Sunday 31 January 2016

RAZ Canadian review


THE RAZ BAND - Madison ParkTasty slab of razzmatazz from a band who know how to let their hair down from coast to coast with a Badfinger in tow.

Three decades on the scene haven’t diminished this ensemble’s ability to build a robust kind of rock ‘n’ roll, with vigor and simplicity unburdened by extra exquisiteness but not without an arresting flourish. That’s how it goes for the group’s first full-length offering whose sixteen tracks – fueled by love, the four-letter word gracing six titles – defy the players’ age while somehow reflecting singing guitarist Michael Raz’s journey from New Jersey to Los Angeles.

Brass vying for space with six-string riffs and slider caress on “$1.50 For Your Love” and the song’s chorus catching the listener’s skin, there’s no escaping the music’s mirth – for the most part. The drive may sag on the George Harrison homage “Time Marches On” – infested with the Fabs quotes – yet the presence of Joey Molland on these cuts grounds them just fine, so the update of his BADFINGER rave “Love Me Do” is a weighty addition to the context where harmonies could reign if they possessed an air of importance. They don’t, though, which gives a playful recklessness to the groove shifts in “The Road Of Love” and spiritual levity to “Searching Forever”; the melodies that feel comfortably familiar and made irresistible by Joe Vitale’s piano.

On the darker side, “Say Ya Love Me” has a bluesy pull to it, and “You Don’t Know A Thing” explores a punk abandon, whereas vaudevillian pastiche “The Paths That We Take” is linked to the vibes-adorned “Barbara Operator” in their adventurous, storytelling nostalgia. Such innocence peaks with a children-assisted finale of “When Dogs Fly South” as the musicians’ cast are marching, to an acoustic ring, into a song and making a point of impossibility to notch a hit, but another BEATLES’ reference might suggest the record was only a dream: if so, anything can happen, including a charts dent – it’s that good.

CURRENTLY AVAILABLE AT GONZO:

The Best of RAZ
CD - £9.99

Madison Park
CD - £9.99

Terry Wogan - The Floral Dance [TOTP 1977]

PLAYLIST: Strange Fruit 146 - If it Aint Stiff!












Strange Fruit 146 - If it Aint Stiff!
                                   
A Strange Fruit special featturing the best of Stiff Records: the world's most flexible record label.

Featured Album:       The Stiff Records Box Set
           
Tracks           
1          Ian Dury & the Blockheads: Sex and Drugs and Rock'n'Roll
2          Billy Bremner: Loud Music in Cars
3          Desmond Dekker: Israelites
4          Nick Lowe: So It Goes
5          Nick Lowe: Heart of the City
6          Tracey Ullman: You Broke My Heart in 17 Places
7          Madness: Baggy Trousers
8          The Damned: New Rose
9          The Adverts: One Chord Wonders
10        The Pogues: The Sick Bed of Cuchulain
11        Furniture: Brilliant Mind
12        Graham Parker: Back to Schooldays
13        Pookiesnackenburger: Just One Cornetto
14        Dave Stewart: What Becomes of the Broken Hearted
15        Dave Stewart & Barbara Gaskin: It's My Party
16        Devo: Jocko Homo
17        Lene Lovich: Lucky Number
18        Lew Lewis Reformer: Win or Lose
19        Tenpole Tudor: Three Bells in a Row
20        Alberto y Los Trios Paranois: Kill
21        The Belle Stars: Sign of the Times
22        Department S: Is Vic There
23        Wreckless Eric: Whole Wide World
24        The Members: Solitary Confinement
25        Pink Fairies: Between the Lines
26        Mick Farren: Lets Loot the Supermarket Again Like We Did last Summer
27        Larry Wallis: Police Car
28        Theatre of Hate: The Hop
29        King Kurt: Destination Zululand (Humdiddlededumhoowahayha)
30        John Otway: Green Green Grass of Home
31        Max Wall: England's Glory
32        Roogalator: Cincinatti Fatback
33        Kirsty MacColl: They Don't Know
34        Rachel Sweet: Who Does Lisa Like
35        Motor Boys Motor: Drive Friendly
36        The Untouchables: Free Yourself

37        Dr. Feelgood: Hunting, Shooting, Fishing

THE GONZO TRACK OF THE DAY: O God Our Help in Ages Past (Kings' College Choir)

Being Sunday I always post sacred music. The name of the deity may change, or even the deity Him/Herself but the spirit remains the same.

THOM THE WORLD POET: The Daily Poem

Rob Ayling writes: 

"Thom the World poet is an old mate of mine from way back in my history. Even pre-dating Voiceprint, when I was running "Otter Songs" and Tom's poetry tapes and guest appearances with Daevid Allen, Gilli Smyth and Mother Gong are well known and highly regarded. 

It just felt right to include a daily poem from Thom on our Gonzo blog and when I approached him to do so, he replied with in seconds!!! Thom is a great talent and just wants to spread poetry, light and positive energy across the globe. If we at Gonzo can help him do that - why not?" 


REMEMBRANCE & RESPECT
WHEN WE WERE YOUNG,WE SOUGHT EXEMPLARS
Those who embraced impossible ideals-
musically,aesthetically,artistically,eternally
confronting Death ,Despair,Dread (those Old Imposters
with Life,Joy and Harmonies.That battle still rages
only now it is a Dance of Age(not Rage)-
and we have come to be Elders in our own time.
Children ask us ,adolescents question us,other adults laugh
at ideals still held in homage since our own growing
We still move,talk,dance,laugh-only now with awareness
of the passing of our Elders-those over 60-from the Original 60s
Each leaving is an Original Loss.Their like will not return
So-homage bands,karaoke,tribute concerts-to evoke that Original Magic
But Alchemy is specific-and even when the Sons of 60s Musicians
embrace their parents lifestyle/we smile,remembering origins..
STAY ALIVE!Tomorrow is an unwritten song,a tree planted
from seeds sown so very long ago.So..remember and respect
This is no space for death.Do Not Forget...We Are Living,Yet..
By 1967, restless American youth had found somebody to love in Grace Slick, whose trippy onstage provocations, beautiful looks, and outlier attitude shone…
vanityfair.com|By Mickey Stanley

Saturday 30 January 2016

GONZO WEEKLY #167

Gonzo Weekly #167
www.gonzoweekly.com
 
Paul Kantner, Jefferson Airplane, Jefferson Starship, Erik Norlander, Daisy Flowers, Ambrosia, Suede, David Bowie, Villagers, Skunk Anansie, Nigel Kennedy, Black, Colin Vearncombe, George Harrison, Mr Biffo, Roy Weard,  Dogwatch, That Legendary Wooden Lion, Hawkwind, and Yes fans had better look out!
 
Paul Kantner who died on thursday is on the front cover together with a tribute to him inside. Jon interviews Erik Norlander, Doug interviews Ambrosia, John goes to see Nigel Kennedy, and Lee says goodbye to Colin Vearncombe. There are radio shows from Strange Fruit, Friday Night Progressive, and Mack Moloney, the latest instalment of the saga of Xtul, and columns from all sorts of folk including Roy Weard, A J Smitrovich, Mr Biffo and the irrepressable Corinna. There is also a collection of more news, reviews, views, interviews and pademelons ouyside zoos(OK, nothing to do with small marsupials who have escaped from captivity, but I got carried away with things that rhymed with OOOOS) than you can shake a stick at. And the best part is IT's ABSOLUTELY FREE!!!
 
This issue features:
 
David Bowie, Suede, Villagers, Skunk Anansie, P J Harvey, Pet Shop Boys, Elvis Presley, Handel, Jimi Hendrix, Black Sabbath, Brian Wilson, Mick Jagger, Wild Man Fischer, Steve Ignorant, Strange Fruit, Friday Night Progressive, Mack Maloney's Mystery Hour, Paul Kantner, Colin Vearncombe, James Stewart "Jimmy" Bain, Alex Wishart, The Pirates, Freddie King, Denny Laine, The Selecter, Galahad, Rick Wakeman, Erik Norlander, Ambrosia, Nigel Kennedy, John Brodie-Good, Black, Lee Walker, Roy Weard, A J Smitrovich, My Dad's LPs, Mr Biffo, Yes, Jon Anderson, Billy Sherwood, Chris Squire, Tony Kaye, Trevor Rabin, Hawkwind, Xtul, George Harrison, Beatles, ABBA, The Monkees, Neil Nixon, Marc Bolan and T. Rex, Bucovina
 
Read the previous few issues of Gonzo Weekly:
 
Issue 166 (Spirits Burning)
Issue 165 (David Bowie)
Issue 164 (Free Festivals)
Issue 163 (Lemmy)
Issue 161-2 (The Christmas Double Feature)
Issue 160 (Frank Zappa)
Issue 159 (Jon Anderson and Matt Malley)
Issue 158 (Billy Sherwood)
Issue 157 (Drones for Daevid)
Issue 156 (Rick and Emmie)
Issue 155 (Pink Fairies)
Issue 154 (Steve Ignorant)
Issue 153 (Martin Barre)
Issue 152 (4th Eden)
Issue 151 (Corky Laing)
Issue 150 (Roger Dean)
Issue 149 (Tony Palmer in Space)
Issue 148 (Wally Hope)
Issue 147 (Thom the World Poet cover)
Issue 146 (Bee and Flower cover)
Issue 145 (Dave Brock cover)
Issue 144 (Percy Jones cover)
Issue 143 (Billy Sherwood cover)
Issue 142 (Daevid Allen and Spirits Burning cover)
Issue 141 (Rick Wakeman cover)
Issue 140 (Jaki Windmill cover)
Issue 139 (Raz cover)
Issue 138 (Galahad cover)
Issue 137 (Chris Squire cover)
Issue 136 (Neil Nixon cover)
Issue 135 (FNP cover)
 
All issues from #70 can be downloaded at www.gonzoweekly.com if you prefer. If you have problems downloading, just email me and I will add you to the Gonzo Weekly dropbox. The first 69 issues are archived there as well. Information is power chaps, we have to share it!
 
You can download the magazine in pdf form HERE:
 

SPECIAL NOTICE: If you, too, want to unleash the power of your inner rock journalist, and want to join a rapidly growing band of likewise minded weirdos please email me at jon@eclipse.co.uk The more the merrier really.

Friday 29 January 2016

COMING THIS WEEKEND


Jefferson Airplane's Paul Kantner dies aged 74

Jefferson AirplaneImage copyrightAP
Image captionAlong with The Grateful Dead, Jefferson Airplane were one of the most successful San Francisco bands of the 60s
Paul Kantner, a founding member and singer-guitarist of rock band Jefferson Airplane, has died aged 74.
His death was confirmed by publicist and former girlfriend Cynthia Bowman, who said he died of multiple organ failure and septic shock.
Although the band was fronted by vocalists Grace Slick and Marty Balin, Kantner was considered a driving force.
With songs like Somebody To Love and Volunteers, the San Francisco group helped pioneer the psychedelic sound.

JEFFERSON AIRPLANE - The Ballad Of You & Pooneil (Long Version) '67

THOM THE WORLD POET: The Daily Poem

Rob Ayling writes: 

"Thom the World poet is an old mate of mine from way back in my history. Even pre-dating Voiceprint, when I was running "Otter Songs" and Tom's poetry tapes and guest appearances with Daevid Allen, Gilli Smyth and Mother Gong are well known and highly regarded. 

It just felt right to include a daily poem from Thom on our Gonzo blog and when I approached him to do so, he replied with in seconds!!! Thom is a great talent and just wants to spread poetry, light and positive energy across the globe. If we at Gonzo can help him do that - why not?" 


STAGE ACTS
Live acts (before radio shows claimed ears )owned our eyes
As a child,i loved the travelling circuses and variety acts
who would perform in SIDESHOW ALLEY.
Jimmy Sharman's Boxing Troupe offered twenty pounds
for the audence member who could defeat his best  boxer.
Bass drums were banged,men in silk gowns and boxing gloves would parade
the barker would shout at the crowd to agitate and excite them-always some newbie
stepped up to pay to get flattened.Hope is like that.I remember the last vaudeville acts-
performing animals and jugglers-later to be absorbed into circuses
but always exotic to young village youth.Ancient traditions continue-
now digital effect replace magicians and freak shows-but memory holds value
in the days when exceptional artists earned a living from credulous audiences

Just like politics today.

THE GONZO TRACK OF THE DAY: Paul Kantner - Have You Seen The Stars Tonite

Thursday 28 January 2016

THOM THE WORLD POET: The Daily Poem

Rob Ayling writes: 

"Thom the World poet is an old mate of mine from way back in my history. Even pre-dating Voiceprint, when I was running "Otter Songs" and Tom's poetry tapes and guest appearances with Daevid Allen, Gilli Smyth and Mother Gong are well known and highly regarded. 

It just felt right to include a daily poem from Thom on our Gonzo blog and when I approached him to do so, he replied with in seconds!!! Thom is a great talent and just wants to spread poetry, light and positive energy across the globe. If we at Gonzo can help him do that - why not?" 

FEMININE,FORGOTTEN
MISTRESSES&MUSES
Art in their own right
Framed as servant
Rarely independent/equal
And when her art was superior
Consigned to history's dustbin
Her names are legion
like Goddesses in Pantheon
You know the names of men
These were original inspirations
Created in their own light/in their own right
And every bending line bows down to them.
 shared a link.
4 mins ·

Always cherchez la femme, people.
huffingtonpost.com|By Priscilla Frank

THE GONZO TRACK OF THE DAY: Keith Christmas - Robin Head



CURRENTLY AVAILABLE FROM GONZO
Live at the Pump
CD - £9.99

Yes, “South Side of the Sky” from Fragile (1971): YESterdays



After two solo based songs, Yes returns in full force on 1971’s Fragile with “South Side of the Sky.” The song, solely composed by Jon Anderson, confounds the progressive rock listener initially in that there are seemingly not many progressive elements.
Anderson is unusually direct in his story telling with this tale of mountain climbing. The protagonist is hurled in a wet and cold world where he must forge ahead or die. His story effectively works in the context of record making an well as the journey in life. The lyrics are compact, forceful and extremely effective in many contexts. Jon Anderson also delivers one of his best rock vocals. He enunciates and growls his vocals with a power and precision which belies the tenderness of “We Have Heaven,” the prior song.

Read on...

CURRENTLY AVAILABLE FROM GONZO
Union
DVD - £10.99

Union (2CD)
2CD - £7.99

Rock Of The 70's
DVD - £7.99

The Lost Broadcasts
DVD - £7.99

Rock of the 70s
DVD - £7.99

New Frank Zappa Doc Wows at Sundance 2016

Sundance Film Festival; 2016; Zappa; DocumentaryIt would be somewhat easy to do a straightforward documentary on Frank Zappa: zoom in on some grainy B&W pictures of him as an R&B-loving teen; chart his rise from Sixties avant-rock bandleader to symphonic composer, from antiestablishment iconoclast to anticensorship activist; interview some of the dozens, if not hundreds, of musicians inspired by him; drop in a few nuggets of We're Only In It for the Money or 200 Motels–era concert footage. Of course, Zappa was never one to do anything the easy, or easily comprehensible, way — we're talking about an artist who composed a concerto for two bicycles and railed against the norm at every opportunity. Better, then, to honor his life and work with a jagged, collage-like assembly of archival footage. And, given the eloquence and biting wit he displayed in his lyrics, Congressional testimonies and conversations, to let the man speak for himself.

Read more... 


CURRENTLY AVAILABLE FROM GONZO


Frank Zappa is considered to be one of the most influential rock musicians of the late twentieth century. Between the start of his career in the late fifties and his death in 1993 he recorded and rele..




On September 19, 1985, Frank Zappa testified before the United States Senate Commerce, Technology, and Transportation committee, attacking the Parents Music Resource Center or PMRC, a music organizati..


Mountain drummer Corky to open UK tour in Southampton

Corky Laing (53583123)DRUMMER, songwriter, singer and raconteur Corky Laing will be playing the first night of his eight date UK Tour with his band, at The Talking Heads in May.

Legendary Mountain drummer, Laurence “Corky” Laing a native of Montreal Canada, is said to be one of the hardest hitting drummers in the history of rock music. Mountain forged a style and sound that changed the face of rock music and the powerhouse double-drummer along with with Leslie West, Felix Pappalardi and Steve Knight gave us Mississippi Queen, Nantucket Sleighride, Theme from an Imaginary Western and many more. Although best known as a long-time member of the pioneering American hard rock band Mountain and for West, Bruce & Laing, Corky has been busy on other projects in recent years.
CURRENTLY AVAILABLE FROM GONZO
Playing God
CD - £9.99

Wednesday 27 January 2016

THE GONZO TRACK OF THE DAY: Quicksilver Messenger Service - Full Concert - 12/28/75 - Winterland (OFFICIAL)



CURRENTLY AVAILABLE FROM GONZO
Hawaii
CD - £7.99


CRITICS' CHOICE 2015 - STEVE HACKETT

After almost three years of Genesis Revisited activity Steve Hackett returned to his own solo music with Wolflight. "He may be ex-Genesis but he establishes again that he's very much his own man," said Johnny Sharp in his review. "It's a privilege to still be doing it," Steve told us in Prog 54. "Many have fallen over. it's a calling. What can I tell you?"

Read on..

CURRENTLY AVAILABLE FROM GONZO
Spectral Mornings
DVD - £7.99

Barbara Dickson - My Donald (Live at Celtic Connections 2016)



CURRENTLY AVAILABLE FROM GONZO
More Brecht Than Broadway
4CD Boxset - £49.99

Morning Comes Quickly
CD - £7.99

Answer Me
CD - £7.99

Winter
CD - £9.99

Che Faro
DVD - £10.99

B4 74 - The Folkclub Tapes
2CD - £10.99

Full Circle
CD - £7.99

Into The Light
DVD - £10.99

Time And Tide 
CD - £9.99

Symphonic Rock Icons Renaissance to Tour The US & UK In Support of New DVD

Symphonic Rock Icons Renaissance to Tour The US & UK In Support of New DVD
Symphonic rock icons Renaissance featuring legendary singer Annie Haslam will be performing in the US & UK in support of their new DVD release "Live at The UnionChapel"! Filmed at The Union Chapel in London UK on April 16, 2015 by Paul Green Productions, with lighting by Russell 'Tigger' Matthews, the DVD features Renaissanceperforming such favorite classics as "Carpet of the Sun", "Ocean Gypsy", "Mother Russia", "Ashes are Burning" and newer pieces "Symphony of Light" and "Grandine il Vento" to an ecstatic audience! The DVD is NTSC all-region, with LPCM stereo and Dolby Digital surround audio tracks. A Blu-Ray version is planned in 2016.

Watch the trailer: https://youtu.be/0xVnuRTzN60
CURRENTLY AVAILABLE FROM GONZO
Dawn Of Ananda . 
CD - £7.99

Still Life
CD - £7.99

THOM THE WORLD POET: The Daily Poem

Rob Ayling writes: 

"Thom the World poet is an old mate of mine from way back in my history. Even pre-dating Voiceprint, when I was running "Otter Songs" and Tom's poetry tapes and guest appearances with Daevid Allen, Gilli Smyth and Mother Gong are well known and highly regarded. 

It just felt right to include a daily poem from Thom on our Gonzo blog and when I approached him to do so, he replied with in seconds!!! Thom is a great talent and just wants to spread poetry, light and positive energy across the globe. If we at Gonzo can help him do that - why not?" 

ROME WILL ALWAYS HAVE THE COLOSSEUM
CAMBODIA HER KILLING FIELDS
CHINA HER LONG MARCH/PURGE VICTIMS
RUSSIA HER SIBERIAN EXECUTIONS
GERMANY HER AUSCHWITZ
AMERICA HER INDIGENOUS MASSACRES
FRANCE HER GUILLOTINE REVOLUTIONARIES
ENGLAND HER TOWER OF LONDON BEHEADINGS
AUSTRALIA HER ABORIGINAL SLAUGHTERS
We are followed by histories/which return
to haunt us/until we learn/the only way to live
is where every body lives.
 
-0:17
BBC News
In 2015 we flew a drone over the Auschwitz concentration camp to mark the 70 years since it was liberated. As it's the ‪#‎HolocaustMemorialDay‬ we wanted to share it with you again. You can watch the full version here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=449ZOWbUkf0


Tuesday 26 January 2016

THOM THE WORLD POET: The Daily Poem

Rob Ayling writes: 

"Thom the World poet is an old mate of mine from way back in my history. Even pre-dating Voiceprint, when I was running "Otter Songs" and Tom's poetry tapes and guest appearances with Daevid Allen, Gilli Smyth and Mother Gong are well known and highly regarded. 

It just felt right to include a daily poem from Thom on our Gonzo blog and when I approached him to do so, he replied with in seconds!!! Thom is a great talent and just wants to spread poetry, light and positive energy across the globe. If we at Gonzo can help him do that - why not?" 

CASCADES OF CONSCIOUSNESS
READ JAMES JOYCE ALOUD(in an Irish brogue
It unfolds like origami flowers in mellifluous verbal magic patterns
like waves breaking on the rocks of a coastline page
bringing shipwrecks of ancestral emotions to the surface

READ VIRGINIA WOOLF ALOUD(in an English accent
TO THE LIGHTHOUSE/MRS DALLOWAY sparkle like Gertrude Stein
in a music of language wet as waves rolling in /like rocks in pockets of rivers
Underneath each surface is a tongue of water,rolling like fish escaping linguistic hooks

READ DYLAN THOMAS ALOUD(in a Welsh whisper
And an orchestra of villagers and gossiping fences flap sheets in the wind
Each syllable a plum ,an apple and an orange orchard,plucked ,perfect and piquant

READ WILLIAM FAULKNER ALOUD(in an American (Southern)accent
Riches reveal themselves like sculptures under sand
Uncover secrets when you articulate in the language of this land

SPEAK INDIGENOUS LANGUAGES ALOUD(find the music
and their central way of conveying images for the hunt
where water is,and what lies waiting for every unwary one

We have lost more languages when their human tongue has gone.
Extinction means silence.Wind carries whispers.No body sings.
 


Sexiest thing I've read in ages
James Joyce, Julio Cortazar, Marcel Proust, Henryk Sienkiewicz and Umberto Eco. Regardless of the language they were working in, some of the world's greatest…
eurekalert.org

THE GONZO TRACK OF THE DAY: Paul Hindemith: Sonata per viola e pianoforte, Op.11, No.4 (1919)



CURRENTLY AVAILABLE FROM GONZO
A Pilgrim's Progress
DVD - £7.99

Conversation/Performance with Legendary Musician Roger McGuinn

A conversation and performance featuring legendary musician Roger McGuinn, co-founder of the Byrds. The session will celebrate the 20th anniversary of folkden.com, a pioneering digital humanities project.

In November of 1995, McGuinn began the Folk Den to preserve folk music. Each month he recorded a song, printed the lyrics and chords, added a personal note, and made the content freely available for download on his website mcguinn.com. He wanted to give everyone the opportunity to learn the songs and to be able to sing them with their families and friends.

The conversation will be moderated by Steve Weiss, curator of the Southern Folklife Collection.

http://calendar.lib.unc.edu/event/2324395

CURRENTLY AVAILABLE AT GONZO:

The Lost Broadcasts
DVD - £7.99
...BECAUSE SOME OF US THINK THAT THIS STUFF IS IMPORTANT
What happens when you mix what is - arguably - the world's most interesting record company, with an anarchist manic-depressive rock music historian polymath, and a method of dissemination which means that a daily rock-music magazine can be almost instantaneous?

Most of this blog is related in some way to the music, books and films produced by Gonzo Multimedia, but the editor has a grasshopper mind and so also writes about all sorts of cultural issues which interest him, and which he hopes will interest you as well.