Sunday 31 May 2015

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

MARRIED TO THE CLICHE MACHINE
Certain words have been appropriated
and may not be used without sneering-
you know the Usual Suspects.(expressing feelings
When eye checked my (he)art in
the Emotional Mechanic said he did not work with Olde Models
Could not even donate antique diabetic plasma
Like collecting 78rpms,or old newspapers
we get gray with age and handling
yet stay(a bubble in time),holding on to a vanished species
Antiquarians Unite!This life is a suitcase,packed with stuff
Random as Access Memories,flip through flow charts,slides
Power Point Projections-ah!here it is!Your childhood!
Preserved via artifacts that only have meaning for one.

Now-how will you explain this?

Eric Burdon Interview



CURRENTLY AVAILABLE FROM GONZO
The Lost Broadcasts
DVD - £9.99

The Animals And Beyond 
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Beat Beat Beat - Eric Burdon
DVD - £4.99

Karnataka review


Guys there is a big space in the middle of the review (copied like that for some reason - so scroll past it to read the rest or the review)

Karnataka – Secrets Of Angels

Mar 19, 2015 | 1 Comment

http://echoesanddust.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/karnataka_secretsofangels-wpcf_300x300.jpgBy: Dave Cooper

Karnataka | website | facebook | twitter |  

Released on March 30, 2015 via Immrama Records
Karnataka are survivors. Since their inception at the tail end of the 1990s, they have most definitely had their ups and downs: they found some success fairly rapidly, helped in no small part by a scorched earth gigging mentality and some fairly prestigious support slots with the likes of progressive rock favourites Porcupine Tree and the much-loved, oft-lamented All About Eve. By 2004, it seemed nothing could prevent the band’s ascent to progressive rock favourites, and larger venues started to beckon.
Sadly, their upward trajectory ran abruptly aground when internal relationships fractured and the band went their separate ways. One of the chief songwriters, founder member Ian Jones, decided to keep the Karnataka flame burning, however, and assembled a new-look band. Critics and fans were divided about the reborn band, but Karnataka forged ahead, delivering several well-received tours and their most successful album to date, 2010’s The Gathering Light – but just as the album finally appeared, the band found itself short-staffed once more as various members elected to pursue other interests.
The Gathering Light possessed more of a progressive rock influence than any of the band’s previous albums: opening with two instrumentals, and possessed of three further tracks that all clocked in at over ten minutes in length, its sprawling atmospherics housed a haunting, soulful but introspective record which felt like a side-step from the Karnataka of old. Life had thrown many obstacles at chief writer Jones, and the album reflected them all, as Jones and the band overcame adversity to deliver a bruised but unbowed album of survivor anthems. The band’s new album, Secrets Of Angels, however, overflows with confidence: it’s not so much bruised as bruising. Here the band sound truly re-energised, thrumming with barely suppressed vitality. The progressive rock influence has for the most part been dialled back substantially, only really surfacing significantly on the epic, closing title track; the result is a much more immediate and focused album with more immediately hooky and memorable songs.
Secrets Of Angels is the band’s first studio album with a new line-up, and it’s a testament to Jones’ deep understanding of the music he’s making that the new look Karnataka are so evidently a force to be reckoned with. The renewed emergy and sense of purposes within the band is exemplified by opener ‘Road To Cairo’, which fuses Zeppelin’s ‘Kashmir’ with Jones’ fine ear for an anthemic chorus. Powered along by a relentless, powerful rhythm, it fair leaps out of the speakers, a sharp contrast with previous albums that tended to open far more gently. Incredibly, this energy level is maintained throughout the next four tracks with barely any let-up: ‘Because Of You’ opens as if it will be a gothic ballad, but soon delivers huge power chords, a dynamite vocal from vocalist Hayley Griffiths, making her first appearance – hopefully the first of many – on one of the band’s studio albums, and one of guitarist Enrico Pinna’s most outré solos to date, a cascading wail of rage and frustration that will pin you to the nearest wall. ‘Poison Ivy’ goes straight for the jugular, its chanted verses and soaring chorus underpinned by a crunching riff and elaborate orchestrations, a pattern followed by the instantly addictive ‘Forbidden Dreams’, a sprightly rocker with a hugely memorable chorus that is certain to become a sing-along favourite for fans.
The album continues with ‘Borderline’, a track with two faces: after opening with another suitably gothic flourish, all wind and a tolling church bell, it reveals itself as a chugging riff-based rocker, with a grimly accusatory lyric; however, the mood is utterly transformed by the distinctly pop chorus. Catharsis and hope in the face of adversity is perhaps Karnataka’s bread and butter, and ‘Borderline’ is an almost perfect distillation of that duality. It’s followed by the highly dramatic ‘Fairytale Lies’, which is reminiscent of Within Temptation at their most balefully reflective, a glorious concoction of tumbling keys and a striking string arrangement, topped off by a lyric that is superb in its cynical acceptance of reality and Griffiths’ astonishing vocal, a masterclass in mood and atmosphere. Yet the mood lifts once again with the penultimate track, ‘Feels Like Home’, a pretty, touching ballad about discovering “the one” that happily avoids the trap many ballads fall into – the cardinal sin of over-sentimentality. The way it develops is compellingly cinematic: as the song goes on, more and more layers are added to the music and the vocal, as if the virtual camera is pulling slowly back to reveal more and more of the stage. It ends in a cascade of harmony vocals, like embers from a firework display drifting back down to earth, and is possibly one of the best ballads the band have ever delivered.

After all this drama, it would take something very special indeed not to be anticlimactic, but the title track itself – all twenty minutes of it – is certainly not that. Karnataka have shown themselves to be masters of longer pieces before, never falling into the self-conscious prog trap of simply pasting together a bunch of disparate pieces of music and hoping for the best. Although this magnum opus is comprised of seven separately numbered and titled parts – count ‘em! – it somehow manages to feel organically grown rather than stitched together in a lab. In many ways, it’s the ultimate distillation of what the new-look Karnataka are all about: we have folky, Celtic sections featuring guest appearances from Nightwish’s Troy Donockley; delicate balladry; a pounding symphonic metal interlude, and some outright prog courtesy of penultimate section ‘In The Name Of God’, which opens like Marillion in their pomp and steadily dials up the intensity. The effect is almost total sensory overload, and it will likely take many listens to unlock all the detail, musically and lyrically. Any piece of this length has to end strongly, and happily Karnataka have saved their ace in the hole for the dying moments of the album, as everyone pulls out all the stops for the grand finale. Pinna delivers one of his most devastating solos; Donockley serves up a Uillean pipe solo to die for, and the rhythm section get stuck in as Cagri and the assembled string section provide a backdrop of dizzying beauty for Griffiths to deliver possibly her finest vocal to date. It’s unspeakably moving, a beautiful lament for the losers on the battlefields of life and love that will quite likely require more than one handkerchief.
It feels wrong to call current vocalist Hayley Griffiths the “new vocalist”, since she’s been touring with the band since very early in 2012. With a background in large musical productions (Irish dance spectaculars Riverdance and Lord Of The Danceboth feature in her quite extensive CV), fronting a rock band was something completely new for Griffiths, and it isn’t perhaps surprising that the first batch of dates she undertook with the band – where the live release New Light was recorded – saw her nailing the demanding vocal parts without breaking a sweat, but looking slightly self-conscious on stage. As anyone who has seen the band recently will attest, any inhibitions that Griffiths may once have had on stage are long since gone, and that confidence has found its way onto the album, where she delivers a flawless, powerful performance. From fiery rock vocals to the lofty, operatic extreme of her range, Griffiths is perfectly on point throughout, as at home with riff-based rockers like ‘Road to Cairo’ and ‘Poison Ivy’ as she is with the gothic balladry of ‘Fairytale Lies’. It’s a bravura showcase for a highly gifted performer, and it’s practically impossible to come away from hearing her in action here not having reached the conclusion that she is the perfect foil for the band. Powerfully charismatic, hugely versatile and technically magnificent, her vocals on the closing title track in particular shame many better known female rock vocalists.
Çağrı Tozluoğlu, on keys, is a similarly impressive recruit. Eschewing the more traditional progressive rock influences of previous keysman Gonzalo Carrera, Tozluoğlu brings a welcome modernity to the band. His soloing is sparsely used, but when it does appear (as on ‘Poison Ivy’), it’s wonderfully fluid. Where Tozluoğlu excels is in his shaping of mood and his orchestrations: his epic approach to arrangement means that this is the biggest-sounding Karnataka album to date. The danger of dialling up the drama is that sonically the music is weighed down until it sounds overwrought, but Tozluoğlu knows exactly when a bit more is too much. Nowhere is this more evident than in the expansive title track, where the gradual crescendoes and sudden juddering launches into explosive instrumental sections are handled with a very fine hand. Even as the song builds more and more layers upon Tozluoğlu’s musical architecture, it never feels like drama for the sake of drama; it all feels natural, logical.
Last of the new arrivals is the most recent one, French drummer Jimmy Pallagrosi, whose performance here is frankly the stuff of future legend. With all the energy of progressive legends like Mike Portnoy, Pallagrosi’s explosive playing lends the material added potency and urgency whilst anchoring it to earth, playing a key role in giving it real weight and momentum. His Bonham-esque voyages around his kit during ‘Road to Cairo’ are a joy to hear; at the same time, his restraint on some of the quieter pieces – such as ‘Fairytale Lies’ – demonstrates a keen musicality and a knowledge of where to leave space for the music to breathe. In a world seemingly filled with drummers who appear to treat every song as a drum solo, Pallagrosi’s keen sense of dynamics is both refreshing and exactly what the material needs. He is, in short, the right drummer at the right time.
Secrets Of Angels is a triumph. Wonderfully melodic, hugely dramatic without being in any way corny, varied in feel yet somehow effortlessly cohesive, beautifully recorded and mixed, and very sympathetically mastered, it is fairly easily the best-sounding album the band have made. The material is fabulously strong, and managed to both tread new ground and sound like ‘classic’ Karnataka at the same time – no mean feat, especially with all the new blood involved in its writing. As the epic title track draws to a breathless close, the listener may find themselves exhausted – drained by an album that runs the full gamut of emotions and leaves no stone unturned in its quest to powerfully move anyone who takes the time to sit down with it and listen. Hands down, the band’s finest hour, and a validation of the belief and skills of the new-look band. The only difficulty Karnataka now face is how to top it.

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Secrets of Angels
CD - £9.99

THE GONZO TRACK OF THE DAY: Khmer Buddhist Hymn

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.

Friday 29 May 2015

THE GONZO TRACK OF THE DAY: Godsticks - Much Sinister



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Spiral Vendetta
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YES: Judge Says “No” to Roger Dean’s Avatar Lawsuit: Should He Have Said “Yes” Instead?

On September 17, 2014, Judge Jesse Furman dismissed world renowned artist Roger Dean’s lawsuit against James Cameron and the motion picture Avatar. 1 If the name Roger Dean does not strike an immediate chord, be assured you have doubtlessly seen his work. He is best known for designing album covers and artwork for the band Yes, including the albums “Fragile,” “Close to the Edge,” “Relayer” and “Keys to Ascension.” 2 He has also designed album covers for Uriah HeepAsia, and Gentle Giant3 Dean had alleged that the movie had copied elements from 14 of his paintings.
These allegations were nothing new. Immediately upon the release ofAvatar, numerous commentators noticed the similarity between Dean’s work and the depiction of the planet Pandora in Avatar4 So obvious was the connection that Cameron was directly asked about it in an interview with Entertainment Weekly. 5
“Where did Cameron get the idea for the floating mountains? Was that from a Yes album cover?
‘It might have been,’ the director says with a laugh. ‘Back in my pot-smoking days.’” 6
I had very much the same experience when I watched Avatar. In particular, this scene immediately reminded me of Dean’s cover to Yes’ “Keys to Ascension.” The Avatar scene is on top. Dean’s art is on the bottom.
Av1
Before we enter into a full-fledged analysis of the Judge’s decision, I must give the following cognitive bias alert: I am a huge fan of both the band Yes and Roger Dean’s work. I have two of his books. So feel free to view my analysis through that prism.
In my mind, the issue here is a test for infringement called “total concept and feel.” The Second Circuit, which governs the District Court here, appears to be the originator of this test. 7 “Total concept and feel” arises because a “defendant may infringe on the plaintiff’s work not only through literal copying of a portion of it, but also by parroting properties that are apparent only when numerous aesthetic decisions embodied in the plaintiff’s work of art…are considered in relation to one another.” 8 The Court here, makes a passing reference to the test of total concept and feel, but engages in absolutely no discussion of its elements or how they might apply to this case. This is a serious error in my opinion.

Read on...

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Union
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Rock of the 70s
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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? why not indeed!!" (The wondrous poetpic is by Jack McCabe, who I hope forgives me for scribbling all over it with Photoshop)

NATURAL SYNTHETICS
BIO-ENGINEERING ARTISTRY
Recognizing and affirming innate harmonies
Flowing with the bend of blood cells and the bright of red
Knowing pulse beat and all chambers of your heart open
Have you never seen it on TV?That big bulging inner mystery
without whose active beat /we would not be complete.
Artificial hearts and organs ,artificial blood
Artificial limbs,prosthetic organs made on a 3D printer
Soon we may supplant the natural with a bio-engineered program
Frontiers of ART and SCIENCE merge-like when they exhibited corpses
either as mummies or as plastified  bodies("real"bodies)in Art Galleries/Museums.
Artificial Intelligence may soon challenge us to know the difference between Art and Life
Artists,bio-engineers and biologists will smile and say.."Today=they are One and The Same"
 

Artists create with living organisms, a bioengineer and a biologist parse the ethics of synthetic biology, and a reporter takes a crash course in bio-hacking. 
studio360.org

Thursday 28 May 2015

PLAYLIST SF123

Unlucky Fried Kitten:              www.loserville.com Bassekou Kouyaté & Ngoni              Siran Fen
Petunia Liebling MacPumpkin:              Fish Drive Edsels
Rod Mckuen       Co-existence Bagal Shop Blues
Rod Mckuen       Haiku Poems
That Man from the East:              Eastern Chaos
Mordecai Smyth:            I’ve Been so Tired
Crystal Jacqueline and the Honey Pot:         After All She’s Crystal
Crystal Jacqueline and the Honey Pot:  Hole in my Shoe
The Barron Knights:  You’re All I Need
Ringo Starr:  Just a Dream
Pelican:   The Cliff
Warhorse:  I am Dying
Rod Mckuen:  Three Songs for “S”
Rod McKuen:  The Elegant Prison Downstairs
Black Tape for a Blue Girl:   Pandora’s Dream
Tani Naomi:  Showa Kare Susuki
BB King:  Sweet Little Angel
Boards of Canada:  Corsair
David A Jaycock:  Ghosts and Gold
Anais Mitchell:  His Kiss the Riot
Cranium Pie:  Mechanisms  #3
Unknown Albanian Group:  Legend of the Walled-in Woman
Chimney Crowsla Band:  Paul Knows it all
Blancmange:   Paddington
Rod Mckuen:  A Gallery of Assorted Beats
Rod Mckuen:  Like
Slade:   Gudbye Gudbye


PLAYLIST: SF122

Strange Fruit 122 - The Live Show
                 
Where Live is Better than Studio!!
             
Featured Album:            
The Rolling Stones: Brussels Affair
             
Tracks   
1  Husker Du: Girl Who Lives on Heaven Hill
2  Richard Thompson: Madonna's Wedding
3  The Who: Summertime Blues
4  Cash Box Kings: Honey Bee
5  Cash Box Kings: Iodine in my Coffee
6  The Rolling Stones: Gimme Shelter
7  Neil Young: Mr. Soul
8  John Cale: Mercenaries (Ready for War)
9  Tim Buckley: Pleasant Street - You Keep   Me Hanging On
10  The Rolling Stones: Angie
11  Gene Clark & the KC Souther Band:   Denver or Wherever
12  The Only Ones: Why Don't You Kill   Yourself
13  The Ramones: Rockaway Beach
14  The Grateful Dead: Dark Hollow
15  REM: Bad Day
16  The Sensational Alex Harvey Band:   Delilah
17  The Rolling Stones: Street Fighting Man
18  Neil Young & Crazy Horse: Welfare   Mothers
19  Half Man Half Biscuit: 24 Hour Garage   People
20  Jimi Hendrix: In from the Storm
21  Gong: Glad Stoned Fielding Flash and   Fresh Fest Footprint In My Memory


THE GONZO TRACK OF THE DAY: Third Ear Band - Live (French TV May 1970)



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35 Years Ago: Yes Recruit the Buggles to Replace Jon Anderson and Rick Wakeman Read More: 35 Years Ago: Yes Recruit the Buggles to Replace Jon Anderson and Rick Wakeman


Jon Anderson Trevor Horn Rick Wakeman
Matt Roberts / Bruno Vincent / Ben Pruchnie, Getty Images


The writing was on the wall – or at least the sleeve.

Yes‘ ninth album, 1978′s Tormato, was the limpest, most divisive entry in the prog-rock legends’ catalog. The internal discord was reflected by its grotesque cover: a tomato (reportedly thrown by disgusted keyboardist Rick Wakeman) splattered against a confusing Hipgnosis design. Though Tormato became Yes’ first platinum-selling LP in the U.S. (based on the strength of oft-mocked lead single “Don’t Kill the Whale”), its reputation tanked with hardcore fans, and it left the band scrambling to plot their next move.

After a period of disillusion, they split into two factions, with Wakeman and frontman Jon Anderson fleeing in March 1980. Yes had already survived a previous split from their caped keyboard wizard – but could they last without their iconic voice? The very unlikely answer – in the form of two New Wave hit makers – arrived that May.

The Buggles are still most famous for their breakthrough 1979 single, “Video Killed the Radio Star,” a hummable synth-pop gem that launched MTV into America’s curious living rooms. But the British duo – producer-bassist Trevor Horn and producer-keyboardist Geoff Downes – made a radical departure for their next move by filling Yes’ lineup gap.

The union took place after the Buggles introduced themselves to the remaining Yes members (bassist Chris Squire, guitarist Steve Howe and drummer Alan White), who’d been rehearsing in an adjacent studio. The two bands already shared a manager, Brian Lane, and had a mutual respect for each other’s work. But that proposed blend still felt like a longshot: What could two glossy synth-pop dudes bring to a symphonic prog act, and vice-versa?

Plenty, as it turns out. This version of Yes displayed on Drama was unlike any in the band’s history, blending modern synth tones and vintage prog with a harder-edged attack that emphasized the rhythm section (see the Squire-driven concert staple “Tempus Fugit”). Fans had every reason to be skeptical – after all, this was the first Yes album without Anderson. But tracks like the opening epic “Machine Messiah” proved they hadn’t softened, and Horn’s similarly pitched vocals helped smooth the transition.

Read on... 



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Rock of the 70s
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Karnataka GRTR UK review

http://getreadytorock.me.uk/blog/2015/04/album-review-karnataka-secrets-of-angels/

Album review: KARNATAKA – Secrets Of Angels

Posted on April 5, 2015 by GRTR! HQ
KARNATAKA - Secrets Of Angels
Immrama [Release date 30.03.15]
To be blunt, the first impressions of Secrets Of Angels – played live at Bury Met in February – weren’t great.  The band blamed the venue and the lack of an adequate sound check, but as they’d  recorded the 2013 New Light in concert DVD there, the excuses sounded, frankly, questionable.  And if I’m honest, none of the band looked like they were having a good time.
And while ‘first night’ gremlins/nerves might be understandable, the ‘real thing’ suffers a similar lack of ‘presence’, or identity.  Perhaps no surprise, perhaps because since day 1, Karnataka has been a constant revolving door of players and only guitarist Enrico Pinna remains from the band that recorded the excellent The Gathering Light (2010), along with mainstay Ian Jones.
Five years is a long time in the evolution of Karnataka and they’ve seen almost as many personnel changes in the interim.  You wonder what attracted Hayley Griffiths – previously a lead singer with Michael Flatley’s Riverdance and Lord Of The Dance productions – to join such a fragile eco-system.
Certainly no blame can be laid at her door.  Her ‘West End’ training was evident in live performance where she was the only one who attempted to make ‘contact’ with the audience.  Jones and keyboardist Cagri Tozluoglu engaged in a navel gazing competition (Tozluoglu won hands down) and guitarist Pinna’s only eye contact was with drummer Jimmy Pallagrosi (with whom he seemed to be having a private joke).  All-round, it was frankly uncomfortable.
Secret Angels is, however, a polished set that sees Karnataka stray into the more melodic end of the Nightwish symphonic rock spectrum featuring guest musicians Troy Donockley (Uilleann pipes and low whistles), Irish harpist Seána Davey, Rachel van der Tang (cello) and Clive Howard (viola) from the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra.
Quite why seemingly every band in the melodic prog ‘space’ feels the need to employ the services of Donockley is a mystery.  An accomplished player, yes, but he adds nothing to the diversity of the genre and his pervading presence makes it virtually impossible at times to distinguish where Secrets Of Angels ends and Nightwish begins.
And that identity crisis extends in other directions – the excellent opening ‘Road To Cairo’ bears a striking resemblance – vocally and otherwise – to Christina Booth and Magenta.  And therein lies the rub, Secrets Of Angels is a perfectly good album – well played and executed.  But there’s no ‘killer’ material with – much like the live performance – one number running almost indistinguishably into the next.
At times, it’s like the band are firing on three cylinders and you just want them to ‘kick on’ and rock out.  But it doesn’t happen.  Big arrangements are the order of the day.  Perhaps tellingly, the highlight is ‘Feels Like Home’ a song that sounds custom made for a Lloyd Webber production.  Griffiths shines on the track and one wonders whether the marriage of her polished musical theatre background to a progressive rock band will be an enduring one.   ****
Review by Pete Whalley
CURRENTLY AVAILABLE AT GONZO:
Secrets of Angels
CD - £9.99

Howard Stern Interview with Moon Unit and Frank Zappa



CURRENTLY AVAILABLE ON 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..

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

THIS HAS HAPPENED BEFORE
This has happened before
Floods have come(before and after 1981)
to break the banks of creeks
flood stores/destroy stock and take lives.
So/We build again-in exactly the same positions
knowing full well this will happen again
This will happen again.And when it does-
we will say"Told You So!"And Insurance Companies
will refuse flood policies,and owners of businesses
will cry and complain ,or stoically sneer@Texas weather
And they will clean and clear and build again-the same
in the same spot/trying to forget(but they cannot!
Unpredictable as weather is-we are perfectly predictable
We will do the very same things again
We will repeat the same patterns again

We will build our future disasters in the same flood plains

Wednesday 27 May 2015

THE GONZO TRACK OF THE DAY: Hippie From New York City (David Peel and The Lower East Side)



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Anthology
CD - £9.99

Atkins May Project - Anthology Belgian Review

http://www.musicinbelgium.net/pl/modules.php?name=Reviews&rop=showcontent&id=7340

ATKINS MAY PROJECT - Anthology
/ Published on 02-05-2015 /
I confess I do not know what to make of this"Anthology" . Let us be clear. I'm quite a fan of theAtkins May Project and I feel enormous respect for the contribution of Al Atkins to the history of Heavy Metal (NDR  : remember, this young fellow of 67 years was the first singer of Judas Priest ) . However, I do not see what I could write more than what has already been said in the chronicles of the albums Valley Of Shadows " (2012) and Empire Of Destruction " that we have previously published. Especially the last two came out there a few months. As its name implies,"Anthology" is a 'best of'  , a compilation of songs off the three albums released between 2011 and 2014 by the duo of Al Atkins and English guitarist Paul May. Most titles presented here are already present on the two aforementioned albums. Only"Dream Maker" (a ballad over twelve minutes) and "Theatre Of Fools" (a title Heavy Rock rather excellent, it must be admitted) are extracted from the album "Serpents Kiss" (2011) that had not been subject to criticism ears Music In Belgium. The interest is rather limited. And it is not the pitiful recovery of "In The Air Tonight" by Phil Collins which is presented bonus that will change that. Things might have been different if, for example, Al Atkins had the good idea to offer us his own version of"Victims Of Changes" , this classic Priest he had composed in the early seventies. But this 'beast' assembly too recent titles (NDR  : just four years for the oldest) seems completely unnecessary. "Anthology" might be of interest to collectors of anything related directly or indirectly to the story Judas Priest, and like all titles that are presented are of excellent invoice (NDR  : if one appreciates the classic Heavy Rock and unadorned), compilation could also serve as an introduction to Atkins May Project for those who have not yet had the opportunity to taste it. Others may prefer to invest their money in a more consistent output. The album (78 ')  :
  1. Here Comes The Rain (9'04)
  2. Enslaved To Love (7'44)
  3. The shallowing (5'37)
  4. Bitter Waters (3'47)
  5. World At War (12'36)
  6. Dream Maker (4'31)
  7. Valley Of Shadows (5'13)
  8. Harder They Fall (5'59)
  9. Theatre Of Fools (8'37)
  10. Whisper To The Wind (8'24)
  11. In The Air Tonight (Phil Collins cover) (4'49)

The group  :
  • Al Atkins  : Vocals
  • Paul May  : Guitars

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Anthology
CD - £9.99

Empire of Destruction
CD/DVD - £9.99

Valley of Shadows/The Serpents Kiss
2CD - £9.99

Valley of Shadows
CD - £9.99

The Serpents Kiss
CD - £9.99
...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.