So, while life was happening last year I got behind in posting things – mainly interviews I’ve got and reviews. And in all honesty, I’ve grown to dislike writing reviews … well at least lengthy worded ones [unless the occasion or reasoning strikes me]. For various reasons I aint crazy about rambling on in detail about an album, I like to get familiar with it, which means i need a few listens and often things get put on the back-burner when I pick up on something i really like and play endlessly for weeks! Case in point – the new Europe album! Thoroughly enjoying it, and it has been ‘stuck’ in the car player for close to a week now!   Also, things that are a bit more complex or very different sometimes take time getting in to [enjoyed a few listens to the latest Steve Hunter release, but more on that next time], and then there’s stuff I really hope to like but don’t – which makes it hard to say a lot. I am not a musician either, just a fan so I often wonder if and who is ‘qualified’ to give a proper viewpoint on someone else’s work; all I can tell is a bit of detail, a few comparisons [if any], and whether I like it or not…plus a few snide comments on occasion! Over the years I’ve also treaded the line on trying not to be outright nasty; the old saying “if you have nothing nice to say…” usually works when going over newer stuff. There’s been that occasion where I just don’t like something or ‘get it’ or it’s simply not my bag, and then I have contact with the artist. Years ago I received a copy of Wasp’s then latest album “Kill F**k Die” to review, and well – I hated it! I am a big fan of Blackie Lawless’ band, but I was pretty put off upon hearing it – BUT being a fan, I also didn’t want to pass up the opportunity to interview him! I was excited to get to talk to the guy, but in a roundabout way avoided a lot of talk or praise on the album at the time.
Anyway, this blog of commentaries on recent releases is a start, I’ve got lots more to catch up on. This covers some of the hard rockin’ stuff, while my next chapter will likely cover a few different things…

Current favorites are the Sweet & Lynch “Only To Rise” and Europe‘s new “War Of Kings” albums…. I own nothing of Michael Sweet [Stryper] prior to this and I prefer Lynch’s ‘Mob’ releases as opposed to his time-waisting with Don Dokken. This is a highly energetic hard rock album, which also features Brian Tichy [ex Whitesnake] on drums. Sweet’s vocals are almost always in that high range [and sometimes that makes it difficult to clarify the words], but the combination sounds great with a pretty solid rocking album. Tracks like The Wish, Time Will Tell, Recover and the 80s LA rock of the title track pack a good punch here. Plenty of great songs, notably the anthem Love Stays. Token ballad – Me Without You ain’t bad, tho I am glad there’s only one of them!  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YSbQgAntZZ4  …..Europe – Hard to believe this is the same band that recorded all those 80s hair metal hits – especially That song! Admittedly, some of it was neat to hear in the movie “Hot Rod”, but War Of Kings is a whole different class of hard rock / metal. It’s blues based, gone are the cheesy anthems, sing-alongs, and synths, add in John Norum’s guitar, Hammond organ and a heavier & dark sounding production and a list of songs that are a fantastic listen beginning to end! The title track, Days Of Rock n Roll, Hole In My Pocket, Nothin To Ya (which reminds me very much Sabbath’s “I”), Rainbow Bridge – all cool rockers, but ya gotta love the bluesy slower numbers like Praise You and the ballad Angels (With Broken Wings). These guys are more in tune with the likes of Zeppelin, UFO and early 80s Whitesnake than with the numerous 80s hair metal bands that aren’t putting out albums remotely as good as this > https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0wWGOLshzzY  …………..One of the current ‘trends’ of older is to re-hash the past via remaking their best known album in studio or live and putting it out as something that’s currently relevant [i can’t think of too many bands that haven’t done this yet]. Some bands pull it off well, others merely make a mockery of the band’s legacy. Having said that – Foreigner‘s “Best Of 4 & More” ….well sorta not sure on the point of this one. I get that the band currently parading around as Foreigner sounds good live and Kelly Hansen is a great singer [love the albums he did with Hurricane and Heaven & Earth], but really – who are these guys?? Aside from Mick Jones [who’s there on a part-time basis, i believe?] – no one here played on the band’s classic albums [the first 3 for me, though fans will include ‘4’ as well]. 4 being their commercial peak with a string of hits. so more than half of that album is featured here. sounds good, well-played, but….. > https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m_p_5WRmCWc   ….David Coverdale on the other hand, after attempts to lure Ritchie Blackmore into a project, which may have involved the late Jon Lord [and ceased being possible with Lord’s passing] revisits his 3 albums with Deep Purple from ’73-’75, and re-records tracks from them, giving them enough change via a lack of a Hammond organ player throughout [keyboards are minimal, where necessary, this is mainly a 2 guitar album]. Admittedly, I was pretty horrified upon first hearing the first single – Stormbringer, but the rest of this is pretty decent. Whitesnake is really only Coverdale and whomever he hires, so unfortunately it lacks a definitive ‘Snake sound [no Moody, Marsden, Paice, Sykes,etc…], but credit to Coverdale for letting the players play the songs as they have instead of attempting a paint-by-numbers remake; so that gives this a bit of a fresh approach and up to date sound. A nice list of songs from 3 of my favorite Purple albums. > https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q7UxOrBb0Is  …….. So Doug Aldrich went on to record as part of the Revolution Saints [self titled debut – what a dumb band name! Are these guys really revolutionary?], along with Jack Blades of Night Ranger and Dean Castronovo of Journey. This is kinda like a beefed up Journey album, with the drummer handling most of the vocals [Blades takes on a bit as well] and doing so in a very Steve Perry style and sound.  First couple of tracks are cool energetic rockers, Back On My Trail is a great lead off, but things start to slip by the 3rd song with a mid tempoed ballad sung by Arnel Pineda [the guy in Journey] – a good song, but breaks up the pace, and better placed on a Journey album. After another rocker we get Neal Schon questing and slowing things down again! Beyond that the songs are good, but there’s that damn Journey production feel and 3 [!] more ballads.  Really though a better Journey album than Journey’s done in years! > https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KeZKAVUyKQc ….   Mr Big‘s latest “The Stories We Could Tell” – love the heavy feel of this album, great lead off track in Gotta Love The Ride, as well as rockers I Forgot To Breathe, The Monster In Me, and the title song, but something about these guys’ albums I just find I can easily skip through some of the ‘groove’ stuff and more so – easily the 3 ballads here; but probably the more solid and rockier Mr Big album I’ve heard [and yes, I’ve skipped a few] > https://www.youtube.corded om/watch?v=oTrAhP4tVxA  ……….”A Conspiracy of Stars” is perhaps the best UFO album in years! Love the album art, outstanding. songs here are a bit more upbeat, aggressive, and memorable than the band’s previous album [couldn’t get in to it], with plenty of blues based rock, and a singer [Phil Mogg] who sounds like he’s never aged! – Killing Kind, Devils In The Detail, Run Boy Run, One And Only, King Of The Hill   —  classic UFO hard rock! Looks great on 2-LP blue vinyl  > https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WVk0NtWCb7A  ….. Uriah Heep‘s “Live At Koko” is the band’s latest live release, recorded prior to but released after their latest studio album “Outsider”. Modern day Heep has become an outstanding straight ahead hard rock band, bordering on metal over the past few studio albums [since Russell Gilbrook took over on drums], yet they still retain their own sound with the guitar and Hammond organ, melodies, and harmonies…  This live set was recorded last year, and the great thing is, besides the band just sounding in top form – is the change-up in the set list, which manages to include something from each studio album since ’95’s “Sea Of Light”, alongside the usual handful of old fan favorites, a couple of old surprises, And 2 songs from “Outsider”. I love these releases, as long as they keep introducing strong new material and a few classics rarely played – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qrm5bIs7nPY

til next time…..

KJJ, April 2015

 Wonderworld is the new band that features  singer/bass player Roberto Tiranti from Italy, guitarist Ken Ingwerson and drummer Tom Fossheim, both from Norway. All 3 of whom double as Ken Hensley’s [ex Uriah Heep] “Live Fire” band.

 The band’s debut was released in October of last year and met with great reviews in the music press and amongst new found fans, and easily sits at the top of my favorite releases for 2014. This interview has been a long time coming J , thanks to Ken for getting it done.

 You can read and see more of Wonderworld at their site : www.wonderworld.no  And look them up on Facebook!

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z8i11owlSrU

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x0sArgAO_7I

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eDm9X5iUjAw

 

First off – one would easily assume the band-name came from the Uriah Heep album from 74. How deliberate was that and what inspired your own song of the same name?

Yes, we picked the band name off the Heep album. We met because of Ken Hensley, he is the man that made us all play together, so it was partly a tribute to Ken and to a great band and a great era. On top of that we felt it was a suitable band name 🙂

I think the word itself just inspired us to write about the place called Wonderworld, that we sort of had an idea about as soon as the project developed and the artwork was in place etc.

How long has the idea of you 3 recording your own album without Ken Hensley been floating around and how fast did the ideas and songs come together?

Actually the three of us met the first time while we were recording “Trouble” for Ken Hensley in Spain, in March 2013. We immediately felt a unique energy and connection, so already the first day I told Tom that I had this idea about a powertrio, and that Rob would be perfect for it. So we asked Rob the next day, and he was in. Then we more or less started writing as soon as we were done with Trouble, and one year later the album was recorded.

 

Was it an easy decision [and why] not to have any ‘guests’ on this album? 

Yes, we really wanted this album to be pure trio. We played with the idea of having Ken playing some organ on it, and there were other keyboard players that wanted to contribute, but we quickly left that idea, and finished it as a trio.

Now Ken H.  didn’t play or write on the album, but I’m curious how much of an influence he may have had as far as how you guys approached things in writing and in studio [the harmonies work well on various tracks] ?

Well, Ken was definitively an inspiration as the idea behind the album was to go back to the roots and keep it fairly simple. The whole idea about the sound started when the three of us were jamming in the studio. THAT’S the vibe we wanted.

 

Can you give me an atendote on the tracks –

Wonderworld [was this the first track written?]

No, it wasn’t the first. The first was Break The Chains, I believe.

The inspiration behind it was Tom’s solid, heavy drumming, so I wanted to have a heavy vibe to it. And Roberto came up with the idea of singing about this ‘wonderworld’ in a talking/singing kinda way.

 

Break The Chains

The first track we wrote. I think I had AC/DC in my mind playing around with it, but the intro riff is very classic 70’s trio.

 

Surrender [my fave track here. perhaps the most commercial feeling].

The last song we wrote for the album. It was actually a struggle, and we bounced ideas back and forth for a while, before we landed on the final idea. I remember Roberto wanted to put in a pre-chorus, but I insisted on keeping it simple, and we were all happy with the result.

 

Voices [an interesting choice for a cover. why this one as? did you feel it was necessary to include a cover or did this song just come up?]

Well, we wanted to do a cover. Actually we did two….the other one might show up in the future)

We discussed various songs and ended up with Voices because we feel it’s a really good song, we found our own vibe to it and Roberto sings it really well. We also wanted a song that was slightly off-center compared to what we’d normally do.

 

Every Now And Then

Also one of the first songs we finished.

Very happy with the breakdown in the middle and also an epic guitar solo.

 

No One Knows [epic ballad, lots of feeling in this track]

Thanks! Yes, Roberto is a great ballad singer, so we had to do a ballad. On the other hand, we didn’t want it to be a lighter swinging power ballad, so we kept it to a minimum production-wise. Here, I also just used the same guitar and amp as the entire album, just rolling off the volume and cleaning it up slightly – instead of acoustic guitars, chorus guitar and keyboards 😛

 

The Sound Of The World [another great song, love the changes from the light verses to the heavy chorus. Great vocal!]

Yeah, probably the most “modern sounding” song on the album, with it’s 6/4 signature, and leslie guitars.

We even managed to throw in a small drum solo there. haha.

 

A New Life [love the lighter chorus, has a very 70s feel]

Again Tom’s heavy drumming and John Bonhan inspiration was kickstarting this one. Kinda has a Led Zeppelin vibe to it, with an odd solution to the chorus where we chose to take it down and make it more hippy’ish.

 

Hero Without Stains [a bit of funk feel, reminds me of Glen Hughes solo stuff]

Slightly funky song with a classic powertrio riff. Got some hints of Extreme in it. Also a cool riff in the guitar solo that we tend to extend forever live 😀

I also dig the ending where we usually keep jamming live.

 

Kissing The Sky [a very fitting end track]

Thanks. I had this melody and chords that made me think of The Eagles for some reason, that I felt would give the album a nice ending, without going for a typical ballad. A friend of mine wrote the lyrics to the melody, because Roberto was busy finishing the words for the rest of the album, and we landed on these Hendrix type lyrics. It’s actually more or less a duet between Rob and me, as we sing most of it in harmony and it starts with my vocals.

Was there many leftover ideas or songs that didn’t get finished that may give you guys a head start on a follow up album?

Actually we finished all the ideas, and only recorded a cover as a leftover.

 

Where were the 2 videos shot, and is there plans for any further ones?

Break The Chains was filmed during the recording of the album. I think we spent like 2 hours recording and I went back home and edited it myself. Efficient shit 😀

I Surrender was recorded in Genova, pretty close to Rob’s house + some scenes from Oslo actually.

Sort of in the middle of doing a video for No One Knows these days. Need some more footage…hehe.

 

How was the band’s live debut? did entire album get performed? and anything else? Is there many shows upcoming?

The first 3 shows we did were great. There’s always a slightly slow start, doing new material live, but already on the second gig we felt quite confident. We played pretty much all songs, except Kissing The Sky, mainly because we had enough lyrics to learn already, and Rob and I need to be super tight on the words for that one. We also did some fun cover tunes – especially Tom Sawyer by Rush, which is being well received 🙂

 

Do you guys foresee Wonderworld ever getting to North America? 

You never know. As a matter of fact, a friend of ours in the industry just went to Miami today, and he’s gonna work on trying to get us a couple of gigs, so we’ll see what he comes up with 🙂

 

How did you come across the cover art? Was it was a piece already done that you used? [Would look great on some merch and vinyl]

http://neosurrealismart.com/modern-art-prints/?artworks/lost-city-of-atlantis-or-mystery-legend-atl-ntida.html

 

Yes, I really like this artist called George Grie, and I was looking at his work one day, and just saw this beautiful drawing that would be perfect for us. So I showed it to the other guys, and we all just went for it.

We are working a limited edition of the vinyl right now actually, so it should be ready in May 🙂

 

Feedback has been good on the album!? Lots of great comments, reviews out there. It’s got such a cool classic hard rock feel; varied – rock, a bit of funk, lighter moments….

Yes, I haven’t seen one bad review. Everybody has been very nice and positive. So that obviously makes us all happy and confident that we’re onto something good here.

 

Going back a bit…..what are some of your fave moments from the album[s] you’ve done with Ken H. ?

I’ve done 2 studio albums with Ken now, and I really liked the process of them both. “Faster” was done in Riga and we had a great time, and “Trouble” was done in Alicante, Spain. I’d probably say that “Trouble” is my favorite moment, because that’s where we met and started this adventure.

 

The guitar solo [and Hammond interplay] on The Curse is such a cool piece. How did that develop between you and Ken H.?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ryibVOe_62k

 

I came up with the idea of a breakdown, because we lacked a part in the song. So I threw a few chords at Ken, he started playing it, and together we developed the melody and let it grow.

 

Trouble was a more direct hard-rock album, and more like a band album, and one that developed in the studio while things were on a roll. How much were you guys around for all of the recordings, mixing, putting things together?  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SbxILif7osg

 

We were there most of the recordings. The mixing process was done entirely by Dani and Ken, so we didn’t have any input on that.

But yeah, we developed all the riffs, tempos, keys etc live in the studio.

 

What are your favorite from the 2 albums with Ken H to perform live, as well as the Heep material?

Hm….I’d say The Curse and “I Don’t Know”. That’s a heavy one, and Rob sings it great.

As for Heep material July Morning is always a winner.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lwtjetmjmmk

 

Prior to working with Ken H. curious how familiar you guys were with his albums with Uriah Heep? any favorite albums? songs? singers? bass players….?

Ken: I was very familiar with it because my ten year older brother was a huge fan. So even though I wasn’t more than a small kid, I heard all the albums all the time. My favorites are Look At Yourself and High And Mighty actually. I stopped listening to Heep after Byron left, so to me he’s the only singer next to Ken. My favorite song is probably Weep In Silence.

Tom: To be honest I was not familiar with Ken’s work with Heep at all. I’ve heard Easy Living before but that was it. After I started to play with Ken in 2007 I discovered a lot of great music. My favorite songs is Devil’s Daughter and Sunrise. Bass-player has to be John Wetton because of his time in King Crimson and later UK…

Rob: Very easy for me to choose! Best album: Sweet Freedom. Best songs: Sweet Freedom and Stealin’ and Gary Thain for me is the perfect bass player, he was light years ahead the musicians of that period.

 

Can each of you guys give me a few music idols or influences [on your respective instruments, singers]? as well as a list of favorite albums?

Ken: For me it has always been a weird mix of English and American bands. So it was Thin Lizzy, Gary Moore on one side, then Van Halen, Journey. You throw in some Australian AC/DC, German Scorpions and Norwegian TNT in there, and you have a nice cocktail 🙂

Tom: Zeppelin, Purple, Kiss, Yes, Journey, Ghost, Steven Wilson, hard rock/metal, progressive music in general, jazzrock/fusion.

Influences: John Bonham, Peter Criss, Nicko McBrain, Ian Paice, Steve Gadd, Dave Weckl, Terry Bozzio, Alan White and Bill Bruford of Yes, Marco Minnemann, Dennis Chambers, Thomas Lang among a lot of others.

Impossible to give a list of all time favorite albums because there are too many…

Rob: My list it could be too long 🙂 Deep Purple, Led Zeppelin, Uriah Heep, Queen, Mr.Big, Porcupine Tree and Steven Wilson, Stevie Wonder, Gino Vannelli etc. etc. Basically bass players and singers in the bands I mentioned gave me a lot of inspiration in my life.

 

What’s next for you guys — live shows? New album?  

Yes, we just finished a couple of shows in Italy, and we have gigs coming up in Norway in April, more Italian gigs in May, and some festivals during summer. Even the fall is beginning to shape up. We are also in the middle of writing new songs for album number two, so maybe you’ll see another album in 2015 😉

Interview : March 2015, KJJ

Welcome to a new beginning (thus, a new name)… Over the years my page Universal Wheels (http://www.travellersintime.com/UniversalWheels/Index.html) has been hosted and maintained by my good friend Ron. It has been a lot of work and time on his part, and starting over here gives me a chance to write & post as time allows here. I’d like to thank Ron, who also runs an excellent David Byron (original Uriah Heep singer) site – http://www.davidbyron.net , and is involved in writing and producing his own music – http://www.travellersintime.com/harmsway/
I’ve got lots of rock releases, lists, interviews, and other articles to get to, so I hope you’ll come back to check in on things.
thanks