands. And he goes under the name Hartmann. And I'm going to recommend for this episode an album of his which is called the best is yet to come, a couple of great tracks on it called all my life. And this the second track I'm going to ask you to put on the playlist. Matt is called alive again. I think you will actually like Hartman quite a lot because if you. If you listen to alive again. And then there's a track on another one of Hartman's albums called Shadow and silhouettes, called Glow. Oliver's vocal is very scott stap. It's in that low. It's in that baritone screed. Nineties. Real good structured rock. I heard the track and I've just been listening to Hartman over the last few days. A real hidden gem. Great singer, great guitarist. Yeah. Check out Hartman. And the album is called the best is yet to come. [00:59:57] Speaker B: Very good. What have you got? I shall. Well, I'm going to take us back to 1981. Margaret Thatcher is president of Britain. [01:00:11] Speaker A: The president. Oh. [01:00:14] Speaker B: Was she not? President of the UK? Margaret Thatcher is prime Minister. And I was a mere slip of a lad and. Which is hard to believe, I know, to an album by a band we haven't kind of touched upon, particularly tigers of Pan Tang. [01:00:35] Speaker A: Oh, my goodness. [01:00:36] Speaker B: Do you remember that? [01:00:37] Speaker A: I do indeed. [01:00:38] Speaker B: They're still going. The only original member is Rob Weir. They're still doing well. If they're. And you're. Catch them and go and see them. This is an album called Spellbound, the first of two albums that they released in 1981, which is a great year. 1981. I enjoyed 1981. It's a good, fun year. I was only a toddler, of course, but says goodyear all the same. I remember buying this and first album to feature your man, Joan Sykes. You've heard of him as well. Do you like him? Don't you? [01:01:08] Speaker A: I do. I do. [01:01:09] Speaker B: You modeled yourself on him, didn't you, in the. I did. [01:01:13] Speaker A: Without the long, flowing blond hair, which I tried desperately, but unfortunately I looked like a member of the hair bear bunch. [01:01:23] Speaker B: Put three inches on your height because your hair was so tall. [01:01:26] Speaker A: Exactly. Exactly. I wasn't. I wasn't very John Sykes blonde. [01:01:31] Speaker B: Well, he should try it. [01:01:32] Speaker A: He should try it, right? [01:01:33] Speaker B: He should try. They played in Thetford, actually, I grew up in a place called Thetford in Norfolk. And they come for some reason. They came to Thetford Sports Centre and everyone from the surrounding area. It was a very snowy night. Wasn't the best place. Best time to. It was December. Best time to have a gig in Thetford. But we. We were receptive all the same. Anyway, good album. Got songs on it like Gangland and Hellbound, the title track and sounds a bit dated, to be honest with you, but we're checking out as kind of a piece of nostalgia and a piece of nawabum from over 40 years ago. So my hidden gem this week is, well, this time is spellbound by the Tigers of Pantagne. And that's it. Geez, that went quick, didn't it, Brian? That went quick. How long was that? Is that like ten minutes? We've been speaking for what, 1015 minutes? [01:02:26] Speaker A: Yeah. [01:02:27] Speaker B: Yeah. Wow, that was quick. It's good, though. Do you enjoy that? [01:02:30] Speaker A: I did, indeed. It was good fun. [01:02:32] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah, it's good. What was your favorite bit? [01:02:36] Speaker A: Favorite bit? Absolutely. My favorite bit was you being all characters in Rainbow. [01:02:46] Speaker B: Yes, indeed. But not except Richie Blackmore. Well, thanks. Thanks. Thanks, Brian. Just. Thanks. Brian does all the hard work, by the way. He does all the engineering, all the mixing and just, you know, basically, you know, we don't edit very much, but what editing we need to do. Brian. Brian does it. You do very well, my friend. [01:03:08] Speaker A: Thank you. [01:03:08] Speaker B: Well, it's been a very good guitarist. So thank you. Thank you to Scotland Rocks radio for having us on. You remember last time we recorded in the morning and now we're recording in the evening and, you know, the coffee is a distant memory. Anyway, where were we? Yes. Scotland Rocks radio. Thank you. Please subscribe on Spotify or YouTube. Tell your friends, come and see us on Facebook and so on. Anything to add, Brian? [01:03:32] Speaker A: No. No. We'll see you all next time. [01:03:35] Speaker B: Yes, indeed. Bye for now. [01:03:37] Speaker A: Bye for now. [01:03:43] Speaker B: About a pod we salute you is a Mandy Rogers production.