Movies, TV & Music
Classic Rock
July 2020Every month Classic Rock is packed with exclusive interviews and behind-the-scenes features on rock’s biggest names, from Led Zeppelin to Deep Purple, from Guns N’ Roses to the Rolling Stones, from the Sex Pistols to AC/DC and beyond. Each issue plays host to the heftiest rock reviews section on the planet. In an average issue, you’ll find over 150 albums reviewed, all from the ever-varied, multi-faceted world of rock - whether it’s hard rock or heavy metal, prog or punk, goth rock or southern rock, we’ve got it covered.
in this issue
welcome
Well I don’t know about you, but 2020 isn’t exactly shaping up as I’d expected (hoped?) it would. We’re still under lockdown, the Classic Rock team are still working from our couches, but thankfully we all still have our health and we’re all very grateful for that. We’re all very thankful too for all the NHS and essential workers who are toiling on our behalf. It’s at times like these when I really stop and consider how lucky (and privileged) we are to do what it is we do for a living. We’re not essential, we’re not saving lives, we’re just here to provide entertainment. Hopefully that’s what we’ve managed to do this month, and with any luck we might at least be able to take your mind off troublesome things…
this month’s contributors
GRANT MOON Grant’s been a contributor to Classic Rock for more than 20 years, and was chuffed to host Budgie legend Burke Shelley at his house in Cardiff just before the lockdown kicked in (p38). Self-isolation comes pretty easy to our freelance writers, and Grant’s been spending this bizarre period working on his first book, due next year. JOHNNY BLACK Johnny has written for many magazines over the past four decades, and for CR this month he gets to grips with the story of The Beatles’ fractious Let It Be (p24) to celebrate its 50th birthday. His website www.musicdayz.com is the world’s largest archive of searchable chronologically organised rock music facts, and he Tweets a historic Song Of The Day via @MusicDayzTweet every day. IAN FORTNAM Classic Rock’s Reviews Editor Ian was first entranced by…
lockdown livin’
Ever since Covid-19 took hold, sending people all over the world into lockdown, rock bands and artists have been keeping us entertained with a veritable smorgasbord of online delights, from charitable initiatives to guitar lessons and killer covers. In the former category, Joe Bonamassa has set up the Fuelling Musicians Programme (KTBA.org) with the aim of keeping starving musicians fed and housed through the crisis, and also giving them pre-paid gas cards for when touring becomes possible again. Devin Townsend has performed live concerts in his home studio, through his Quarantine Project (via his official website), to benefit healthcare workers around the world, the first of which sold 3,420 tickets and raised more than £65,000 for the NHS in the UK. The Recording Academy Of America has set up the MusiCares COVID-19…
rip
Hal Willner April 6, 1956 – April 7, 2020 Grammy-winning music, film and TV producer Hal Willner has died of Covid-19 one day after his sixty-fifth birthday. Born in Philadelphia, adoptive New Yorker Willner worked on albums for Lou Reed (including Lulu, the 2011 collaboration with Metallica), Marianne Faithfull, Lucinda Williams and Laurie Anderson. He was also a long-time producer of the US television show Saturday Night Live. Steve Farmer December 31, 1948 – April 7, 2020 Ted Nugent is “saddened” by the death of Steve Farmer, a former bandmate in his pre-solo group the Amboy Dukes. Farmer wrote the lyrics to the 1968 song Journey To The Centre Of The Mind, among several songs recorded by the Dukes. Their original line-up reunited for a one-off performance in 2009. The cause of death is reportedly…
possibility of no live shows until autumn 2021?
THE IRON GRIP of Covid-19 continued to tighten as this issue of Classic Rock went to press, with some health experts predicting that live music could be ruled out until the autumn of 2021. With concerts and tours being rescheduled for the latter part of this year, postponements of them too could be on the cards. The scientific theory of it all remains far from certain, but one thing is for sure – the future's looking pretty bleak at the moment. And once the dust settles, things are unlikely to be the same again. Bioethicist Zeke Emanuel believes that we are wasting our time rescheduling live events for October onwards, commenting: “I have no idea how [people] think that’s a plausible possibility. Larger gatherings – conferences, concerts, sporting events – will…
stephen dale petit
STEPHEN DALE PETIT was once described in Classic Rock as playing guitar with “the fire of Freddie King, the instinct of Jimmy Page and the soul of Eric Clapton”. However, the US-born British resident claims a revolutionary approach to the blues, which is validated by his latest album, 2020 Visions. The title track of 2020 Visions refers to ‘ghost towns’, ‘mirrors and smoke’ and riots. The latter hasn’t happened yet, but with Britain on lockdown is that song now unexpectedly of its time? I’ve a spider sense. Ever since the tectonic plates shifted following the 2016 election [in the United States], I knew heavy times were ahead. The Fall Of America roars from the speakers. If this is blues music, it’s pretty thunderous. Yeah. This isn’t really a blues album, but it’s born of…
