Monthly newsletter 2024
#8
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INTRODUCTION
Welcome to The Story of Rock and Roll. This newsletter covers episodes S7E27 to S7E31. These shows are available on podcasts from our website and all major podcast platforms. Quick links to all things TSORR are at the end of the newsletter. Please share the newsletter with anyone who may be interested.
If you listen to the podcasts on Google Podcasts and can no longer find us, check out the YouTube Music app; they have moved us there. Otherwise, just search online for ‘The Story of Rock and Roll Radio Show’ and you’ll find plenty of other podcast options. You will always find us on www.thestoryofrockandroll.com and on Buzzsprout https://www.buzzsprout.com/273305/stats
HIGHLIGHTS
A new cycle of the Evolutions feature began on S7E28, we are now on The Evolution of Iron Maiden. We covered the debut album, Killers, Number of the Beast, and Piece of Mind albums with a track from each.
We had several great interviews this month, which is good news – it means the SA music scene is alive and rocking. I spoke to Liaan Horten of The Color Blew, the whole of Jasper Dan, and Basson Laas, a singer-song writer operating in the Pretoria area. You can find the details in the South African Scene section.
Bomb Crocodile and Slow Panda’s Picks of the Week continue to feature some of the more esoteric tracks that can be heard on TSORR. This month we heard Billy Valentine and the Forest Rangers with their version of ‘All Along the Watchtower’, David Bowie’s – ‘I’m Afraid of Americans’, Loverboy’s ‘Working for the Weekend’, Five Finger Death Punch’s ‘The Way of the Fist’, Machine Head’s – ‘Bastards’, Gojira’s – ‘Our Time is Now’, Sheryl Crow’s – ‘Maybe a Change Will Do You Good’, Mastodon’s – ‘Oblivion’, Karnivool’s – ‘Eidolon’, and another Bowie track called ‘Move On’.
THE DIABOLICAL CHALLENGE
Every week in The Diabolical Challenge, we pick 4 albums that, if you were shopping in a record shop, you would find filed under a specific letter of the alphabet. As it was a five-week month, and we covered the letters R through V. Here are the bands we looked at in each show, and the albums chosen are in the pictures below.
S7E27 = C – Cinderella, Coheed & Cambria, Cold Chisel, and Children of Bodom.
S7E28 = D – Deep Purple, Dire Straits, David Lee Roth, and Danko Jones
S7E29 = E – Eagles, Europe, Eminem, and Exodus
S7E30 = F – Fozzy, Faith No More, Fall Out Boy, and Foreigner
S7E31 = G – Giant, Godsmack, Guns N’ Roses, and Gary Moore
C
The tracks played were:
‘The Running Free’ (Coheed & Cambria), ‘The Last Mile’ (Cinderella), ‘Cheap Wine’ (Cold Chisel), and ‘Bodom After Midnight’ (Children of Bodom). Just based on the Facebook response, this was going to be Cold Chisel all the way. I feel very gratified about that. I have been extolling the virtues of Cold Chisel and Jimmy Barnes since I bought Freight Train Heart in 1987. Over the years more and more people have become aware of Cold Chisel, and they are a staple of the show.
Over the years more and more people have become aware of Cold Chisel, and they are a staple of the show. If I had a time machine, watching Cold Chisel at Manly Vale Hotel
D
E
The tracks played were:
‘One of These Nights’ (Eagles), ‘Rock the Night’ (Europe), ‘‘Til I Collapse’ (Eminem), and ‘Elitist’ (Exodus). By virtue of the inclusion of The Eminem Show, this was one of the more eyebrow-raising Diabolical Challenges we have presented. Consequently, I was surprised by the number of votes it received. Most rockers can’t abide rap; it’s a very clear love-it-or-hate-it dichotomy. Through listening to Kid Rock’s Devil Without a Cause, The Eminem Show became a surprisingly big part of my life when it was released in 2002. Nu-Metal had bought quite a lot of rap into metal, and my mates and I were getting used to it. There were debut albums out at the time from Slipknot, Korn, Papa Roach, Disturbed, and Linkin Park so this Eminem album resonated in a way that his earlier albums didn’t. I found an appreciation for the actual technical ability required to rap, and Eminem was clearly the Yngwie Malmsteen of rap. In the end, Europe was the second most popular. We listened to ‘Rock the Night’; I couldn’t bring myself to play ‘The Final Countdown’, as I’d just heard it too many times in 1986. John Norum’s guitaring is superb on this album. The Eagles received the most votes – there’s a reason they are one of the best-selling bands in the world.
F
‘God Pounds His Nails’ (Fozzy), ‘Ashes to Ashes’ (Faith No More), ‘Sugar, We’re Goin’ Down’ (Fall Out Boy), and ‘Double Vision’ (Foreigner). No one could find any enthusiasm for anything except Foreigner. That’s fair enough, as Double Vision was more than just a fantastic album – it was a real part of the ‘70s zeitgeist when many Gen X-ers were getting into heavy rock. Released in June 1978, this was their second album and arguably the one that really put them on the map. Their self-titled debut album had gone 5x Platinum in the US, so all eyes were on Double Vision, their sophomore album, and it did not disappoint. It ended up 7x Platinum and is a record that should be in everyone’s collection. In my book, The Story of Rock and Roll, I discuss how seeing Foreigner perform ‘Double Vision’ on Pop Shop, followed by Van Halen performing ‘Running with the Devil,’ completely rewired my brain back in 1978. In those days Pop Shop was presented by David Gresham – where did the time go?
G
The tracks played were:
‘I’m a Believer’ (Giant), ‘Awake’ (Godsmack), ‘Over the Hills and Far Away’ (Gary Moore), and ‘Street of Dreams’ (Guns N’ Roses). Choosing Chinese Democracy over Appetite for Destruction made it a fight fair. I was unsure how this would play out but expected Gary Moore’s Wild Frontier to be the album of choice. I wasn’t wrong, but many listeners found it more difficult than expected. The feedback was that it wasn’t an immediate vote for Gary; rather, it was a process that eventually led to a vote for him. Chinese Democracy has a bad reputation and didn’t get many votes, but I received feedback from some listeners who were surprised when they heard the track. They said it was much better than they remembered. My theory is that it is a great album, but everyone got so sick of waiting for it that they had moved on by the time it finally came out. In case you have forgotten, it took 14 years to make at a cost of $ 13 million.
THE IMMORTALS
First up for this newsletter was the title track off Audience’s 1971 album, The House on the Hill. This track undoubtably qualifies as Immortal. I first heard it on the Chris Prior Show in the mid to late ‘80s. In those days, I only had a cassette version recorded off the show, but later on, I was given a vinyl copy of the album by a great friend. After I helped him move some furniture, he told me to pick any ten albums out of a box of about a hundred albums that he had. The House on the Hill was one of the ten I chose.
The title track of Walters Trout’s 2017 release, We’re in This Together, was the next Immortals track we played. This one feature Joe Bonamassa, and it is a guitar festival of note. It’s a duet both vocally and guitar-wise, culminating in a master class of call-and-response guitar work. We’re in This Together was Walter’s follow up album to the critically acclaimed Battle Scars, which he released after enduring two years of hell. In 2013, Walter was diagnosed with cirrhosis of the liver and given 90 days to get a transplant. During the process of raising funds, finding a donor, and recovering, he temporarily lost the ability to play guitar and even to speak or walk.
While Battle Scars dealt with this terrible ordeal, We’re in This Together finds Walter celebrating life and inviting some of his friends to play on the album. Along with Joe Bonamassa, the album features Robben Ford, Warren Haynes, Sonny Landreth, Eric Gales, John Mayall, and Edgar Winter. It is well worth checking out this album.
Guns N’ Roses returned to Immortals with a track called ‘Breakdown’. This song from Use Your Illusion II is a frequently overlooked masterpiece. By this stage in his career, Axl Rose was the biggest rock star in the world. Although his stage presence and incredible voice made him such a big star, he deserves a lot more credit for his songwriting, particularly of his lyrics. “Breakdown” is a great example of this.
On S7E30 we listened to The Cult and a track called ‘White’ from their fifth studio album Ceremony. The album was not well received, only reaching No 25 on the US chart. I find this strange because, listening to it today, it really stands up well. The band was coming off enormous success with Electric and Sonic Temple and was experiencing some problems, including, a lawsuit from the family of the boy they used on the cover art. Guitarist Billy Duffy and vocalist Ian Astbury were hardly speaking at this stage of their career, but I didn’t feel it affected the album. ‘White’ is a wonderful track and it features a superb outro solo from Billy Duffy.
The final Immortals for this month was on S7E31, and it was the turn of US Punk giants Green Day. This track, clocking in at over nine minutes long, has the very long title of ‘Homecoming/The Death of St Jimmy/East 12th St/Nobody Likes You/Rock and Roll Girlfriend/We’re Coming Home Again’. This must surely set a new record for clunky song titles. The track is off the American Idiot album and rounds out a musically diverse month where we had an instrumental, a blues duet, UK hard rock, US hard rock and finally this bit of Punk Rock.
NEW RELEASES & NEW DISCOVERIES & SAD GOODBYES
t wasn’t a great month for new releases, but we did a get a new Deep Purple. I found this to be their best album since 1984’s Perfect Strangers. The album called = 1, is the first to feature Simon McBride who replaced Steve Morse. Steve, who had been in Deep Purple since 1994, sadly had to leave the band in 2022 to be with his wife, Janine, who was suffering from Stage 4 cancer. Janine passed away earlier this year, and my heart goes out to this amazing musician and husband who put everything aside to spend as much time as he could with the love of his life. Below is a link to a heartfelt memory posted by Steve on his Blog.
In terms of the album, =1 is a vintage Deep Purple record. It feels like the classic Purple albums and is not as ‘proggy’ as some of the later ones have been. Along with Mc Bride, Ian Gillan, Ian Paice and Roger Glover from the celebrated Mk II line-up are on the album, along with keyboard maestro Don Airey. He has been in Deep Purple since Jon Lord’s retirement in 2002 (Lord passed away in 2012). Few musicians have a CV like Don Airey. Now 76 years old, he has recorded albums and played live shows with, among others, Black Sabbath, Judas Priest, Rainbow, Michael Schenker, ELO, Gary Moore, Ozzy Osbourne, Whitesnake, and Jethro Tull. If you recall the intro for Ozzy’s “Mr Crowley”, that is Don Airey. This is their 23rd and it is well worth your time.
SOUTH AFRICAN SCENE
The Color Blew released a new track called “Discount Hearts”. It’s super catchy and follows on nicely from last year’s release ‘Love in Space’.
I interviewed vocalist Liaan Horten on S7E27, where we chatted about the track and the recording process. ‘Discount Hearts was recorded in Liaan’s studio, and the band is hard at work creating more content, to ensure they get their music out there. We had a great chat, and Liaan and I continued the conversation for another 30 minutes after the official five-minute chat was recorded. Based on how comfortable and interesting that experience was, I will be looking at doing longer-form TSORR interviews in 2025. Here is a clip they made about the making of ‘Discount Hearts.
I had a great chat with all the guys in Jasper Dan. Frontman Jamie Hendry told me about their new single “Mama Voodoo”. He explained what it’s all about and how the lyrics just flowed from the moment guitarist Barret Martin played the riff.
We also discussed their experience opening up for Iron Maiden in June 2016, on what I remember as one the coldest night of my life.
Jasper Dan is very busy and has more recording sessions booked at Assegai Studios with Robin Walsh in the coming months. They will be hitting the summer gigging circuit afterwards. I plan to catch them as soon as they do, and I suggest you do the same
The following week I interviewed singer-songwriter Basson Laas about his new track “Worth Loving”. The accompanying video is very nice, featuring a guy (Marius Schoenbee) and his majestic golden retriever (Galadriel). Although the lyric perfectly applies to human relationships, Basson saw an awesome opportunity to showcase the love between a man and his dog. Check out this wonderful video here.
During the Covid abortion, Basson started playing a lot more guitar and writing songs to keep busy. Once things opened up again, he was offered a few gigs at venues in and around Pretoria. He started out as a singer / guitarist playing mainly covers but very quickly found a market for his own songs. He has recorded ‘Worth Loving’ with a full band, which is another step in his evolving career. Watch out for him on the live circuit.
CHEERS @#$%’s
The shows discussed in this month’s newsletter can be heard as podcasts S7E27 – S7E31. Feel free to drop me a message on The Story of Rock and Roll Facebook page or via email at thestoryofrockandroll1@gmail.com. If you want to be added to TSORR Central WhatsApp Group, send me your number on this email address and I will send you an invite link.
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THURSDAY’s Live on Rebel Rock Radio from 19h00 – 22h00 South African time. Find it on www.rrr.cat
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Take care and keep rocking.
James
The tracks played were:
‘Yankee Rose’ (David Lee Roth), ‘Speed King’ (Deep Purple), ‘We Sweat Blood’ (Danko Jones), and ‘Lions’, (Dire Straits). Deep Purple’s In Rock is undoubtably a classic album. Besides ‘Speed King,’ which I played, it also features ‘Child in Time’ and ‘Black Night’. The Deep Purple Mk II lineup of Gillan, Blackmore, Paice, Glover, and Lord is considered the band’s greatest. Along with Machine Head, In Rock is regarded as one of their finest
albums. While In Rock was the most popular, Dire Straits received a lot of love, and there were also votes for Eat ‘Em and Smile.