Rock Of Ages

Benjy says...

Hi Rock of Ages listeners, subscribers, fans

Firstly my apologies for the lengthy delay in getting the newsletter out to you, the move to Joburg turned out to be more complicated than I thought (best laid plans....etc, etc). The actual move itself was no sweat but getting Telkom to install my ADSL and phone lines has turned into a nightmare of note! Despite applying well in advance and following up with regular calls I am at the time of writing, still without lines and no confirmed date to do so ... As a marketing person (in my other life) it amazes me that Telkom can trumpet it's ADSL business capability and aggressively market it's ability to install same promptly and yet when push comes to shove they fail miserably ... OK that's my gripe of the week out of the way.

Having spent the best part of the last 2 years in laid back Cape Town the switch to Joburg has come with some advantages and some disadvantages; the disadvantage is that I have to leave for the studio at least 90 minutes before airtime in case there is a traffic jam (par for the course here) and the SABC studios are about 35 kms away so it takes a while but at least I get a chance to listen to tons of music on the way. The main advantage is of course that I am closer to the 'edge'; I get samples from the labels quicker and I also get to see mi compadres at Radio 2000 (Barney Simon, Michelle Constant, etc) a lot more. Overall I'm happy to be back in 'The Big Smoke' and look forward to working with the 2000 team in helping to build the station into the best music station in the country. Of course I hope to return to Cape Town from time to time to present the show from there ......

In the annals of classic female singer songwriters Joni Mitchell stands head and shoulders above all others; from the late 60's onwards she has forged new frontiers in music, fusing folk, jazz, rock and pop influences into her own unique style. In addition to offering Rock of Ages fans the best in rock music, we also like to bring you the best in rock journalism and noted author Michael Waddacor is arguably South Africa's finest rock writer and archivist ... read Mike's fantastic 2-part piece on Joni Mitchell at the Strange Brew website. If you would like to contact Michael he can be reached at strangebrew@rock.co.za.

This coming Thursday the special will focus on Peter Frampton - a sadly underrated guitarist and vocalist whose early work with Humble Pie built the platform for his highly successful 70's solo career. I will be trawling through his lengthy back catalogue to bring you the best tunes PLUS there are 5 copies of the new double cd set "Frampton Gold" to give away .... and if that wasnt enough rock for you I will also be interviewing Dennis East and Allan Goldswain from mid 70's SA 'supergroup' STINGRAY about the reissue of their legendary debut album, in my opinion one of the best AOR rock albums of that decade - 5 copies of Stingray to be given away on the night ...... so as they say in the classics - pull in, turn the volume up and rock!

Frampton comes alive on Rock of Ages

Peter Frampton first became interested in music when he was seven-years old. He discovered his grandmother's banjolele (a banjo-shaped ukulele) in the attic. Teaching himself to play, he became near obsessed, and upon receiving a guitar and piano, from his parents, taught himself those instruments as well. By the age of ten he played in a band called the Little Ravens and both he and David Bowie were pupils at Bromley Technical School where Frampton's Art Teacher and Father, Owen Frampton, was head of the Art department. The Little Ravens played on the same bill at school as Bowie's band, George and the Dragons. Peter and David would spend time together at lunch breaks, playing Buddy Holly songs.

At the age of 11, Peter was playing with a band called The Trubeats followed by a band called The Preachers, produced and managed by Bill Wyman, of The Rolling Stones. In 1966, he became lead guitarist/singer with The Herd, with which he became a teen idol in Britain, scoring a handful of British teenybopper hits. Frampton was named "The Face 0f 1968" by the UK press. In 1969, when Frampton was 19 years old, he joined with Steve Marriott of The Small Faces to form Humble Pie and while playing with Humble Pie, Frampton also did session recording with other artists including; Harry Nilsson, Jim Price, Jerry Lee Lewis and George Harrison's solo All Things Must Pass. This session was where he was introduced to the 'Talkbox' that has become such a trademark guitar sound for Frampton. After five albums with Humble Pie, Frampton left and went solo in 1971, just in time to see 'Rockin' The Fillmore' rise up the US charts.

His debut solo album was 1972's Wind of Change. This album was followed by Frampton's Camel in 1973, which featured Frampton working within a group project and in In 1974 Somethin's Happening. Peter toured extensively to support his solo career and in 1975, the Frampton album was released. The album went to #32 in the US charts, and went gold. All of Frampton's solo albums were given fair reviews but had little commercial success. This changed with Frampton's breakthrough best-selling live album, Frampton Comes Alive! (1976). "Baby, I Love Your Way" and "Show Me the Way" were singles but it was with Do You Feel Like We Do, despite its length, that he finally broke through into the mainstream. The latter two tracks also featured his use of the talk box guitar effect.

His following album, I'm in You (1977) sold close to 1 million copies, but was panned by critics. Frampton then took a co-starring role with The Bee Gees in director Robert Stigwood's poorly received Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. Frampton's career seemed to fall as quickly as it had risen and there were rumours that he had succumbed to depression and heavy drinking. He was involved in a near fatal car accident in the Bahamas near the time of Sgt Pepper's' release. In 1979, Frampton returned to recording with the album, Where I Should Be (1979). In 1980, his following album Rise Up was released to promote his tour in Brazil. The album eventually turned into Breaking All The Rules, released the next year in 1981. These albums were the first he recorded almost completely live - their sound is believed to be the better for it.

In the late 1990s, he starred in an infomercial plugging the internationally successful eMedia Guitar Method, a piece of instructional software represented as an alternative to taking actual guitar lessons. He claimed in the infomercial that the software was the best way to learn guitar. After the September 11, 2001 attacks, Frampton decided to become a United States citizen. He now resides in Indian Hill, a suburb east of Cincinnati. In 2003, he released the album Now, and embarked on a tour with Styx to support it. He also toured with The Elms. He appeared in 2006 on the FOX Broadcasting variety show Celebrity Duets, paired with Chris Jericho of WWE fame. They were the first pair voted out.

On September 12, 2006, Frampton released his newest album, an instrumental work titled "Fingerprints". His band consists of drummer Shawn Fichter, guitarist Audley Freed, bassist John Regan, and keyboardist/guitarist Rob Arthur, and guest artists such as members of Pearl Jam, Hank Marvin, and his bassist on Frampton Comes Alive, Stanley Sheldon.

Discography

Wind of Change (1972)
Frampton's Camel (1973)
Somethin's Happening (1974)
Frampton (1975)
Frampton Comes Alive! (1976)
I'm in You (1977)
Where I Should Be (1979)
Rise Up (1980)
Breaking All The Rules (1981)
The Art of Control (1982)
Premonition (1986)
When All the Pieces Fit (1989)
Peter Frampton (1994)
Frampton Comes Alive II (1995)
Live in Detroit (2000)
Now (2003)
Live in San Francisco March 24, 1975 (2004)
2004 Summer Tour (2004)
Fingerprints (2006)

Rock of Ages presents "Footstomping Music"

The distribution problems that plagued the initial release seem to have been rectified, however if you do have a problem finding the album please email the information to me so that I can take it up with the distributors. In the meantime you can securely order the album via the Rock of Ages website. Click on www.rock.co.za/rockofages for details.

click to buy this CD direct from Rock Of Ages

Rock Of Ages Presents Footstomping Music

Grand Funk Railroad - Footstomping Music
Deep Purple - Burn
Uriah Heep - Look at yourself
Black Sabbath - Sweat Leaf
Thin Lizzy - Chinatown
Robin Trower - Too rolling stoned
Mountain - Never in my life
Wishbone Ash - Blowin' free
Foghat - I just wanna make love to you
Budgie - Baby, please don't go
Santana - Toussaint l'Overture
Alice Cooper - Muscle of love
Nazareth - Go down fighting
Blue Oyster Cult - The Red & the Black
Lynyrd Skynyrd - Gimme back my bullets
Free - The Hunter
Taste - What's goin' on

Buy this 'Footstomping Music' CD direct from Rock Of Ages

Rock Of Ages News

BON JOVI THREATENS ENERGY DRINK
Jon Bon Jovi isn't too pleased with the makers of new energy drink Mijovi. In fact, he's demanding they change the name, because it's too similar to his own. And he's got his lawyers to write them an official letter to that effect.

SIMMONS HEADS FOR JUNGLE
Kiss' Gene Simmons has apparently been signed up for the new series of jungle reality TV show 'I'm A Celebrity...Get Me Outta Here'.

OFFSPRING READY NEW RECORD
The Offspring have now completed 13 songs for their new, as yet untitled album, including one called 'Take Me Nowhere'. The record should be out at the end of the year, or early in 2008.

KORN COVER UP
Korn are planning to do a covers album. No specifics yet, but among those artists ready to get the Korn treatment are Faith No More, Ozzy, the Psychedelic Furs and Nine Inch Nails.

SEETHING AGAIN
Seether have announced the release of their third studio album via Musketeer Records on 22 October 2007. The South African imigris, who now live in the Los Angeles area, are coming off three consecutive gold certified studio albums.

THE DON IS DEAD
Don Arden, who managed Black Sabbath, the Electric Light Orchestra and the Small Faces in his day, has died at the age of 81. He's Sharon Osbourne's father, and therefore Ozzy's father-in-law. We send condolences to his family and friends.

YARDBIRD BACK? There are reports that The Yardbirds are planning a re-union tour in October. This would feature guitarist Jimmy Page, bassist Chris Dreja and drummer Jim McCarty. No word on who'd be brought in as vocalist. More soon.

MOUNTAIN AT WAR Mountain are to release a new album shortly. Called 'Masters Of War', it features re-workings of Bob Dylan songs. Ozzy guests on the title track.

SIGN OF THE 'RYCHE
Queensryche are to release a double CD compilation called 'Sign Of The Times: The Best Of Queensryche' on August 27. The first CD features 17 of the Seattle band's finest moments, while the other CD has three demos from Myth (vocalist Geoff Tate's previous band), three demo tracks of songs from their debut album 'The Warning', a live version of 'Silent Lucidity', a version of 'Della Brown' done for 'MTV Unplugged'and new track, 'Justified', featuring former guitarist Chris DeGarmo.

Keep the rock real...

Benjy

Contact Rock of Ages

Email:
Website: www.rock.co.za/rockofages
Snail mail:
PO Box 782022, Sandton 2146
Studio phone: 089-1102003

Disclaimer:
The views, opinions, rants, raves and ramblings expressed on this website are the author's own and in no way reflect the views of Radio 2000 or the SABC.

Latest Playlist

All the playlists are available in the
Playlist Archives.

Live Gigs

No gig info at present....

You say it's your birthday...

August 1

Jerry Garcia - Grateful Dead - 1942

Tim Bachman - Bachman Turner Overdrive - 1951

Rick Anderson - Tubes - 1947

Joe Elliot - Def Leppard - 1959

Rick Coonce - Grassroots - 1947

Boz Burrell - Bad Company - 1946

August 2

Garth Hudson - The Band - 1937

Courtesy of
About ClassicRock

Birthday Archives

January
February
March
April
May
June
July
August
September
October
November
December

Newsletters

Weekly Newsletter

To receive your weekly dose of Rock News, Playlists, Recommendations, Competitions and much, much more, please join our
Mailing List.

News Archives

Previous newsletters are available in the News Archives.

Playlist Archives

All the playlists are available in the Playlist Archives.

Stay tuned every Thursday 8-12pm for the best in classic rock on RADIO 2000.

Your Host

Benjy Mudie

Then	Now

Benjy Mudie is a self confessed 'rockaholic' with little chance of recovery... a music obsessive whose entire life has been spent in search of the lost chord... from discovering Jimi's "Are you experienced" at 13, he has constantly devoured music through lp's, singles, tapes, cds, dvds, books, magazines, film, concerts, radio, tv and the internet. His entire working life has also been music related: from running a record store and later joining WEA Records in the mid 70's through to his 21 year A&R/Marketing stint at Tusk Music where he signed some of the biggest names in South African rock and pop. The last 8 years have been spent nurturing new talent at his indie label Fresh Music and reissuing classic albums as part of it's ongoing Retro series.... To say that 'music is his first love' (to paraphrase John Miles's classic song) is somewhat understated.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------