The Who were approaching the end of the recording sessions for their second concept album, ‘Quadrophenia,’ when Roger Daltrey’s first solo record was released in May 1973. And fans expecting a rock-god epic from the singer were in for a surprise. Unlike Pete Townshend’s and John Entwistle’s solo albums, which sounded enough like Who records if you wanted them to, ‘Daltrey’ was all about distancing the singer from his band.
Doors drummer John Densmore has been making the publicity rounds for his new tell-all memoir, 'The Doors: Unhinged -- Jim Morrison's Legacy Goes on Trial.'
‘Let It Be’ was supposed to be the album that would bring the Beatles back together. After an increasingly fractious couple of years that culminated in 1968’s self-titled (‘White’) album, which was basically four solo records for the price of a double LP, the four Beatles holed themselves up in London’s Twickenham Film Studios, and then at Apple Studios, during the first month of 1969 to re-spark their dying flame. No outside visitors, no BS -- just four guys hanging around playing music. Just like the old days. They called it ‘Get Back.’
Since 2002, Rod Stewart has released eight albums. Each and every one of them includes songs that were written before ‘Maggie May’ hit No. 1 in 1971. A lot of them, in fact, were written before the 68-year-old rock legend learned to walk. Five ‘Great American Songbook’ albums, a rock oldies collection, an R&B oldies collection and a Christmas album – that’s pretty much how Stewart has spent the past decade.
A year and a half after Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers’ self-titled debut album fooled some music fans into thinking that the Los Angeles-based classic rockers were maybe a New Wave act, the quintet doubled down. ‘You’re Gonna Get It!,’ which was released on May 2, 1978, loaded up on Byrdsian jingle-jangle, classic-rock guitar crunch and a few meathead riff-based songs that made it clear that Petty and his band had little in common with the skinny-tie kids and their synthesizers.
After eight albums and almost as many years kicking around just outside of mainstream success, Bob Seger finally had a hit record with 1976’s ‘Night Moves,’ a moving, soulful and rocking look back on the people and places that shaped him. After so much hard work and sweat put into his music over the past decade, the Michigan native was starting to see it all pay off. So why turn back now? Why change what works? Why, for that matter, would Seger want to test any new ground on ‘Night Moves’’ follow-up? He wouldn’t.
The last time Fleetwood Mac made an album together, they were minus Christine McVie and enough good songs to fill its 75-minute running length. They’re still without McVie on their new four-song EP, but they fixed ‘Say You Will’’s biggest problem by keeping ‘Extended Play’ at an economical 17 minutes. And if it sounds more like a Lindsey Buckingham record than an actual band one at times, at least ‘Extended Play’ is the best thing released under the Fleetwood Mac moniker since 1987’s ‘Tango in the Night.’
Freed from the confines of Creedence Clearwater Revival, which had become a stifling presence in the final years, John Fogerty took the opportunity of his debut solo album to revisit, pay tribute to and replicate the country music he occasionally played with his old band. But instead of going about it the traditional country-music way – with a bunch of musicians sitting together in a room and performing the music live as the tapes roll – Fogerty played every single instrument on ‘The Blue Ridge Rangers’ himself.
Pantera frontman Phil Anselmo recently gave AC/DC's lyrics to 'It's a Long Way to the Top (If You Wanna Rock 'n' Roll)' a whole new meaning. In a video titled 'Rock 'n' Roll Manifesto,' which you can watch above, Anselmo reads the words to the Australian rockers' 1976 song and reveals a dark side to the lifestyle Bon Scott sings about.
Tom Petty, John Fogerty and Jackson Browne joined Randy Newman onstage last night at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony. The four veteran rockers, who all live in Los Angeles, opened the show at the city's Nokia Theater with a version of Newman's 1983 song 'I Love L.A.'
Heading into 1983, David Bowie hadn’t placed an album in the Top 10 since 1976’s ‘Station to Station.’ His ‘Berlin Trilogy’ (made up of 1977’s ‘Low’ and ‘Heroes’ and 1979’s ‘Lodger’) and 1980’s ‘Scary Monsters’ were critical hits, but they didn’t sell all that well. With his artsy experimental records behind him, Bowie once again got serious about his commercial career, tapping Nile Rodgers -- the mastermind behind the bestselling disco group Chic -- to co-produce 1983’s ‘Let’s Dance.’
