Table of contents for Issue 239 in Classic Rock

WELCOME Not a week goes by at Classic Rock HQ without someone – usually me, if we’re naming names – asking: how can it possibly be XX years since XX album was release?! Queen was the subject of such an exclamation a couple of months ago, as we realised that this year News Of The World celebrates its 40th anniversary. Seriously, how did that happen?! So this issue, as Queen + Adam Lambert begin their monster US tour, we’re venturing back to the mid- 70s to take a look at the making of that album, the record that gave the world the stone-cold classics We Will Rock You and We Are The Champions. We also stick around in the 70s and take you back to 1975 to revisit Led Zeppelin,…

RIP Thank you and good night. Rosalie Sorrels June 24, 1933 – June 11, 2017 From Boise, Idaho, Rosalie Sorrels was a Grammy-nominated folk singersongwriter, social activist and author, with a catalogue of more than 20 albums. Her first major gig was at the Newport Folk Festival in 1966. Long-since retired, she was 83. Anita Pallenberg April 6, 1942 – June 13, 2017 An Italian-German actress who appeared in the films Barbarella and Performance, among others, and a former girlfriend of Keith Richards, Anita Pallenberg (credited as “the muse of the Rolling Stones”) has died at the age of 73. Dave ‘Shirt’ Nicholls May 8, 1965 – May 24, 2017 West-Midlander Dave Nicholls was a sound engineer who worked with Saxon, Diamond Head, Thin Lizzy, Slipknot and many more. “There are…

TEAMROCK RADIO TeamRock Radio is back! Classic Rock, Metal Hammer and Prog mags’ shows return. TeamRock Radio is in business again, bringing back The Classic Rock Magazine Show, The Metal Hammer Magazine Show and The Prog Magazine Show – plus much more. TeamRock Radio ceased broadcasting last December, when its parent company – who also owned Classic Rock, Metal Hammer and Prog magazine – went into liquidation and those three magazines all ceased publication. But it was part of the portfolio of assets thankfully bought by our current owners, Future Publishing, just a few weeks later, and now the lights have been switched back on, and the faders pushed to 11, under the guidance of Programme Controller Philip Wilding. “We’ve built the station for the people who’ll actually listen to…

BURIED TREASURE Riches from the rock underground POWER OF ZEUS The Gospel According To Zeus, 1970, Rare Earth Records, USA. £140 Rare Earth was a subsidiary of Motown, aimed at cashing in on the blossoming post-psychedelic underground hard-rock scene, and Detroit greasers Power Of Zeus were by far the heaviest band to be signed. But while the label’s main act, also called Rare Earth, achieved notable success, Power Of Zeus were barely recognised at the time, and The Gospel According To Zeus became a common sight in bargain bins throughout the US after its release. In the intervening years it has become something of a cult record, with the opening beats of heavy album closer The Sorcerer Of Isis being a popular break lifted by many respected hip-hop DJs. However,…

HIGH HOPES Koyo Nu proggers with an eye on Led Zep, it was hearing Bowie cry that showed them the way. While studying Music Production at Leeds University, Koyo’s Jacob Price got a master class with veteran engineer/Bowie producer Ken Scott, who let him in on a little rock’n’roll history. “Ken played us the stems of Hunky Dory and Ziggy Stardust,” says the keyboardist/programmer. “By the end of Five Years, Bowie is just crying. It’s a proper performance that feels like a one-off take. And it’s that kind of thinking we’ve tried to bring to our band.” Some big names are being hurled around in the effort to describe Koyo’s dramatic, widescreen sound, biggest among them being Pink Floyd. “Maybe people hear Floyd because we’re on the more textural side…

Q&A Fish As Misplaced Childhood gets a deluxe edition, Marillion’s former frontman looks back on the band’s commercial peak. Words: Fraser Lewry Portrait: Stuart Wood It’s easy to forget just how quickly things happened for Marillion. Two years after Fish auditioned for the band in Aylesbury in 1981, they were second on the bill to Black Sabbath at Reading. By 1985 the singer was charming the nation’s housewives as Kayleigh was introduced on Wogan. And by the following summer it was all beginning to fall apart. Sixty thousand fans congregated at the Milton Keynes Bowl for The Garden Party to hear Misplaced Childhood – the album that gave Kayleigh to the world – in its entirety. But Marillion never played it again, and Fish would be gone within two years.…

VOR HERTZEN BROTHERS As Mikko Von Hertzen fills us in on the Finnish band’s new album, VII: War Is Over, we’re taken all over the map. The frontman kicks off the journey by revealing that the new record’s roots can be traced back to its hard-hitting predecessor, 2015’s New Day Rising. “With the last album we had a clear vision of making a killer rock album with ‘America’ written all over it,” he says. “Maybe as a rebound, we now felt like turning back to more proggy and landscape-y expression.” Mikko went India to work on lyrics. “I lived for many years in south India. I go there for better concentration and vibes.” He then conjures up images of Scotland when choosing his standout track from the new record. “The…

SHINEDOWN Following their recent European support slot with Iron Maiden, the American modern rockers are getting ready to begin work on their sixth studio album. “We’re still writing, but twelve songs are demoed and ready to record,” reveals frontman Brent Smith. “We’re looking to start that process by October, with a release set up [via Atlantic] in March 2018. It will be preceded by a single.” As yet untitled, the new record is set to be the band’s first ever conceptually themed album. “Because we’re so early on [in the cycle of things] it’s kind of hard to explain what it will be about,” Smith explains cautiously. “The best I can say is that it’s about the fight between a person and his or her depression, almost as if that…

GREEGG ALLMAN JUDAS PRIEST: REX Rock lost yet another great back in May when Gregg Allman passed away. But it seems that despite his failing health he kept himself hard at work in the months prior to his death by putting the finishing touches to a brand new record. The fruits of his labour will be released in September. Southern Blood was pieced together over the course of a couple of years, under the watchful eye of producer Don Was. The record is Allman’s first solo release since 2011’s Low Country Blues. Details of exactly what we can expect from the album are sketchy at present, and Allman’s manager Michael Lehman reveals that that is how Gregg wanted it. Lehman told Variety magazine that the album is a mixture of…

THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO JOHN LYDON Never trust the music industry or nuns. Question everything. Religion is pollution. You don’t have to hate your bandmates. These and more help shape the former Sex Pistol’s world view. Words: Ian Fortnam Former Sex Pistols vocalist and current PiL focal point John Lydon – opinion-polarising iconoclast of long standing – is tucking into a liquid brunch. Resplendent in billowing pink shirt, he’s perched on a Thameside balcony at Chelsea’s Harbour Hotel, smoking like a lab rat and lubricating a bright and breezy discourse with a rapid succession of minibar miniatures. Bourbon follows gin, follows vodka, follows bourbon… “Wanna brandy, mate?” It’s 11.45 on a Tuesday morning. Lydon is animated (go figure) as he flicks through Mr Rotten’s Songbook, his eye-wateringly expensive, self-illustrated compendium…

Alice Cooper Paranormal EARMUSIC Alice shows he’s still got spirit, on an album that still rocks, but has no shocks. ROB FENN Idon’t want to alarm you, but the fate of rock’n’roll’s future lies in Alice Cooper’s bony hands, and if this album is garbage, then we’re doomed. I mean, you should know that much right now. At this point in his career, Alice is one of the very few 70sera rockers still vying for relevance. Sure, he’ll play I’m Eighteen when he’s 81, until he needs those stunt crutches for real, but he’s also concerned with writing solid, biting, hook-heavy rock’n’roll songs right now, and he’s still dreaming of his next big hit and his next major cultural comeback. And if it can work for him, maybe it can…

Quiet Riot Road Rage FRONTIERS Second time lucky Anybody who heard the original version of this album, due for release earlier this year, was very relieved when it was scrapped. It was honestly awful, and how much of this was down to previous singer Seann Nichols is obvious now that he’s been replaced by James Durbin. The Mk.II Road Rage sounds exciting and energised. Durbin has spirit and commitment, the songs are more rounded, and this comes across as a band who’ve rediscovered their mojo. There’s a bluesier, considerably elevated attitude here that has more in common with Aerosmith or Ratt than the bighair era that made the band’s name. Quiet Riot have gelled into a tightly coiled unit on their best record in decades. Malcolm Dome…

Accept The Rise Of Chaos NUCLEAR BLAST Enduring Euro-metal champs are still restless and wild. If Accept still means Balls To The Wall to you, well, join the club, because it still means that to the band too. The German power-metal pioneers really hit their stride with that landmark 1985 release and they’ve been chasing that wrecking ball buzz ever since. Sure, the production is better these days, but under the gloss they remain the same snarling, snapping heavy metal beasts they were back when Udo Dirkschneider was still wielding his truncheon for them. Guitarist Wolf Hoffmann and bassist Peter Baltes are the remaining holdouts from the original band, but former TT Quick frontman Mark Tornillo has taken up the mantle since their 2012 comeback, and his gravel-gargling warble is…

Shaman’s Harvest Red Hands Black Deeds MASCOT Reaping their own harvest. We may have our problems with a divided nation and blah blah, but the growing growls of angst from all sectors of the American population can make it hard for a decent, hard-working, Midwestern rock band to get their own grim message across. Fortunately, Shaman’s Harvest got the basic shape and substance of their post-grunge southern hard-rock style down on 2014’s Smokin’ Hearts And Broken Guns. They’ve even survived the replacement of their lead guitarist and drummer without any lasting damage. On Red Hands Black Deeds they set about consolidating their niche into something compulsive and distinctive. Singer Nathan Hunt keeps it carefully focused rather than just letting it all spill out, and producer Keith Armstrong has taught the…

Dead Cross Dead Cross IPECAC Mike Patton’s latest adventure makes an art of noise. When SoCal punk-metal troupe Dead Cross found themselves without a singer in 2016, they turned to Mike Patton to take up the mantle. It was probably the best decision they’ve ever made. Patton is a man with a history of weaving art out of abject chaos, and his turn in Dead Cross is no different. Their self-titled debut is a whirlwind of relentless, noisy experimentation. Ex-Slayer drummer Dave Lombardo’s furious beats set the pace for a collection of songs that tear between alt. metal, hardcore punk and blistering thrash, often all in the space of a single track. Patton swings between frenzied screeches, throaty growls and sinister spoken word, gracefully pulling songs back from the brink…

Bloodclot Up In Arms METAL BLADE Altrock supergroup revisit thrash-punk roots. The term ‘supergroup’ is oft pedalled and arguably overused when it comes to discussing the new projects of established musicians. But with Bloodclot, a composite of Cro-Mags, Danzig and QOTSA, among others, it might just hold some currency. This album comes with just one request from frontman John Joseph: “Turn the volume way the fuck up.” It doesn’t take long to understand why. With Manic, a 140-second thrash-punk workout laced with Joseph’s unhinged cries and yelps, and Kill The Beast’s screeching guitar solos plucked straight from the 80s, this is brazenly aggressive music for uncertain times. Sure, it’s not carving out any new ground musically, but that’s not its intention. Instead, its spirit and sound are tied to revisiting…

Tangerine Dream Particles INVISIBLE HANDS MUSIC Electronic combo carry on in honour of Edgar Froese. This double album comprises a studio disc and a live disc, both recorded following the death of Tangerine Dream’s founder, Edgar Froese, in 2015. Thorsten Quaeschning is now the musical director of the band, with Ulrich Schnauss on keyboards and Hoshiko Yamane on violin and cello. Side one’s lengthy opener 4.00pm Session is typical of later-period TD (circa 1980 onwards), when they went from so awesome to so-so, as their early dark ambient lapsed into a softer, melodic, sequencerdriven vein. The cover versions on the live disc emanate from that period as well, while titles such as Power Of The Rainbow Serpent are evidence of a lapse into new age reverie. There is, however, a…

The Isley Brothers & Santana Power Of Peace LEGACY/SONY A new millennium love-in. Surely only a churl would baulk at the sentiments presented on the title of this pairing of titans whose reputations were forged in the heady days of the 1960s? While the Isleys are in fine voice throughout, and Carlos Santana’s mastery of his instrument remains as idiosyncratic as ever, your enjoyment of this collection of covers (and one new song) will rather depend on your relationship with the originals. The winners prove to be the moments where the participants hold back on the bombast to groove. Billie Holliday’s God Bless This Child is silky smooth. Elsewhere, Curtis Mayfield’s Gypsy Woman perfectly fuses Santana’s Latin tones with those celestial Isley voices. Best of all is Cindy Blackman Santana’s…

The Inmates The Albums 1979-82 LEMON RECORDINGS Three hard shots of rhythm and blues. The Inmates rocked. That’s all you need to know, really. ‘Maximum R&B’ is what it was once called, and that’s what these mean, lean London pub rockers played: blues-fuelled R&B, stripped back to the bare essentials. This music was all about the riff. If the riff wasn’t there, the song was nothing. Think Dr. Feelgood, think Eddie & The Hot Rods (whom the Inmates later shared a singer with, when original shouter Bill Hurley became ill). It’s the kind of music you don’t want to meet down a dark alley. The first three ‘classic’ albums, from before Hurley’s illness, are represented here – 1979’s First Offence, which spawned the near-monster hits The Walk and a blistering…

Paradise Lost One Second MUSIC FOR NATIONS When the Lost went goth. Without question Paradise Lost’s most controversial album, it’s hard to believe this is the same band who released Draconian Times or The Plague Within as they eschewed all sense of heaviness and went for a more electronic, gothic tone. As such, many diehards still find it tough to stomach. But listening to the album now, one has to say it’s breathtaking. Everything here is convincing. The songwriting is of the highest value, while the performances offer depth and class, with Nick Holmes showing he’s a vocalist who can do a lot more than growl menacingly. Opening with the title track and continuing into Say Just Words, these are songs that breathe with intelligence and a different type of…

The Velvet Underground Velvet Underground & Nico UME 50th-anniversary vinyl edition of alternative rock landmark. Over the past half century, they’ve sold it to us in ever more expanded editions across a variety of formats, some now as profoundly dead as ‘death to disco’, before ultimately settling on this: 11 tracks on 12 inches of black vinyl with a big old banana on the front. £28.99. Really? Or you could get a limited-edition pink vinyl version. It sold out of its 1,000 copies almost immediately, of course, but luckily there are plenty on eBay making stupid money already. It’s almost incredible how many of these ended up as unwanted birthday presents for cynical money-grabbing bastards. Anyway, if you need to know what the album’s like, firstly, welcome to our planet;…

Emerson Lake & Palmer Reissues BMG ELP me if you can, I’m feeling down… The punk-rock wars of the mid-1970s ruined no band more than Emerson Lake & Palmer. Johnny Rotten might have been a secret Peter Hammill fan but he despised the bloated antics of ELP and wished them dead. Keith and co knew they were beaten. They sold their mansions and retreated to semi-detacheds in Cricklewood. The show that never ends, er, ended – at least temporarily. Regrouping in 1991, the original trio released Black Moon (6/10) the following year. Fans hoping for a quadruple concept album about the antics of a monster truck-cum-octopus were bitterly disappointed by its, well, ordinariness. The comeback begins well enough with the ominous title track but then tapers off alarmingly. Greg Lake’s…

Fairport Convention Come All Ye: The First Ten Years UMC Seven discs celebrate folk rockers 50th. There are 55 unreleased tracks here to tempt owners of the many previous Fairport box sets, and 2010’s Sandy Denny monument. What becomes clear, as Denny wanders in and out of the picture, is how she and Fairport defined each other. Though 1969’s Liege & Lief was the template for English folk rock, Unhalfbricking, released six months before, finds the band’s own material at its best. Thompson’s delicately mournful, observational mood piece Genesis Hall is bettered by an alternative take of Denny’s cool dissection of a dead relationship, Autopsy. With a funk pulse veering near bossa nova, its gauzy substance and organic shifts in tone and rhythm are a miraculous group moment worthy of…

The Allman Brothers Band Hell & High Water: The Best Of The Arista Years FLOATING WORLD/RETROWORLD REX Now the Brotherhood is done, Gregg Allman’s death putting the seal on their 2014 retirement, this 1994 trawl through the Allmans’ two-album Arista stay – Reach For The Sky (1980) and Brothers Of The Road (1981) – definitely isn’t the best way to remember him. Allman was a broken man in the early 80s, hollowed out by brother Duane’s death and numbing quantities of drink and drugs, his songwriting well dry. Since the band’s 1979 reunion, countryloving guitarist Dickey Betts had captained the ship. Adding to the warning signs, the band arrived at Arista with its hands-on boss Clive Davis in his pomp, having just guided The Kinks to renewed stardom with a…

Bad English Bad English ROCK CANDY The last of the blockbuster 80s AOR albums. Bad English were a supergroup when the phrase actually meant something. Their milliondollar line-up featured members of The Babys (bassist Ricky Phillips and singer John Waite, the latter a solo star in his own right), Journey (guitarist Neal Schon) and both (keyboard player Jonathan Cain). What could possibly go wrong? Nothing apart from timing, it turned out. Their self-titled debut album arrived in 1989, moments before the melodic rock ship was beached by the tidal wave of changing musical tastes. Its two monster hits, When I See You Smile and The Price Of Love, were perfectly pitched late-80s ballads, marshmallow-soft hankie-wavers. But it was when Bad English – and especially Schon – cranked things up that…

Jetboy Feel The Shake ROCK CANDY Hair today, gone tomorrow. Almost all but forgotten, except among aficionados of LA’s 80s hair metal scene, Jetboy could have had a real shot at the top instead of being just a footnote. Their ignominious fate was precipitated by their label Elektra dropping them just as their debut was about to hit the shelves in September 1987. It eventually appeared in late 1988 on MCA, but by that point, their old mates Guns N’ Roses had the world in the back pocket of their collective leather strides. In reality, Feel The Shake probably wouldn’t have ignited the same degree of fervour as, say, Appetite For Destruction – the songs are well crafted and hooky, but what they lack is the ballsy attitude the band…

Various Manchester North Of England 1977-1993 CHERRY RED Manchester, so much to answer for. There’s no Smiths in this set, but that’s it. Everyone else is represented (or near enough everyone else that you can’t spot the gaps) on this exhaustively compiled, seven- CD, 146-track musical journey through the nether regions of what’s arguably Britain’s most iconic musical city. New Order, A Certain Ratio, Joy Division, The Fall, Happy Mondays, Stone Roses, Morrissey, John Cooper Clarke, 808 State, Durutti Column, The Charlatans… all present and correct and churning out the good stuff. And there are so, so many more. There are so many undiscovered and/or forgotten and/or cherished dance and pop gems, from The Distractions’ heart-rending Maybe It’s Love and the twisted, distorted feminist beat of Ludus to X-O-Dus’ stalwart…

This month’s contributors LOUISE BROCK Design whizz Louise was Deputy Art Editor on CR’s sister title Metal Hammer before braving the big bad world and going freelance at the end of last year. She has also worked for Total Film and Notion, among many other outlets, and her art-editing expertise can be seen on many pages this issue (too many to list here!). RICH CHAMBERLAIN Raised on his dad’s AC/DC LPs as a kid, CR regular Rich dreamed of being the next Phil Rudd. Twenty years on he can still be heard occasionally murdering Whole Lotta Rosie, but today you’ll find him interviewing rock greats rather than sharing a stage with them. This month he interviews Rex Brown and a whole host of bands for our Ultimate Preview feature. MICK…

NEWS Joe Bonamassa, John Mayall, Randy Bachman, Kenny Wayne Shepherd, Edgar Winter, Warren Haynes and Robben Ford are among the many guests on Walter Trout’s new record, We’re All In This Together. His 26th album, it’s due on September 1 via Provogue Records. The West End run of Jim Steinman’s Bat Out Of Hell – The Musical has been extended to August 5 due to public demand. It’s on at the London Coliseum in St Martin’s Lane. Lionheart, the newly reunited melodic hard rockers featuring former Iron Maiden guitarist Dennis Stratton, release Second Nature, their first album in 32 years, via AOR Heaven on August 25. The vocalist on the record is newcomer Lee Small (Shy, Phenomena, Skyscraper). Swedish melodic hard rockers H.e.a.t (pictured) release their fifth album, Into The…

Sharp Dressed Man Rock ’n’ Roll accessories This month, @jamiehibbard is elegantly wasted in these three sartorial stand-outs. The Kooples short-sleeved Palm Skulls print shirt This French label caters for anyone who has a rock’n’roll-tinged sensibility to their wardrobe, and this shirt walks the infinitely tricky line of dress-down Friday in the office followed by going to a pub/ gig straight from work. It’s got a very on-trend Hawaiian-feeling print, but closer inspection reveals the true Palm Skulls nature. Great stuff. £98 @The_Kooples thekooples.co.uk Zadig & Voltaire Kheo Penninghen sweater Sticking with the French theme, Zadig & Voltaire come at rock’n’roll style from further up the cultfavourite ladder, with beautiful garments with a grungy style high-made from high quality materials. £310 @ZadigEtVoltaire zadig-et-voltaire.com Converse x fragment design Chuck Taylor All…

Heavy Rotation What we’ve been listening to this month GETTY 1 You And All Of Your Friends Alice Cooper The much anticipated reunion of Alice Cooper (Dennis Dunaway, Neal Smith, Michael Bruce) with their original vocalist – the shy, retiring Vince Furnier – resulted in two new songs. Their first studio material since their ‘74 split captures the quartet in swaggering form. Perhaps an entire album next time? 2 The Land Of Plenty Robin Trower The lead-off track from Trower’s impressive new album Time And Emotion, this midpaced funky blues finds the veteran guitar hero on typically stylish and unhurried form, with his lived-in vocal having something of a Billy Gibbons flavour to it. Classy stuff. 3 Highway Tune Greta Van Fleet “Their influences are varied”, their publicist says of…

QUEENS OF THE STONE AGE News that Josh Homme had plumped for pop poster boy Mark Ronson to produce QOTSA’s new album Villains had us checking the calendar in case it was April 1. A surprising choice it may be, but the early signs are pretty good: lead single The Way You Used To Do has the band’s trademark sleazy swagger. Recorded at United Studios in LA, and without a single guest appearance, Villains sees Homme evolving the band’s dirty desert sound. “The most important aspect of making this record was redefining our sound,” he said. “If you can’t make a great first record, you should just stop. But if you can make a great record, and you keep making records and your sound doesn’t evolve, you become a parody…

SAXON In 2015, South Yorkshire’s original NWOBHM forerunners proved their ongoing value with the powerful Battering Ram. Their next album, titled Thunderbolt, is being completed as we speak. Several songs are finished, including a tribute to Lemmy that’s fittingly named They Played Rock’n’Roll, in which the band look back on their days spent touring with Motörhead. “I asked bassist Nibbs Carter to write me a song that was similar to Motörhead,” said frontman Biff Byford. “I just put some lyrics to it. It’s about the Bomber tour – we first met them when we supported them on that tour – and the album No Sleep ’Til Hammersmith, and the subsequent 80s scene.” Byford says we can also, potentially, expect a duet with somebody “quite hardcore”. The album release will be…

An Englishman In NEWYORK In an exclusive extract from his new autobiography, written with Classic Rock’s Paul Rees, Mick Jones tells the story of how he went from Reading via France to the USA, where he put together a new band called Foreigner. By 1973, Mick Jones already lived a colourful, peripatetic musical life. Born into a middleclass household in Reading in 1944, he had grown up a music nut and was self-taught on the guitar. At the age of 18 he went off to tour France as a member of the backing band of one Dick Rivers, a typically French approximation of Elvis Presley. That gig came to an abrupt end for Jones when he made off with Rivers’s fiancée, going to live with her in Paris. He spent…

Tytan Justice Served HIGH ROLLER And Justice… for all. Formed by man-mountain bassist Kevin Riddles in 1981 after his exit from Angel Witch (along with that band’s drummer, Dave Dufort), Tytan perhaps ended up more notable for the volume and pedigree of their musicians than for their music. Past or future members of AC/DC, Judas Priest, Lion, Lionheart, A II Z and many more surrounded Riddles before the band broke up two years later. This is something of a travesty as Rough Justice, issued posthumously, was a tuneful collection that straddled the gap between melodic hard rock and heavy metal. Now, 36 years on, this follow-up introduces an all-new line-up. Alas, that means no Kal Swan on vocals, though Tom Barna is a handy successor. Justice Served repeats the formula…

Chris Brockbank’s Phantom Mk V Phantom BAD REPUTATION Veteran Aussie rocker gets his (fifth) act together. Such is the apparent depth of Chris Brockbank’s devotion to all things Purple, he’s even named his band Mk V. A well-established barroom performer around his native Sydney, Brockbank’s influences are undeniable on this French label release – Jeff Morris’s chunky organ has Jon Lord’s fingerprints plastered all over it, and singer Steve Mulry channels both Dio and Gillan. However, it’s Brockbank’s Blackmore-ish Strat and punchy songs that hit the spot hardest, even if So Clear seems to be auditioning for mid-period Rainbow and One O’Clock rather rewrites Speed King. They even get away, in 2017, with a song titled Keep On Rockin’ And Rollin’, which boogies exactly how you would expect it to.…

The Nights The Nights FRONTIERS MUSIC Old-school melodic rock is reborn in Finland. In the wrong hands, The Nights’ debut album could have come across as pure parody. And yet, with their slick melodic rock, with its heart planted firmly in the 80s, their sincerity and genuine passion for the great power ballad generation shine through infectiously. It helps, of course, that they’re really good at writing this stuff. Keyboard lines billow around them like an aural wind machine, guitar solos howl for attention, soaring ‘woah-ohs’ provide the momentum, and the art of the fist-pumping, ultra-polished chorus is reborn. The gloriously ripe Juliette, for example, sounds like it’s been airdropped straight from Top Gun – ‘Juliette, Juliette, came from the stars on a private jet.’ Missing the old crowd? There’s…

The Tangent The Slow Rust Of Forgotten Machinery INSIDEOUT World set to rights via the medium of prog. With their conscientious commentary on the struggles of refugees, the building of walls and the bile of the Daily Mail, this is a politicoprog album in the vein of Roger Waters’ work – only with tunes. The Tangent’s ninth sees Andy Tillison driving five lengthy, labyrinthine pieces with help from prog staples like Luke Machin, Jonas Reingold and Theo Travis. Its intricacies never bore: like Caravan or Robert Wyatt, it knows musicianship should never stifle mood. As a state-of-the-planet rant, it’s sophisticated and spot-on. A Few Steps Down The Wrong Road includes a monologue about a fallen empire over a fat jazz groove, while the 23-minute title track pleads for more empathy…

42 Decibel Overloaded STEAMHAMMER/SPV High-voltage rock’n’roll. These Argentine AC/DC nuts certainly don’t beat around the bush on this, their third album: by deliberately turning their equipment up to 11 and beyond, they’ve achieved the raw, distorted vibe of AC/DC’s entire Let There Be Rock album. Nowhere is this more apparent than during the guitar solos on Dangerous Mess, Cannon Fodder and Hot Shot, where it’s like listening to Angus in full flight. Fortunately, the Young brothers aren’t the only reference point – there’s more than a bit of Rose Tattoo in opener Whisky Joint and Half Face Dead, all unhinged menace and raspy vocals. Ultimately, though, what 42 Decibel lack are songs that match the more memorable efforts of their heroes. Essi Berelian…

Rex Brown Smoke On This STEAMHAMMER/SPV Ex-Pantera bassist hoists the doobie high. Rex Brown’s debut solo album isn’t what you’d expect from a former member of Pantera, but it is exactly what you’d expect from a 50-something good ole boy from Texas. Belying his fourth-banana-in-a-90s-metalband status, Smoke On This is shit-kicking stoner rock with one eye on the glorious past. The Zep III-ish Buried Alive and Floydian ambience of The Best Of Me suggest a man who first picked up a bong sometime around 1974 and hasn’t put it down since, while epic closer One Of These Days is worth its weight in vintage denim. Fans of his old band looking for spark-fingered histrionics or chest-thumping machismo will be disappointed – Brown was always the lukewarm water between the fire…

Moby & The Void Pacific Choir More Fast Songs About The Apocalypse MUTE/LITTLE IDIOT Second album from technorock star’s post-punk project. Who would pay hard cash for the 16th album by an increasingly irrelevant 51-year-old musician who refuses to tour? Nobody. Not my harsh judgement but the words of Moby himself, which helps explain why pop’s most famous hardcore vegan launched this latest exercise in angst-fuelled electro-rock as a free download. Building on the knowingly retro post-punk sonics of last year’s These Systems Are Failing, these nine doom-heavy songs marry angular guitars with urgent machine beats and light-touch electronics. The vocals also have an authentically ragged, semi-sneering, new wave edge. But for all his apocalyptic bleakness, Moby’s electropopulist instincts remain active, lending a euphoric rush even to suicidally glum Joy…

Psychic TV Reissues SACRED BONES Reissues of Genesis P-Orridge’s post-Throbbing Gristle outfit. Initially revolving around the core of Genesis P-Orridge and Alternative TV’s Alex ‘no, not that one’ Fergusson, Psychic TV moved away from the sonic extremism of Throbbing Gristle in a more song structured direction, although deeply subversive intentions always lurked at their core. Pagan Day feels like an attempt to revisit the strange gardens of the late 1960s, not very fashionable in 1984 – a lo-fi, bucolic, hazily psychedelic cover of Pearls Before Swine’s Translucent Carriages particularly feels like it’s channeling the spirit of Syd Barrett. These are winsomely fragile, tentative affairs, which would later evolve in a live setting. Baby’s Gone Away, which sounds like a Velvet Underground pastiche, is here sketched on guitar and organ, demo-style.…

The Rolling Stones Reissues EAGLE Got live if you still want it. With the Stones hitting Europe this autumn, Eagle are releasing the audio to three live DVDs as albums in their own right. Ladies & Gentlemen The Rolling Stones (7/10) catches the Taylor line-up chopping out Exile songs on 1972’s infamous S.T.P. tour. Its inconsistent sound is due to being constructed from two shows apiece in Fort Worth and Houston, but it provides a worthy document of the Stones’ early-70s peak (though let down by skimpy annotation). The Stones returned to Fort Worth’s Will Rogers Memorial Center for Some Girls Live In Texas ’78 (7/10), Keith rousing from his numbed-out heroin years and locking with new boy Woody to drive the band with such energised thrust that it sometimes…

Nick Lowe Reissues YEP ROC Love the sounds, heartbreaking class. Ever the one for a pithy, self-deprecating put-down, Lowe himself has described his post-Rockpile 80s output as “the wilderness years”. And while none of these six reissues can lay claim to be cherished masterpieces like Jesus Of Cool or, in more recent times, The Convincer, each one is a healthy trough of pop worth dipping into again. Nick The Knife and The Abominable Showman (both 6/10) are scattergun affairs whose shortcomings are overshadowed by great charm (My Heart Hurts, Time Wounds All Heels). However, … And His Cowboy Outfit (8/10) finds The Artist Formerly Known As Basher in full possession of his faux Fabs faculties on Half A Boy And Half A Man. Bonus tracks are few and far between…

Kiss Kissworld – The Best Of Kiss UNIVERSAL Another two-disc selection of random Kiss klassics and kurios for your kollection. True story. The mother-in-law is a massive Frank Sinatra fan. So when visiting the other day, we brought along the Amazon Echo and commanded: “Alexa, play some Frankie-boy for Nancy.” And lo, the stentorian tones of Sinatra issued from the voice-controlled personal assistant thingy and the mother-in-law was very happy indeed. After about half an hour, we decided to pull a prank and issued a second command: “Alexa, play some Kiss.” And – no word of a lie – up popped My Way, a track from the band’s 1987 album Crazy Nights. This goes to prove three things. One, artificial intelligence has a hitherto unheralded wry sense of humour. Two,…

The Grateful Dead Long Strange Trip: Motion Picture Soundtrack GRATEFUL DEAD/RHINO Wide-angled overview of an expansive career. Never knowingly underrepresented with regards to output, both studio and live, this double-CD set (three if you plump for the Amazon exclusive) accompanies the recent six-part, four-hour documentary: the length of an average gig. Eschewing another greatest hits or yet-more-liverarities approach, it pulls back the focus with a cherry-picked career overview. Collated and produced by filmmaker Amir Bar-Lev and band archivist David Lemieux, it’s a perfectly judged collection brimming with exquisite performances. The unreleased 23-minute live version of Dark Star from the Fillmore East, 1970, is the carrot dangling over your average bootleg-hoarding Deadhead’s head, along with a sublime Dear Mr Fantasy/ Hey Jude from Foxboro, 1989. Studio high spots Uncle John’s Band,…

Glenn Hughes Reissues HNE/PURPLE Ex-Deep Purple legend’s clean-livin’ 90s albums. Glenn Hughes had The KLF to thank for saving his life. At least that’s what he said after the techno duo asked him to provide vocals on 1992’s monster hit, America: What Time Is Love?. It was the first project Hughes had undertaken since finally kicking the addictions that had undermined his creative life over the past couple of decades. Free of booze and drugs, he resumed his solo career later that year, though it wasn’t until 1995, arguably, that he truly regained his stride with Feel (7/10). The album sounds like a belated companion to his immediate post-Purple debut, 1977’s Play Me Out, which drew from his beloved soul and R&B. Not everything works, with Hughes and his band…

Diamond Head Death And Progress/ Evil Live DISSONANCE Albums four and five from the NWOBHM’s ill-fated heroes. Ironically, respect for Diamond Head actually grew in the decade after they split, following the relative failure of their overambitious third album Canterbury. Lars Ulrich and Dave Mustaine raved about the band many times (albeit due to their 1980 debut Lightning To The Nations), and so in 1993, guitarist Brian Tatler and singer Sean Harris decided to record together again. Death And Progress (7/10) was the result. The new line-up, completed by drummer Karl Wilcox (from Tatler’s interim band Radio Moscow), with a pre-3 Colours Red Pete Vuckovic on bass, were given a hard-hitting sound by Bad Company engineer Andrew Scarth. The reborn band were truly impressive, delivering straight-ahead metal such as Wild…

‘Lost’ Led Zeppelin film found Footage of band’s 1970 Bath Festival performance unearthed. MAIN PIC: GETTY; INSET & RIGHT: DAVID WILSON CLARKE SET-LIST Bath, 1970 Immigrant Song (debut live performance) Heartbreaker Dazed And Confused Bring It On Home Since I’ve Been Loving You Thank You That’s The Way What Is And What Should Never Be Moby Dick How Many More Times Whole Lotta Love Medley: Long Tall Sally/Say Mama/ Johnny B Goode/That’s Alright Mama INSIDE THE WORLD OF ROCK Unseen film of Led Zeppelin playing at the 1970 Bath Festival – thrown away nearly 50 years ago, and widely thought to be lost – has been unearthed in a British university film archive. Experts are now hoping to digitally restore the footage, and it’s hoped that it will be released…

HOGH HOPES Shaman’s Harvest Soulful bluesy rockers who prefer to keep it real. They can also help you repair your car. ADRIENNE BEACCO/PRESS “I used to live the life of a clichéd rock’n’roller – drugs, alcohol…” Nineteen years and six albums. You couldn’t say Shaman’s Harvest have rushed to reach the point they’re at today. The Missouri-based band, who mix taut, muscular riffs, Stonesy blues licks and southern swagger into a satisfying whole, formed at high school in the late 90s and have taken a circuitous route that has included a decade releasing albums independently, multiple line-up changes and a health scare that almost completely upended the group. That scare involved frontman Nathan Hunt, who was diagnosed with throat cancer back in 2013. “I’ve been in remission for three years…

RAW POWER Dime Marches On The ultimate commemoration of a true guitar legend. One of the many things that attracted rock fans to the wonder of Pantera was the playing of their guitarist, Darrell ‘Dimebag’ Abbott. Mixing that unmistakably laid-back Texan attitude with a style that, while technical in the extreme, dovetailed into the brutal music perfectly, he was well on his way to becoming one of the ultimate rock guitar heroes before he was murdered, shot and killed while on stage with his post- Pantera band Damageplan on December 8, 2004. Dimebag’s main guitar throughout his career was an instrument he won at a Dallas guitar competition in 1982, a Dean ML that he subsequently dubbed the ‘Dean From Hell’. Dean are honouring both the man and that unique…

THE STORIES BEHIND THE SONGS Genesis Follow You Follow Me Their first single since becoming a three-piece, a savvy change of tack from complex prog epics to a concise four-minute ‘pop’ song, it was a Top 10 hit and opened the door to megastardom. Words: Paul Lester GETTY PROG VS PUNK While Genesis were recording Follow You Follow Me in Holland in late 1977, back at home, punk was raging. But no amount of anarchy in the UK managed to derail the prog generation. Yes were enjoying a No.1 album with Going For The One, Pink Floyd reached No.2 with Animals and ELP had a No.2 hit single with Fanfare For The Common Man. Art-rock also flourished, with 10cc’s Deceptive Bends, ELO’s Out Of The Blue and Supertramp’s Even In…

BLACK COUNTRY COMMUNION Love. Death. Dolphins. Black Country Communion’s fourth album is full of surprises – not least that the derailed-but-now-reconvened supergroup made a new record at all. Words: Henry Yates When the end came, four years ago, it seemed terminal. After three well-regarded albums, Black Country Communion’s two principal members, Glenn Hughes and Joe Bonamassa, had reached a very public impasse. The bassist seemed desperate to fill the tour diary; the guitarist spoke of feeling “bullied” by “King Hughes” on a rainyday project that was spiralling out of control. The last time I interviewed Bonamassa, he didn’t mince his words: “I can tell you this. The original line-up of Buddy Holly And The Crickets – including Buddy Holly himself – has a better chance of a reunification than Black…

KADAVAR After seven years recording in a dank Berlin basement, Kadavar decided to construct their own studio. “We spent four months knocking down walls, doing all the wiring,” recalls frontman Lupus Lindemann. “When we were able to play music again it was like being released. We were so happy.” It’s ironic then that fourth album Rough Times is “darker and more evil”, with a Sabbath-style heaviness, Hawkwind trip-outs and a post- Trump social conscience. The actual recording saw the band break new ground in that they used overdubs, and even added a dash of organ. “We just wanted to try other instruments, other shades and sounds,” explains Lindemann. The album has a striking cover image, too: a sunbather with a skeleton face and a scar from a heart amputation. “It’s…

FOOD FIGHTERS Fresh from their acclaimed performance at this year’s Glastonbury, the Foos are set to release a new studio album, titled Concrete And Gold, in September. The band have also lined up a show at London’s O2 Arena on September 19. Concrete And Gold, produced by Greg Kurstin, is the band’s ninth album. It will contain 11 songs, including The Sky Is A Neighborhood, Run, Happy Ever After (Zero Hour) and Make It Right. Dave Grohl believes that it sounds like “Motörhead doing Sgt Pepper by The Beatles”, thanks to “some of the most insanely heavy Foo Fighters riffs ever, with lush harmonic complexities”. Grohl told the BBC that the new album features “a bunch” of guests, including “the biggest pop star in the world. They sing back up…

TAKING ON THE WORLD In the autumn of 1977, it looked as if Queen’s reign might be over. Instead the band rose to the challenge, hit back with the globally successful News Of The World album and ruled once more. Words: Mick Wall Friday, October 28, 1977. It should have been the day that marked the end of Queen’s reign. The future of their sixth studio album, News Of The World, released that day, looked bleak at best. A year before, their previous album, A Day At The Races, had received such a critical battering that Freddie Mercury’s days of bringing opera to the masses, darling, now seemed decidedly numbered. A Day At The Races, the follow-up to A Night At The Opera – their Bo Rapcontaining 1975 breakthrough international…

CHECKOUT HOW BITERS SPENT THEIR £50 RECORD SHOP BUDGET. “We pretty much all picked British records, didn’t we?” Gabs observes. “And we weren’t even trying. We love the Stooges too, Alice Cooper, Cheap Trick… But Britain has produced some of the best. It’s had everybody.” Tuk Smith (VOCALS/GUITAR) David Bowie – Space Oddity “This is super-cool. It was in the back. I own a lot of David Bowie records but I don’t actually own this.” Philip Anthony (BASS) The Damned – The Anthology 1976-87 “Everyone else got vinyl so I got a CD. I’m the badass in the group… But yeah, The Damned, great band. The singer’s fucking awesome. He paved the way for a lot of goth-punk that came out in the eighties: 45 Grave, The Cramps, other bands……

Temple Of Lies The Serial Killer Suite ATTIC Doom metallers’ hook-laden, death-fixated third album. Ever heard a concept album whose ‘concept’ you completely grasp? Well, add the third album from these hairy East Midlanders to the ‘Your guess is as good as mine’ list. But disregarding the murder/death/ gruesomeness lyrical theme that broadly unites these songs, what matters more is that The Serial Killer Suite rocks as hard as anything this Stoner-influenced quartet have produced thus far. Epic Doom’s staccato assault seems to address how we make a circus out of a ‘freak of society’, but that’s about as clear as it gets, lyrically. Meanwhile, taut, muscular riff-hooks abound, alongside melodramatic tritone intervals, pummelling bass drums and growling vocals. And if you can live with some pretty hoary old double…

Robin Trower Time And Emotion MANHATON RECORDS Guitar god still going strong on 22nd studio album. In truth, there’s little about Time And Emotion to distinguish it from Robin Trower’s preceding five albums – since he took over lead vocals himself, in fact. But when moody three-piece electric blues is made as stylishly as this, it can stand reiteration. It‘s ironic that in the 1970s, his guitar playing was sometimes slated for echoing Jimi Hendrix. Nearly 50 years on, Trower’s deftness and dexterity would surely have been admired by the late and greatest guitar god himself. Indeed, had Jimi lived, I’d wager he’d have been making music like this alongside RT. From that perspective, it’s easy to enjoy an 11-song set that, while rarely veering far from Trower’s trademark moody…

Cock Sparrer Forever RANDALE/PIRATES PRESS Street-punk legends further refine an unrefined formula. Cock Sparrer’s career predates punk. They’re just as much pioneers as the Hollywood Brats or Eddie And The Hot Rods, but whenever those BBC4 documentaries get made, or the mainstream rock media celebrate punk’s birth, they’re never there. And it’s a ridiculous omission. Though their brutal combination of wall-of-guitar thrash precision, hook-heavy, testosterone terrace chants and full-tilt, heartstring-tugging, East End, everyman, pub kitchen-sink dramas can be every bit as affecting as the best of Townshend, their faces never seemed to fit. Malcolm McLaren pursued them in ’77, but historically, the rarified metropolitan elite/ aspirant middle-class wannabes of press and industry shied away. Cock Sparrer were too real, too punk, and never seemed quite as open to compromise as…

Prong Zero Days STEAMHAMMER/SPV New York heroes expand their grimy legacy. While some of the 80s thrash elite are slowing things down, leave it to Prong to buck all trends and keep the metal moving as fast as possible. With new recruit Art Cruz putting in a hell of a shift, pounding his drum kit into dust, the groove-laden riffs send your natural headbanging senses into overdrive. The speedfreak crossover and aggro lyrics have long been the home of Tommy Victor, but the production on Zero Days makes it sound as fresh as the bands he’s inspired. Sure, it’s never going to be as life-affirming as The Cleansing, but there’s still that trademark New York filth lining the edges, surrounding the more radio-friendly tracks that lack the dirt we all…

Big Big Train The Second Brightest Star ENGLISH ELECTRIC The neo-prog veterans maintain a purple patch. The latest name to try their hand at a ‘secret’ release, Big Big Train held back all news of this album’s existence until dropping it quietly on the day of the summer solstice. A mere two months after the critically acclaimed Grimspound, The Second Brightest Star is the prog-rock band’s third record within a year. Indeed, had Big Big Train failed to deliver the goods with such admirable consistency then this follow-up might have looked foolish. It’s probably best viewed as a companion to Grimspound and its predecessor Folklore, including as it does alternate, extended versions of some of those selections. Mostly, though, these are new or previously unreleased songs. Its haunting title track…

Kim Seviour Recovery Is Learning WHITE STAR Former Touchstone singer steps out on her own. As is befitting her place in the UK prog scene, Londoner Kim Seviour makes her solo debut with a concept album: Recovery Is Learning deals with her ongoing struggle with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (aka ME), and as such is clearly a deeply personal piece of work. Seviour possesses the kind of dramatic, crystal-clear voice you’d find onstage in the theatres of London’s West End, dripping with emotion and perfectly suited to the lush, tasteful rock – forged in the Porcupine Tree mould – that envelops it. The waltzing title track in particular drives the narrative along, thanks to a passionate delivery. There’s hope at play too. ‘I’m strong now,’ she sings on closing track Morning…

Rancid Trouble Maker EPITAPH The long-serving Cali punks take it back to the old school. For the past 20 years, Rancid have faced the same criticism with each album: “But it’s not …And Out Come The Wolves.” That album shaped what Rancid would become, and instilled a sound of American angst in a generation of punks from the US and beyond. Rancid’s sound evolved over decades, but now, on their ninth record, the veterans have harnessed the past with 17 songs of ska-punk fury. Clocking in at 37 minutes, it gallops along with no timeouts as Tim Armstrong’s gravelly voice barks out choruses so infectious you’ll still be singing along when 10 pints deep, which is Rancid’s raison d’etre. They’re the band we stand arm in arm with, swaying dangerously, screaming…

Marillion Misplaced Childhood PARLOPHONE GEMA ARCHIVE/ICONICPIX The album that rebooted prog, now remastered, blossoms in adulthood. Mid-80s Marillion: a religion to fans, a punchline to others. They were deemed so unfashionable in the era of The Smiths, the Mary Chain and The Cure that those who’d seen the light were only galvanized by the opprobrium. To hear Misplaced Childhood – the band’s masterpiece and biggest seller – now, out of context, liberated from playground peer pressure, is to recognise a truly great concept album. It’s one that believes 41 minutes of rock music can – like a film or book – aim for the stars and present a story full of emotion, poetry and, above all, drama. It’s way stronger than more revered milestones like, say, Quadrophenia (which it references…

Echo & The Bunnymen The Killing Moon: Singles RHINO All the ‘hits’ and more. For many people, there’s always a sense of regret and relief with Echo & The Bunnymen’s career: regret that they never became as big as their contemporaries U2, and relief that they never became as big as their contemporaries U2. Despite their apparent stadium-worthiness (and attempts to radio-befriend their sound), the Bunnymen were just a bit too cool and weird to become arena dullards, with Ian McCulloch also being unusually lippy in more than one way. This new single compilation confirms the brilliance of the Bunnymen at every stage of their career. Unusually, it even contains Enlighten Me from their Mac-less period, as well as early flop The Puppet, while missing out Lips Like Sugar and…

Samson Joint Forces: 1986-1993 HNE RECORDINGS A mixed bag from the NWOBHM pioneers. When guitarist Paul Samson died on August 9, 2002, he left a complicated back catalogue. This two-CD set brings together three albums from a particularly muddled period (following three albums with Bruce Dickinson and two featuring Nicky Moore) of solo work and stylistic switches. The first, and best, is 1986’s Joint Forces (6/10), here as remixed by Paul in 1993. Initially intended as a solo album, it was released under the Samson banner because it once again featured the stunning blues tones of Moore and, despite its conception, sounded like a continuation of Samson’s most commercially successful era. The personnel had changed, though, with a new rhythm section including ex-Gillan bassist John McCoy. There are backing vocals…

Paul Kantner & The Windowpane Collective Venusian Love Songs FLOATING WORLD You can take the hippie out of folk… After a lifetime of psychedelics and sci-fi that included a decade as one half of West Coast rock’s most regal couple, Paul Kantner’s overactive brain was getting addled by the start of the 21st century. He didn’t appear to have made many pension arrangements either, which is probably why he came up with various projects like this when he wasn’t appropriating the ‘Airplane’, ‘Starship’ or ‘Jefferson’ monikers, in defiance of agreements with his former bandmates. The Windowpane Collective included his old friend David Freiberg, two of the girls he recruited to impersonate Grace Slick, his old folkie friend Jack Traylor, and even a rare appearance from the West Coast’s very own…

Lee Brilleaux Rock ’N’ Roll Gentleman RHINO Brilleaux padding. The name of this band is Dr Feelgood. Lee Brilleaux was their singer from their early- 70s Canvey Island beginnings to their demise in 1994 after his death. And this four-CD anthology takes it’s title from a recent book about the gentleman. So hey. Like all the best groups, Dr Feelgood were more than the sum of their parts. For the first few years, they were nearly twice that as guitarist Wilko Johnson cannoned off Brilleaux, with his urgent vocals, matching harmonica and a driving rhythm section. The eight tracks from their 1975 debut Down By The Jetty show their uncompromising stance in mono. Malpractice later that year plundered the R&B catalogue that had inspired the Stones and their ilk a…

Third Eye Blind Third Eye Blind RHINO Mega-selling debut gets the anniversary treatment. Having gigged around San Francisco for three years, Third Eye Blind caught a break when they opened for Oasis in 1996. Liam Gallagher told them they were shit, but record executives were more enamoured, leading to a bidding war that saw the quartet sign a lucrative deal with Elektra for their self-titled debut a year later. It’s easy to understand the appeal. Third Eye Blind provided a link between alt, rock and mainstream USA, smuggling dark themes – addiction, suicide, abuse – into punchy grunge-pop tunes with big hooks. Nothing exemplified this better than Semi-Charmed Life, a tale of crystal meth dependency (singer and chief songwriter Stephan Jenkins called it their Walk On The Wild Side) that…

Bill Nelson Chance Encounters In The Garden Of Lights COCTEAU DISCS Two-CD version of ambient set originally issued in 1987. Featuring 21 tracks from the 1988 bonus edition, this double set was originally released under the titles The Angel At The Western Window and The Book Of Inward Conversation. Bill Nelson himself said of this music that it was the “most personal and least demonstrative” he had made, conceived in moments of “intense stillness” and “musical vacuity”. Not very many artists were doing ambient in the late 80s, just prior to the chillout postrave era, but Nelson had always had an interest in the genre, paying homage to Erik Satie, who arguably conceived the genre on Furniture Music. Often clocking in at under two minutes, the 63 tracks on this…