Ryk'N'Roll

KID ROCK 'Born Free'

2010-11-21T10:23:00.003+07:00

Born Free is Rock's first album since Rock N Roll Jesus in 2007, The Detroit News noted. Originally slated to be three discs, Rock explained "it was just sensory overload, too many songs, too much to choose from live. In the end, it would've been kind of pretentious to release a triple album. I had four songs I didn't even like." While attending the Movement Festival in Detroit Saturday, Rock revealed Martina McBride, Sheryl Crow and T.I. will also lend their talents to his latest project. T.I. and Martina McBride will be featured on "Care". While Sheryl Crow will be featured on "Collide" , with Bob Seger playing piano.

Rock said the collaboration with Seger, on the piano, almost didn't happen. James Hetfield plays guitar on four tracks. Rock stated, "I wanted some Metallica style riffs on the songs where I wasn't rapping. Lucky for me, Papa Het had some leftover riffs that Metallica wasn't gonna use. We added some drums, a fuck load of bass and just layed that shit down. I'm fucking ecstatic".

Red Hot Chili Peppers Chad Smith will play drums on the album while Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, Benmont Tench will play the keyboards. Kid Rock's long time band will not be featured on the album as Rubin created an all star band to back Kid Rock. His "Cowboy" and "Wanted Dead Or Alive" mash up will be on T.I.'s King Uncaged album entitled "Wanted".

Other guest appearences include, Zac Brown on "Flying High " and Trace Adkins "Sounds Good To Be Me". The album will also feature the songs "Midwest Farmers", a cover of the Alabama song, "Mountain Music"," One Women Man", " The Midwest Fall" and his answer song to John Rich's "Shutting Detroit Down", "Times Like These". The album is also expected to feature a unknown song with Lil Wayne sampled to Eminence Front by The Who.
He hosted the 2010 CMT Awards and released a digital live ep from his Comerica Park show last year with a free download of "Times Like These" in June as part of a promotion for Jim Beam's Operation Homefront.
Kid Rock launched and hosted his first annual cruise dubbed the "Chillin The Most Cruise" a call back to his hit "Cowboy", on April 29, 2010. It ran 4 days through May 3 from Tampa, Florida to Bahama's. It featured him and several other bands. The cruise was produced by Atlanta based events company, Sixthman.

Kid Rock announced on the VH1 top 20 countdown during an interview with Jim Shearer that he will start touring for the new album after his birthday in 2011.

FREE MP3 DOWNLOAD 'BORN FREE'

HELLOWEEN "7 SINNER"

2010-11-06T09:10:00.000+07:00

HELLOWEEN are known as the inventors of 'German Melodic-Speed-Metal’ and are creative
pioneers and one of the most successful Metal bands in personal union since their beginnings in 1984.

If there is a golden thread throughout more than 25 years of band history, 13 studio albums, countless headliner tours around the globe and far more than 5 million sold records, then it's the special kind of humor: don't take yourself too seriously and simply live statements like: "just have fun with the shit you're doing." Maybe it's exactly this easiness, that allows HELLOWEEN to be one of the most constant bands of the genre, and yet the one that at the same time dares to experiment more than others and has defined Metal in advanced and modern ways for decades.

While some copycats rather stick with the same old patterns, Andi Deris, Michael Weikath, Sascha Gerstner, Markus Großkopf and Dani Löble aren't afraid of risking something - and are rightfully rewarded with success. "7 Sinners" proves all that once again. It's definitely one of the fastest and hardest albums in the band's history, bursts with vitality, presents sensational novelties - and still is a record in best HELLOWEEN tradition. That might partly be due to the versatility of the various songwriters within the band, who over time have become so homogenous, that the 13 songs have formed a unity on their own in the studio - but there also is a very concrete explanation. The album was recorded completely without a click track, which, considering the extreme speed of the songs, borders on 'high-performance music'.

Especially drummer Löble showcases that his technique is at world-class-level. Following his excellent inner clock, bass and drums drive tracks like "Are You Metal?", "Long Live The King" or "Who Is Mr. Madman?" to dizzying tempos and still neither sound strained nor sterile. Bands who dare such a technique, have been situated in slower realms to date. "Who Is Mr. Madman?", whose intro is again congenially spoken by Saxon's Biff Byford, is interesting for another reason as well.

The composition by guitarist Gerstner is effectively the successor of '94s "Perfect Gentleman" and lets the protagonist look back on his life full of lust and what is left of it 15 years later. The so-called mortal sins, among which lust is one, are the overall concept of the album. "7 Sinners" plays light-heartedly with the heavy symbolism of the seven main vices.

The artwork, once again stylishly designed by Martin Häusler, mirrors the motive just as masterfully. This is also a specialty of HELLOWEEN: touching dark themes and turning them into something constructive, owed to their positive attitude.

And this quite deliberately. Not audible for the normal ear, yet another important aspect of "7 Sinners" is the instrument's tuning to chamber pitch 432, instead of 440. Although musicology agreed on 440 Hz in the 50ies, it's been found today, that 432 Hz is the more natural frequency for the human ear and therefore radiates a relaxing effect. It was the band's idea, to record this extremely hard album in a calm frequency and in such a way oppose balancing vibes subconsciously to the supposed agitation of Speed-Metal. Definitely a unique approach, at least in this genre. The atmosphere was equally as relaxed beneath the palm tree roof of the "Mi Sueno Studios", where the recordings took place from April to August 2010. Charlie Bauerfeind, the long time producer, describes the sessions to "7 Sinners" as maybe one of the most casual productions with the band. Disregarding climatically difficult circumstances - a power cut destroyed one mixer, two computer modules and at least three microphones - the recordings had holiday flair.

Additional contributions came from a second sound engineer who relieved the production
side, as well as from keyboarder Matthias Ullmer, who - like on the two previous albums -
has in the meantime nearly become a band member during recordings. This explains why more keyboards than ever can be heard on "7 Sinners", adding another facet to the record. The fact that Ullmer doesn't have long hair and isn't a die-hard Metal head meanwhile is of no significance to the quintet. HELLOWEEN just don't think in these categories.

It was agreed, that "7 Sinners" shouldn't only be sounding lively, but also emanating a live feel was crucial to the selection and arrangement of the songs. And the anticipation of performing stadium smashers live, like "Raise The Noise", "Where The Sinners Go“ and "Are You Metal?", is clearly audible on the album. Complexity doesn't have to contradict this disposition, neither in regards to lyrics nor music. "You Stupid Mankind" is the best example for the fact that social criticism can be presented in a multi-layered and modern
way.

Andi Deris puts it like this: "I love Metal. I listen to a lot of music, new stuff too. Why shouldn't I develop my songwriting with sounds, that I have just fallen in love ?" This way a quiet song has found its place between the tough Speed-Metal tracks like "Long Live The King" and the in the best sense typical HELLOWEEN songs like "If A Mountain Could Talk". "Not Yet Today", the intro to the last song of the album, describes a time when Andi cared for a friend lying in coma and had to confront the topic of letting go. Fortunately, everything turned out to be all right - but the feeling of "corresponding with another world" as a "silent witness" lingers on.

"7 Sinners" with its typically strong melodies and the tangible joy of playing, is a straight album whose range reaches astonishing dimensions, even for HELLOWEEN: the experienced five manage to develop further and break limits once again, without selling their 'Speed-Metal soul'. Not only the front man looks forward to the "7 Sinners Tour", which starts in November and will take the band all over the world one more time until the
end of 2011. The singer casually puts the band's vibe in a nutshell: "We are still fans."

MP3 Free Download
"7 Sinner" Helloween

DIO

2010-10-27T07:27:00.001+07:00

The grand wizard of classic rock. A poet of hope for the downtrodden. The single most important vocal technician in the history of heavy metal. All of these accolades have been garlanded upon the royal roar known as Ronnie James Dio.

He was born on July 10, 1942 in Portsmouth, New Hampshire and raised in upstate New York and once said that he would have preferred playing for the Yankees to a life in rock music. He started his career with local bands such as the Vegas Kings. Ronnie first achieved recognition singing with his own band Elf. Deep Purple’s Roger Glover and Ian Paice spotted him in 1972, and Elf then supported Deep Purple on several world tours. Ronnie later sang on Roger’s famed solo project “The Butterfly Ball” in 1974 and then joined Ritchie Blackmore’s Rainbow. His career took off in 1975 when he joined Rainbow. “With a guy who played guitar like Ritchie…and had this dark demeanor, it was perfect for me to get into a place where I could start writing darker and heavier things that I always wanted to do,” he commented in 2007. With his pioneering classical metal work in Rainbow, as well as his vocal pyrotechnics on three Black Sabbath monoliths (Heaven and Hell, Mob Rules and Live Evil), Ronnie used word and rhythm to seduce his way into the center ring during metal’s thriving heyday.

His first DIO solo offering, Holy Diver, was a brilliant display of melody and might that married Ronnie’s immense vocal, lyrical and compositional acumen with the talents of a band chosen with almost Machiavellian insight.

Holy Diver quickly established the singer’s hypnotizing skill for delivering messages that pierced the wild heart of the metal generation. Due to a wellspring of strength built from childhood struggles, Ronnie learned to soar with words, writing anthems to overcoming, paeans to personal power, and overtures to outcasts, all with a verve that stressed independence in the face of dark forces.

Many of Dio’s most memorable songs revolved around the struggle between good and evil, including “Heaven and Hell”, which would later become the moniker of the revived version of Black Sabbath that Ronnie fronted from 2006 up until his death. He also drew heavily on medieval imagery in such songs as “Neon Knights”, “Killing the Dragon” and “Stargazer”.

In 1986, Dio organized “Hear N’ Aid”, an all-star charity collaboration to raise money for famine relief in Africa. “He possessed one of the greatest voices in all of heavy and had a heart to match it,” commented Twisted Sister guitarist Jay Jay French, whose band has toured with Dio since 1983, told the Associated Press.

Ronnie continued his charitable work, supporting Children of the Night, a nonprofit organization committed to rescuing children from prostitution, and various animal charities. He also had the honor of having a street named after him in his home town of Cortland, New York (Dio Way).

So there you have it, forty-plus years of Dio domination, much of it a commercial smash, all of it thoughtful and painstakingly creative. Ronnie reminds us that an album is forever – that each one is a document carved in time, to be studied and enjoyed by generations of listeners.

The Dio canon is now regarded as above and beyond trend, one of the few hallowed metal collections composing the very definition of “classic rock”. As Ronnie once proclaimed, “Long Live Rock and Roll”. The Man on the Silver Mountain has left behind a legacy that will never be forgotten.

Discography:

Tournado – Eagle Records 2009
The Devil You Know (Heaven and Hell)
– Rhino/Roadrunner 2009
Heaven and Hell Live Radio City Music Hall (CD/DVD) – Rhino 2007
Black Sabbath: The Dio Years – Rhino 2007
Master of the Moon – SPV/Sanctuary 2004
Sacred Heart (DVD) – Rhino 2004
Stand Up and Shout – Rhino 2003
Evil Or Divine (DVD) – Spitfire 2003
Killing the Dragon – Spitfire 2002
The Very Beast of Dio –
Rhino/Warner Bros. 2000
Magica – Spitfire 2000
Inferno/Last in Live – Mayhem 1998
Angry Machines – Mayhem 1996
Strange Highways – Reprise 1994
Dehumanizer (Black Sabbath) –
Reprise 1992
Lock Up the Wolves – Reprise 1990
Dream Evil – Warner Bros. 1987
Intermission – Warner Bros. 1986
Sacred Heart – Warner Bros. 1985
Hear N Aid – Warner Bros. 1985
The Last in Line – Warner Bros. 1984
Holy Diver – Warner Bros. 1983
Live Evil (Black Sabbath) –
Warner Bros. 1982
Best of Rainbow – Polydor 1981
Mob Rules (Black Sabbath) –
Warner Bros. 1981
Heaven and Hell (Black Sabbath) –
Warner Bros. 1980
Long Live Rock N Roll (Rainbow) –
Polydor 1978
On Stage (Rainbow) –
Oyster/Polydor 1977
Rising (Rainbow) – Oyster/Polydor 1976
Ritchie Blackmore’s Rainbow –
Oyster/Polydor 1975
Trying to Burn the Sun (Elf) –
MGM 1975
L.A./59 (Elf) – MGM 1974
Elf – Epic 1972
Accomplishments:
•Voted #1 and #3 on VH1’s “100 Most Metal Moments”
•MTV animated Series “Leatherwulf”, 29 Episodes featuring the gods of metal (Ronnie James Dio and others to be announced)
•Merchandise dolls in the works
•Voted #1 Greatest Heavy Metal Singer, The Encyclopedia of Heavy Metal, 2003
•A street, Dio Way in Cortland, NY named for and dedicated to Ronnie, December 1988.
•Received the Children of the Night Philanthropist Award, November 1988.
•Performance Outstanding Stage Set, 1985
•Hit Parader Vocalist of the Year, 1985
•Manchester Apollo Sold Out Award, 1987
•Ampex Golden Reel Awards for Holy Diver, The Last in Line, and Sacred Heart
•Various platinum and gold records
•Concrete Foundations’ Dave Prichard Humanitarian Award, 1991
•Classic Rock Metal Guru Award, 2006
•Metal Hammer Golden Gods Award, 2007
•Inducted into Hollywood Rock Walk, 2007.
•Revolver Golden Gods Liquid Metal Best Vocalist Award, 2010
•Kerrang Icon Award, 2010.

FREE DIO MP3 DOWNLOAD

Strange Highways
The Last In Line
Lock Up The Wolves
Holy Diver
Dream Evil
Sacred Heart
The Very Beast Of Dio

Black Label Society

2010-10-23T08:38:00.002+07:00

Zakk Wylde is a hard working metal-meister; he has enjoyed a career with Ozzy Osbourne as his protégé and guitarist, as a solo artist, and with his two bands, Pride and Glory (who released one eponymous album) and Black Label Society.

Michael Schenker Group - Live In Tokyo: 30th Anniversary Japan Tour [Live]

2010-10-20T08:31:00.000+07:00

This performance was recorded in January 2010 during the 30th Anniversary Japan Tour. On this tour, the Michael Schenker Group consisted of Michael Schenker, Gary Barden, Simon Phillips, Wayne Findlay, and Neil Murray. The band, in impectable form, blasts through a track list highlighting all stages of Schenker's career: from UFO and Scorpions hits, through MSG classic tracks, to his solo compositions.

TRACK LIST :
Disc One

Welcome Howl
Feels Like A Good Thing
Cry for the Nations
Let sleeping Dogs Lie
Armed & Ready
Victim of Illusion
Are You Ready To Rock
I Want You
A Night To Remember
Into The Arena

Disc Two

Lost Horizons
Rock My Nights Away
On And On
Attack Of The Mad Axeman
Ride On My Way
Rock Bottom
Dance lady Gipsy
Doctor, doctor

The Union : Elton John/Leon Russell

2010-10-16T05:56:00.000+07:00

The Union was recorded in Los Angeles earlier this year, with guest musicians including Brian Wilson, Booker T, Don Was and Neil Young. Cameron Crowe has filmed the sessions for a documentary, creating too a moment of history as this is the first time that the genesis of Elton's music has been recorded on film. Critics who have had an early preview of the album are united in praise for the work that Elton describes as a "Seventies record with a modern feel."

MONSTER MAGNET : Mastermind

2010-10-15T06:05:00.000+07:00

Described as a “mind-expansion team” by The New York Times, New Jersey’s MONSTER MAGNET is hands down one of the most explosive and exciting U.S. rock bands of the last two decades. The band will release its long-awaited new album “Mastermind“ this October.

"It's a big, beefy ball of demented anthems and power rock," says MAGNET frontman Dave Wyndorf with enthusiasm. "The music itself is exaggerated and muscular. Like classic rock gone insane! Giant hooks, giant sounds. The rockers are direct and intense. The ballads, trippy and strange. It's guitar heaven."

And the lyrics? Dave laughs. "Well, the lyrics read like a fever-dream of life in the 21st century. Cynicism, optimism, satire, sex, deluded fantasies and dead-on reality. They're all here – sometimes even in the same song! In my world, images, information and emotions tend to intertwine. I’ll describe the smallest details of my personal life in crazy, cinematic terms. When I write, the words play out in my mind like scenes from a movie and that's the vibe I tried to capture on "Mastermind" – rapid-fire emotion. What can I say? I'm having a weird life and I have to write it down that way."

MONSTER MAGNET formed in 1989; fusing a template born of metal, punk, space rock and psychedelic influences. The band soon developed a sludgy, feedback-heavy hard rock sound that helped them stand out from the era's burgeoning retro-rock movement. After signing with independent label Caroline Records in 1992, the band recorded its first full-length album: the very impressive, uniquely dark psychedelic masterpiece “Spine of God”. A support tour with the then fast-rising Soundgarden helped attract the attention of A&M Records, who would issue MONSTER MAGNET’s stellar major-label debut “Superjudge” in 1993.

With 1995’s “Dopes to Infinity”, MONSTER MAGNET would achieve interstellar overdrive, becoming international superstars. Recorded at The Magic Shop and Electric Lady Studios in New York, the album yielded the top-ten rock single "Negasonic Teenage Warhead", still a staple of the band’s live set. The record’s massively successful follow up – 1998’s “Powertrip” – unleashed the singles "Powertrip", "Temple of Your Dreams", "See You In Hell", and the hugely successful “Space Lord”, all of which received substantial rock radio airplay. Two years worth of world tours with the likes of Aerosmith, Metallica, Rob Zombie, and Marilyn Manson made MONSTER MAGNET a household name.

2004’s “Monolithic Baby!” and 2007’s “4-Way Diablo” were bridged with a break in time when Wyndorf overdosed on prescription drugs. After a successful battle with his personal demons, the artist returned stronger and more focused than ever and today, continues to play and make great rock and roll…
…Which brings us full circle to the impending record, “Mastermind”. Saying that the album is a “return to form” would be a severe understatement. Songs such as the first single “Gods and Punks” and “100 Million Miles” are among the catchiest and heaviest hitting tracks in MONSTER MAGNET’s storied catalog. Or to let the frontman succinctly sum it up:

"In the end, ‘Mastermind’ ROCKS, and that's what's most important."

ALL THAT REMAINS: For We Are Many

2010-10-14T07:18:00.000+07:00

One of hard rock's preeminent breakthrough success stories of recent years, the Massachusetts-based quintet ALL THAT REMAINS has built its career on overcoming the odds. From cracking the Billboard Top 20, to joining the elite active rock radio fraternity, to being one of just a handful of acts to take part in the Rockstar Mayhem Festival, Ozzfest and Vans Warped Tour trifecta, the group has shattered previously-held expectations about just how far a band with roots in independent heavy metal can go – and with their fifth album, For We Are Many, it's clear they're only getting warmed up.

Although guitarist Oli Herbert says For We Are Many was the group's most challenging album to date, he believes the end result was worth the fight. "I feel we have a consistently strong album that has not left even the smallest detail to chance," he says. Vocalist Phil Labonte agrees. "When we wrote the album, it was a really good time for the band creatively," he says. "Mike (Martin, guitars), Oli and I have written four discs together now, so when we get together, it's very easy to communicate ideas."

While the album was again produced by Killswitch Engage guitarist and fellow Massachusetts native Adam Dutkiewicz (August Burns Red, Parkway Drive, As I Lay Dying) – who previously collaborated with the band on their second and third albums, This Darkened Heart (2004) and The Fall of Ideals (2006) – For We Are Many sees ALL THAT REMAINS unafraid to experiment. One track ("Won't Go Quietly") includes a guitar solo featuring a talk-box; another sees the band utilize a Leslie speaker, which gives the Hammond B-3 organ its distinctive sound. "We weren't afraid to be wrong," Labonte says. "If we try something and don't like it, no big deal – but if you don't try it, you might miss something cool."

Herbert praises Dutkiewicz for the professionalism he brought to the table. "Adam is a very gifted but demanding producer," he says. "He can make you laugh, and then cry the next moment when he informs you of your continued failure. He does it in a joking manner, of course, but at the end of the day, nothing short of perfection is accepted under his watchful ear. This gave me comfort, in that only the best performances were used and I didn't have to second-guess myself."

Following the runaway success of 2008's Overcome – which debuted at #16 on the Billboard Top 200 and yielded two top 20 active rock hit singles, "Forever In Your Hands" and "Two Weeks" (the latter of which peaked at #6) – many bands would get complacent, but ALL THAT REMAINS' decade-long fight for survival prepared them for the long haul. "We are a band that came up the hard way, and the first seven years were pure struggle," admits Herbert. "Once big things started happening along the way, we have been greatly appreciative." Labonte echoes the sentiment. "It's been over 10 years since we started ATR, and it's amazing that in this day and age, we're still able to do this for a living," he says. "It's the most amazing, crazy, annoying, fun and rewarding job I can imagine, and we're so grateful to the people who have been here all along, and to all the new people who are just getting into the band right now."

After laying the groundwork for the release of Overcome with a summer-long stint on the 2008 Vans Warped Tour, ALL THAT REMAINS – which also features drummer Jason Costa and bassist Jeanne Sagan – toured aggressively around the globe, including North American stints with underground metal heroes (In Flames, Trivium), hard rock heavyweights (Slipknot, Disturbed) and screamo titans (The Devil Wears Prada) alike. The 2009 Rockstar Mayhem Festival, meanwhile, saw the group perform alongside a lineup that ranged from Bullet For My Valentine to Slayer. In recent weeks, All That Remains has played with everyone from Avenged Sevenfold, to Limp Bizkit, to Fear Factory, further proving the diverse appeal of the band's unique mix of muscle and melody – something Herbert believes stems from the band's unique mix of personalities. "The five of us are radically different people with completely different views on what we like, and the challenge is to make those differences meet somewhere in the middle," he says.

As For We Are Many proves, never has compromise sounded so compelling. The album deftly shifts from the aggression of the title track, to the memorable hooks of "The Last Time" and first single "Hold On," to the slow groove of the chorus of "Dead Wrong," with infectious vocal melodies and fleet fingered yet tasteful guitar solos peppered throughout. Musically, the measured and precise riffing of Herbert and Martin and Costa's complex rhythms compel throughout, as they surely will on stage when ATR kicks off an extensive touring cycle with As I Lay Dying, to be immediately followed by a headlining tour beginning in mid-October.

Having SoundScanned a combined half-million copies of their last two albums alone, ALL THAT REMAINS is poised to soar to new heights, but as For We Are Many proves, they'll do so on their terms, without compromising the ideals and independence demonstrated during the band's first decade of existence. "Every time a band gains more success," Herbert says, "they are expected to live up to or surpass their previous effort – but we just wanted to make a consistently good album." Clearly, sometimes modest goals yield immodest dividends.

Neil Young : Le Noise

2010-10-13T05:49:00.000+07:00

Neil Young was release a brand-new solo album, entitled Le Noise, on September 28th on Reprise Records. The eight-song album is a collaboration between the acclaimed rock icon and musician, songwriter, and producer Daniel Lanois, known for his work with U2, Bob Dylan, Peter Gabriel, Brian Eno, Emmylou Harris, Willie Nelson, The Neville Brothers and many others. As producer or co-producer Lanois won Grammy Awards in 1987, 1992, 1997, 2000, and 2001.

Young and Lanois have crossed paths musically over the course of many years, including Lanois’ performances at Young’s Bridge School Benefit Concert and Young’s performance at Farm Aid when Lanois was Willie Nelson’s music director, but this is the first time the two have recorded together. Recorded in Lanois’ home in the Silverlake area of Los Angeles, Le Noise features Young on acoustic and electric guitars with Lanois adding his trademark sonic textures, creating one of the most sonically arresting albums Young has ever recorded. No band, no overdubs, just “a man on a stool and me doing a nice job on the recording,” as Lanois puts it.

“Neil was so appreciative of the sonics that we presented to him,” Lanois says. “He walked in the door and I put an acoustic guitar into his hands — one that I had been working on to build a new sound. That’s the multi-layered acoustic sound that you hear on the songs ‘Love and War’ and ‘Peaceful Valley Boulevard.’ I wanted him to understand that I’ve spent years dedicated to the sonics in my home and that I wanted to give him something he’d never heard before. He picked up that instrument, which had everything — an acoustic sound, electronica, bass sounds — and he knew as soon as he played it that we had taken the acoustic guitar to a new level. It’s hard to come up with a new sound at the back end of 50 years of rock and roll, but I think we did it.”

Le Noise will be released in several formats, including standard CD, vinyl, digital download, and as a deluxe CD/DVD. The DVD portion, shot by cinematographer Adam Vollick, will feature eight black and white films of Young performing each song solo on acoustic and electric guitar live in the studio. In November, Reprise will also release a Blu-Ray edition, featuring Lanois and Vollick’s beautifully shot films of Young.

Writing about Le Noise after hearing it at Lanois’ home, The Los Angeles Times commented: “What’s striking about Le Noise is the way it both summarizes and distills Young’s singular approach to music, predominantly just Neil and a guitar: his big, white hollow-body Gretsch electric slashing and burning for most of the tracks, a couple built around picked and strummed acoustic instruments. Both are recorded and amplified -- literally and metaphorically -- by Lanois’ signature soundscapes that loop vocals, and enhance the guitars’ bass notes through distortion boxes, synthesizers and other electronics.”

Double Fantasy Stripped Down [New Mix + Original Recording Remastered]

2010-10-11T18:33:00.000+07:00

As half of the singing/song-writing core of The Beatles, John Lennon stands as one of the most influential figures in 20th Century music. With Sir Paul McCartney, guitarist George Harrison and drummer Ringo Starr, the Beatles changed the face of popular music forever. Nearly all Beatles songs were co-credited to Lennon-McCartney, but Lennon was largely responsible for many of their most experimental songs, such as "Tomorrow Never Knows" (which utilized McCartney's home tape loops), "Strawberry Fields Forever" and "Revolution 9". He was also the primary writer of "A Hard Day's Night", "All You Need Is Love", "I Am The Walrus", "Happiness Is A Warm Gun", "I'm Only Sleeping" and "I Want You (She's So Heavy)", among many others. After his success with the Beatles, Lennon went on to enjoy a successful solo career and campaign for world peace, before he was tragically shot dead outside his New York apartment at the age of 40.

Before the dissolution of the Beatles in 1970, Lennon formed The Plastic Ono Band with his new wife Yoko Ono, and a revolving door of other musical friends. In March and May 1969, Lennon and Ono famously staged two week-long 'bed-in' protests for peace, during which he wrote and recorded "Give Peace A Chance", which became a chart hit across the world and an anthem for peace activists. His first official solo album was the avant-garde John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band, which was hugely critically acclaimed and was a Top Ten seller in the UK and USA. In 1971, he released Imagine, which was consciously more commercial than John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band, and again it was widely praised by reviewers and a huge sales success, topping album charts worldwide. The idealistic title track has become Lennon's most famous solo work, and is often thought to be one of the greatest pop songs of all-time.

Between 1973 and 1975, Lennon and Ono split for a period of 18 months that Lennon referred to as his "lost weekend". He collaborated with Elton John, David Bowie and Ringo Starr among others, and had a relationship with his personal assistant May Pang. He returned to Ono in 1975 and in October they had their first child, Sean. After retiring from music to care for his son, John Lennon returned in 1980 with Double Fantasy, a joint effort with his wife. Only months later, on December 8th, John Lennon was shot four times by Mark David Chapman, who was angry at Lennon for criticising religion and for criticising capitalism while being a multi-millionaire himself. Lennon was rushed to hospital but had already lost too much blood.

Iron Maiden : The Final Frontier

2010-10-11T17:52:00.001+07:00

30 years, 80 million album sales, close to 2000 live performances, countless satisfied customers and now 15 studio albums of unerring quality and power: Iron Maiden have more than earned their proudly-held status as undisputed heavy metal champions of the world.

Founded by bassist Steve Harris in the mid ‘70s, Iron Maiden were already firmly established as heavy metal’s brightest hopes when they stormed the world with their third album (and first with vocalist Bruce Dickinson) The Number Of The Beast in 1982. Unstoppable throughout the decade that followed, Maiden recorded and toured relentlessly with seven new studio albums and seven World Tours in the ‘80s alone , cementing their reputation as the hardest-working band on the planet and further strengthening a unique identity and remarkable relationship with their fans.

With the unmistakable figure of band mascot Eddie adorning every album cover, T-shirt and backdrop, Iron Maiden created a world of their own; one that welcomed fans from every culture, creed and social sphere with a guarantee of heartfelt conviction and unprecedented professionalism.

A five-piece band for the first 20 years of their career, in 1999 Iron Maiden became a six-piece, and established the ultimate Iron Maiden line-up of Bruce Dickinson on vocals, Steve Harris on bass, Nicko McBrain on drums and “the three amigos” – Adrian Smith, Dave Murray and Janick Gers - on guitar. This line-up has scaled breath-taking new heights and become increasingly fearless and boldly creative since the release of the Brave New World album in 2000.

With both 2003’s diverse and ingenious Dance Of Death album and its dark and daring follow-up, 2006’s A Matter Of Life And Death, they dazzled fans and critics alike. With each successive tour, whether revisiting classic songs from their first few albums or playing A Matter Of Life And Death in its entirety, Maiden accrued countless new admirers, momentum building all the while.

This brave new Maiden era reached an astonishing zenith during the band’s Somewhere Back In Time Tour that began in February 2008 and initially took the band 50,000 miles around the world in 45 days, flying in their own specially chartered Boeing 757, Ed Force One, piloted by Bruce Dickinson, a qualified airline captain, traversing the planet, from India to Costa Rica, Australia to Argentina, Sao Paolo to Tokyo. Along with tours of Europe and North America, the Somewhere Back In Time tour saw Maiden play 89 concerts in front of two million fans in 38 countries on five Continents, forging new relationships with countries they had never performed in before and strengthening ties with nations that had long been part of Maiden’s global family. This unique undertaking was celebrated in 2009’s widely praised, award-winning Flight 666 movie, and subsequent DVD release which topped the music DVD charts in 25 countries.

Proudly refusing to take their collective foot from the accelerator, and picking up their first ever Brit Award along the way for Best British Live Act 2009, Iron Maiden are now back with a brand new studio album, just over a year on from the end of that mammoth tour. The Final Frontier is the band’s 15th album in 30 years and it is plainly one of the strongest and most wildly inventive things they have ever produced; a 76-minute tour-de-force of soaring melodies, thunderous heaviness and astonishing compositional bravery it looks certain to be regarded as a new landmark in the band’s career.

Brian Setzer : Don't Mess With A Big Band: Live

2010-10-09T17:41:00.000+07:00

Review By Paul Tognetti

In a recent online poll Brian Setzer was voted "The World"s Greatest Living Guitarist". If you are skeptcal about this I urge you to check out the phenomenal new double disc album "The Brian Setzer Orchestra: Don't Mess With A Big Band". Recorded during the band's 2009 tour of Japan "Don't Mess With A Big Band" offers up 19 exciting and innovative tracks including some old time rock and roll, a few swing numbers and a boatload of Setzer's favorite genre rockabilly. I rarely buy "live" recordings but this one was a "must" purchase as soon as I learned about it.

Word has it that Brian Setzer has a huge guitar collection spanning many decades and brands. He is known to prefer the vintage models and Brian put a number of them through their paces during the group's tour of Japan. "Jaw-dropping" is the term the record company uses to describe Brian's guitar work on this album. I would most certainly agree! There are so many highlights on these discs but I would have to single out Brian's amazing interpretation of Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov's classical piece "Flight of the Bumblebee". "Honey Man" features what has to be the most amazing piece of guitar work that I have ever heard. Listen and see if you agree! Meanwhile, the balance of the orchestra is on top of their game throughout as well. As always the brass section is terrific and I actually enjoyed their work every bit as much. Among my favorite tracks on Disc One are "Batman" (the original ABC- TV series theme), the swingin' sound of "The Dirty Boogie" and the group's remake of the 1958 Eddie Cochran classic "Summertime Blues" which is quite true to the original. Great stuff!

But I liked Disc Two even more! From the earliest days of his career Brian Setzer's first love has been rockabilly and the entire second disc is devoted to this genre. Each and every one of these ten tracks is a winner. You can tell that the Japanese audience just eats up this stuff. "Gene and Eddie" is a tribute to rockabilly pioneers Gene Vincent and Eddie Cochran. What a super tune! And Stray Cats fans will be happy to hear that several of the group's most popular numbers including "Stray Cat Strut", "Rock This Town" and of course "Jump, Jive An' Wail" are included here as well. I found that it is virtually impossible to sit still while this album is playing.

"The Brian Setzer Orchestra: Don't Mess With A Big Band" includes a nicely done 12 page booklet featuring s number of remarkable photos from the Japanese tour. My first instincts proved to be right. This is an album definitely worth owning and something I will listen to again and again. Very highly recommended!

Bon Jovi Greatest Hits - The Ultimate Collection

2010-10-09T17:23:00.000+07:00

This title will be released on November 9, 2010.
Pre-order now!
Ships from and sold by Amazon.com. Gift-wrap available.

Track Listings

Disc: 1
1. Livin' On a Prayer
2. You Give Love A Bad Name
3. It's My Life
4. Have A Nice Day
5. Wanted Dead Or Alive
6. Bad Medicine
7. We Weren't Born To Follow
8. I'll Be There For You
9. Born To Be My Baby
10. Blaze Of Glory
11. Who Says You Can't Go Home (Duet with Jennifer Nettles)
12. Lay Your Hands On Me
13. Always
14. Runaway
15. What Do You Got? (NEW)
16. No Apologies (NEW)
Disc: 2
1. In These Arms
2. Someday I'll Be Saturday Night
3. Lost Highway
4. Keep The Faith
5. When We Were Beautiful
6. Bed of Roses
7. This Ain't A Love Song
8. These Days
9. (You Want To) Make A Memory
10. Blood On Blood
11. This Is Love This Is Life (NEW)
12. The More Things Change (NEW)

The Witmark Demos: 1962-1964 (The Bootleg Series Vol. 9)

2010-10-09T08:14:00.000+07:00

This title will be released on October 19, 2010.
Pre-order now!
Ships from and sold by Amazon.com. Gift-wrap available.

Product Details

Audio CD (October 19, 2010)
Original Release Date: 2010
Number of Discs: 2
Label: Columbia
ASIN: B0040GJ312

Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #2 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

#1 in Music > Rock
#2 in Music > Pop
TRACK LISTING

Disc: 1
1. Man On The Street (Fragment)
2. Hard Times In New York Town
3. Poor Boy Blues
4. Ballad For A Friend
5. Rambling, Gambling Willie
6. Talking Bear Mountain Picnic Massacre Blues
7. Standing On The Highway
8. Man On The Street
9. Blowin’ In The Wind
10. Long Ago, Far Away
11. A Hard Rain’s A-Gonna Fall
12. Tomorrow Is A Long Time
13. The Death of Emmett Till
14. Let Me Die In My Footsteps
15. Ballad Of Hollis Brown
16. Quit Your Low Down Ways
17. Baby, I’m In The Mood For You
18. Bound To Lose, Bound To Win
19. All Over You
20. I’d Hate To Be You On That Dreadful Day
21. Long Time Gone
22. Talkin’ John Birch Paranoid Blues
23. Masters Of War
24. Oxford Town
25. Farewell
Disc: 2
1. Don’t Think Twice, It’s All Right
2. Walkin’ Down The Line
3. I Shall Be Free
4. Bob Dylan’s Blues
5. Bob Dylan’s Dream
6. Boots Of Spanish Leather
7. Walls of Red Wing
8. Girl From The North Country
9. Seven Curses
10. Hero Blues
11. Whatcha Gonna Do?
12. Gypsy Lou
13. Ain’t Gonna Grieve
14. John Brown
15. Only A Hobo
16. When The Ship Comes In
17. The Times They Are A-Changin’
18. Paths Of Victory
19. Guess I’m Doing Fine
20. Baby Let Me Follow You Down
21. Mama, You Been On My Mind
22. Mr. Tambourine Man
23. I’ll Keep It With Mine

CLAPTON : ERIC CLAPTON

2010-10-08T17:28:00.001+07:00

"This album wasn’t what it was intended to be at all," says Eric Clapton. "It’s actually better than it was meant to be because, in a way, I just let it happen. It’s an eclectic collection of songs that weren’t really on the map—and I like it so much because if it’s a surprise to the fans, that’s only because it’s a surprise to me, as well."

On CLAPTON, his nineteenth solo album, the only person who has been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame three separate times explores the wide range of influences that helped to form his musical sensibility. From a glimmer of an idea—a wish to record some of the jazz standards that he grew up with alongside songs by his frequent collaborator and inspiration JJ Cale—Clapton created a collection that touches on everything from century-old traditional brass bands to little-known country blues to brand-new originals. The result is both relaxed and revelatory, and unlike anything the guitarist has done in his legendary career.

"When the time comes to make a record, I’ve either got something pressing to say or I haven’t," says Clapton. "If I haven’t, I’ll create some subterfuge—but then something interesting comes in underneath, and those have often been the most significant albums for me. Unplugged was a bit like that. On this one I thought, we might as well just have some fun. There was no calculation, it was all just what came to the surface. And I feel that on the album."

In the years since his last album, 2005's Back Home, Clapton has been involved in numerous projects with other musicians, including a 2006 album with Cale, The Road to Escondido, and historic tours alongside Steve Winwood (documented on the Grammy-nominated Live at Madison Square Garden album) and Jeff Beck. This spirit continued on CLAPTON; starting with co-producer/guitarist Doyle Bramhall II and a remarkable core of other musicians—drummer Jim Keltner, bassist Willie Weeks, and keyboardist Walt Richmond—the sessions later added guests including Winwood, Cale, Wynton Marsalis, Sheryl Crow, Allen Toussaint, and Derek Trucks.

"The album was made over three states and two countries," says Bramhall. "It was a chance to live out a musical dream, and it was a very prolific time. We just let the music dictate where we were going."
Clapton's affinity for the blues has, of course, defined much of his musical life, from his early days with the Yardbirds and John Mayall's Bluesbreakers to his recent work playing with B.B. King and revisiting the songs of Robert Johnson. Less familiar, though, is the impact of rollicking jazz numbers and intimate pop standards that inform CLAPTON.

"I never liked young kids' music," he says. "I like old people’s music. When I look for what I’m going to listen to, I go backwards. Most people are trying to figure out, 'How do I get in the fast lane, going that way?' I’m going in the other direction—I want to find the oldest thing to do."

At age 65, after more than four decades as one of the world's premier guitarists, Eric Clapton approaches these songs with familiarity and comfort, and finds a way to bring Texas bluesman Little Son Jackson's "Traveling Alone," JJ Cale's "River Runs Deep," and a moving, hushed "How Deep is the Ocean" under one roof. When he described the album to guitarist/musicologist Ry Cooder, Cooder said, "You can't do that, it'll give people whiplash!" (Clapton says with a laugh that after that discussion, he flirted with titling the album Whiplash.)

"A song like 'Autumn Leaves' is about where we are in our lives, really," he says. "We play rock & roll and blues and all that, but at the end of the day, we’re all balladeers. That song opened the door for all kinds of possibilities. Nothing is too schmaltzy, because if you play it right, with a little bit of funk, it can work. If someone likes it, great, and if they don’t, fine—it’s me I have to entertain at the end of the day."

Midway through the recording of CLAPTON, Clapton had a medical emergency and was rushed into surgery. While he was recovering, he had a musical vision that added yet another element to the album's unexpected mix. "While Eric was in the hospital, these two Fats Waller songs popped into his head," says Bramhall. "So he thought he should probably record them, because it must have meant something."

Bramhall contacted New Orleans eminence Allen Toussaint, an authority on the virtuoso composer and comedian Waller. The resulting recordings of "My Very Good Friend The Milkman" and "When Somebody Thinks You're Wonderful" feature two pianos, trumpet solos from jazz giant Marsalis, and a classic Crescent City horn section including Trombone Shorty and Dr. Michael White of the Preservation Hall Jazz Band.
Though this Dixieland style resembles nothing we've heard from Clapton before, he notes that the tests presented by the vast musical scope of CLAPTON are issues he has been confronting throughout his career.

"The challenge with these things has always been the same for me," he says. "How do you take, say, a Skip James song and transfer it to a contemporary blues, or rock, setting? The deliberate choice of who I play with is because I know and I trust what they’re going to do, and they bring something to it that nobody else can bring."

It seems significant that this album is the guitarist's first studio effort since the 2007 publication of his best-selling autobiography, also titled Clapton. Following the introspection required by that project, the disc's fourteen songs play like the musical memoir of an incredible journey. It's telling, too, that Clapton says he recorded the album with a very specific audience in his mind.

"When I’m on stage," he says, "I need to focus on someone, not just me, so I find someone—it might be my wife, or one of my daughters, or a friend who I haven’t seen for a long time. When I was making this record, I was thinking about my grandmother a lot, and my mother and my uncle. Those were the three chief influences in my life, and those were the people I was singing to, really."

Having tackled the material on CLAPTON, this master musician now seems most excited about the possibilities of what comes next. After starting this project on a whim, Eric Clapton found himself pursuing so many unexpected new directions that he sounds like a kid, exhilarated by the simple pleasures of making music just for the fun of it.

"There's no limit for what I can attempt to do," he says. "I think the next thing I’d like to do is to play some Latin stuff, or else go into that New Orleans jazz thing. That intrigues me, because what I do will fit in there—I can play electric guitar as if it were with Louis Armstrong and the Hot Five. Wouldn’t that be great?"

Beautiful Stories for Ugly Children - Mushroom Head

2010-10-07T17:23:00.000+07:00

After four years of waiting, Shroom delves deeper into their own world, offering us just a piece of what their limitless potential sounds like.

Every song is uniquely structured with the familiar synth's that we all remember from earlier days. The percussion from Skinny and Lil' Dan adds a thunderous dynamic to several songs, bridging the gaps between the ambient, ballad-esque tracks.

The vocal work is impeccable. Jeffery Nothing has taken his original pitch and soared above, reaching stronger highs and lows, emphasizing every lyric. Waylon offers more southern swagger in several songs, but still keeps that raging tone we first heard in Savior Sorrow, and also slows it down a bit with his softer ballad, candy sweet style of singing.

The samples are nonetheless original, with the voices of little kids offering a glimpse of untainted innocence that humanity is first born with.

The baseline and guitar work shines brightly. Beautiful Stories for Ugly Children is their second effort with only Gravy on guitars and he anchors the entire album with impeccable riffs, melodies, and well places solos.

All in all this album delivers what true Mushroomhead fans needed. The songs aren't all as catchy as those on Savior Sorrow, which draws listeners to spin the record over and over again. My only complaint is that Jeffery Nothing is the first singer to start most of the songs, but it builds every explosion that Waylon erupts into afterwards. Bravo Mushroomhead, one again we are offered a piece of whats to come!

SANTANA : GUITAR HEAVEN: THE GREATEST GUITAR CLASSICS OF ALL TIME

2010-10-01T19:00:00.000+07:00

When Carlos Santana was first approached by his friend Clive Davis to discuss the record executive’s idea for a new concept album, the legendary guitarist and bandleader was reticent, as is his nature. After all, these ‘guitar classics’, as the project came to be known, were “the Mona Lisas,” in Carlos’ words, “songs done by the daVincis of our time, legends of the guitar: Jimi Hendrix, Eric Clapton, George Harrison.” How could Carlos put his unique stamp on them?

Quite supremely, it turns out. Once the organic song selection process got underway, the creation of GUITAR HEAVEN: THE GREATEST GUITAR CLASSICS OF ALL TIME, became a labor of love for everyone involved: Carlos, his seasoned working Santana band (recording their first full-length studio album together), the amazing cast of megastar lead vocalists, each hand-picked for their chosen tracks, hitmaking producers Howard Benson and Matt Serletic, and of course Clive. His association with Santana has outlasted the 1960s, ’70s, ’80s. ’90s, and ’00s, and now kicks off another decade in the ’10s with GUITAR HEAVEN…

The turning point, reveals Clive, “was when he called me up and in the inimitable Santana way he said, ‘You know, I’ve really just trusted three people. I’ve trusted Bill Graham, I’ve trusted Miles Davis musically, and I’ve trusted you, and this is the time for a renewal of that trust and I will proceed’.” Carlos underscores this point: “To create these songs,” he affirms, “it took an incredible amount of trust – from Howard Benson, and from Matt Serletic, and all these incredible singers, all these incredible musicians, they had to trust me, and I trusted Clive. So it’s a chain reaction of love, because that’s the highest form of love that there is on this planet: Trust.”

These synergies explode throughout GUITAR HEAVEN… from the opening sonic boom of Led Zeppelin’s “Whole Lotta Love” featuring Chris Cornell, followed by the Rolling Stones’ “Can’t You Hear Me Knockin’” with Scott Weiland, all the way to the voodoo-laced closing moments of Howlin’ Wolf’s (via the Jeff Beck Group) “I Ain’t Superstitious” featuring Jonny Lang.

Clive’s intention to keep Santana’s music fresh for today’s fans of Guitar Hero and Rock Band fans is achieved by guest appearances from Chris Cornell (on Led Zeppelin’s “Whole Lotta Love”), Pat Monahan (on Van Halen’s “Dance the Night Away”), Chester Bennington and Ray Manzarek (on The Doors’ “Riders on the Storm”), Rob Thomas (on Cream’s “Sunshine Of Your Love), Scott Weiland (on the Rolling Stones’ “Can’t You Hear Me Knockin’”), Chris Daughtry (on Def Leppard’s “Photograph”), Gavin Rossdale (on T. Rex’s “Bang A Gong”) to rapper Nas with newcomer Robyn Troup (on AC/DC’s “Back In Black”), veteran Joe Cocker (on Jimi Hendrix’s “Little Wing”), and more.

Carlos was barely out of his teens himself when he first ran into Joe Cocker & the Grease Band circa 1968, the year that Jimi Hendrix’s Axis: Bold As Love catalyzed America. To describe Joe Cocker, Carlos invokes “pure, pristine, trueness… He does what a consummate artist should do, he makes time disappear, gravity disappear, problems disappear. Bob Dylan calls it ‘forever young,’ I call it eternally relevant.” Cocker’s delivery of “Little Wing” (from Axis), one of many showstopping moments of GUITAR HEAVEN…

Another inspired pairing features singer India.Arie and master cellist Yo-Yo Ma on George Harrison’s “While My Guitar Gently Weeps,” the first single pick from GUITAR HEAVEN… “Listening to the song,” Olivia Harrison told Carlos, “it made me jump for joy and cry at the same time… George understood your passion for compassion.” Carlos adds, “Spirituality to me is Mother Theresa, the Dali Llama and Desmond Tutu, Malcolm X, Marvin Gaye, Jimi Hendrix, Stevie Wonder, Andre Agassi, Clive, all of us do what we do because there is no greater joy than to be of service to humanity.”

In addition to the vocal roster, Carlos offers “supreme validation and compliment” to his full-time band for their work on GUITAR HEAVEN… Band members who join him on the album include Dennis Chambers (drums), Benny Rietveld (bass), Karl Perrazo (timbales), Tommy Anthony (rhythm guitar), Freddie Ravel (keyboards), Andy Vargas (background vocals), and Raul Rekow (Congas). Bill Ortiz (trumpet) and Jeff Cressman (trombone) also appear on the record.

There are many reasons why the songs on GUITAR HEAVEN… are so close to the heart for Carlos Santana, but the deepest connection is that so much of the music resonates within his own life and times. 1972’s “Bang A Gong,” for example, takes him right back to his years living as a vegetarian at Sri Chinmoy’s ashram in Jamaica, Queens, strolling down Parsons Boulevard while eating an eggplant hero, and hearing the T. Rex song blasting from a storefront. “Riders On the Storm” evokes the memory of buying snakeskin boots at a store in London at the height of the Sex Pistols punk rock era. “But this store still played the Doors, loud, and it sounded like Bitches Brew, it sounded like Miles. Man, what is this? I’d heard the Doors before, but the way I heard it there… when I played the song, it took me right back to that place.”

GUITAR HEAVEN: THE GREATEST GUITAR CLASSICS OF ALL TIME is the fourth chapter in a new-old rock saga, whose roots stretch back to 1997, when Clive Davis attended his first Santana concert in some years, at New York’s Radio City Music Hall. (The year before, in 1996, Santana had received the prestigious Billboard Century Award.) Clive originally signed Santana to Columbia Records in 1968, and oversaw the band’s formative years on the path to international superstardom starting in 1969. In the ’70s, their paths diverged, but nearly three decades later, the chemistry between them was as strong as ever. When Clive heard Carlos emotionally confess that his teenage children did not hear Santana on their favorite radio stations, Clive’s mission on behalf of his old friend became clear.

It took two years to develop the album – in the interim, Santana was inducted into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame in 1998. When Supernatural was released in 1999, it was the beginning of an industry phenom, 15-times RIAA platinum in the U.S. alone, nearly double that number of sales globally, the #6 best-selling album in SoundScan history. Supernatural spent 102 weeks on the Billboard chart including 12 weeks at #1. Its success was fueled by the #1 singles “Smooth” (12 weeks at #1, co-written by and featuring Rob Thomas of Matchbox Twenty) and “Maria Maria” (10 weeks at #1, featuring Product G&B). Indeed, the Santana kids were now hearing their dad on the radio, big time.

Supernatural generated nine GRAMMY awards, an all-time record for a single album project, including Album Of the Year and Best Rock Album, as well as Record Of the Year, Song of the Year, and Best Pop Collaboration, all for “Smooth”; plus Best Pop Performance by a Duo/Group for “Maria Maria”; Best Rock Performance by a Duo/Group for “Put Your Lights On” (featuring Everlast); Best Rock Instrumental Performance for “The Calling” (featuring Eric Clapton); and Best Pop Instrumental Performance (“El Farol”) There were also premiere Latin GRAMMY Award wins (the show’s first year) for Record Of The Year and Best Rock Performance by a Duo/Group for “Corazon Espinado” (featuring Maná).

Supernatural was a hard act to follow – but 2002’s Shaman gave Santana a second consecutive #1 multi-platinum album, propelled by the GRAMMY-winning Top 5 single “The Game of Love” featuring Michelle Branch; and Top 10 “Why Don’t You and I” with Chad Kroeger of Nickelback. The album also featured collaborations with Dido, Citizen Cope, Placido Domingo, Macy Gray, Alejandro Lerner, Musiq, Ozomatli, P.O.D., and Seal.

Third in this series of collaborative albums was 2005’s All That I Am, which entered SoundScan at #2, led by the anthemic rocker “Just Feel Better,” featuring Steven Tyler of Aerosmith. Other collaborators included Big Boi of OutKast and Mary J. Blige (on “My Man”), will.i.am of the Black Eyed Peas (on “I Am Somebody”), Joss Stone and Sean Paul (on “Cry Baby Cry”), Michelle Branch, Raphael Saadiq of Tony! Toni! Tone! and the Wreckers (all on “I’m Feeling You”), plus Anthony Hamilton, Kirk Hammett & Robert Randolph, Bo Bice, and Los Lonely Boys.

This quartet of albums – Supernatural, Shaman, All That I Am, and now GUITAR HEAVEN… – stands alone in the annals of rock history. More than a decade after they renewed their association, the working partnership of Carlos Santana and Clive Davis continues to thrive and build upon its success. To call their partnership unique in the music industry is an understatement. “Carlos has a very strong inner sense of what is right for him,” observes Clive. “He listens with an ear for the music but he also listens knowing, can this song be right for Santana? Can he make it his own? Does he feel that this came to him fresh? I want Carlos to flower as he felt it and as he saw it. That was very important to me, just let it flow.”

Long before “world music” was a destination at search engines across the globe – or was even a genre, for that matter – Carlos Santana and the band that bears his name were laying down the tracks that would bring homegrown electric American music to the four corners of the earth. In turn, the music ricocheted back to our shores, filtered through the musical waterfalls of Afro-pop and Afro-beat, Caribbean voodoo-rock, and a dozen geopolitical musical zones that now regard Santana as one of their own.

Carlos Humberto Santana de Barragan came from the humblest of backgrounds. He was born 1947, in Autlan de Navarro, Jalisco, Mexico (where a street and public square now bear his name). His father, a virtuoso mariachi violinist, instilled a musical spirit in his son who also began playing violin at age five. Later, when the family moved north to the bustling border town of Tijuana, Carlos took up the guitar and began to absorb his first influences. Listening to the powerful American radio stations whose signals reached into Mexico, he fell under the spell of John Lee Hooker, T. Bone Walker, and B.B. King, a trinity of guitar heroes whose styles blurred the lines of blues and jazz.

By age 14, his family had moved to San Francisco, where Carlos graduated high school in 1965. He soon began talking his way into shows promoted by Bill Graham and others at the Fillmore, Winterland, and Avalon ballrooms. It was an eclectic crash course in Muddy Waters, Mongo Santamaria, British rock, and the first wave of first generation Bay Area bands whose members were all just a few years older than him: Jefferson Airplane, Big Brother & the Holding Company, Grateful Dead, Quicksilver Messenger Service.
The Santana Blues Band was formed in 1966, its name owed to some fine print in the San Francisco musicians union contract that one person be named the leader, though everyone thought of it as a collective. The band’s heady concoction of West Coast soul, Latin percussion, groovy organ, and Carlos’ stratospheric lead guitar was an immediate sensation. By 1967, they were known simply as Santana.

They eventually came to the attention of Graham, who booked them for the first time in October at the Fillmore West on a bill with The Who, in their first appearance at the hall. As an opening act over the course of the next year, Santana gained a reputation for captivating and winning audiences – some would say stealing the show – no matter who the headliner was. At Graham’s personal request, Clive Davis flew out to San Francisco over Christmas week 1968, witnessed the Santana experience first hand, and signed the band to Columbia Records.

The band’s first Columbia recording sessions took place in January 1969. After a lineup shift, new sessions took place in May for what became the landmark Santana debut album. The LP release was aptly scheduled – for Monday, August 18, 1969, following their historic Saturday afternoon performance at the Woodstock Music & Art Fair (the only major act to play the festival before their debut album had been released). When Top 40 radio discovered “Evil Ways” in early 1970, the album jumped to #4, on its way to double-platinum and the #150 spot on Rolling Stone magazine’s 500 Greatest Albums list.

The debut’s success was eclipsed at the end of 1970, when “Oye Como Va” and “Black Magic Woman” sent Abraxas to #1 for 6 weeks; the Grammy Hall Of Fame album has sold more than 5 million copies to date in the U.S. alone. With “Everybody’s Everything” and “No One To Depend On” again reaching the Top 40, 1971’s Santana III spent 5 weeks at #1 and brought a third consecutive multi-platinum award.

In many ways, the band’s career is bookended by Santana, Abraxas and Santana III on one end of the timeline and – three decades later – Supernatural, Shaman and All That I Am, and now Guitar Heaven… at the other end of the timeline. The myriad adventures in between have been chronicled in more books than there are original studio and live albums in the official Santana catalogue (more than 35 titles to date on the Columbia, Columbia/Legacy, Polydor, and Arista labels).

In October 2007, Ultimate Santana was released, the most recent anthology – and the first to include touchstone tracks from the band’s early years on Columbia Records alongside the groundbreaking collaborations that highlight the Arista years. To date, it is the only place to find “Evil Ways,” “Oye Como Va,” “Black Magic Woman,” “Samba Pa Ti,” “Everybody’s Everything,” and “No One To Depend On” – and “Smooth,” “Maria Maria,” “Put Your Lights On,” “Corazon Espinado,” “The Game of Love,” and “Just Feel Better” (plus other selections) in one package. Two years later in 2009, the Supernatural: Legacy Edition double-CD was issued, featuring a newly remastered version of the album (for the first time in ten years), plus a second CD of outtakes, remixes and unreleased material from the original recording sessions.

The arc of Santana’s performing and recording career is complemented by a lifelong devotion to social activism and humanitarian causes. The Milagro Foundation was launched in 1998, the culmination of decades of support for countless charities and non-profit agencies the world over. With more than $4 million in grants to date, Milagro supports organizations promoting the welfare of underserved children in the areas of health, education, and the arts.
Carlos also become deeply involved in the fight against the AIDS pandemic in South Africa, through a partnership with ANSA – Artists for New South Africa. In fact, all of the proceeds from Santana's 2003 American tour were donated to the cause. Other organizations championed by Santana include Hispanic Education and Media Group, Doctors Without Borders, Save the Children, Childreach, Rainforest Action Network, Greenpeace, American Indian College Fund, Amnesty International, and the Los Angeles-based Museum of Tolerance.

Carlos' influence and idealism is also felt in the groundbreaking project Architects of a New Dawn (www.aoand.com), a multi-platform media enterprise and social network designed to empower like-minded people from all walks of life to create positive change in the global community. The project grew out of a vision Carlos has to engage his worldwide audience with extraordinary music, progressive media content and transformational ideas. AOND is architecting a new reality for the planet based on inspiration, creativity, love and forgiveness.

After more than 40 years on the world stage, Carlos Santana is at the pinnacle of his career, more vital and relevant – and more exposed on radio, TV and the Internet – than ever before. His passionate “old school” virtuosity and “new school” cool attract the hippest artists to every new recording project that he and Clive Davis initiate. At the essence is a signature sound that is unique and instantly identifiable. With his lifetime of achievement and dedication to music, every move that Santana makes is a multi-cultural event – the soundtrack for the world.

In May 2009, Santana became the first act to hold a residency at the spectacular, newly-expanded Joint at the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas. Supernatural Santana: A Trip Through The Hits is a musical retrospective running for 72 performances over 2009-2010. (In August 2010, a special GUITAR HEAVEN… launch event took place at The Joint, bringing together many of the album’s participants including India.Arie, Gavin Rossdale, and Chris Daughtry for a live concert event.)

The idea of a residency in Las Vegas represents a sea change for Carlos, who is on a personal campaign over the last two or three years, “to do everything that I said I would never do. So this year, I am committed to learn how to cook bouillabaisse, snorkel, and body surf. My whole life is entering a place with no fear. Replace fear with possibilities and opportunities. GUITAR HEAVEN…, when people listen to it, they will be transported into a place beyond what they knew, and to a new place where even my brothers and friends like Eric Clapton, Jimmy Page, and Jeff Beck will celebrate, that we are honoring them.”

“I feel really happy,” Carlos concludes, “I am more happy than I have ever been in my life because I am grateful. I am grateful for Clive, I am grateful for Michael Lang and Bill Graham and people who opened doors. Woodstock was a door, Supernatural was a door. Everyone who I ever met, Miles Davis or Tito Puente or B.B. King, all of them have gone out of their way to help me keep going. I have some great teachers, and some of them are my students too. We hope to touch many, many people’s hearts with GUITAR HEAVEN… It’s like Olivia said, our goal is to make people jump with joy and cry at the same time.”

Kamelot : "Poetry for the Poisoned"

2010-10-01T18:47:00.000+07:00

Kamelot originated in 1991, and signed their first record deal in 1994. Since then they have toured the world and released 8 studio albums, including most recently The Black Halo and Ghost Opera. Ready to continue their rise to the pinnacle of Metal royalty with their 9th studio album, “Poetry for the Poisoned”, founding guitarist Thomas Youngblood and vocalist Roy Khan are joined by drummer Casey Grillo, keyboardist Oliver Palotai, and new bassist Sean Tibbetts to complete their journey to systematically alter the face of Metal. In recent years, their releases have achieved cult status around the world, and "Poetry for the Poisoned" will once again raise the bar for others to follow

10 Years : Feeding the Wolves

2010-09-28T06:07:00.001+07:00

The members of 10 Years might not have used the word crossroads when they began the making of their newest Universal Republic album, but all would concur the wolf was at the door. Figuratively and literally – agree frontman Jesse Hasek and bassist Lewis Cosby; Fighting off the most unforgiving of predatory assaults that comes with the territory of a respected, veteran band like 10 Years who bears the scars of every battle won or lost along the way.

The close-knit members’ core creed has always demanded they set their own standards – answering only to their collective challenges as a band, wolves and industry naysayers…be damned.

The difference this time is they called on all their might. And more than a little wisdom.

The aptly titled result – Feeding The Wolves – thunders out from their storm-charred legacy as the heaviest album they’ve made in nearly a decade, a gift to loyal fans long promised darker hues from the Tennessee band, and maybe a much needed ‘opening’ for a rock world starving for some kick-ass direction, of late. Ominous songs such as “Shoot It Out,” “The Wicked Ones,” and “Now Is The Time” sound and feel as if they can stop bullets, spreading the kind of musical shards and shrapnel that only a band in peak, 10 Years’ condition can deliver.

“I’ve enjoyed every album we’ve made for different reasons,” says Jesse. “We never want to make the same record twice, but this one started with a kind of aggressive edge and ended with that same energy that really felt special. We worked hard not to take that ‘edge’ off. We kept the integrity of the songs by keeping them aggressive.” Lewis seconds the notion: “We’ve been saying for years we wanted to get back to a heavier, darker sound and then by the time we’d go into the studio, things would change. This time nothing changed. There was always that kick-ass feeling in the room, coupled with some things we haven’t done before.”

Producer Howard Benson (Seether, Flyleaf) was chosen to helm the proceedings, another integral component to locking down the 10 Years magic that had made them one of the world’s most enigmatic live and studio bands. “He understood where we were at and where we wanted to go,” says Lewis. “He was perfect for this ‘big’ sounding kind of record,” states Jesse.

Ironically, both Jesse and Lewis also cite the ‘drift’ after 2008’s prophetically titled Division - an album that was made after nearly two years on the road – as another factor in the path back to 10 Years’ reclamation: A trial by fire and those not-as-obvious corrosive elements that can whittle away at a band’s interior compass. The entire period became emblematic of the push-and-pull going on within 10 Years, truly a band that was stretched to its limits. “I think every band who has some success goes through it,” says Lewis. “But there were days after a show where I’d actually wonder ‘was this our last?’ We went through all kinds of changes during the Division cycle. Personnel changes, management changes – a lot of negativity rippling through our camp. We even made that record outside Seattle where we ended up only feeling more disconnected. We eventually decided to take some time away and get some perspective.”

A clean break can be cathartic – but never a guarantee that the players will reconvene on the same page. The band promised themselves before gathering for this album that getting back into that rehearsal room with their collective ‘headspace’ intact was priority number one. “There was just a feeling in the air that we were going to come hard on this one,” says Lewis. “We even gathered 3 weeks prior, in a rehearsal space in L.A. before we were scheduled to record, which was unusual for us. The fire in the belly was back.”

And as fate would have it, inspirational flames were also heating up the 10 Years furnace courtesy of the rehearsal room next door. “They probably don’t even know what it meant to us, but Rage Against The Machine was playing in the room next to us,” says Jesse. “We could just feel the sound coming out of the there. You have to understand, they, along with bands like Metallica and Nirvana and the Deftones were what we grew up on. To hear them killing it like that – I know it affected us.”

Lewis says the enthusiasm was palpable. “We were like kids, saying “’God, did you just hear that?’ I realized everything that was coming out of them was so riff-heavy. Our album was heading in that same direction. It was like a sign. We were so pumped. We arrived in LA with songs already written, yet here we were, so inspired, I bet we wrote five more in there that ended up on the album. We were on a mission on this one.”
A communal slugfest that also ended up being their most collaborative effort. “The way we write has always been an open door,” says Jesse. “We just kicked it down this time. Brian would bring in a guitar part, or I’d have some verses, but we were more methodical. We even went down a lot of avenues that didn’t end up on the record, but we went down them all together.”

Such crucial threads are pulled tight on songs like the bristling “Shoot It Out,” fanning the ‘feeding the wolves’ premise that came to represent some of the band’s ferocious themes on the new album. “We’re not just talking about the stereotypical ‘wolves’ in the music industry,” says Jesse. “Everybody on the planet has bigger dreams than just sitting around waiting to die. Sometimes you have to put yourself on the line for those dreams. You are out there – but so are the ‘wolves’ waiting to feed.” “And they can bleed you dry,” adds Lewis. Jesse confirms it was easy to work on that song as a band because the group was so in sync with the motivation behind it. “We’ve been through the ringer, where if you give people an inch they will take a mile,” he says. Another song that throws down the 10 Years gauntlet is the impenetrable “Fix Me.” “I think it’s going to be one of the songs that grabs people from the start,” says Lewis – fueled by lyrics that just may be slyly revealing the 10 Years hidden-code: ‘I’m fine in the fire/I feed on the friction/I’m right where I should be/Don’t try and fix me…/

If there has ever been a band comfortable about being appreciated solely on its merits – about being accepted ‘as is,’ that band is 10 Years.

Ever since 2001, when the group replaced their original vocalist with Jesse Hasek, 10 Years seemed to sense that being armed with signature sound and fury would eventually gain them one of the most loyal audiences in rock. In 2004, they released the indie missile Killing All That Holds You, featuring the now-classic “Wasteland” and “Through the Iris,” and netted them their major label debut with Universal Republic. Their acclaimed 2005 effort, The Autumn Effect, snagged them massive radio and video play, established their rabid audience, and handed them prime touring spots with bands such as Disturbed, Breaking Benjamin, Mudvayne and Sevendust. Later, torrid live-runs with Linkin Park, Korn and the Deftones, further cemented their reputation as one of the most credible live acts of the decade.

Division arrived in 2008, with the aforementioned trials mentioned by Lewis, and a baptism via rock n’ roll bullshit that might have annihilated lesser bands. “No need to go into it,” says Jesse. “It’s why I take my little digital recorder around. I’m always observing, always getting ideas. I find a corner and get ‘em down on tape. If I’m lucky, they sometimes blossom into songs.”

Known as a wordsmith who can hang with the best of them, but for also leaving room for the listener to interpret his riveting observations wrapped around the
scorching guitar treads of band co-founder Brian Vodinh, Hasek has also been humbled by simply being around his first child.

“Change isn’t always bad,” he says. “Most of the changes we have gone through have made us better people and a better band. The band-part takes all of us working hard to make the kind of music we know we are capable of. I think we did that on this one.”

Lewis says it was all about coming to the same conclusion without making any pronouncements. “It’s the most cooperative thing we’ve ever done by far. It’s like we all had the same epiphany without really having to talk about it too much. You’d be cheating yourself if you don’t sit down and listen to the entire album. We left it all there for everyone to hear.”

Avenged Sevenfold ; Nightmare

2010-09-24T05:49:00.000+07:00

The members of Avenged Sevenfold were well into work on the album of their lives. Then, in an instant, their lives changed. The Rev had died. They hadn’t just lost their drummer. They’d lost a family member – a guy who was best friends with vocalist M. Shadows since second grade in the Orange County town of Huntington Beach, and with guitarist Synyster Gates since fifth grade. The Rev had established himself as one of the most astounding, musical drummers in rock. He was beloved not only by the band, but by their extended family that includes the fans, from the first few locals when Avenged Sevenfold started out more than a decade ago, to the millions who now cherish their albums and have seen their unforgettable concerts worldwide.

Nightmare, the album the band was working on when Jimmy Sullivan died in late December, was already shaping up to be a dark masterpiece, a concept album tracing a journey of madness, despair, and, yes, death. The songs forged all of what Avenged Sevenfold had done before into a visionary prism bringing out new range on one hand and a focused intensity on the other. They already stood as a culmination of the journey from the indie metal-and-beyond 1999 debut Sound the Seventh Trumpet (recorded when the members were each just 18), through the constantly surprising, startlingly boundary-busting City of Evil (2005), and Avenged Sevenfold (2007), which turned these five friends into a global rock force, with all the power of what had become a concert powerhouse (as captured in the 2008 CD/DVD release Live in the LBC & Rough Diamonds). But now real life – and real loss -- rendered that almost trivial. Even continuing work on the album seemed impossible, unimportant for Shadows, guitarists Synyster Gates and Zacky Vengeance, and bassist Johnny Christ.

“We were going to see if we could write another song or two,” says Shadows of the days following the Rev’s death. “And we couldn’t. We weren’t in the mood for it. Sitting there trying to figure out chord progressions and guitar parts felt ridiculous.”

But soon the band realized that it was impossible for them not to continue, that it would be almost a betrayal of the Rev’s legacy and their love for him. He’d played an integral role in writing and crafting the tracks that had been demoed for the album. And just days before he died, he’d completed his ultimate accomplishment, baring his raw emotions in the song “Fiction” that now seemed to have foretold his own death and assured his friends in no uncertain terms that they had to carry on.

Most of the lyrics were rewritten, drummer Mike Portnoy (of the band Dream Theatre) was brought in to do the Rev’s in-theory inimitable parts, producer Mike Elizondo (Dr. Dre, Eminem, Regina Spektor) stayed on to help everyone rise to the now-transcendent occasion. “Nightmare” (the first single), “Welcome To The Family,” “Buried Alive,” “God Hates Us,” “Victims,” the closing epic “Save Me” – songs completed before and after the tragedy – all plumbed new depths of emotion and meaning. Synyster Gates was moved to write lyrics for the first time, laying bare his grief on “So Far Away.” And Nightmare truly became the album of their lives, the album literally of the Rev’s life and an achievement for the ages documenting the most intense, personal experience these people could imagine.

“It’s about how we were feeling at the time and are still feeling,” Shadows says. “When it first happens it’s much more intense. I realize now that we’re going to have to live with it and it’s never going to go away. The record is a lot different than if we hadn’t opened ourselves up right when it happened. We were more vulnerable and willing to put it out on the line.”

Elegiac bells open first track “Nightmare,” quickly pushed aside by Portnoy's furious drumming evoking the Rev's seemingly incomparable sound pound-by-pound, soon joined by the madhouse guitars of Gates and Vengeance before Shadows invokes the disorienting mental maze of the title. While there's a natural bleakness throughout the set – We all have emptiness inside, we all have answers to find, but you can’t win this fight, he sings in “Welcome To The Family” – there's also a great sense of self-discovery, epiphany, and redemption not just in the lyrics but in the scope of the inventive, engaging music.

Two songs that quickly became anchors for the album were “Buried Alive” and “Victim,” the former an anguished cry of hopelessness, the latter seeking meaning in loss, with a soaring gospel-soul twist via wordless vocal touches by Clare Torry, recalling Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon.

“‘Victim’ is about the first day we found out,” says Shadows, who had been out of town when he got the news. “I came back, stuck in traffic, crying, talking to his mom. And everyone came to my house. So it’s about that, everyone gathering. Pretty deep but transparent at the same time. Very much describing everything, without any holding back. We did that so many ways on this record. Syn wrote 'So Far Away,' an open letter to him. And 'Buried Alive' is how we were feeling at the time — Can't breathe, the whole world has changed.”

It was “Fiction,” the song the Rev had just finished, that helped lift any doubts about carrying on.
“He wouldn’t have wanted us to stop, and if it had been any one of us, it would be the same,” says bassist Christ. “Especially since he had written the song. ‘Fiction’ is one hundred percent his. You want people to hear how brilliant Jimmy really was, his songwriting as well as drumming. A lot of people know how great a drummer he was, but few know what a big part he played in the writing.” “Fiction” makes for an emotional anchor to the album, even if the title now seems like sad irony. The words are at once disturbing and comforting:

“I know you’ll find your own way, when I’m not with you tonight,” Sullivan wrote.
“This song is the proof that every aspect of our friend and every aspect of Avenged Sevenfold is more than just a regular band,” says Vengeance. “Jimmy, talented guy that he was, wrote one of the most clairvoyant songs ever, basically telling everyone goodbye and finishing it days before he died and wanting it to be called ‘Death.’ It’s just a song unlike anything else I’ve ever heard. That’s what we call a true artist, who tried to create something that’s never been done, in a way that touches people. And his voice is on it – the only song with his voice on the album.”

And it's with “Save Me” that the album – and the band – reach further and deeper than ever before, while at the same time coming full circle to the roots and the raw emotions of this adventure in living. “It's my favorite track,” says Shadows. “Very Rush, Dream Theatre, but with our own twists. We don't play too much and try to keep it focused. If you're going to make an 11-minute song you can't bore people. The riff is the first riff we made for this record. That dund-dund-dund thing, Jimmy was playing that, such a cool off-time thing. Coolest ever. That kick-drum pattern and then when he speeds up the snare, all over the place. We tried to write a song around it. Jimmy wrote a lot of the song – it was 15 minutes long and we started cutting it down. It was the first one we wrote and the last we finished. We had to get to the point where everything worked. I'm so proud of this. The ending is hard to listen to, but it’s a perfect thing. If you listen to it and let it go straight back to the beginning with 'Nightmare,' it comes full circle.”

As a whole, the album draws on everything from the earliest influences and inspirations that bonded the musicians in their youth to the vast spectrum of tastes these friends have developed over the years, reaching far outside the rock and punk universes one might expect.

“We wouldn’t be Avenged Sevenfold if we didn’t experiment with every kind of music in our brains,” says Gates. “Coming from a background where we listened to so much music and having musicians who understand and can get inside the heads of people playing on those records and producing, this band has a talent for that. When we do go into other genres, it comes off naturally. We lived it and breathed it. Songs like 'Fiction' – that's a complete departure. To me that’s Jimmy and little bit of me from when we were kids, that’s how I knew him. Songs like 'Tonight The World Dies,' slower, but not a ballad. We grew up listening to Stone Temple Pilots and Alice In Chains, stuff like that. Then you have 'Save Me,' the quintessential Avenged Sevenfold song. Undoubtedly to me a future fan favorite.”

The two Mikes – Elizondo and Portnoy – each transcended anything conventional about their roles, rising to the occasion and beyond. Elizondo was on board when formal work on the album began, well before the Rev's passing. To some it seemed like an odd match, but not to the band. “He came to us wanting to do the record as a fan of the band and as a fellow musician,” says Vengeance. “His repertoire consisted of massive rap, and some country, pop, hip-hop.”

It was that wide experience, and the fact that his credentials came from outside of metal, that appealed to Avenged. The artists that this band most admired, he adds, made a point of going outside the bounds themselves. So a move like this made perfect sense.

“For us it’s about surrounding ourselves with great people we love, and people passionate about Avenged Sevenfold. Everyone we work with is a fan first, and Mike was a huge fan of the band,” says M. Shadows. “To have someone who’s worked with Eminem and Dr. Dre come in and say, 'I truly love your band,’ means we have something more to offer. We're not a cliché metal band. People catch that we’re trying to do something different. Take chances. But especially now it's all about being real and using all our strengths. And he really understood that. He came in and got to spend time with us while we were working on the album with Jimmy, he got to see how magical Jimmy was. How loving and caring and funny and, obviously, one of the best drummers the Earth has ever known. He got to share our bond.”

Portnoy stepped into particularly dangerous territory, both in terms of the bands' and fans' emotions and expectations. But being a fan of both the group and the Rev himself, he approached it with a sense of respect to match his immense talent.

“Mike is the sweetest person, a vessel for us to use and transfer Jimmy’s legacy through onto tape,” says Gates. “He said, 'I’ll spend three days giving three or four takes of each song. It ended up taking two and a half weeks, and he did it with a smile. He hung out, shared stories. He was our knight in shining armor.”
Adds Vengeance, “He really helped us a lot, making sure every note was true to Jimmy. He made no apologies. He said this is how it had to be, note for note the way it was intended to be. He was an absolute pleasure to be around and a true fan of music and our band.”

Nightmare marks the beginning of a new era for Avenged Sevenfold, though just what that will be cannot be predicted.

“That’s an unknown,” says Christ. “I can’t tell you what I’m going to feel like tomorrow. We want to get this out and tour, and then we’ll try our very best to push on and do what we do and continue the legacy. The goal from day one, when we said we were going to do this album, was that we weren't going to half-ass it. It is Jimmy’s record and the fans will love it. And we want everyone to understand what was going on in the process.”

Disturbed : Asylum

2010-09-24T05:41:00.000+07:00

Since their 2000 breakout debut The Sickness, front man David Draiman, guitarist Dan Donegan, drummer Mike Wengren and bassist John Moyer have been infecting heavy metal with hit singles like "Stupify" and "Down with the Sickness." Their previous three albums—Believe (2002), Ten Thousand Fists (2005) and Indestructible (2008)—each debuted at Number One on Billboard's Top 200, making Disturbed one of only six rock bands in history to have three consecutive releases debut at Number One. The band has sold in excess of 11 million records worldwide and had eight No.1 singles at Active Rock Radio. Smash hit "Inside the Fire" garnered the band their first Grammy nomination for Best Metal Performance in 2009. All of these accomplishments have set the stage for Disturbed to open their Asylum.

Disturbed began building Asylum as soon as they got off the road in the summer of 2009. Officially entering Groovemaster Studios in February 2010, the band set about self-producing the album, as they did with Indestructible. Draiman declares, "This record shows a certain degree of maturation and enhanced complexity. Asylum is still identifiably Disturbed, but the evolution is clear. It preserves the elements of what we do but at a more advanced level."

"We took our signature foundation, and we tried to build on that," adds Donegan. "For every album, we've pushed ourselves even more than in the past. Asylum is no exception."

There's a duality to the title that encapsulates a thematic thread for Draiman. "The immediate connotation of the word Asylum is the image of a mental hospital or sanitarium, but it's also meant to be a haven or a safe place," says the singer. "The dual meaning of the word pushed things over the edge for me. The title track itself deals with the memory of a lost love driving you. You're not able to let go of that memory and it brings you to the point of insanity. At the same time, that memory is a safe place for you; it's a haven you go to when times are tough. Overall, this record is a reflection of that."

First single "Another Way to Die" is classic Disturbed, blending a syncopated riff with a hypnotic hook. Donegan reveals, "Thematically, the song's about global warming and how the choices we make affect the planet. It's a new topic for us, and it'll hopefully raise a little awareness."

Storytelling remains a central component of Asylum. About "Animal" Draiman states, "That song is huge. It's written about someone who is an actual werewolf, and it's inspired by films like Underworld and Wolfman. It's about someone who enjoys the power and lives for the transformation.”At points, the lyrics become nearly cinematic in scope. Draiman goes on, "All of the songs deal with dramatic elements such as pain, loss, suffering and remorse. There are no flowery subjects here. The lyrics on this record are a lot less cryptic than they've been in the past. They're far more direct. I felt it was time for me to write like that. Some of these subjects required that approach, and these songs tell stories."

Not only did the band tread new territory lyrically on Asylum but also musically. Their first instrumental track "Remnants" ignites the album intensely. Donegan divulges, "We've never done a pure instrumental piece before. Our plan was to start the album that way and build anticipation with something fresh. The vibe sets everything up perfectly."
Then there's "The Infection," which will no doubt be a crowd favorite. From its percussive stomp to the wah-pedal solo, the song feels like it could derail, but it's forged together by Disturbed's focused fire. "It's one of those tracks that makes you feel like getting in the car and going over 100 mph," laughs Donegan. "It's got a cool driving groove and an extended lead."

"This is a statement for us,” says Draiman. “We've never strayed from our identity. Disturbed records are always going to be rhythmic and powerful. They're always going to deal with the darker side of things. They're always going to be records you can take with you for a little bit of inspiration. That will forever be a common theme with every one of our records."

The frontman concludes, "We want fans to walk away from this record with strength and release. That's exactly what Asylum's supposed to be. Hopefully, this is an album for people to deal with the insanity of today's times; it's another piece of music to help get you through the chaos and madness of the world in which we live."
— Rick Florino, June 2010

Linkin Park : A Thousand Suns

2010-09-20T10:04:00.000+07:00

A THOUSAND SUNS

We were not making an album.

For months, we'd been destroying and rebuilding our band. The experiments that resulted filled the studio hard drive with diverse, abstract sounds. Amorphous echoes, cacophonous samples, and handmade staccato merged into wandering, elusive melody. Each track felt like a hallucination.

We didn't know if any of those unorthodox ideas could be incorporated into a traditional album, but we knew we didn't want our next album to be predictable. Sitting together in the same studio where we made our first album, all six of us voiced a commitment to going out on a limb, to making something truly daring. We asked ourselves: were we all earnestly willing, more than ever before, to abandon the precepts of commercial ambition in pursuit of what we believe to be honest art?

The inclination to begin writing conventional songs for a conventional album came and went. The temptation to adjust our creative vision to fulfill expectations beyond our studio walls yielded to the audacious ambition of what he hoped to achieve as a band. The two years of making A Thousand Suns marked our exhilarating, surrealistic, and often challenging journey into the creative unknown.

On the eve of its completion, this body of work, assembled through unconscious inspiration and unmitigated exertion, has revealed to us notions both stirring and surprising. The imagery personified herein is neither dogma nor political premeditation. The emergent themes and metaphors illuminate a uniquely human story.

Oppenheimer's words resonate today not only for their historical significance, but for their emotional gravity. So, too, A Thousand Suns grapples with the personal cycle of pride, destruction, and regret. In life, like in dreams, this sequence is not always linear. And, sometimes, true remorse penetrates the devastating cycle. The hope, of course, springs from the notion that the possibility of change is born in our most harrowing moments.

Enjoy the music.
Linkin Park

Serj Tankian - New Album "Imperfect Harmonies" Out September 21, 2010

2010-09-20T09:42:00.000+07:00

A singer, poet, songwriter, activist, and composer; Serj Tankian has always created music as an outlet to express his thoughts and feelings with a level of passion and consciousness that few in today’s world of music can rival. An Armenian immigrant born in Lebanon and re-rooted in Los Angeles, Tankian was introduced to the melding of cultures, ideas and ideals from a very young age. The principles learned from this integration and adaptation have led to his understanding of the oneness of all things and have since maneuvered and transfigured into the music that he lives to create.

Imperfect Harmonies, Tankian's newest solo album follows in this evolution of songwriting and showcases a new side of his musical talents. The album is the second solo release from the System Of A Down frontman, following up his critically acclaimed 2007 solo debut Elect the Dead. As with Elect the Dead, Tankian produced Imperfect Harmonies himself at his home studio in Los Angeles.

“Where Elect the Dead was essentially a rock record with progressive melodic elements,” Tankian says. “Imperfect Harmonies could be classified as rock because it is punchy with many peaks throughout, but the instrumentation is somewhat different. Though there are live drums, bass, and some guitars, the driving aspects are electronic and orchestral. It's quite unique in its sound palette. This is, in essence, music that has sat in the vat and matured to a ripe sensation and is now ready to serve.”

Early in his career, Tankian found an outlet as the rabble–rousing lead singer and songwriter of the largely successful rock band System of a Down, a band that has reached into the hearts and minds of millions of people relaying multiple messages of love, awareness and activism. Despite this success, Serj has not grown complacent with his art, always striving to open up new channels of sound and arrangement to articulate his musical expressions.

Serj Tankian’s resume also includes the formation of a record label, Serjical Strike Records (established in 2001) which has released albums by 8 critically acclaimed artists, including Fair To Midland, Buckethead and Death By Stereo.

Along with fellow musician Tom Morello (Rage Against The Machine, Audioslave), Serj co-founded the non-profit organization Axis Of Justice in 2002, which strives to bring together musicians, fans of music and grassroots political organizations to fight for social justice. He has also dabbled with the world of broadcasting as co-host of the Axis Of Justice Radio Network, which can be heard via Sirius Satellite Radio and KPFK in Los Angeles.

With a mission of spreading diversity and understanding through music, poetry and activism, Serj Tankian will continue to surprise and enlighten those who listen to his music and hear his words.

100 Greatest Rock Ballads

2010-09-19T21:49:00.000+07:00

1. Imagine - John Lennon
  2. Bridge Over Troubled Water - Simon & Garfunkel
  3. Let It Be - Beatles
  4. Crying - Roy Orbison
  5. Unchained Melody - Righteous Brothers
  6. Only The Lonely - Roy Orbison
  7. Hey Jude - Beatles
  8. Can't Help Falling In Love - Elvis Presley
  9. Tears in Heaven - Eric Clapton
10. Yesterday - The Beatles
11. All I Have To Do Is Dream - Everly Brothers
12. Piano Man - Billy Joel
13. Something - Beatles
14. Knockin' On Heavens Door - Bob Dylan
15. God Only Knows - Beach Boys
16. You've Lost That Lovin' Feeling - Righteous Brothers
17. In My Life - The Beatles
18. Candle in the Wind 1997 - Elton John
19. Angie - Rolling Stones
20. American Pie - Don McLean
21. Wish You Were Here - Pink Floyd
22. Love Me Tender - Elvis Presley
23. Love Hurts - Nazareth
24. Stairway to Heaven - Led Zeppelin
25. Wild Horses - Rolling Stones
26. Last Kiss - J. Frank Wilson & the Cavaliers
27. Running Scared - Roy Orbison
28. Drive - The Cars
29. Desperado - Eagles
30. Who Wants To Live Forever - Queen
31. You're The Inspiration - Chicago
32. Open Arms - Journey
33. Dust In The Wind - Kansas
34. I Don't Wanna Miss A Thing - Aerosmith
35. November Rain - Guns N' Roses
36. Dream On - Aerosmith
37. Melissa - Allman Brothers Band
38. He Ain't Heavy He's My Brother - Hollies
39. Free Bird - Lynyrd Skynyrd
40. Hard To Say I'm Sorry - Chicago
41. The Long and Winding Road - Beatles
42. As Tears Go By - Rolling Stones
43. Can't Fight This Feeling - REO Speedwagon
44. Are You Lonesome Tonight - Elvis Presley
45. Baby, I Love Your Way - Peter Frampton
46. Wonderful Tonight - Eric Clapton
47. Hurricane - Bob Dylan
48. Desolation Row - Bob Dylan
49. Tiny Dancer - Elton John
50. Somebody To Love - Queen
51. She - Elvis Costello
52. The Sounds of Silence - Simon & Garfunkel
53. New York State Of Mind - Billy Joel
54. It's Over - Roy Orbison
55. Patience - Guns N' Roses
56. I Wish It Would Rain Down - Phil Collins/Eric Clapton
57. Nights in White Satin - Moody Blues
58. Love Reign O'er Me - The Who
59. Lady In Red - Chris De Burgh
60. Take My Breath Away - Berlin
61. Behind Blue Eyes - The Who
62. Candle In The Wind - Elton John
63. Across the Universe - The Beatles
64. Please Forgive Me - Bryan Adams
65. Mandy - Barry Manilow
66. I'll Stand By You - The Pretenders
67. (I Just) Died In Your Arms Tonight - Cutting Crew
68. When I Look Into Your Eyes - Firehouse
69. Always - Bon Jovi
70. I Want To Know What Love Is - Foreigner
71. Wicked Game - Chris Isaak
72. (Everything I Do) I Do It For You - Bryan Adams
73. True Love Ways - Buddy Holly
74. In My Dreams - REO Speedwagon
75. Right Here Waiting For You - Richard Marx
76. You Don't Bring Me Flowers - Neil Diamond/Barbra Streisand
77. Meet Me Half Way - Kenny Loggins
78. We've Got Tonight - Bob Seger
79. The Show Must Go On - Queen
80. Little Wing - Jimi Hendrix Experience
81. Keep On Lovin' You - REO Speedwagon
82. Sometimes When We Touch - Dan Hill
83. Your Song - Elton John
84. Everytime You Go Away - Paul Young
85. Daniel - Elton John
86. One - U2
87. I Can't Tell You Why - Eagles
88. Faithfully - Journey
89. All By Myself - Eric Carmen
90. More Than Words Can Say - Alias
91. These Dreams - Heart
92. Michelle - Beatles
93. Lady - Styx
94. High Hopes - Pink Floyd
95. Hello Again - Neil Diamond
96. Donna - Ritchie Valens
97. The Crystal Ship - The Doors
98. Glory Of Love - Peter Cetera
99. The Love Of A Lifetime - Firehouse
100. With Or Without You - U2

Best Rock Love Songs : Rock Songs That Tackle the Joy and Pain of Love

2010-09-19T14:47:00.001+07:00

When rock bands turn their attention to matters of the heart, they make songs that come in many shapes and sizes -- some tunes celebrate romance, while others mourn the loss of true love. With that in mind, here are the best love songs in contemporary rock, picking hits that have stood the test of time as well as some personal favorites that never made the charts (By Tim Grierson, About.com)

1. Pearl Jam - "Black"

One of the first songs Pearl Jam ever wrote was this crushing tale of a love affair gone bad. Eddie Vedder tries to go through the routine of a regular day, but everything just reminds him of her -- kids at play, sheets of empty canvas. The crystalline guitars convey deep wells of loss and regret, while Vedder lets fly with a vocal performance that's wounded without being whiny. Best of all, this is that rare breakup song that refuses to be bitter. Vedder sums up his still-abiding affection and pain with these eloquent final lines: "I know someday you'll have a beautiful life/I know you'll be the sun in somebody else's sky/But why why why can't it be/Can't it be mine?"

2. U2 - "With or Without You"

U2 have always been one of rock's most romantic bands, but they were never more heartbreakingly gorgeous than on this track from The Joshua Tree. "With or Without You" starts with muted, aching guitar notes before ascending to a ravishing agony punctuated by Bono's wails. The exquisite uncertainty of love that the singer articulated so perfectly here ("I can't live/With or without you") would be further explored in the group's superb follow-up album, Achtung Baby.

3. Radiohead - "House of Cards"

You wouldn't expect a straightforward love song from the cryptic Thom Yorke, so it's appropriate that Radiohead's most haunting tale of romance is a twisted little story about two people trapped in unhappy marriages who are mad for one another. "Throw your keys in the bowl/Kiss your husband goodnight," Yorke sings sweetly in "House of Cards," and the swirling beauty of the music makes it impossible to determine if the planned infidelity is pure bliss or utter disaster.

4.Smashing Pumpkins - "By Starlight"

Buried near the end of the two-disc epic Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness, Smashing Pumpkins frontman Billy Corgan unleashed his most beautiful romantic pledge. Corgan was always more openhearted than his songwriting contemporaries, and "By Starlight" is the man at his purest, showering his lover with affection and admiration, while at the same time wondering if one person can ever truly know another completely.

5. Garbage - "#1 Crush"

A song that's more about lust than love, Garbage's "#1 Crush" is a scary/sensual ode to devotion. Riding a sexy, stripped-down beat, lead singer Shirley Manson lets her lover understand in no uncertain terms what she'll do to please him. Is she a stalker or a siren? It's impossible to know for sure, but in terms of pure carnal desire, "#1 Crush" is the sound of hormones run amuck.

6. Metallica - "Nothing Else Matters"

For diehard Metallica fans, "Nothing Else Matters" is better known as The Song Where Metallica Totally Sold Out. James Hetfield risked his credibility to attempt his first love song, and the results are striking -- an unabashedly romantic salute to finding your soul mate. "I never opened myself this way," he admits, but this ballad argued that such candor suited him well.

7. Stone Temple Pilots - "Sour Girl"

Stone Temple Pilots leader Scott Weiland has a knack for emotional love songs, but "Sour Girl" is the band's very best. A love affair has ended, and Weiland tries to figure out what went wrong, guessing he's probably the one to blame. Stone Temple Pilots mix acoustic and electric guitars with a deceptively bouncy rhythm section, and the melody is so wistful that the song's heartbreak seems to be happening in real time.

8. Foo Fighters - "Walking After You"

The Foo Fighters album The Colour and the Shape detailed Dave Grohl's crumbling marriage, but the record was never more gorgeous than on this acoustic tune. "Walking After You" pinpoints that moment in a failing relationship when both sides are past the point of reconciliation but can't quite let go of one another. The song is painful and beautiful all at once, seeing the end in sight and crying all the way.

9. The White Stripes - "Fell in Love With a Girl"

In a frantic, guitar-ravaged 110 seconds, the White Stripes' Jack White details a torrid, doomed love affair in "Fell in Love With a Girl." The lyrics fly by so quickly you have to strain to make out the details: He's fallen hard for a woman who's involved with somebody else but is always looking for new partners. Rarely has a love song so perfectly captured the frantic, anxious rush of being in love with someone you know is absolutely positively bad for you.

10. Guns N' Roses - "Sweet Child o' Mine"

A love song both hopeful and despairing, "Sweet Child o' Mine" is a startlingly pretty ode to a relationship that reminds Guns N' Roses frontman Axl Rose of the innocence of childhood. That mixture of love and innocence are then juxtaposed with Slash's searching guitar solo and Rose's worries about whether something so wonderful can last.

11. Red Hot Chili Peppers - "Under the Bridge"

At a low point in his life, Anthony Kiedis wrote a ballad to the one thing he knew he could count on: the city of Los Angeles. "Under the Bridge" is best known as a tale of drug addiction and self-doubt, but it's also a love song to a place that gives Kiedis a reassuring sense of community. For many brokenhearted souls, this Red Hot Chili Peppers track has been a source of comfort during hard times.

12. Eels - "That Look You Give That Guy"

Sometimes, the one you love actually loves someone else. It's a terrible feeling, and Eels frontman E nails the sentiment perfectly on this Hombre Lobo track. Over a melancholy melody, E pledges to adore his beloved with all his heart, if only she would give him the time of day. He may not end up with the girl, but he proves himself to be a hopeless romantic.

13. Buckcherry - "Sorry"

Buckcherry are notorious for raucous bar-band rock that pays homage to bad girls, but they do write the occasional love song, too. On "Sorry," singer Josh Todd apologizes to his woman while asserting all the reasons why she means the world to him. Next time you screw up in your relationship, play your significant other this song.

14. Slipknot - "Snuff"

Beneath the bruising surface of Corey Taylor's songs is a sense of a man trying to find connection with a world that scares him to the core. This song off All Hope Is Gone reveals a vulnerability you rarely hear in a Slipknot song, as Taylor sings twisted lyrics about a love affair that seems doomed thanks to his own self-loathing and her inability to cope with his failings. "Snuff" sure isn't romantic, but it feels very, very real.

15. Oasis - "Wonderwall"

For years, fans of this acoustic ballad from Oasis were led to believe that Noel Gallagher wrote it for his girlfriend. Only in 2002 was it revealed that Gallagher had actually meant the song to be intended for "an imaginary friend who's gonna come and save you from yourself." But even if it isn't technically a love song, millions have embraced "Wonderwall" as an intimate conversation between lovers trying to survive a rough patch in their relationship.