The Endys!

As 2006 draws to a close it’s time for the first Annual Endlessly Rocking Awards highlighting the pick of the year’s Rock music.

And ‘The Endy’ goes to;



Album Of The Year

Snakes and Arrows – Rush: Arguably the best Rush album since Moving Pictures as producer Nick Raskulinecz convinces the Canadian trio not to overlook their past in their ever-changing musical landscape

Commended:
Fear Of A Blank Planet – Porcupine Tree: A coming of age for Steve Wilson’s ‘new-prog’.
Libertad – Velvet Revolver: No ‘difficult second album’ blues for Slash & The Boys.


Band Of The Year

Rush: The “World’s Greatest Band” return with their best, and most critically acclaimed album, for at least 20 years. Suddenly it’s cool to love Rush!

Commended
Heaven and Hell: Come back of the year from Dio-era Sabbath


Web Presence Of The Year

The Ahmet Ertegun Tribute Concert Ticket Ballot: More than a million fans applied online for the 20,000 available tickets – one of the single biggest events in web history.

Commended:
Rush – surely the largest and most obsessive fan-base on the web
Bruce Springsteen – brief video clips from live performances as The Boss winds his way around the world.

Rock Icon Of The Year

Syd Barrett: Syd’s death in July, aged 60, came almost 40 years after his departure from Pink Floyd. It is hard to imagine any of the other band members attracting such broad media attention.

The Pink Floyd Story: Which One's Pink?

If this excellent BBC documentary achieved nothing else, it at least demonstrated that the wounds caused by the forced separation of Roger Waters and Pink Floyd are as raw as ever, despite the 20 minute cessation of hostilities that was Live 8.

Using interviews with the band and close associates to chart the history of the band, the occasions when Waters and the rest of the band are in agreement are few and far between. Even Syd Barrett’s descent into madness exposes a difference of opinion. Waters reminisces fondly over Barrett’s increasingly bizarre behaviour whilst Rick Wright appears close to tears as he rejects Waters’ suggestion that Syd suffered from schizophrenia and lays the blame squarely on substance abuse.

The halcyon days of Dark Side Of The Moon and Wish You Were Here are dealt with fairly quickly, as if the documentary team can’t wait to get to the next bone of contention - Waters’ increasing dominance of the band. Whilst David Gilmour refers to the period leading up to The Wall and the subsequent World Tour as “a dictatorship”, Waters dismisses any suggestions that he refused to allow other band members to contribute to the writing process. From that point on the story focuses increasingly on the two main protagonists; Gilmour & Waters, with the remaining band members largely commenting as observers rather than participants.

The semantics of Waters departure and his subsequent brief restoration for Live 8 are interesting. Upon leaving the band Waters assumed that Pink Floyd was no more. He admits in hindsight that his reaction to Floyd’s continuing existence (a long-running and ultimately unsuccessful legal battle) was wrong, but the scars remain vivid – especially for Gilmour. It was he who resisted longest to Bob Geldof’s emotional blackmail over Live 8 (the interviews with Geldof give an interesting perspective on the band’s internal politics at that time). When he finally relented it was very much on his terms – Waters was reminded that Pink Floyd were closing the Live 8 Concert and that he was welcome to play with them if he wished, but on their terms.

To all intents and purposes David Gilmour is now Pink Floyd. Whilst the final comments from Waters, Wright & Mason left the door open for a further reunion, those from Gilmour did not. It looks like Live 8 really will be the band’s final cut.

One Weekend in Belfast

Belfast hosted two of rock's biggest names at the weekend yet Endlessly Rocking attended neither event - for very different reasons.....

The Boss was in town on Saturday night but like thousands of others I didn't get the opportunity to see him. Playing such a relatively small venue as The Odyssey Arena (capacity 10,000) was always going to lead to disappointment but the manner in which the sale was handled has left a sour taste in the mouth of many. I didn't make it down to the venue when the tickets went on sale but most of those who did make the effort to turn out before sunrise on a cold winter's morning left without tickets. I can only guess at their frustration when tickets appeared almost immediately on eBay - at vastly inflated prices. The efforts made to stop the touts at the recent Zep reunion concert are to be applauded, but the only truly effective way to combat this is for fans to stop buying tickets at anything other than face value and I'm sure hell well have frozen over long before that happens.

Tickets were anything but difficult to get for Thin Lizzy's show at The Waterfront Hall the following night but again I sat at home and watched a movie. I had thought long and hard about this one but in the end I just couldn't accept that the band on show was Thin Lizzy. Only two names remained constant throughout Lizzy's career; Brian Downey & Phil Lynott. Neither were on stage last in Belfast last night. However entertaining John Syke's tribute band may be - it isn't Thin Lizzy.

Album Reviews - November 2007

This month Endlessly Rocking reviews ‘new’ offerings from two of the 70’s biggest (if not the biggest) bands;

Long Road Out Of Eden - Eagles

Virtually everyone likes Eagles. Such is the eclecticism inherent in the band's multi-talented line-up there will invariably be something there for everyone. Unfortunately, on the bands first album of new material in 28 years, their greatest strength proves also to be their greatest weakness.

Disk 1 starts off promisingly enough with the a cappella No More Walks In The Woods followed by pleasant country rockers How Long and Busy Being Fabulous. Sadly though a procession of ‘X-Factor finalist’ ballads follows, broken only by the Ozzy-sings-Quo 12-bar work out of Guilty Of The Crime and the 80's funk of Fast Company (amusingly sung in a with Prince-style falsetto).

Disk 2 (the sickening I Love To Watch a Woman Dance aside) exhibits a slightly harder edge than the opening set and benefits greatly from it. Long Road Out of Eden (the album’s stand-out track and the closest it ever comes to Hotel-California-like greatness) kicks off a series of songs examining the ‘State of America’ and generally finding it wanting. The music may be middle-of-the-road, but the opinions on show certainly aren’t – this won’t be on the Christmas Party play list at the White House!

Combining the harder-hitting tracks onto a single disk effort (entitled Shorter Road Out Of Eden?) would have made this a killer album – over two disks though I find myself reaching for the next button just a little too often.

Rating: Good

Mothership - Led Zeppelin

Despite having had every single album on vinyl, this is the first time that Led Zeppelin have appeared on my iPod. Why is that? Upon reflection the answer is clear – whilst I like ‘Zep’, I don’t love them. The air of arrogance and aloofness the band cultivated has tended to generate respect rather than affection. Not to mention Robert Plant’s irritating fake-orgasms…..

So, has a gap of almost 20 years changed my view? Not entirely. This ‘greatest hits’ collection is undoubtedly of the highest quality with almost all of the 24 tracks on offer worthy of the much over-used label ‘classic’ (only the faux-reggae, bad-joke of D’Yer Mak’er and Physical Graffitti’s Trampled Under Foot and Houses of The Holy failing to make the grade). However, whilst I am reminded of just how good the band was, there is still an element of frustration that they could have been even better. Monster-constructs such as Kashmir, No Quarter and Achilles Last Stand are deflated slightly by muddy production and a weak guitar and/or keyboard sound. Imagine how magnificent they would be with a fuller, more powerful mix! Ultimately though, this is akin to claiming that the ceiling of the Cisteen Chapel would benefit from a deeper shade of blue. This is a masterpiece; showing its age in places, too gaudy at times and a little dull in others, but still a masterpiece.

Rating: Essential

Album Reviews - October 2007

Endlessly Rocking reviews the pick of the albums issued in October (or at least the ones that I downloaded!)

Echoes, Silence, Patience & Grace - Foo Fighters

A much calmer effort than that normally delivered by Dave Grohl's men and much better for it. After six studio albums the band finally seemed to have discovered the importance of the gaps between the music and their trademark frantic riffing and screaming vocal delivery is rendered much more effective by judicial rationing. This is a thoughtfully constructed album allowing the band to flex their musical muscle in new directions whilst retaining the underlying charm that has won them admirers across a wide spectrum of musical taste. A mature album from a band who now seem confident enough in their own abilities to explore new horizons.

Rating: Superior

Pictures - Katie Melua

This third album from the Georgian chanteuse brings a partial break from collaborator Mike Batt and is a little less accessible as a result. The Batt-penned tracks continue to provide comfortable listening but there is a something a little off-kilter about the album's remaining tunes - hinting at a musical future slowly sailing away from her Radio 2 audience into more 'alternative' waters. The album rewards repeated listening - Ms. Melua's excellent guitar playing is brought more to the fore and her voice remains the musical equivalent of a strong Cafe Latte. Pleasant late night indulgence.

Rating: Good

Magic - Bruce Springsteen

If Springsteen's last album with the E-Street Band (2002's The Rising) was an optimistic and hope-filled reaction to the horrors of 9/11, this latest instalment of "The World According to Bruce" views the state of the Union with a considerably more jaundiced eye. Musically there is little to separate 'Magic' from any other E-Street band offering - at times there is too much going on within the songs; the saxophone and keyboards in particular detracting from, rather than adding value to, the arrangements. Lyrically though this album hits its targets dead centre - the vocal barbs all the more dangerous for their relatively harmless musical accompaniment. The album works best where the aim is truest; highlights include the title track (focusing on political double speak and spin), Gypsy Biker (for those who didn't come back from Bush's war), The Last to Die (a reminder of who ultimately pays the price for political mistakes) and opening track Radio Nowhere (blessed with a grittier musical underscore than the majority of the album). Bonus Track; Terry's Song rounds the album off in fine style - a moving tribute to Bruce's long-time friend Terry McGovern who passed away at the end of July. Whilst Magic has some fillers, Springsteen's worst is better than the best many have to offer, and this is the case here. A worthy addition to an impressive volume of work.

Rating: Superior

Chrome Dreams II - Neil Young

Apparently compiled from a mix of new compositions and a smattering of songs originally recorded in the 1980's, the timeless nature of Neil Young's work gives no clues as to which song falls into which category. Gentler efforts such as Beautiful Bluebird and Shining Light are beautiful in their simplicity but the album's crowning glories are the two epic tracks Ordinary People and No Hidden Path (checking in at 18 minutes and 14 minutes respectively) - the moment when the horn section unexpectedly kicks in on Ordinary People sending a shiver of delight running up the spine on every listen. Dirty Old Man is every bit as low down, mean and nasty as its title suggests - a garage-band anthem of deceptive simplicity, whilst the collection's final track, The Way, (with its simple repeating motif and school choir backing vocals) completes the picture of a 62 year-old who is content with his own lot but who remains a valid voice for those less fortunate than he.

Rating: Superior

RUSH Glasgow SECC 3rd October 2007

Despite the efforts of Endlessly Rocking (see the Eventful Tag to the right), "The World's Greatest Band" declined to include Belfast on their Snakes and Arrows Tour itinerary and I was forced to make my way to Bonnie Scotland to fulfil a lifelong ambition to see Canada's finest in the flesh.

Having stayed close to the venue on a trip to Glasgow earlier in the year, Hall 4 of Glasgow's SECC was ideal for the travelling headbanger with the Campanile Hotel just a stone's throw away. As a venue for a major rock concert though it left a lot to be desired. A rectangular shaped arena with the stage placed off-centre on one of the long sides, the orientation of what is basically a huge warehouse meant that anyone not seated directly front-of-stage had a oblique view of events with stage gear obscuring at least one three giant screens behind the band. The sound also was muddy at times and not quite loud enough. None of this was the fault of the band though and for almost three solid hours they enthralled the near sell-out crowd with a powerful performance.

The introductory video, with Geddy Lee masquerading as lunatic Scotsman Harry Satchel and Neil Peart sporting a rare public grin, went well down particularly well with the Scottish audience before the band took the stage with a relatively low-key version of Limelight - Alex Lifeson letting the opening chord ring while the rest of the band took up position. I was immediately consumed with an overwhelming feeling of pure joy - I had finally made it to a Rush show! This euphoria hardly faded during the rest of the evening as the band ran treated us to several rarely aired songs (including old chestnuts Circumstances and Entre Nous) and 9 songs from latest album Snakes and Arrows. Among my personal highlights were a thundering Subdivisions (not one of my favourite Rush compositions but superbly menacing live) and a spine-tingling Natural Science - selections that quickly picked up the pace after the band opened the second part of the show (following a 20 minute interval) with no less than five new tracks. Of these it was Armor & Sword that impressed most - despite it not being amongst my favourites off the album.

The lighting arrangement was spectacular with the 'Close Encounters' type flying lighting rigs and the judicial use of lasers drawing gasps of appreciation. The videos displayed on the giant backing screens at various stages were an entertainment in themselves with highlights including the fire-breathing dragon during Vapor Trails and the boy-on-the-missile graphics from the Distant Early Warning promo.

At times the musicianship on show was awe-inspiring, never more so than Neil Peart's drum-solo. Now.....I am not a drum-solo fan. Even 'The Professors' efforts generally fall victim of the 'skip' and 'fast-forward' buttons. This solo however was simply incredible - as a display of sheer skill I have never seen anything like it. He may be a cantankerous old git (it takes one to know one!) but if there is a better percussionist out there I would love to see them. The band rounded off the show with Spirit of Radio and Tom Sawyer before ending with an encore of One Little Victory, A Passage to Bangkok and YYZ. By that stage I had reached emotional and sensory overload and was incapable of truly taking in the performance of some of my all-time favourite tracks - something I regret as there may well not be an other opportunity to see the band on these shores. Still, as achieving lifelong ambitions go it did not disappoint - I have seen the greatest rock band in the world live and in the flesh, everything else pales in comparison.

Dublin 2007

PHIL LYNOTT - THE ULTIMATE ROCKSTAR

A family trip to Dublin in late summer gave me the opportunity to make a long wished for pilgrimage to the Phil Lynott statue off Grafton Street.

Lynott was the ultimate rock star... exotic, handsome, poetic, charismatic, wild..... and a little dangerous. It is now 21 years since he passed away - he is still sorely missed.