Posts Tagged ‘Pete Makowski’

TAPEtoTAPE lives!

As the eagle eyed amongst you may have noticed, TAPEtoTAPE has been very quiet recently… As excuses go there is a good one, well I think so anyway!

Having spent nearly a month in America with Kodiak Jack recording their second album time has escaped me slightly.  Having been cooped up with Tesla’s Brian Wheat at his newly refurbished J Street Recording Studio for many weeks it has been a struggle to get back up to speed with life back in Blighty.  But we are almost there. Almost.

Over the next few weeks we will be tweaking the TAPEtoTAPE website, revealing the new look logo and of course most importantly, bringing you plenty of reviews news and features.

Coming very soon there will be a fantastic retrospective interview with Status Quo from Pete Makowski’s archives, new interviews with Brian Wheat and SoulMotor’s Darin Wood plus loads more!

TAPEtoTAPE lives, the future is unwritten… well, our future will mainly be written but you get what I mean.

TOMASAYU HOTEI – CHALK FARM ROUNDHOUSE – DECEMBER 18

Reviewed by Peter Makowski

“In Japan I am tall, in England I am not so tall”, joked Tomosayu Hotei (or Hotei Tomosayu, depending which side of the globe you come from) referring not only his stature but also the fact that although the legendary Japanese guitarist is celebrating three decades of superstardom in his homeland, most people here will only be aware of his existence due to one snippet of music.

Battle Without Honour And Humanity, that coruscating theme tune featuring a riff that slices the senses like a samurai sword, is not only the theme tune to Tarintino’s Kill Bill manga tribute but is a musical franchise in itself having been sampled, featured in computer games, dance tracks and any clip featuring a marauding gang or impending fight scene.

This was all that I and a small smattering of European fans knew about Hotei before his show at the beautifully restored Roundhouse in Chalk Farm (which also happened to be his first show in the UK for almost twenty years) which was almost full and mainly populated by loyal Japanese fans with an age group that seem to span the guitarists entire career.

Looking tres cool in a sharkskin jacket, wearing black Cuban heels with a head of spiky hair; Hotei looked like a hip Yakuza straight out of a Takeshi Miike gangster flick.  With a beaming smile he revealed how happy he was to be living here, the home of his musical heroes Bowie, TRex and Roxy Music.

The show (his first in the UK for almost two decades) kicked off with Battle… as the lights revealed the band all seasoned pros; the flamboyant Kimono wearing drummer/actor Tatsuya Nakamura, Toshiyuki Kishi-programming/keyboards, and most notably legendary bass player Tokie, looking glamorous, in a long red cocktail dress, split in the middle, and sounding lethal.

Mission Impossible followed, an instrumental that conjured up images of The Shadows arriving from another Galaxy with an arsenal of amplification and steroids. Electric Kitsch.

Bad Feeling, a song from Hotei’s days with his first band Boowy, got his fans (probably the most polite and well behaved audience I ‘ve ever witnessed) bouncing along.

If like me you love Asian films and culture you will love Hotei’s music, which unashamedly leaps across all styles and genres. Songs like Russian Roulette and Bambina start of like cheesy pop anthems but quickly evolve into eviscerating guitar workouts.

Exploding with energy Hotei bounded, duck-walked and strutted across the stage like a mutant rockabilly guitar hero. Sometimes his astonishing style and virtuosity can be buried underneath the over the top histrionics.

The technique and feel in Sphinx (slightly reminiscent of Parisienne Walkways) can only be described as Jeff Beck with a sense of humour.

The biggest blunders of the night were undoubtedly the cover versions.  I don’t know what was more surreal; watching Roxy Music’s Andy McKay and Suggsy in the VIP bar, possibly under the influence of the free potent Saki, playing air guitar along to Born To Be Wild or Hotei’s strangulated vocal decimation of Starman.

The set ended rather flatly with Siren an instrumental that seemed to go nowhere, making one think that it might have been better if he closed the set with Battle.  There were three encores and as far as the audience were concerned the show was a success.

Hotei is definitely a talented musician and songwriter but if he is thinking about breaking through in the West he should focus on his strengths as a guitarist, and songwriter and maybe leave the vocals to some guest artists.

Definitely one to watch in 2013.

Review by:

(C) Peter Makowski

All photos by:

(C) Kazuyo Horie

 SETLIST

1-Battle Without Honour Or Humanity

2-Mission Impossible

3-Bad Feeling

4-Sphinx

5-Heartbreak Hotel

6-Howling

7-Materials

8-Starman

9-Born To Be Wild

10-Russian Roulette

11-Bambina

12-Dreamin’

13-Siren

Encore

1-C’Mon Everybody

2-Glorious Days

3-Fly Into Your Dreams

RUSH : ‘TOO YOUNG FOR THE ROCK’N'ROLL HALL OF FAME’

By Pete Makowski

Rush kicked have kicked off 2012 with a brand new album – Clockwork Angels - and receiving the prestigious Governor General’s Performing Arts Award in Ottawa on May 5.
The band were presented the award alongside icons like Pete Townshend and a choir performed Spirit of the Radio followed by an orchestral version of Tom Sawyer (see YouTube below).

Geddy Lee was still beaming with pride when he met up with TAPEtoTAPE last week.
“That was great, it was fun and it made me proud to live in a country that recognises the performing arts and celebrates excellence in various fields.  A lot of the people were not mainstream artists but they’ve been working their whole lives perfecting their craft. In Canada we’re always fighting for support of the arts. In a lot of countries they subsidies a lot of industries but when it comes to the arts they view it as a gift. Yet the arts can be a very profitable thing to invest in. It’s as valid as investing in the car industry or whatever. So when you see an event like that which celebrates excellence in the performing arts, it sends a very positive message to the artist and the country and it informs young people that the arts matters and don’t be discouraged and follow your passion. Which is what we did.”

For years fans have been petitioning to get the band recognised by the Rock’n'Roll Hall of Fame in the America and when asked about this Lee responded with his usual humour: “No, no we’re still young . That’s for old-timers.”

Geddy was in town to promote Clockwork Angels during which time it was also announced that Rush will be touring the UK next May. Angels… follows on from Snake and Arrows and has been greeted by fans as being a return to form.
“We were attempting to bring that back with Snakes and Arrows and in retrospect before we did this record I felt we were still leaning a little too heavily on production with Snakes & Arrows“, says Lee. “Even though the songs on Clockwork Angels are still very complex, they’re leaner in the terms of the way we recorded them. We tried to make the essence of this album more reflective of the three piece.”

“The built-to-be-performed quality is clearly eveident on all the songs on Clockwork Angels“, declares Neil Peart on the notes he wrote for a press sheet.  ”Like the nineteen albums that have come before, these songs are ‘Made 2 B Played’ again and again for years.”

As told to Pete Makowski

Rush prepare to release new album and announce 2013 UK Arena Tour Dates

RUSH return with brand new studio album “CLOCKWORK ANGELS”, their first in five years and set for release on JUNE 11th (UK) 2012.

Legendary rock band Rush have announced details of a UK Arena tour in May 2013.  Full dates are as follows:

2013

Wed May 22nd Manchester Arena

Fri May 24th London, O2 Arena

Sun May 26th Birmingham, LG Arena

Tues May 28th Sheffield, Motorpoint Arena

Thurs May 30th Glasgow, SECC

Tickets go on sale at 9am GMT Friday 18th May 2012 priced at £60/£75 (subject to booking fee) and will be available from www.ticketmaster.co.uk, www.livenation.co.uk or www.ticketline.co.uk

 These are the first UK dates since the band brought their 3 ½ hour Time Machine Tour in May 2011 – the tour was met to widespread critical acclaim and included a sold out date at London’s O2 Arena.  “Rush are one of the last great bands standing” – Metal Hammer, “Canadian legends confirm their status as the world’s biggest and best cult band” – Kerrang, “It’s a blend of power, subtlety, soaring choruses and some of the most intelligent lyrics ever written.” – The Sun 5/5 live review.

This follows the band unveiling details of its highly anticipated, new album, “CLOCKWORK ANGELS.”  This is the renowned trio’s first new collection of original material in over five years and their first studio release via Anthem/Roadrunner Records.  “CLOCKWORK ANGELS,” the band’s 20th studio album, will be released in the UK on June 11th.

In the UK, the album will be released on June 11th in exclusive Classic Rock Fan Pack form – providing a unique collectible package containing the 12 track studio album alongside a specially created magazine with unseen behind-the-scenes content put together by Classic Rock.  The Fan Pack cover will also feature brand new exclusive artwork from Rush’s longtime collaborator Hugh Syme (who also designed the Clockwork Angels artwork).  The Fan Pack format will also come with free gifts including a ltd ed Clockwork Angels keyring & artwork poster and will be available to buy via more than 2000 retail outlets on newsstands nationally as well as the traditional high street and online music retailer.  The Fan Pack is available for pre-order now at www.myfavouritemagazines.co.uk/rush, where all early bird orders will receive a personalised Rush poster.  Roadrunner Records will simultaneously release the record digitally.  The standard physical release of the Rush album will follow through Roadrunner Records on July 9th 2012.

The recording of “CLOCKWORK ANGELS” began in April 2010 with Grammy Award winning producer Nick Raskulinecz (Foo Fighters, Deftones) – who also collaborated with the band on their last studio album, 2007’s “SNAKES & ARROWS.” Rush co-produced both records.  The first two songs, “Caravan” and “BU2B,” were completed during that first session at Nashville’s Blackbird studios and performed nightly during the wildly successful Time Machine Tour, which ran from June 2010 to June 2011.  Work on “CLOCKWORK ANGELS” resumed in the fall of 2011 at Revolution Recording in Toronto after the tour’s finale, with additional strings (arranged by David Campbell) recorded at Hollywood’s Ocean Way Studios earlier this year.  Lyrically, “CLOCKWORK ANGELS” chronicles a young man’s quest across a lavish and colorful world of steampunk and alchemy as he attempts to follow his dreams.  The story features lost cities, pirates, anarchists, an exotic carnival, and a rigid Watchmaker who imposes precision on every aspect of daily life.   The novelization of “CLOCKWORK ANGELS” is being written by science fiction writer Kevin J. Anderson in collaboration with Rush drummer and lyricist Neil Peart.

Rush heralded the release of “CLOCKWORK ANGELS” with a new single “Headlong Flight”.  Landing at rock radio in mid April the song is already # 1 at Classic Rock in the USA and A-Listed at the UK’s Planet Rock radio.  Details of a full-scale North American tour to support the new album have also been announced – the tour runs throughout September, October, November and December 2012.

RUSH

“CLOCKWORK ANGELS”

(ANTHEM/ROADRUNNER)

Available June 11th 

1. Caravan

2. BU2B

3. Clockwork Angels

4. The Anarchist

5. Carnies

6. Halo Effect

7. Seven Cities Of Gold

8. The Wreckers

9. Headlong Flight

10. BU2B2

11. Wish Them Well

12. The Garden

Pete Makowski talks exclusively to Biff Byford

When not busy hob-knobbing with the rock ‘n’ roll elite or mooching around backstage somewhere, tucking into free food and drink, Peter Makowski occasionally does some work.  Thankfully for us, not all of that work makes its way onto the hallowed pages of Classic Rock or Mojo, some of it gets buried, lost on a laptop hard drive gathering metaphorical dust.

During a recent spring clean Pete has unearthed one such lost gem, a previously unpublished interview with metal God Biff Byford.  Biff Byford, Saxon’s enduring, uncompromising and down to earth frontman as he contemplates, amongst other things, the prospects of getting a real job, an alternative career in crime, surviving a near death experience and spandex.

You’ve been fronting Saxon for over thirty years, when are you going to get a proper job?

BB: Funnily enough every time I meet my half-sister, who’s twenty years older than me, she says ‘what are you going to do when all this stops?’ I say ‘probably die’.  People are nuts with this ‘proper job’ thing.  It’s probably still going on with young musicians with their fathers saying ‘you got to get a proper trade, son’”

What would have been the worst scenario for your family; gay, drug addict or rock’n’roll musician?

BB: It would have definitely been drug addict.  My father bought me my first guitar, he was quite supportive.  My parents didn’t understand it but they didn’t stop me doing it.  As long as I had a job as well.

You came from quite a tough background where there were limited options what would have been an alternative career choice for you?

BB: I would have probably been a criminal.  I think my experiences in the early days of blagging gigs and guitars weren’t that much different to smashing car windows and nicking stuff.  So I would probably got married, had kids and become a petty criminal.

In your autobiography (Never Surrender or Nearly Good Looking) you talk about being an incredibly shy when you were young. Why do you think introverted people gravitate towards show business?

BB; It’s weird that.  I meet a lot of singers who are shy.  I think by going on stage the fear dissipates.  My children are the same, they’re quite shy and timid with new people or in a strange environment. I think being shy, going red, is a gene thing.

Are you still shy?

BB: In some respects, yeah.  Funnily enough I don’t like crowded rooms.  If I don’t know anybody I tend to stand in the corner.  I’m not the vivacious host.

When I first went on stage I was incredibly frightened but the need to be on there was obviously greater than my shyness, so I coped with it.  I’m glad that I got into it slowly; I started of by playing bass.  In fact I never originally had any aspirations to become a singer, I wanted to be a guitarist.

What’s your greatest regret?

BB: Not having a great manager in the early days.  We never had someone with a vision.  With all great bands, it’s all about the team.  I think when we needed help we were used as a fucking bank, making money for other people.  So I regret that we didn’t have a Rod Smallwood, someone that worked with band.

What can you do that no one else can?

BB: Well I can sing like me for a start.  Which might sound like a stupid thing to say but if you are blessed with a unique voice then that’s a good thing.  People come up to me and they know its Saxon when they hear me singing.

You’ve written a tribute to denim and leather but not spandex. Explain.

BB: Oh we can’t go back to spandex!  Our arses might still be OK but you’ve got to draw the line.  To go back to spandex is not good for senior rock’n’rollers.  We’ll see what Darkness wears on their first reunion show.

What ‘s the most rock’n’roll thing you’ve done?

BB: It’s got to be the sexual antics really

When it comes to the looks dept you boys aren’t exactly eye candy but according to your book you had quite a prolific sex life. Do you have any tips for up and coming socially inadequate metal bands?

BB: I think it doesn’t matter if you look like a piece of shit.  If you’ve got it on stage that what’s really counts.  I think the pulling power for rock’n’roll is big.  Even guys like Russell Brand are rock’n’roll.  It’s a certain look tight pants has a lot to do with it.  Age has nothing to do with it.  Just fucking go for it.

You and your family nearly died in a house fire in France; did the experience make you reassess your life?

BB: Definitely, it makes you think of mortality in a big way. I think that’s why my wife didn’t want to live in France anymore; she wasn’t the same after the fire.  She didn’t want to be buried in a French graveyard.  You think about things like that.  We really enjoyed living there up to that point.  It affected me but I’m used to shutting down that kind of stuff.  It affected the kids, they still talk about it.

When you say you  ‘shut down that kind of stuff’ what do you mean?

BB: Well I put it in a box and put it somewhere else.

Is this something you’ve done all your life?

BB; Yeah I have actually.  With kids and other families and other lives that I’ve had.  It comes up now and again like the fire.  I’ll sometimes wake up and smell smoke; it’s a bit weird.

Following on from that, what would you say was the lowest point of your life?

BB: When my mother died, I was about twelve.  That was a big blow to me.  She was a musician, she played piano and organ so there was a lot of music in my life up to that point and then it stopped, My dad was none musical.

Tell me about the high points in your life.

BB: A musical one was playing Donnington. On a personal level my first child with my wife.  I think having my daughter, who’s sixteen, now, changed me, although I did have children from a previous marriage but I was really young.  That’s sad but it was another fucking life, yeah?

What the secret to happiness?

BB: I think in my world you have to have two lives.  A private life and the rock’n’’roll side; and the two have to merge.  I think you have to have a really special family to be able to pull it off.  There has to be a massive amount of trust both ways but especially from the wife because she knows what I used to do.

Are you religious?

BB: I’m quite religious.  I’m quite into the something between Heaven and Hell concept.  I’m not religious in a church sense, I think they ought to make their fucking mind up and sort out one religion.

In 2010 you launched a campaign to have heavy metal declared as a religion. Who would you nominate as Pope?

BB: It would have to be somebody like Ozzy Osbourne.  Somebody brought this up the other day and asked me  ‘who would be Jesus’ and I said it would have to be somebody that was dead and came up with Phil Lynott or Ronnie James Dio.  I knew both of them quite well and they would have thought that was extremely funny.

As told to Peter Makowski

BRAQUO Out on Blu Ray and DVD on April 30

Just when I was anticipating a heavy duty cluck coming off my fix of Euro-Crime as BBC 4′s retro Sicilian Sleuth Sizzler Montabano came to end-lawdf have mercy-Season One of Francais latest Crime Epique came a tumblin’ through my letter box.  I have just finished watching the last episode (and I might as well tell you now that it ends on a cliffhanger!) and before I immerse myself into the first two episodes of The Bridge, I need time to catch my breath and tell you Believe The Hype!

Looking at the trailers I was expecting a Franco version of The Shield (which I have to admit I avoided as a) it doesn’t have subtitles b) it isn’t set in Baltimore c) it doesn’t star James Gandolfini) Rogue Cop having a meltdown/midlife crisis etc. But no, as expected this follows the tradition of the Gallic Cop Thrillers which means there’s violence, corruption and a bit of the old ooh la la!   The story revolves around four police officers of the SDPJ Hauts-de-Seine, Eddie Caplan, Walter Morlighem, Theo Wachevski and Roxane Delgado who set out to prove the innocence of their boss Max, who (without giving too much away) tops himself when wrongly accused of corruption.  Oh sure his interrogation techniques (as demonstrated with a drug addled rapist) wouldn’t pass health and safety guidlines but it soon becomes apparent that these guys have to deal with the sub scum and therefore contstanty blur the lines of what is known as kosher.

Although the main characters are solid and defined, it’s the supporting cast that take this series to a whole new level.  Take Roland Vogel the internal investigator who looks like a weasle-like version of Andy Warhol and is more immoral than any criminal lowlife in the gutters of Paris.  Or howabout retiring boss who initially comes across like a downtrodden subversive but turns out to be a much tougher proposition than one would have imagined.  And ofcourse there’s the supervillan-Serge Lemoine-who looks like a compressed version of Shaun Ryder and is without a doubt the star of the show.  I would love to tell you more, but I don’t want to spoil it for you. Just expect a white knuckle, adrenaline ride through the sleazier, darker alleys of the Chant Elysee’s as each episode leaves you breathless and gagging for more.  This is Cop drama at its best.  It’s The Sweeny with added garlic. Fermez La Bouche, my son.

PS-While Season Two has already started on FX, there is already talks of a Season Three. You have been warned!

Pete says… 5/5

HOLY DIVER/LAST IN LINE/SACRED HEART – Dio

The last time I saw Ronnie James Dio he had just come off stage after performing a visceral show with Heaven and Hell at the Gods of Metal Milan.  ”Makowski, you WANKAH!!”, he bounded over and gave me a huge hug.  Full of energy, eyes beaming, there was nothing there to suggest his tragic demise less than a year later.

Larger than life itself with a voice that launched a thousand fantasy themed melodic rock bands; Dio was an artist who carried his heart and convictions on his sleeve, which is why even when some of his songs and lyrics went beyond the realm of musical parody his fans (including myself) would salute his efforts with ‘devils horns’ two prong salute.

I have followed Ronnie’s career first hand since watching him supporting Deep Purple with Elf.  Already you could see his talents and ambitions were bigger and bolder than his bandmates and I was not all suprised when the uber talented axe genius Ritchie Blackmore gazumped for his solo project Rainbow.  A classic band with a classic line up with three classic albums and one classic live album-they could have reached heady Zeppelin-esque heights but unfortunately imploded.

I have to admit with the exception of the rather marvellous Heaven & Hell my dalliance with RJD became patchy and felt that his solo efforts were overshadowed by Rainbow and H&H.  How wrong could I be.  These three remastered/expanded with bells, cloven hoofs and whistles reissues demonstrate while both Rainbow and Sabbath seemed to lose direction in the mid Eighties Dio remained solid and focussed throughout producing a body in music that still sounds potent and vital (let’s forget about the visuals).  While a lot of this has to do with to do with Dio’s instantly recognisable gargantuan vocal range, it’s also his choice of musicians which include former Ozzy cohort Jake E Lee and up and coming emerald guitar slinger Vivian Campbell.

Endorsed by Ronnie’s Widow,  Wendy, each album features a bonus CD and booklets annotated by the very ‘eavy, very ‘umble Malcolm Dome.

Apart from the three classic albums highlights include King Biscuit sessions featuring a rather robust rendition of Children of the Sea, a searing slice of Stargazer from the Pink Pop Festival and a lacerating lashing of Long Live Rock’n'Roll.  Not forgetting the meaty mega morsel known as Man of the Silver Mountain.

Altogether an excellent tribute to one of Heavy Rocks premier vocalists and all round nice guys.
God Bless Ronnie James Dio……

Peter Makowski says….

For more info on these releases click HERE.

Braquo coming to Blu-Ray/DVD on the 30th April

Arrow Films have today confirmed that the Season 1 DVD box set of critically acclaimed French cop-thriller “BRAQUO” will be released on April 30^th2012.

Hailed as France’s answer to The Wire, the BRAQUO Season 1 box-set will coincide with the arrival of the show’s 2^nd series, which will air on the FX channel. Season 1 mesmerised UK viewers with its dark, violent and gritty storylines. One of the most gripping and brutal police series of the last decade, fans of The Killing and The Shield can’t get enough of BRAQUO.

Directed by filmmaker and former police officer Olivier Marchal, and starring Jean-Hugues Anglade (Betty Blue, Nikita), BRAQUO (French slang for “Heist”) follows a squad of Parisian police officers who exist in the blurred boundaries at the very edge of the law, often using violence and intimidation in order to get the job done.

The lives of the officers radically change when their leader, falsely accused of corruption, commits suicide. Determined to clear his name, they plan an investigation of their own, only to find that the police department is standing in their way. Driven by adrenaline and a thirst for justice, if they are to uncover the truth, the remaining officers must turn their back on the laws they swore to enforce.

There will be a review to follow soon by our feisty Foreign correspondent with a Foreign name….Peter Makowski….

Introducing Nymph………

I never like to give Pete Makowski too much credit; his constant barbed comments about Duran Duran are frankly unwarranted coming from a man who rates Grand Funk Railroad…. But I digress.  Now and again he gets it right and when he does he is spot on!

Nymph is one of those times, they are magnificent.  Raw and visceral; the epitome of the power trio.  Imagine a glorious hybrid of The Ramones, Nirvana and Muse, once you have finished salivating at the prospect, listen to Nymph.

Having stood, mouth a gape, for their recent headline set at Lennons, I am a convert and will now be spreading the word about one of the most exciting new bands I’ve seen in a while (Angry Badger rosta excluded of course).  They will be releasing their debut single in the next few months and I’ll make sure I grab a copy for review as soon as it is humanly possible.  Until then why not check out a few tracks they have available now and get yourselves along to a live show as soon as you can. Seriously, stop what you are doing and go hunt them down.

Alabama 3 are a law unto themselves-FACT.  They did once in the long, dim, past have an attempt to become a commercial venture with their popular but possibly weakest offering –Ain’t Goin’ To Goa- managed to squander the riches they acquired when Woke Up This Morning became the opening theme for the Shakespearian Mob epic otherwise known as The Sopranos, which at the time was the coolest thing that could have happened to a band but nowadays has features editors singing an exasperated chorus of ‘no we don’t want a feature on them, they haven’t done anything worthwhile since the first album with Sopranos song on it.’ 

The media quickly tired of Rob Spraggs aka Larry Loves fucked up baritone vocals faux American vocalisations and the onstage buffoonery of his elderly Glaswegian sidekick D.Wayne aka Jake who had an incoherent accent that came from Way Down South beyond the swamps via the Gorbals (as witnessed when one night in Portsmouth he got pissed off with the security and when from mellow southern Presbytarian to pyschotic jock looking for a tear up-surreal).As the years went by writers like myself, Stephen King, Irvine Welsh (hey, this is my only chance to stand alongside these literary giants) championed the cause, which probably made the Pop Lit cognoscenti even more suspicious.  But hell, outside this inward looking bubble the A3 (as they call themselves in the good ol’ USA, due to the fact that the powers to be-or Universal as they are now known-don’t want the po’ rednecks of AOR Countryville to mistake them for a pony little outfit called Alabama) couldn’t give a grand flying fuck what the slowly disintegrating music media think of them as they have now acquired a tidy decent sized underground following and carry on regardless. 

In fact the further they go underground, the more interesting they become as demonstrated by Shoplifting For Jesus, the self financed, self produced ninth album which features star turns from Ray Winstone, Bez and best selling writer Martina Cole (who is also involved with the bands Hostage label) reading passages from the bible and countless musical references from other artists including Warren Zevon, Status Quo, John Lennon, Syd Barrett and…KC & The Sunshine Band.The whole album is filled with puns and punchlines (Facebook.com-Kaboom!) and is the usual amalgam of musical styles from Fucked Up Country,Old Skool House/Techno to Urban Ragga and Rap in 12 (like the apostles,motherfuckah!)solid trax.  Larry Love once told me guests artists could include passing crackheads, rave casualities, criminals and when you listen to the organised chaos and diversity happening here you can believe it.  While Larry is the anchor with his,almost, traditional songwriting sensibilty, D.Wayne aka Jake is the boho poet who conjures up images of Lord Buckley and Lenny Bruce out for night on the Razz (or is that Nazz?) in the Gorbals.  Like Shaun and Bez, Keef and Mick, Sonny and Cher; they are a creative Ying and Yang who would sound a little less special without each other.  Listen to Jakes twisted free form musigs on Wrong Is Right and you can feel the spirit of Hammell on Trial trampling on the the daisies.

Undoubted highlight is Let’s Go Out Tonight which starts of with a Burrough-esque rap about a bug infestation which slowly mutates into Tony Joe White backed by the Edwin Hawkins Singers with a slice of Jackson before exploding into a full on warehouse rave with The Black Eyed Peas.

When I asked Mr Love in a recent interview what it felt like being in a cult band his reply was: “I don’t like the world cult it sounds too much like cunt.”

Alabama 3 are not dead or living on past glories like most cults/cunts.  They are still very relevant/special and delivering the goods.  The world would be an even more tragic place than it is at the moment without them-FACT.

Ermmmmm….Amen?

Pete Says….