Wednesday 30 April 2014

Clearlight US review

http://jpsmusicblog.blogspot.com/2014/04/cd-review-wishbone-ash-and-clearlight.html

Another legendary progressive rock band with a new album is the French rockers Clearlight. Their latest release, "The Impressionist Symphony" strays far from the rock their earlier albums as the band gives a classical piece for the ages. It is Clearlight's first album of new material in over three decades and features members of the bands GONG, The Muffins, Spirits Burning and more. The music just takes hold of you and brings you on a journey through the influencial sounds of classical composers Ravel, Satie and Debussy. The album begins with a progressive feel during the opening of "Renoir En Couleur" featuring the outstanding guitar work of Steve Hillage. The wonderfully exciting piano of Cyrille Verdeaux on "Degras de la Marine" will give you shivers, before takes off with the spacey synthesizer sounds of "Van Gogh 3rd Ear." The album closes with the elegant, gentle feel of "Monet Time (duet)."

To find out more about the latest album from Clearlight, please visitwww.gonzomultimedia.co.uk/product_details/15659/Clearlight-Impressionist_Symphony.html.

CURRENTLY AVAILABLE AT GONZO:

KEITH EMERSON TALKS RETIREMENT



Keith Emerson has revealed he’s considering retirement as he turns 70.

Hopes for an ELP reunion are all-but gone after Greg Lake and Carl Palmer both dismissed the suggestion.

But the keyboardist’s comments might be the final word. Speaking ahead of a Moogfest appearance alongside synth pioneer Robert Moog, Emerson tells the Citizen-Times: “Iv’e reached my 70th year. This might be the last year that I’ll actually perform in public.”

GONZO TRACK OF THE DAY: JUDY DYBLE / See Emily Play



CURRENTLY AVAILABLE AT GONZO
Flow and Change
CD - £9.99

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 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? why not indeed!!" (The wondrous poetpic is by Jack McCabe, who I hope forgives me for scribbling all over it with Photoshop)

TRAVELLING AS HOMELESSNESS
Temporarily torn between bases
Only strangers as an audience
ON THE ROAD as HOLY GRAIL
Fates as interwoven blankets
Subject to Blind Authorities
If Music-long hours boredom
If Writer-Witness For Prosecution
If Artist-Van Gogh @Arles 300 Songs
If Astronaut-Contracts on your Rockets
If Botanist-You R)Newly Undiscovered Species
For the Strange ,Weird,Exotic,Fabulous
Awaits Eyes of All Adventurers
And Rainbows are never @Journey's End
When Road Glows Ever On/Every Stop a Song
And you have to leave your home to 

find out you have none

Clearlight US review

http://www.criticaljazz.com/2014/04/clearlight-impressionist-symphony-gonzo.html

Wednesday, April 16, 2014


Clearlight Impressionist Symphony Gonzo 2014

Clearlight is back and has elevated their harmonic game to the next level!
Brent Black / www.criticaljazz.com
The first new release in decades finds the iconic French prog ensemble charting yet another new melodic course and thus raising the bar for their contemporaries. The Impressionist Symphony embraces the conceptual notions of impressionism, painting and music coming together as one cerebral aura of sound. Musical influences from the impressionist period would include Ravel and Debussy and it is the vision of Cyrille "Clearlight" Verdeaux that allows for an amazing transcendence to a more contemporary approach with guests from Gong, The Muffins, Spirits Burning and the amazing Linda Cushma from Oxygen 8. Getting by with a little help from your friends worked for the Beatles so why not here?
Progressive classical? No...Prog rock as most people would no and understand it? Hmmm. No. This is the return of a visionary with the ability to grasp the cerebral aspect of impressionism and marry that with the visceral side of a more rock oriented millennium to smash through genres if not time itself and create a new hybrid of sound unique to this amazing collective. Clearlight has been around since the mid 70's and this may be the primary reason why...Stellar.

Songs / Tracks Listing
1. Renoir En Couleur
2. Time Is Monet
3. Pissarro King
4. Degas De La Marine
5. Van Gogh 3rd Ear
6. Gaughin Dans L'Autre
7. Lautrec Too Loose
8. Monet Time (Duet)
Line-up / Musicians
- Cyrille Verdeaux / piano, synthesizers
- Didier Malherbe / wind instruments
- Craig Fry / violin
- Vincent Thomas Penny / guitars
- Paul Sears / drums, percussion
- Linda Cushma / bass
- Chris Kovacks / synthesizers
- Remy Tran / synthesizers
- Steve Hillage / guitars
With:
- Tim Blake / xils synth, theremin



CURRENTLY AVAILABLE AT GONZO:
Les Contes Du Singe Fou
CD - £9.99

Tribal Hybrid Concept
CD - £9.99

Forever Blowing Bubbles
CD - £9.99

Impressionist Symphony
CD - £9.99

Clearlight Symphony
CD - £9.99

Best Of Clearlight
CD - £9.99

Frank Zappa's Yellow Snow Suite 1978

Earlier this month we noted the launch of a new YouTube channel from the team behindConcertVault.com filled with exceptional live performances from rock history. For today's Throwback Thursday column we look at one of the recently posted clips on the channel featuring the great Frank Zappa.
Zappa's "Don't Eat The Yellow Snow Suite" features the first four tracks of his 1974 album Apostrophe. The suite combines all the things we love about Frank - humor, exceptional musicianship and storytelling. Frank Zappa and his band played the "Don't Eat The Yellow Snow Suite" at the Capitol Theatre in Passaic, NJ on October 13, 1978 and a video of the entire 16-minute sequence featuring pro-shot footage was posted on the Music Vault channel. Check it out:
CURRENTLY AVAILABLE AT GONZO
The Lost Broadcasts
DVD - £9.99

Rick Wakeman review – swept up by sheer, ludicrous ambition

Rick Wakeman performs Journey to the Centre of the Earth Manchester
Caped crusader … Rick Wakeman and singer perform Journey to the Centre of the Earth. Photograph: DFL/Splash/Corbis
"We used to have farting dinosaurs," begins Rick Wakeman, reeling off tales of prog-era silliness and inflatable stage props that released wind at inopportune moments. "So you'd be playing this beautifully gentle musical section and then … parp!"
  1. Rick Wakeman
  2. Journey to the Centre of the Earth
  3. Royal Albert Hall,
  4. London
  5. SW7 2AP
  1. Until 30 April
  2. Box office: 
    020-7589 8212
  3. Venue website
We've become accustomed to the former prog-rock caped crusader in this reinvented role as raconteur and TV's Grumpy Old Man. However, this tour returns him to his original habitat: hair flowing behind a mindboggling array of keyboards, and being cheered to the rafters when he walks on in a flowing, diamond-encrusted number that makes him look like a glam-rock archbishop.
For the first time in 40 years, Wakeman is touring Journey to the Centre of the Earth, the 15m-selling concept album variously viewed as a genre-busting landmark or the epitome of prog pretension. However, he explains that he'd wanted to set a story to music – in this case Jules Verne's famous novel – since being taken to see Prokofiev's Peter and the Wolf when he was eight.
Otherwise it's prog excess all areas, as Wakeman's 100mph twiddling fingers share the stage with a narrator, two singers, a rock band, choir and orchestra. Hearing a 1974 prog opus live in 2014 is a curious experience. Musical bravery happily coexists with epic folly. There are sonorous narratives, beautifully ethereal passages, classical crescendos and hard-rock noodling, not to mention important-sounding brassy bits that sound like something from the court of Henry VIII.

CURRENTLY AVAILABLE AT GONZO
Live At The Empire Pool
CD - £9.99

Live At The Hammersmith Odeon 1981
DVD/CD - £9.99

Live in Lincoln Cathedral
2CD - £7.99

Live At The Maltings
DVD/CD - £9.99

Video Vaults
6DVD box - £85.00

The Burning 
CD - £9.99

Cirque Surreal 
CD - £7.99

Gole 
CD - £9.99

1984
CD - £9.99

Cost Of Living 
CD - £9.99

Tuesday 29 April 2014

GONZO TRACK OF THE DAY: XTUL: A cry in the darkness

25 Years Ago: Adrian Belew Releases ‘Mr. Music Head’ Read More: 25 Years Ago: Adrian Belew Releases 'Mr. Music Head' | http://ultimateclassicrock.com/adrian-belew-mr-music-head/?trackback=tsmclip

By the late ’80s, Adrian Belew had compiled an incredible list of credits that included stints with Frank Zappa, King Crimson, and the Talking Heads. His greatest success, however, lay just ahead — and it would come courtesy of his solo career

Although he’d already released a handful of records on his own, starting with 1982′s ‘Lone Rhino,’ Belew’s attention during the ’80s was divided between solo albums and his work with Crimson and another band, the Bears, with whom he recorded a pair of LPs released in 1987 and ’88. Although he wasn’t exactly a household name, he was consistently in demand — and considering that just a decade earlier he’d despaired of ever making a living with his musical gifts, Belew seemed more than happy to forsake solo stardom in the name of long-term success.

Saying he got his big break from Zappa “out of the blue when I was at my lowest point and was thinking that maybe I won’t have a place in the music business,” Belew later recalled, “I really was a starving artist, as they call them. Frank called me and asked me if I could audition. He had heard me play in a little nightclub and then months went by and he never called, so I figured it was just a fluke. Then one day, he suddenly called again. It changed my life on a dime.

“It put me into hyper-professional mode, where I suddenly had to play catch-up,” continued Belew. “I had to be in a touring band, playing Frank Zappa’s music, going around the world. Can you imagine that? From being in a band where you are playing to 15 bikers swilling beer in Nashville to being onstage with a hugely complex operation called Frank Zappa.”

Read More: 25 Years Ago: Adrian Belew Releases 'Mr. Music Head' | http://ultimateclassicrock.com/adrian-belew-mr-music-head/?trackback=tsmclip

Win a pair of tickets to Rick Wakeman's Glasgow show and meet the man himself

HeraldScotland is offering two lucky readers the chance to win a pair of tickets each to see Rick Wakeman's latest show in Glasgow and meet the keyboard virtuoso before he takes to the stage.
Wakeman will play Glasgow's Clyde Auditorium on Tuesday, May 6 as part of his Journey to the Centre of the Earth tour.
The tour celebrates the 40th anniversary of the release of the landmark concept album, which is based on a novel by Jules Verne. The record sold 15 million copies when it was released in 1974.
The show, which is presented in two parts, will also features the New World Symphony Orchestra, The English Chamber Choir and the English Rock Ensemble.
To win tickets to the show and the chance to meet Rick Wakeman send your text to 80360 starting with RICKW leave a space, followed by your answer, name and contact details.
Texts cost 50p plus your normal operator text charge. Text lines open 29/04/2014 and close 01/05/2014 23:59. For full terms visit http://www.newsquest.co.uk/terms Service Provided by Newsquest Media Group.
CURRENTLY AVAILABLE FROM GONZO
Live At The Empire Pool
CD - £9.99

Live At The Hammersmith Odeon 1981
DVD/CD - £9.99

Live in Lincoln Cathedral
2CD - £7.99

Live At The Maltings
DVD/CD - £9.99

Video Vaults
6DVD box - £85.00

The Burning 
CD - £9.99

Cirque Surreal 
CD - £7.99

Gole 
CD - £9.99

1984
CD - £9.99

Cost Of Living 
CD - £9.99


‘I was so proud’: The time Yes guitarist Steve Howe played on a Queen song



Queen had its own guitar hero in Brian May. So, of course, did Yes. But then there came a moment when the twain actually met: During sessions for a song that owed no small debt, actually, to Led Zeppelin.
“Innuendo,” the title track Queen’s 1991 album (the last to be released during the late Freddie Mercury’s lifetime) grew out of a jam session between May, Roger Taylor and the now-retired John Deacon. Mercury then added a lyric that paid tribute to Zep’s ever-mysterious “Kashmir.” But “Innuendo” wasn’t complete, it seemed, until Yes’ Steve Howe came in — at about the three minute mark in the embed above — to add a flourish of very distinctive flamenco guitar.

Read on...

CURRENTLY AVAILABLE FROM GONZO
Union (Standard DVD)
DVD - £9.99

Union (2CD)
2CD - £7.99

Rock Of The 70's
DVD - £12.99

The Lost Broadcasts
DVD - £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 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? why not indeed!!" (The wondrous poetpic is by Jack McCabe, who I hope forgives me for scribbling all over it with Photoshop)

BLOOD APPLES
A certain witch red blossom
Wells,and springs of water-
sprigs of rosemary-remember?
How herbs were home health!
Wise women knew the spells
to speak to healing deep within
by touch we will be redeemed
Connection leaps between
No history this-we/still listen well
and tell each little shadow where to grow
You carry us behind you(Don't look back!-

Learn What You Already Know!

Monday 28 April 2014

“Son of God” Movie Producer and Actress Roma Downey Endorses ASSIST News Service Founder Dan Wooding’s Latest Book “Mary, My Story from Bethlehem to Calvary”

“This is the perfect book to share with others as a simple way to be remind them that Jesus is truly the ‘Son of God,’” she says

By Jeremy Reynalds
Senior Correspondent for ASSIST News Service

LAKE FOREST, CA (ANS) -- Veteran journalist Dan Wooding's career spanning 46 years has been nothing but unique.
Dan Wooding with some of his many books (Photo: OC Register)
It spans from being a London correspondent for theNational Enquirer; senior reporter for two of Britain's raciest tabloids, the “Sunday People” and the “Sunday Mirror,” and now an undercover reporter for persecuted Christians in restricted countries. And now he currently serves as founder and president of the ASSIST News Service (www.assistnews.net).
Last year Wooding, 73, added another distinguishing role to his resume. He released four books, three of which were originally written in the last century, and have been brought out again in this one by a British publisher.
In his latest, he literally “became” Mary, the beloved mother of Jesus, to write this extraordinary novel.
“Mary: My Story From Bethlehem to Calvary” (Tanswell Books) tells the story of Jesus’ mother through her own eyes and from her point of view, giving insight into her life with her beloved son from birth to death and resurrection. Comprised of 365 verses from Scripture and more than 70,000 words, the book is a faithful adaptation of the story of Jesus’ life told from the perspective of Mary.
Mark Burnett, Dan Wooding, and Roma Downey, after Dan had interviewed them about their
'Son of God' movie
Roma Downey, the Northern-Ireland born producer and actress in the “Son of God” movie - in which she played Mary - recently endorsed “Mary.”
Downey, who starred for many years in the hit TV series, “Touched by an Angel,” said, “This is the perfect book to share with others as a simple way to be remind them that Jesus is truly the ‘Son of God,’ and why his extraordinary mother was described by God as being ‘highly favored’ among women.”
Speaking about his inspiration for the novel Wooding said, “I had to imagine her situation -- that you are a young and impoverished girl living in Nazareth, looking forward to marriage, when suddenly you're told that you are to become the mother of the greatest person in history, the Messiah, Jesus Christ – and yet you are a virgin?
"What an extraordinary situation that Mary was placed in, but yet she said 'yes' to God, and changed history forever."
Wooding, author of 45 titles, said that this book has meant the most to him of any he has ever written. He began work on the novel when a friend called Larry Nelson suggested that he tell the greatest story ever told through the eyes of Jesus’ mother.
Mary book cover
“I wrote this book because I couldn't find a one that has told the story the story of Jesus Christ through the eyes of Mary,” Wooding said. “I believe this book will educate readers that God can and will use anyone from any background.”
He added, “The story traces their time in Egypt, the death of Herod, and the ministry of Jesus right up to her terrible death on the cross and then his resurrection.”
Wooding, who now lives in Lake Forest, California, with Norma, his wife of more than 50 years, is passionate about continuing to share the Gospel and believes that the perspective of Jesus' death and resurrection from Mary's view is a moving and compelling story that may inspire non-believers to learn more about the principles of Jesus.
“Mary: My Story From Bethlehem to Calvary” is available for sale at amzn.to/1ad3HH1. For more information, visitmarythebook.com.
But there’s more.
As if that wasn’t enough, Wooding has also re-released three more books that he wrote while still living in the UK, two about British rock stars and another tells the story of one of Britain’s most infamous gangsters. All have been slightly updated.
Sir Elton John, with Dan Wooding and Rick Wakeman, as they posed for a picture for the original book
The first, now called “Caped Crusader, Rick Wakeman in the 1970s,” – with a foreword by Sir Elton John -- is the authorized biography that he originally penned about keyboard wizard Rick Wakeman, and the second is about British fifties rock and roller, Terry Dene, now called “Terry Dene, Britain’s First Rock & Roll Rebel,” with a foreword by Marty Wilde.
“I first wrote them about 40 years ago, while still working in London, and I never dreamed they would ever be re-released,” said Wooding. “They both came about after I was approached by Rob Ayling, who runs Gonzo Media UK, which up until then, had just featured music mainly from the 1970s, but had decided to move into the publishing field.
“Rick Wakeman had told Rob about me who then contacted me and asked he could launch the publishing side of his business with these three titles, and of course, I was quite delighted.
He added, “I wrote the original Wakeman book after penning the very first story about him in 1969 while a reporter with the Middlesex County Times in Ealing, West London, which a weekly paper that I once worked for.”
Terry Dene book cover
After the re-packaged Wakeman book came out (with many unique pictures), Ayling then suggested the re-release of the book about Terry Dene, who was first discovered in 1956 in the Two I’s Coffee Bar in Soho, London. He quickly went to the top as the “British Elvis, but then almost as quickly fell from grace after a short time in the British Army which saw him have a breakdown and was told to leave. He then faced a battle with alcohol.
“Terry was at an all-time low when he happened to be walking through Trafalgar Square when he came across a group of Christians and, after a time of chatting with them, he committed his life to Christ,” Wooding explained.
Marty Wilde, another of Dene’s contemporaries, wrote in his foreword for the book: “Whatever happened to Terry becomes a great deal more comprehensible as you read of the callous way in which he was treated by people who should have known better - many of whom, frankly, will never know better - of the sad little shadows of the past who eased themselves into Terry's life, took everything they could get and, when it seemed that all was lost, quietly left him .... Dan Wooding's book tells it all.”
Now in his seventies, Terry Dene is back singing again and his rich voice, which has been likened to a cross between Elvis and Roy Orbison, and is appearing at various nostalgia concerts mainly in the UK.
The Wakeman book may be obtained at www.amazon.com/CAPED-CRUSADER-Rick-Wakeman-1970s/dp/1908728302 and the Terry Dene book at www.amazon.com/TERRY-DENE-Britains-first-rebel/dp/1908728329 or www.barnesandnoble.com/w/terry-dene-dan-wooding/1113803302
King Squealer book cover
The third of Wooding’s books to come out last year is called “King Squealer” which Dan wrote with Maurice O’Mahoney (foreword by Rick Wakeman), which is more a secular nature.
A criminal by the age of eleven, O’Mahoney had been involved in nearly every type of crime known to man, ranging from lorry (truck) hi-jacking and bank raids to highly professional burglaries and wage snatches. Then the crunch came when he was arrested and O’Mahoney turned Queen’s Evidence, and informed on more than two hundred crooks involved in crimes totaling over two million UK pounds. He was one of several "Supergrasses" that appeared during that period and Dan even appeared in a BBC documentary about this phenomenon and shared about what it was like working with O'Mahoney, who was constantly changing his disguises, so he wouldn't be killed my his enemies.
“King Squealer” is a rare insight into the mind of a dangerous criminal and an account of the momentous events which led him to “squeal” to the police. O’Mahoney sums up the devastating effect on his own life in the following words: “I hope that by my actions I have at least saved some lives. Though whether I’ve saved my own in highly questionable …”
Since the first edition came out in the UK, O’Mahoney has since died. He passed away on Sept. 27 2003 at the age of 54, from a massive heart attack in a small village in Northumberland. However, Dan managed to track down his son, Maurice O’Mahoney Jr., who provided a fascinating afterthought for the book.
To purchase the book, go to www.gonzomultimedia.com/product_details/15629/Dan_Wooding-King_Squealer.html
So there you have it. Most people are amazed when they have one book published, but for Dan Wooding, who has penned some 45 books, to have four come out in one year is quite a record. And each one is so different!
What is his favorite?
“Without a doubt, the book 'by' Mary, was definitely, my favorite,” he told me. “After all, who would turn down the privilege of becoming the mother of the greatest person in history, Jesus Christ? I found writing it to be the most inspiring book I have ever been involved in.”
If you would like to know more about the book, or purchase a copy for yourself or a friend, just go tomarythebook.com for more information.
...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.