Hello there
Welcome to the latest newsletter.
The playlist for The RockIt
Scientist show of 22/09/2006 is also featured in the newsletter.
(Please note new address for The RockIt
Scientist website, www.rockitscientist.co.za, with thanks to webmaster Brian Currin, who comes up with the odd gem now and again.
His latest one concerned the Canadian AOR band, Wrabit, who were featured on
The RockIt Scientist recently).
Brian piped up "Didn't Trevor Wrabin play for
Wrabit?"
Nice one, old bean, but don't lose the day job just
yet!
The Rockfest on 1485 Radio Today Newsflashes
Rafe Lavine (Hot Dog
Radio)
The Rockfest is very sorry to say
goodbye to Rafe Lavine, who presented his final show
on 1485 Radio Today this last Friday night. Rafe has decided that he needed to spend more quality time
with his family and concentrate on his business. Ever the professional, Rafe felt that he wasn't able to
devote as much time as he would have liked to The Rockfest,
and as we respect his decision but lament the loss to the station of one
of South Africa's most respected broadcasters, we'd like to thank him sincerely
for his input, very entertaining shows and
commitment.
Another one of South Africa's most respected radio jocks,
David Blood, will present his "In Your Vein" show in the slot vacated
by Rafe, starting from
Friday 13th
October.
David's 10pm to midnight Tuesday slot,
in turn, will be filled by the newest member of The
Rockfest, Rui de Sousa. Rui has a lot of experience in the music industry, having worked with
Sony Music for many years. He currently co-owns and runs two music stores called
High Fidelity, one in the Killarney Mall and the other in Bedford Centre. Rui is also the country's sole distributor of independent
record labels such as Frontiers, Favored Nations, Cherry Red and others, so you
can be assured that you'll be hearing some great new material from the many
fantastic artists on these labels.
Just for this coming Friday night (06
October), The RockIt Scientist will be
broadcast from 08pm 'til 01am (five hours!), and if all goes well, I hope to have
one or two special guests in the studio. If not, don't be too suprised if you
hear BOTH sides of Nektar's "Remember The Future", or all FOUR sides of Yes's
"Tales From Topographic Oceans" in their entirety! (Nah - not
quite!)
The new changes will appear on The
Rockfest website shortly.
The Red Flag
Collective
Caroline Hillary and Lara Preston presented their very first
"The Red Flag Collective" show between 08pm and 10pm on Tuesday 03
October. It went down very well and it looks to be a popular addition to The Rockfest on 1485 Radio Today. You can read up on them (and
see their photos) on
Rockfest Club
Please visit www.rockfest.co.za and sign
up. Your support will ensure that The Rockfest on
1485 Radio Today goes from strength to
strength.
RockIt Scientist
news:
Pink Floyd
give-away
The response to the Pink Floyd CD "pack" giveaway was unbelievable!
Thanks to everyone who sent in their entries.
The question was: Who is (was!) the "Crazy Diamond" in the song
"Shine On You Crazy Diamond?" Of course, that was none other than the
late Syd Barrett.
Congratulations to the following five people, who will each receive
"The Division Bell", ''A Momentary Lapse Of Reason" and "Live-Delicate Sound Of
Thunder", courtesy of Sony Music:
Brian Taylor
Dave Kershaw
Angelique Mulder
Lawrence Tomassini
Victor Strugo
The CDs will reach you in due course.
More competitions/giveaways to follow in the weeks to
come.
Jimmy's Killer Prawns, one of the main
advertisers on The Rockfest, have had a whole bunch
of wall clocks, which are made out of vinyl records, complete with The Rockfest and 1485 Radio
Today logos, available to listeners/readers! More info on these exciting
giveaways to come shortly.
Gigs
Check out the
"Gigs" page on The RockIt
Scientist website (www.rockitscientist.co.za) - there's some great live music happening, one
in particular being Geoff Plant, Nigel Gedden and the guys in
Three Foot Thang, who will be performing at
Tonino's (Dunnotar Street, Sydenham, off Louis Botha
Avenue), on
Saturday 7th October.
Three Foot Thang
are a particularly good rock outfit who've been
regularly featured on both The RockIt Scientist
and on Rafe Lavine's Hotdog Radio. Tonino's is a very vibey music venue
with great food. (Tel 011 485 1748 for bookings)
A particularly exciting event is to take place on Saturday the 25th of November, so make a note in your diary now to get
to:
The
Table
Mountain Blues Summit
On the
25th November 2006, Cape Town is going to be seeing a Blues Festival
of proportions never before done in the
Cape.
Blues artists,
who are the masters in their field, will be doing renditions of the likes of
Robert Johnson, Muddy Waters, BB King, Eric Clapton as well as their own
masterpieces.
Sound
Engineering will be of the highest caliber with a rig good enough for an
open-air concert.
The venue has
been chosen for its great sound attributes as well as crowd friendliness, with
numerous liquid refreshment pit stops and toilet
facilities.
There will also
be a smoking section available for those with the
desire.
The highlight of
the evening will be a once-off re-union of one of Cape Towns best ever blues
outfits - BLUES BROERS.
Seeing that it
is the year that the mighty "BIG BOB" turns 50 yrs old, the evening is sure to
be one not to be forgotten.
VENUE:
Tafelberg Tavern
105 Hope
Street
Cape
Town
Emcee: Dr Ian
Bell
Line
up: Terri & Harper Jnr Blues
duo
Gerald
Clark
Boulevard
Blues
Albert Frost
Trio
Piet Botha &
Jackhammer
Blues
Broers
Southern Gypsy
Queen
Costs: R120.00 per
person
Gates open:
3.00pm
For ticket sales or more information, contact
Mike Combrinck 083-4599748 (mike@gkcmarketing.co.za) .
Dinosaurdays
Website
Grateful thanks to Japie Marais, webmaster of The
Dinosaurdays website (www.dinosaurdays.co.za).
Japie has kept the site going for a number of years, even though
The Dinosaurdays (a two-hour, once a
week radio show, that
Phil Wright and I used to present on 5fm for over six years,) was taken off the air nearly four
years ago.
Japie has
re-designed the site and retained all the information and features that we'd
accumulated over the years, although, due to time constraints, I may not be able
to contribute much by way of entries, write-ups, etc, as has been the case for
the last four years or so.
The RockIt Scientist
(www.rockitscientist.co.za) and Dinosaurdays websites will be linked, so between the two of
them, there's enough info/trivia to keep you going for a while!
Contact
If you have any gigs you'd like advertised, or any comments,
requests, etc, please email me at leon@rock.co.za.
Martin
Griffiths
If you're a regular RockIt Scientist
(and Dinosaurdays!) listener, the name Martin Griffiths will be quite familiar to
you.
Martin was the vocalist and one of the
original members of one of my all-time favorite groups, Scotland's
Beggars Opera. He featured on the band's
first three, and best albums, "Act One", "Waters Of Change" and "Pathfinder". He
has a very interesting website (www.rockingscots.co.uk),
with tons of information about Scottish beat and rock bands from the 60's and
early 70's, since the 90's, and he's contributed to a new book by Martin
Kielty on Scottish rock called "Big Noise", which
will be out this month. (Visit www.bignoisebook.com)
Martin is still performing to
this day, and his son Phillip, (who
RockIt Scientist listeners will remember in Alias Eye
and Poor Genetic Material), has carried on in his father's fine
footsteps.
The RockIt Scientist is part of The Rockfest on 1485 Radio Today, which is also broadcast on DSTV Audio Channel 70.
The following
bands/artists were featured on The RockIt Scientist on Friday 22 September:
Elephant's Memory
Fable
Chicken Shack
The Answer (giveaway)
Led Zeppelin (tribute to Bonzo)
Tarney Spencer Band
Firefall
Charlie Daniels Band
America
Bad Company
Foreigner (new Live album)
G3
Keef Hartley Band
Swallow
Creative Rock
Stomu Yamash'ta
Goddo
Sweathog
Glencoe
Tiger
Flied Egg
Fuzzy Duck
Raw Material
Paul Samson (new album)
Riot (new album)
Desperado (new album)
First+Aid
Tucky Buzzard
(See below for write-ups/reviews)
Cheers.
Leon.
Playlist for Friday 22/09/2006 - 22h00 to
01h00
01. Elephant's Memory - The Running Man, from "Angels Forever", in
1974
This US band, who started out in the mid to
late sixties as a psych/hippie outfit, were big buddies with John Lennon and
Yoko Ono, appearing on the former's " Some Time In New York"
album in 1972. (Lennon, in turn, reciprocated by appearing on the band's
self-titled 4th album, the same year). Elephant's Memory also appeared on the
soundtrack to the movie "Midnight Cowboy". They released a total of five albums,
the featured album being their heaviest and, arguably, their best.
02. Fable - Hard Life, from "Fable", in 1973
This short-lived English folk-rock outfit were
formed by vocalist Pete Goalby in the early 70's. Not unlike Unicorn and Wooden
Horse sans the female vocals, their music was punctuated by some really pleasant
acoustic bits, with the odd rocker, as per the featured track, thrown in. Goalby
went on to feature with Trapeze, Uriah Heep and others, and bass guitarist Peter
Mackie with Roy Wood (he of the nicely groomed hair) in Wizard/Wizzo.
03. Chicken Shack - Riding With The Devil, from "The Creeper", in
1977
Featuring Stan "The Man'' Webb in a more
rock-orientated mood. The band now featured (the late) Tony Ashton on keyboards,
Paul Martinez on bass, Edd Spevock (ex-Babe Ruth) on drums and Robbie Blunt
(Broken Glass/Robert Plant), together with the great man, Stan, on guitars. Stan
Webb is still one of the finest, and most underrated, blues guitarists in the
world. If you don't believe that, check out the recent "I'd Rather Go Live" dvd,
released on Angel Air Records, about a year ago. And his voice is still not too
shabby, either.
Give-away time again.
This time, courtesy of Rob O'Brien at
Redflag, we had three copies, plus three posters, of
the debut album, called "Rise", of the sensational new Irish blues/rock outfit,
The Answer, to give away.
Question was (a real difficult 'un: Where are The Answer
from?)
The three winners were:
Patrick Jacobs
Tamara Loob
Monica Erasmus
Tracks from "Rise" featured were:
04. The Answer - Come Follow Me.
05. The Answer - Into The Gutter.
06. The Answer - Never Too Late
If you don't have this album yet, get it. It's really good. If this
is the direction hard rock/blues rock is heading, the future of the genre looks
very promising.
A tribute to John "Bonzo"
Bonham
Considered by many to be one of the finest rock drummers of all
time, John Bonham was born in England on May 31st,
1948. He worked as a bricklayer before launching his musical career in a series
of Birmingham-based bands, such as Terry & The Spiders and Band Of Joy, with
future partner/band member Robert Plant. He
subsequently worked on the British touring circuit backing vocalist Tim
Rose when the offer to join Led Zeppelin came up, although guitarist Jimmy
Page's initial first choice drummer had been Procol Harum's B.J.Wilson. Joining
Bonham and Page were
vocalist Robert Plant and bassist John Paul Jones, and one of the greatest rock bands in the
world was born, evolving out of The (New) Yardbirds.
Bonzo's reputation and ability are
legendary - you just need to check out his drumming on the "Led Zeppelin" dvd,
released a few years ago, and you'll be convinced that he was in a different
league.
Unfortunately, like so many before, and after him, he was a slave
to the evil of drugs and booze, which ultimately claimed his life on
September 25th, 1980.
Out of respect for their fallen comrade, the rest of the group
promptly disbanded in October 1980, having recorded nine albums between 1969 and
1979.
07. Led Zeppelin - Ramble On, from "Led Zeppelin 2", in
1970
One of the best, and most important records in
rock history. This album set the stage for fame and fortune that would make Led
Zep probably the world's biggest-ever group in terms of fan adulation and record
sales. No hard rock collection can be considered to be complete without it. The
cardboard replica edition make this (and the others in the series) a must for
any collector.
08. Tarney Spencer Band - Set The Minstrel Free, from "Three's a
Crowd", in 1978
Alan Tarney (guitars/keyboards/vocals) and
Trevor Spencer (drums) had worked as sessions musicians for countless bands and
artists. This was their second studio album, and it featured all of the members
of The Climax Blues Band as backing musicians, as well as keyboard player Lynton
Naiff from jazz/rock outfit Affinity. They recorded a third album in
1979.
09. Firefall - Mexico, from ''Firefall", their great debut album,
released in 1976.
Firefall have been extensively featured on The
RockIt Scientist and they're well represented on The RockIt Scientist website,
so you can read up on them elsewhere on the site. Suffice to say that they
were sometimes unfairly said to be a poor man's version of Poco or The Eagles.
Not true. They were equally as good, if not better, than their better-known
contemporaries. Firefall released a number of great albums and charting singles.
10. Charlie Daniels Band - Blind Man, from "Million Mile
Reflections", in 1979
Another RockIt Scientist/Dinosaurdays regular,
and certainly not only because of his "The Devil Went Down To
Georgia" classic. Charlie Daniels was, and still is, one of the
most respected fiddle players/guitarists/vocalists in Country Rock music. He's
always had great musicians in his band, a tradition that has remained true to
this day. A long-awaited dvd, "CDB DVD Live", was released about a year
ago.
11. America - Tin Man, from ''Holiday", in 1974
America were formed in the late 60's by the
offspring of American servicemen stationed in the UK. Heavily influenced by
Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, America, comprising Dewey Bunnell, Gerry
Beckley and Dan Peek, were extremely popular in the early to mid 70's, scoring
with a number of major hits, such as ''A Horse With No Name", 'I Need You",
"Ventura Highway", the featured track, and a host of others. Dan Peek left in
1977, but Bunnell and Beckley continued to write great songs and fill venues.
The band are still around today, and recently released a very good live dvd,
recorded at The Sydney Opera House in Australia, a few years
ago.
12. Bad Company - No Smoke Without Fire, from "Best Of Bad Company
Live - What You Hear Is What You Get", in 1993.
This was the band's first official live album,
and it featured new vocalist Brian Howe (ex-Ted Nugent's Band), together with
bassist Rick Willis (ex- Foreigner, King Crimson and Peter Frampton, who
replaced the now sadly deceased Boz Burrell) and guitarist Dave "Bucket" Colwell
(ex-Samson). Original members, guitarist Mick Ralphs and drummer Simon Kirke,
still featured with the band at this stage, although Ralphs would later leave,
with Colwell taking over sole guitar duties. Original vocalist Paul Rodgers
revived Bad Co about four years ago.
13. Foreigner - Juke Box Hero, from ''Live, Las Vegas, November 26,
2005''
Not quite an official live album (as in a
worldwide release), but certainly a must-have for any fans of this legendary
band. This album features the new line-up of Jason Bonham (ex-Bonham & UFO,
on drums), Jeff Pilson (ex-Dokken, bass), Jeff Jacobs (keyboards/vocals), Tom
Gimbel (guitar/sax/flute/vocals) and Kelly Hansen (vocals, ex-Hurricane &
MSG), together with sole original member, guitarist/vocalist Mick Jones. Nice
recording, nice crowd, most of the well known tracks, but strangely no "Double
Vision"!
14. G3 - La Grange, from "Live in Tokyo", in 2005
Joe Satriani, Steve Vai & John Petrucci
(Dream Theater) team up together on this double album that features each
guitarist doing his own thing, as well as the three of them collaborating on a
number of well known classics, such as their version of the bearded ones' "La
Grange".
15. Keef Hartley Band - Not Foolish, Not Wise, from "The Battle Of
North West Six", in 1969
Fresh from their performance at Woodstock (has
anybody EVER seen footage of their performance at Woodstock?? Wishful
thinking!), the band set about recording this album, considered by many to be
one of their best. Featuring Miller Anderson (vocals/guitar), Gary Thain (bass)
and Keef Hartley on drums (nice little solo, there, Keef!)
16. Swallow - Why Am I Treated So Bad, from "Out Of The Nest", in
1972
This band, who's name is also given to the bird
that prevents babies (!), were a little-known US brass-rock outfit who released
one pretty rare album and folded in the early 70's. Jeff "Skunk" Baxter appeared
on the album. Anyone know why he was known as "Skunk" Baxter? Rumor has it that
he used to drop the odd trouser cough in the studio during recording
sessions!
17. Creative Rock - Lady Pig, from "Lady Pig", in
1974
A short-lived German brass-rock outfit who were
based in Bielefeld. Evolving out of a soul/jazz/rock outfit called The Bourbon
Street Paraders, they released two good albums for the prestigious Brain label.
Inspired by the likes of Colosseum, Nucleus and Blood, Sweat & Tears, they
were quite inventive and they had a very powerful singer in Rainer Erbel. The
band split in the mid 70's.
18. Stomu Yamash'ta - Crossing The Line, from "Go Live From Paris",
in 1976
A brilliant double live album from this very
talented Japanese multi-instrumentalist who's been featured elsewhere on The
RockIt Scientist website. The album features contributions from Mike Shrieve
(drums), Klaus Schulze (keyboards), Stevie Winwood (vocals) and Al Di Meola,
who's blistering solo on this track, in particular, is one of his
best.
19. Goddo - Under My Hat, from 'Best Seat In The House", in
1981
Goddo were formed in Canada by ex-Fludd bass
guitarist, Greg Godovitz, together with drummer Doug Inglis and Gino Scarpelli,
who's guitar work on this track can only be described as brilliant, one of the
best solos you'll hear in a long time! The band were formed in the early-to-mid
70's and they released their self-titled debut album in 1977. They reformed
recently and released a great new album called ''Kings Of The Stoned Age". Not
that easy to find their material, but they're certainly worth looking out for.
20. Sweathog - Hallelujah, from "Hallelujah", in
1971
A sadly overlooked US rock band who had much to
offer, but, other than making a cameo appearance on the 'Fill Your Head With
Rock'' compilation brought out by Columbia Records in the early 70's, the band
had nothing else to show for themselves. The two albums they released, however,
were out of the top drawer, but they sank into obscurity in the early
70's.
21. Glencoe - Born In The City, from ''The Spirit Of Glencoe", in
1973, their 2nd and last album.
Formed in London in 1971, Glencoe's initial
members included two ex-members of Forevermore (Stewart Francis on drums and
Mick Travis on guitar & vocals), Norman Watt-Roy on bass, from Greatest Show
On Earth, and Graham Maitland on keyboards/vocals, from Hopscotch. Francis was
later replaced by John Turnbull (ex-Bell and Arc and Skip Bifferty). Both of
Glencoe's albums are highly recommended.
22. Tiger - Ticket Machine, from "Goin' Down Laughing", in 1976,
their second anl last album.
Tiger was a competent UK blues/rock outfit put
together by seasoned guitarists Big Jim Sullivan (ex-Green Bullfrog) and Les
Walker (ex-Warm Dust), together with vocalist Nicky Moore (ex-Hackensack &
Megaton), keyboard player Dave McCrae (ex-Nucleus), drummer Billy Rankin
(ex-Brinsley Schwarz) and bass player Phil Curtis (ex-Crazy World Of Arthur
Brown). Dave McCrae later featured with singer Joy Yates in Pacific Eardrum, and
he was replaced by Alan Park, previously with Beggars Opera. Andy Brown joined
on bass and this line up appeared on the featured album. Tiger split in 1977.
23. Flied Egg - I'm Gonna See My Baby Tonight, from "Dr. Siegel's
Fried Egg Shooting Machine", in 1972
No, it's not a spelling mistake - this Japanese
blues/rock outfit were really known as Flied Egg (think of "Lock and Loll", or
"House Of Lising Sun"). Weird name aside, this band were, next to Flower
Traveling Band, one of Japan's best blues/rock outfits. My Japanese is almost as
bad as my Outer Mongolian, so the liner notes on the CD sleeve are slightly
difficult to grasp, making finding info on the band a tad problematic. They've
released around three velly good
albums.
24. Fuzzy Duck - Country Boy, from "Fuzzy Duck", in
1971
This short-lived UK outfit's album is a serious
rarity, fetching quite a handsome price on the collectors market (only 500
copies were pressed). The band featured Paul Francis on drums (ex-Tucky
Buzzard), Garth Watt-Roy on guitar (ex-Greatest Show On Earth), Roy Sharland,
ex-Arthur Brown and Spice, on organ, and ex-Andromeda and Five Day Week Straw
People bass player, Mick Hawksworth. It's basically an album of heavy
progressive rock music and it's definitely worthwhile checking
out.
25. Raw Material - Miracle Worker, from "Time Is Rare", in
1971
A serious vinyl rarity from the RCA Neon label.
This UK progressive rock outfit were formed by members of the bands Steam and
Welcome, neither of which had ever committed any recordings to vinyl. Their
self-titled debut album, released on the Evolution label in 1970, had some very
interesting and long tracks with involved and elaborate instrumental breaks. The
featured album, whilst being more song orientated, also featured a number of
really good progressive pieces based on heavy guitar, sax and keyboard riffs.
When the band finally folded, some members went to Deep Feeling and others to
Shoot. Both albums are available on CD and are worthwhile additions to the
collection.
26. Paul Samson - Brand New Day, from "P.S", his latest (and final)
album, released just recently.
Paul Samson, in my humble opinion, was one of
the best guitarists of the NWOBHM scene. As is well known and documented
elsewhere on The RockIt Scientist website, he formed his band Samson way back in
the late 70's, together with some of the UK's finest musicians and vocalists.
Samson (the band) released some really great albums, especially during the time
that vocal duties were handled by Nicky Moore. Paul Samson tragically died (on 9th August 2002) during the writing
and recording sessions for what was to be the new Samson album. Bassist John
McCoy, who'd previously worked with Paul Samson in Scrapyard in the mid 70's,
and who played bass on the album, was asked to complete the project. It was
initially intended to be released as a new Samson album called "Brand New Day",
but it was suggested instead that it would be a fitting tribute to release it as
a Paul Samson CD. Featuring Nicky Moore on vocals, John McCoy on bass, Ian Ellis
on bass & vocals (the same guy who featured with Kim Simmonds in Savoy
Brown?) and Billy Fleming on drums, it certainly is a fitting tribute to a truly
great heavy rock/blues rock guitarist.
The album is available through Angel Air
Records (www.angelair.co.uk), who have
an amazing catalogue of rare recordings, re-releases and other collectibles.
They're undoubtedly one of the best record labels in the UK.
27. Riot - Darker Side Of Light, from "Army Of One", brand new
recording from this famous New York-based hard rock outfit.
Riot were featured just recently on an earlier
RockIt Scientist show. The new album then arrived in the post and I just had to
play a track from it. Guitarist Mark Reale is the only remaining original member
(he formed the band, together with vocalist Guy Speranza, back in the mid 70's).
This new album, which features new-ish members Mike Flyntz on guitars, Pete
Perez on bass, Frank Gilchrist on drums and Mike DiMeo on vocals, is dedicated
to the memory of Guy Speranza, who died of cancer in November 2004. The band
have released nearly 20 albums since 1977, and this is one of their strongest
offerings to date.
28. Desperado - See You At Sunrise, from "Ace", originally recorded
in 1989, but only recently released, on Angel Air Records.
This band could've been pretty big, had they
lasted longer. Featuring vocalist Dee Snider (Twisted Sister), solo guitarist
Bernie Torme (who'd also worked with Mammoth/Gillan/Atomic Rooster), bassist
Marc Russell and original Iron Maiden drummer Clive Burr, this was a supergroup
in the making. The group wrote close to 100 songs for the album and were signed
to Elektra Records, but they only managed one live gig, a secret show in
Birmingham, England, where Kix, (who shared the same management), had played the
night before and left their gear on stage for Desperado to use. The rise of
Grunge in the late 80's/early 90's destroyed the label's interest, and they were
dropped. The band dissolved as a result, with Snider and Russell continuing as
Widowmaker. Bernie Torme resumed his solo career and has recently teamed up with
bassist John McCoy in GMT. Clive Burr has sadly been struck down with MS and is
now unable to play. Fortunately, thanks to Angel Air Records, the album has
finally been released.
29. First+Aid - Two Brothers, from "Nostradamus", in
1977
This little known album, put together by this
little known English prog outfit, is a conceptual masterpiece, based on the life
of Nostradamus
(or Nostril-damus, the chap who "nose" the
future. But then you've heard that one already, haven't you?). The members were
Allan Wormald on guitar & vocals, Keith Parkinson on keyboards, Norrie
Tennant on bass and Dave Freeman on percussion. Astounding orchestral
arrangements, musicianship and songwriting, together with an intriguing and
fascinating interpretation of the mysterious prophet's forecasts, make this a
very worthwhile addition to the collection of any lover of prog rock music.
Whether or not you can find it, however, is another story.
30. Tucky Buzzard - Coming On Again Suite, from
"Coming On Again", in 1972 (part of "Time Will Be Your Doctor", double
compilation, released in 2005)
Do you know what it's like when you finally
find something that you've been searching for, and that's been eluding you, for
years and years? The third "mystery" album from this fantastic UK outfit was
only released in Spain (the fact that it was recorded in Spain, with the Madrid
Philharmonic Orchestra, could have something to do with that). Previously, Tucky
Buzzard's main claim to fame was that they were managed and produced by the
Rolling Stones' Bill Wyman, but after you hear the quality of their music, the
Wyman link is really of minor interest. These guys were nothing short of
brilliant. Evolving out of a mid-sixties outfit called The End, they released
their (equally rare and nigh-impossible to find) debut album in 1971. Oddly
enough, this album was only released in the US, where the band were starting to
make serious waves. The follow-up album, "Warm Slash", released in 1971 in the
US and in 1972 in the UK, had some of the finest boogie rock you're ever likely
to hear, with vocalist Jimmie Henderson in great form. The band later signed to
Deep Purple's Purple label and released two further albums, ''Alright On The
Night" and "Buzzard", before splitting. These latter two recordings have been
freely available for some time now, but albums one, two and three not so, which
make thus double compilation of the first three albums a fantastic way of
answering all those questions about Tucky Buzzard that've been lingering for so
many years. And no, the Nicky Graham who featured in The End was NOT the same
Nick Graham who featured with Atomic Rooster, Skin Alley and Alibi. So there!
The following bands/artists were featured on The RockIt Scientist on Friday 29/09/2006. Write-ups to
follow in the next newsletter.
Janis Joplin (Tribute)
Cold Blood
Affinity
Sandy Pantaleo (Sonny Rose)
Tower Of Power
Blood, Sweat & Tears
Hemlock
Arcadium
Rumplestiltskin
Apache
Epitaph
Fantasy
Dave Meniketti
Ken Hensley
Gamma
Landmarq
Like Wendy
Kayak
Windchase
Scarlet Thread
Sebastian Hardie
Schenker/Pattison Summit
Sky High
Dave Greenslade
Rick Wakeman
Trace
Lucifer Was
Standarte
Primevil
Remember to tune in
to The RockIt Scientist, every Friday night,
between 10.00pm and
01.00am, on 1485 Radio Today, also on DSTV Audio Channel 70.
