Classic Rock July 2019

Welcome Have you ever stopped to consider how the rock’n’roll landscape has changed over the past few decades? Of all the ways that things have evolved, the one fact that never ceases to amaze me is the speed at which artists used to release albums – and not just any old ‘filler’ albums at that. Ponder for a moment some more contemporary releases: there were eight years between the last two Metallica albums, eight years between the last two Aerosmith studio albums, a whopping 15 between GN’R’s The Spaghetti Incident? and Chinese Democracy… You get the idea. But it was a different ball game back in the 60s and 70s, when artists would regularly pop out two stone-cold classics within the space of a year – Led Zep I and…

This month’s contributors WILL IRELAND This issue we dispatched Will to north London in the company of Royal Republic to document them spending 50 quid of Classic Rock’s cash on records and tapes (sometimes of a dubious nature) for our Record Shop Challenge (p62). Check out more of Will’s work at willirelandphotography.co.uk ROB HUGHES Rob has been writing for Classic Rock for more than a decade now. This month he chats to comeback kings The Wildhearts about their blistering return to form (p 60). When not scribbling for Classic Rock, Rob is a weekly guest of BBC 6Music presenter Marc Riley, with whom he also hosts the pretty nifty podcast The A-Z Of David Bowie. GRANT MOON Now slightly less hirsute than this photograph would suggest, music journalist and radio…

Paul Raymond November 16, 1945 – April 13, 2019 BANDMATES, FORMER COLLEAGUES and fans expressed shock and sadness when the guitarist/keyboard player nicknamed ‘Kipper’ and best known for a variety of roles in bands including UFO, the Michael Schenker Group and Waysted, suffered a fatal heart attack. He passed away a little over a week after UFO wrapped the first leg of their final world tour, dubbed Last Orders: 50th Anniversary. Raymond, who had four spells with the UFO (1976-1980, 1984-1986, 1993-1999 and 2003-2019) performed his final show with them at London’s Forum on April 5. He was 73 years old. The news was announced on Raymond’s Facebook page by his partner Sandra, who posted: “With a desperate and broken heart, fully in tears and pains that feel like they…

TRIBUTES FROM FRIENDS AND BANDMATES “Make more heavy metal in heaven, bro!”Kirk Hammett, Metallica “We send love to Paul’s family and fans. We played many shows with UFO and remember him as a brilliant musician and friend.”Judas Priest “It seems that UFO have come to a very sad and premature end. It’s a shock when our heroes die.”Joe Elliott, Def Leppard “Our sympathies and thoughts go out to Paul’s family, our friends in UFO and their fans all over the world.”Saxon “On stage he was the ultimate anchoring musician with his incredible tone, vocals, versatility and chops. UFO helped define my own formative musical years.”David Ellefson, Megadeth “Paul was a brilliant musician and a lovely chap. We were with him only a few weeks ago in Cardiff. He looked so…

RIP Thank you and good night. Phil McCormack July 31, 1960 – 26 April, 2019 Southern rockers Molly Hatchet have paid tribute to their singer of 24 years’ standing, saying: “He will be missed but never forgotten.” Milwaukee-born McCormack performed on seven of the band’s studio records. McCormack was 58 years old. The cause of death has yet to be revealed. JR Cobb February 5, 1944 – May 4, 2019 James Barney Cobb Jr co-founded the American southern rock band Atlanta Rhythm Section in 1970, and the rhythm guitarist played with them during their most successful years, from 1972 to 1986, after which he left to focus on songwriting and session work. Cobb was 75 years old when he succumbed to a heart attack. Earl Thomas Conley October 17, 1941…

NEWS Who says rock is dead? Heavy metal was the fastest-growing genre of 2018, according to figures compiled by the independent digital music distribution, publishing, and licensing service TuneCore, who cover some 250,000 artists. The total amount generated from streams and downloads of music by metal artists in 2018 was $199.3 billion (£153 billion) – an increase of 83% from the previous year. Brian May has said he hopes that climate change could prompt another charity concert in the style of Live Aid. Queen were among the stars of the latter in 1985 (see feature on p74), and the guitarist believes that demand from fans could lead to a similar event. “It would take the younger generation to take the bull by the horns,” he tells the Mirror. “We [Queen]…