When 1985s Power Windows came out, I loved the lead off single “Big Money”. Again, it was different than their previous album, a step further into their change to a more keyboard sound, modern, lighter…but beyond “Big Money”, I didn’t get too much into Power Windows. I saw that tour, at Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto, but that was the last Rush album I picked up early on in release, and last tour until the 2000s.
Roll The Bones was produced by Rupert Hine, a British musican/producer, who was more known for producing more 80s pop & New wave then, such as The Fixx, Howard Jones, and The Thompson Twins. He did do a couple of excellent Saga albums as well. So, with Rush’s lighter and modern direction for the past few albums, Hine, I guess, seemed like a good fit for what the band was going for then.
This album featured the singles – “Dreamline” (promo) “Ghost Of A Chance” (US, UK, Germany) and the title track. “Roll The Bones” (being the only video released), is the best known from this album, with it’s brief ‘rap’ section, which though I could do without, it is something different (again) and made for a great visual video and live. The stand-out track on this album for though is “Bravado”, and hearing this one in recent months (prior to the tour) is what had me revisiting this album. Seeing the live clips of it from the 50 Something Tour, and then hearing it in Toronto, along with the Neal Peart tribute collection of photos that went along with it, made more of an impact. Such a unqiue melody, lyirc and song in the band’s catalogue. One thing about the lighter sound, Alex Lifeson’s solos were always spot on during this period, such as on “Bravado”. Although I really like the 3 songs chosen as singles, I can’t imagine why “Bravado” was not issued as a single (tho there was promos of this in the US & France).
Other good songs on Roll The Bones (for me) include the instrumental “Where’s My Thing” (which was nominated for a Grammy), and “Heresy”. Can’t say I’m crazy about everything here, but there is enough classic Rush to make me want to put this on more, and rethink and revisit previous albums I never really got into so much.
The list of reunions and reformations of great Canadian bands adds another to 2026, with a new line up of progressive band ‘FM’ scheduled to play a 50th Anniversary show in Toronto, in November.
FM, formed in the mid 70s, with Cameron Hawkins (keyboards, lead vocals, bass) and Nash The Slash (electric violins, madolin, vocals…), and first appeared on TVOntario, performing as a duo. They added (drummer) Martin Deller to record their debut album Black Noise, which became a Canadian classic, featuring the band’s best known (and still played on classic rock radio here), “Phasors On Stun“. Slash left, recording numerous solo albums, and was replaced by Ben Mink. This line up recorded Head Room (aka Direct To Disc), Surveillance, and City Of Fear. The latter 2 albums included such favorites as “Horizons”, the band’s cover of “Shapes Of Things“, “City Of Fear“, and “Surface To Air”.
After a hiatus, the band reformed with Nash The Slash, for 1985’s more modern radio friendly (AOR) album Con-Test, followed by 1987’s Tonight (with drummer Greg Chrchley and added guitariast Simon Brierley)). With these 2 albums, FM had a few hit singles in Canada, and could be seen on MuchMusic with songs like “Just Like You” and “Dream Girl“. FM also opened 4 shows for Rush in Ontario, on Rush’s Power Windows tour in 1986.
The band went through a few more line up changes, with Nash The Slash leaving following the Tonight tour. By the end of the 80s, FM was Cameron Hawkins, Simon Brierley, Martin Shaw (mandolin & violin), and Paul Marangoni (drums). This line up played some shows and recorded material that was never released.
In 1994 Hawkins, Deller, and Nash The Slash reunited for the CD release of Black Noise. They played 5 shows in Ontario, (I attended 2 of these.) From this tour, Retroactive: FM Archives, Volume 1. was recorded. An excellent live album, but there wouldn’t be a follow up. FM next appeared in 2006, at NEARfest, in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania (with another live CD & DVD from this show). Another new line up was put together for the 2015 album Transformation. And that is the last release/activity from FM until the announcement of a 50th Anniversary show.
Canadian band TEAZE returned after nearly 40 years in 2019. Since that first show in Windsor, Ontario (which I was at), the band played many more shows, both here and in Europe. Last year they released the live album Live At Leige, underwent a change in drummers, and this year, they’ve more recently released the outstanding Rev Your Engines album! The band’s first release of new songs since 1980! And you haven’t heard it – get it! The band sounds energetic, rockin, and ready to go. I posted an interview with guitarist Mark Bradac a while back, and a few weeks back I had the privelage to speak with singer & bass player Brian Danter. Having recently turned 75, one would not know it from hearing this album! Brian and I talked about the band’s comeback, the new album, as well as some of Teaze’ past with getting signed, their early popularity in Japan and his reasons for leaving the band following the Body Shots album. Check it out. Check out the links below, and check out the new album!
Photo: Maximus Reid
The band’s third album was the live In Japan album (Tour Of Japan). What lead you guys to that popularity over there, and being able to go over there and get a live album out of it, so early on?
That’s something that the record company had planned. At that point we only had 2 albums out, our first album and On The Loose. It was probably all, kind of over-flowing to kind of keep the ball really rolling fast. So, it was a great idea. So, we practically did most of everything that we had in the two albums with, I think, a few new songs. I’m not sure off the top of my head, but yeah, it was a great experience.
Did you guys ever go back there or was that it?
That’s been our plan since we got back together. So now we’re hoping Kevin with signing with Deco and with Escape, we have some promotion. It looks like it’s really doing well in Europe right now. And Canada’s kind of a slow go. I don’t know if Mark shared, like, it’s just, you know, being kind of out of action and back in action for 45 years, trying to get the momentum going. I mean, the momentum is good with the audience, It’s just, it’s a whole new gamut, now you’re facing the internet, and everybody can do an album or a recording, on their computer and that. And I’m not against AI, I know has some benefits, but we were really proud in the fact that all the songs on the new album, Kevin, are all generated and created by us. There’s work put into it, which I’m grateful for.
Of those early albums, did you have any kind of favorites as far as…I often think that One Night Stands should have been the album that did it for you guys, but it wasn’t. So, what were some of the ups and downs for you?
You know what it was, It was like, this was one of our biggest budgets that we had gone in at the time. We were recording at Le Studio, which, the Bee Gees, Nazareth, Rush, so many groups had gone there. And when we did it, we knew that this is a first-class studio. So, we really got an opportunity to really shine. Now, we had been spending months at a recording studio in a basement that our sound guy had, a really nice one, writing and recording stuff as a demo for it. So, when we went in, we were really well prepared and we like to be prepared, you know!? So, some favorites. Oh, geez, when I go back, the first album, I’m trying to think right now…It’s so far gone, so far back there. But I think on the first one, the slow one (“Open My Eyes”)
We’ve written so many songs now over the years and we’re kind of so focused on the new album and we’re already getting ideas for another album. And I don’t know if Marco explained to you that, in his words, we kind of knew that our only step forward from what we’ve done in the last few years was to do new material because we found, I don’t know if it’s political, we can feel like it, but I understand all of a sudden coming back on the scene, we’ve been out West two or three times. We’ve been to Europe twice.
We did the live album and at least was a good step forward for us. That night went off phenomenal. I think in the whole album, I corrected one line in “Reach Out” because I got a loss for words, so the camera went away and we were able to put it in. But it was like four or five words. That’s about the only thing.
Yeah, I like “Sure Thing”. “Back In Action”, off of One Night Stands. There’s just so many good songs, like one after another.
And I really liked, because we had released “Sweet Misery”, which was a great song, but at the time, I know Marco probably told you, it didn’t really help us because we were a Windsor-Detroit band. We grew up on the Amboy Dukes, Ted Nugent, Grand Funk, SRC, a lot of Detroit bands. Alice Cooper. So, our sound really kind of mimicked those raw guitars with not a lot of processing and everything. And we’ve tried to get back to that. I think Charlie kind of (with Marco), marries the two sounds together, which is nice. Charlie has a little more spread on his pedal to do those kinds of things, which is nice. But we try to keep everything to that, Windsor Detroit rock area, because when we moved out, we moved to Toronto first, we weren’t really even aware of how big the Canadian music scene, we were just really isolated from it, because all the music we listened to were concerts. We went to Detroit; we had that privilege. So, with the new album, that’s what we’ve really tried to go back to.
Everybody’s had a hand in it except the new drummer because we lost Mike a little over a year ago. He just felt it was time. And then we got a phenomenal drummer, Jimmy Bonventre who just fit in like a glove.
In that era of the late seventies, early eighties, there was a lot of Canadian bands that had three or four albums out and they kind of fizzled out because they didn’t kind of cut it in the States. Is that kind of a fair statement for you guys and part of the reason you left?
Yeah. Actually, when I left, they were working out a deal. We were supposed to go and do some dates. We had done three dates with Blue Oyster Cult and there was talk of that, but the big one was we were supposed to go down to Texas and do some dates with Peter Frampton; that’s the thing I remember.
And then I know Marco shared, I just got really tired of, in the industry, the promises and a lot of stuff that came along in the industry in that time. A lot of drugs were around free, and I can just be upfront with you. The girls throw themselves at you and it’s just a lot of people just hanging around the band because of who you are. And I got really disillusioned. I love the guys in the band. I love playing, I love writing, and I love recording, all that. But unfortunately, all the other stuff came with it back then. And I think you have more control over it now than it was back then, because when you’re thrust into that level, within a year or two, we’re playing over in Japan, we’re a Windsor band! So, a lot of that high-life and everything, like when we landed at Narita Airport, there was hundreds and hundreds of Japanese girls and kids already with dolls, mimicking us and flowers and everything. We weren’t used to that over here. We more or less experienced stuff after the shows when we would go back and sign albums and greet people, but nothing like Japan, because we broke on, there was a wave, I think we were on the second wave that went over to Japan. We went over at the same time Cheap Trick went over, Kate Bush, a band from England called UFO. There’s so many other bands. We kind of went over on that. At the time, we were the only Canadian band that were part of a package deal. So, we got our foot in the door, Kevin, really, really quick. And we were grateful to that. So, then we came back, we shot a movie of the whole thing. And then we were using it and splicing it for advertisements for tours that we were going on. And so apparently there was a flood at Donald K. Donald and where our record company’s office was, and we were told that all that got destroyed completely. I mean, Marco believes that one day it might surface, but I don’t know, it’s like 40, 50 years.
Did you guys do a lot of extra stuff in the studio? Were you kind of like a studio band where you record like 15 songs and leave four or five off?
We had songs, like I’ve been writing for years, and I don’t know if Mark told you the story on our first album when we got the opportunity to go to record. I’d already been a local musician. I’d done recording in the States, recording in Windsor a few times. I was writing music. I was in other local bands. So, at the time when the band, when we launched our career, the record company saw that was about a six- or seven-years gap between the other guys and me. So, they put me more in that and, a few years older than them, but I had like, if you go back to, this is probably beyond you, but I remember when they lowered the drinking age to 18, everybody went into the bars. And if you make money, a lot of the high school concerts and everything just dried up; the ones at colleges and everything, everybody was in pubs and bars. So, I had to go in there, for two or three years to make money and keep playing. But then I got really fed up with it, because I would look out in the audience and you have the diehard people there to hear the band, but just everybody talking at the tables, the guys were there to pick up girls, the girls were there to pick up guys. And I said, ‘You know what? I’ve had enough of this life’. So, I pulled out of the band at the time that I was in. I was working part-time at a music store, and people didn’t know, guitar players and drummers and all that, because I was bass player back then when they were coming in and trying out instruments, I was auditioning them. I was listening to how they played, talked to them, but they didn’t know anything. So, when I finally got the guys together and had a meeting, we went and rented an abandoned warehouse in a factory, the whole floor. We had a freight elevator. We got it for a really good deal. I had a manager that I’d worked with in some bands before that, he’s passed now. We went in there…and think of this – back then we bought double stack high watts. I bought high watt, and both Marco and Chuck, they had two double stack of Marshals, or High watt. Think of what they would be worth today. So, we just rehearsed for about nine months. And then we played, and we invited a whole bunch of the student body presidents. We invited them one night. We had lights set up. We were in this big room. We had drum riser, everything! And we played like a 30 minute set for them. Well, that night, we booked a whole bunch of high schools, because high schools had kind of dried up. And then we invited all these student presidents out; we had about six or seven of them. We played around Windsor. The last one we got was actually the biggest show. We went back then when nobody was hardly using lights, because I’m an admirer of Pink Floyd way back, when nobody was using lights. And we got our light guy to go rent scaffolding. We got two follow spots behind, on stage, coming down on us. We had a follow spot out in the audience. We had flash pots. I mean, back then, that’s like 1974, 75. And just so happens that the Stampeders were in town and played a concert. Well, the guy who was the road manager for them, he came out, he heard about it. For some reason, he just ended up at Sandwich High School. It was a fairly new high school, big auditorium, big gym.
And he talked to us after, and he went back and talked to Mel Shaw, he was the owner of the Stampeders, or the main manager. So, he said, he’d bring us to Toronto and record a demo. So, we went down there, and at the time we had zip! We had no songs ready in this band. We were just rehearsing a lot of Deep Purple. We were doing “Man On The Silver Mountain”, which we brought back after all. We were doing some, because Kiss was just…I’d opened up – before this band, I opened up in another band with Kiss’ first Canadian tour that went to London. And I got the pictures to prove it.
Can I ask, was that a band that included Joe Konas?
Yes! The band ‘Joe’, you remember that!?
No, but I know Joe because I’m a Uriah Heep fan. So, I know his connection with them through The Gods.
So yeah, we played that gig.
I’d been doing stuff before I put Teaze together. And originally, we weren’t called Teaze, we were called ‘Ontario’, because I had been in a three-piece band with a girl drummer, and we kept the name, but then when we signed a record deal, we found out that we couldn’t get a legal right to that. I don’t know how Chicago did it, maybe it’s different because it’s a city, So, anyways, that’s when we came up with the name. We changed the name when we moved to Toronto.
I know you went into the ministry and did other stuff, obviously. What was kind of the catalyst or the deciding thing for you in getting the band back together?
Like I always tell Mark, he had 45 years to put another Teaze together, but he was running his own shop, he was playing with his wife for quite a while, in the band ‘Lynn and The Rebels’. He was doing country stuff, which he’s very good at, but I can’t get him to do any country now. I’m trying to get him, ‘Let’s do like a country rock song’. He said, ‘No those days are gone’. But then for years, he had a gig in Windsor at the Yacht Club, him and his wife just played and played.
So, my wife, when I finally retired, I was in ministry 33 years. At 25, I was the worship leader at a big church in Windsor. I had the double-stacked Fender, I played flying V’s every week. I mean, it was a thriving church. I was kind of bringing, and I’m not trying to brag at those, but I was kind of bringing a new edge to Christian music and that. And I was really blessed in that. I did that for 25 years. Then I passed the baton to another guy I’d kind of trained up through youth. And then my wife and I did youth ministry for five years, and I enjoyed that. We had as high as 140 teenagers out on a Friday night.
We did summer camps, youth camps. I had all that experience. So, I’m leading up to what it’s saying…. So, then the last two years, I did a lot of hospital and home visitation. When I finally retired, my wife said, ‘You know, the guys have been wanting together to do a concert’. So, I was going to rent, at the time my brother-in-law, Lynn’s brother, he has a street church down in a real rough area of Windsor. And it used to be a bar called ‘Mongo Murphs’. He turned it into ‘New Song’. And he’d get all kinds of street people coming in and everything. So I asked if I could use the place; it holds about 200-250. Anyways, then we thought, we were just going (to) send it out for, because none of my kids had ever seen Teaze, obviously. A lot of other friends never got to see Teaze, because we never came down to Windsor. The closest we ever got several times was coming to London, when we did a tour, Canadian tour with Aerosmith, then we did a tour with Blue Oyster Cult, then we did a tour with Cheap Trick. We just never realized what would happen… All of a sudden, we’ve got local press involved that we were doing this show. So, we thought, ‘Maybe we better go to rent a bigger place’. So, we went to the theater downtown, it holds about, I think about 600-something. And we thought, ‘We won’t fill that! But it’ll be a nice stage and we’ll have nice lighting’. So, Kevin, we sold it out two weeks before, the venue. And that night, we found out people had flown in from Vancouver, out West. They’d come from Montreal. Some had come from the East Coast, Upper Ontario and just filled the place!
My buddy and I came up from the Falls.
Oh, you were there!?
Yeah.
Oh, wow! And I heard that night, there was about 70 people at the door, didn’t have tickets. So, they brought them in and they have an area where they have stand up tables.
That happened, and then all of a sudden we started getting invites. We had all this press, we were in the newspaper, we were in local magazines…Even the CTV came down and at the theater, they had interviewed us. We went down there and did it during the week before we set up.
Then we went out to the East Coast, and we played with Honeymoon Suite, and we were getting these invites. And the problem that happened is that COVID hit. We thought that was the end, you know!? We went about a year and a half and we just thought, we had our little stint and everything. So, we started talking, let’s get together and we can put the mics at four areas. So, we started rehearsing again all through COVID. We were meeting twice a month and we didn’t tell anybody. And the band was getting tighter and tighter, and we started to get ideas. Mike never wanted to do new music, he felt it was like kind of ‘Let’s focus on the old stuff’. Well, we only really had one AM hit. We had a lot of FM songs. So, when Mike left, it just really opened up the door for the new album.
I got it.
Oh, good. So, what do you think of it?
Like a lot of people, I didn’t know what to expect, but it surpassed whatever I expected. I think every song on it is good. And the lead off track is just a great, obviously a great opener.
That’s our new opener! Now for that album, really there’s songs that I automatically liked, but now that the album’s done and there’s four songs that we’ve already added to our 90-minute set. We’re playing August 22nd at a big venue in Leamington. It’s down by the water. It’s like an amphitheater. They got a great stage and everything, and we’re headlining. We’ve got two other bands opening. I don’t know if Mark told you that.
Actually, Rick Labonte told me.
Oh, what a great guy. I got to meet him.
And I love the sound of the album because I think those older albums, they were kind of between hard rock and AOR. I think they could have been heavier, guitar-wise, but this one sounds really up to date and heavier.
We really saw, a lot of the bands – great music, but a lot of the rock bands are very heavily processed. So, you get a lot of like foot pedal and stuff. We wanted to bring a little bit of that in, which Charlie does, but we wanted to keep everything kind of raw. I think if we go too out in right field, we’ll sound like a lot of other bands. And I think the people that know aren’t disappointed. I think that we really hit it. And I think Charlie, his skills just…what we would do is we would go into a studio, record basic tracks, then we had all the time in the world over the last 10 to 12 months to hash stuff out, change stuff. We’d record at Charlie’s because he’s got Pro-Tools, which is the standard in the industry, which the guy we went to, he’s done two or three songs for Metallica. So, he really knows his stuff. I think the song that’s really standing out to me now, live and it’s going to be in the set is “Gotta Rock”.
Yeah, I like that one. Obviously, I like “Man Of Vision”; I think that’s a classic type of….
That’s exactly what reminded me of, and your vocal, I thought, Wow! That’s like kind of like not a ‘part two’, but in that same ballpark.
Yeah, and on the opening and in the middle, that’s my daughter, Bethany, who sang when we played in Windsor. Like I had my wife, I had Mark’s wife and my daughter, Bethany, who’s younger. When we played all three concerts at the Walkerville Theater, we all brought the girls up, we added, but now we’re trying to just be the four-piece because now Jimmy sings, Charlie sings, and Marco does a little bit.
What are some of the songs you had a hand in as far as songwriting?
I wrote “Wonder” and I wrote “Can’t Stop Loving You”. That’s actually a song I wrote about 15 years ago. I used to do it when I did outreach and I did prisons. I used to do that. And so Charlie came along, we added a bridge to it.
And then “Wonder”, I kind of co-wrote with another friend of mine, but the lyrics, Charlie ended up changing the lyrics on it a bit, from my friend I used to write with. I’ve written about 70 to 80 songs over the years, and I’ve got them in the can. Obviously, a lot of my stuff is very faith-based without being super religious, but that’s just coming from, like Kevin, I on Sunday, I just turned 75 and I’m very grateful, I have seven children, I have six grandkids, I have two on the way. And Marco probably would tell you, I’m very much a family man, and I just love it. I love being back with the band, playing music again. And I have to be very, very grateful. I just did a funeral for an old friend that used to play bass with me at the church. Phenomenal bass player, played a fretless. He got cancer and died. I’m a former pastor; I was licensed and everything. So, I was privileged. I just went there to go to the funeral. I just heard about it last night. And so, I showed up and then the father or the brother just said, hey, would you say a few words?…Marco always jokes with me. He said, “If I get sick, I don’t want you showing up in the hospital!” He said, “It seems like people die when you show up”. I said, “Marco, they don’t all die. I go there when the friends and that, when they’re approaching death”.
I have a big heart for people. That’s what, I try to reflect that even on stage. Teaze is very, very much a relational band. And I’d like to keep it that way. We realize in the business, you have to be business. But if we don’t have that core, we love playing together. We love being together. It’s great. The bands we played with seem to really chum up with us. And of course, we’ve gotten a lot of promises that never materialize.
I think, because of the size of our country, there’s almost like a certain fraternity amongst the bands from that era, the late 70s and 80s, that you guys all meet up and play a lot of these festivals together. Some guys interchange bands and that.
Here’s the thing, and I don’t know if Marco shared this, and this is just speculation, Kevin. We’ve gone out there and done that. And Marco always says to these bands, ‘Throw us a bone, we’ll open up for you’. And they do make promises, but I realize someone’s working for them, getting gigs. But it seems like in Canada right now, like a lot of the bands, you’ve got Honeymoon Suite, you’ve got Streetheart, you’ve got April Wine, you got all these Canadian bands that have stayed around, and they’re old material, they’ve got a lot of material that was popular. But to get into that, it can almost seem political. You know what I mean? So, Bernie Aubin from the Headpins was really instrumental in getting us out West and putting gigs on us. And now I really think that next year, I think we’re going to be doing a lot of dates in Europe because Europe – they’re taking off with the new album.
And we have places in Canada. ‘Please come to Montreal’. ‘Please come to the East Coast’. ‘Please come back out West’. But it’s all up to the promoters. A lot of them, they’re younger, they’re new. They don’t really know us, and that we still got the energy on stage, Kevin. We do.
I guess they maybe say to themselves ‘Why do I want to invest in a bunch of old guys who just came back!?’ And when they’ve seen us…. But a lot of times, they have these group meetings among the people that are putting on the festivals, and they just seem to keep going with the bands that have been steady. And that’s understandable. I’m not resentful. So, I think that we’re going to be plowing ground in Europe and England, and maybe Japan; there’s a chance because the music has a connection there. I think then, when we come back to Canada on our own, it’ll open up more doors.
That’d be great! For me, as a fan, I like listening to bands that still have something new to offer, not just doing the same 12 hits for the last 40 years. And there’s a few out there that do that. It’s good to keep it moving, right!? You got to move forward, or you’re just a nostalgic act.
Kevin, have you seen the AI video that was done for “Rev Your Engines”?
Yeah.
We were like, kind of, ‘Oh, I don’t know’. And even my kids, I’ve got three of my kids are very musical. And they said, ‘Oh, Da!’, But when they saw what we did with it, we purposely made it kind of cartoonish and AI. But it really sends the message. There’s nothing lewd in it or anything like that. It’s just, it kind of explains where we grew up; all the drag racing and the stock cars and everything. We had them here too in Windsor, but It kind of just really sets us out there, what we are.
As far as the stuff you grew up on, as a singer, bass player that, what were some of your influences?
I grew up loving the Beatles’ music. I liked the harmonies and everything. I loved Hendrix when he came along. I loved Cream. I didn’t dislike them, but I didn’t really follow the Stones in the early years. Pink Floyd in the very early, early years, won my heart. I loved the creativity. Nobody was doing theatrical stuff like that, with the heartbeat and surround sound PA. But I think the one person I’ve given a lot of credit to this, when Grand Funk came along, and they were under a lot of criticism from the music industry, but they were drawn huge crowds! I liked Mark Farner, because he was not only a good writer, but he was a polished, great singer. I used I used to compare, you’d have guys like the guy in Aerosmith and Mick Jagger – to me, they’re “stylists”, they have a great style, but Mark Farner had a voice. His range was unbelievable, the clarity. I remember I used to put on Mark Farner albums, the first two, and I would sing along with him. And actually my own range opened up Kevin just to mimic his playing, learning his songs, learning his vibrato and his technique. I just said, “That’s how I want to sing like!” And of course, Ronnie James Dio, when he came along.
Some of the interviews we’ve done, and the writers, they’ve said, “Boy, you were stepping on dangerous territory to do something like that”. There’s two places you either do it like Dio, and a lot of times, he can’t be duplicated. Or you change the song completely, which would be murder to do that. So, I just said to the guys, “I just want to sing it like Dio would have sang it, but with my voice.” And actually, it was a piece of cake. It was the one song on the album. Honestly, Kevin, I think I did three takes.
It’s a classic song.
Now, that’s actually a song that we used to do when the band first got together. And Marco’s the one that came forward and said, “Brian, you think you still got it!?” We were looking at covers and that, and so one day at practice, Marco just out of the blue started doing the chords in it. I thought, ‘Boy, is that tough sounding Mark’, he just opened up his amp. So then we just decided to do it. And because we wanted a cover on it, we thought that would be good and healthy for us to show that we could kind of dip into something, someone else that kind of fit us.
I did interview Mark Farner a couple of months ago for his latest album.
Did you!?
He’s a very interesting. Very talkative guy. I could just listen to him all day because he must have 1001 stories.
Like me, Farner ended up really giving his heart to the Lord and serving. That’s kind of like when I came on, I didn’t know. I wear this hat (Puts on red ‘Jesus’ cap), and I get a lot of comments, a lot of – “What are you doing? “ When I’m at the signing table, I’ll put it on. I’m not ashamed of the gospel and who I’m serving. And that’s kind of what drives me. I don’t push it on anybody, but I like them to know that I’m real and who I am. I’m a Christian and I can play rock music and have fun with the guys. A lot of the other stuff that was in the past, is gone for me. The stuff is around you, but you don’t have to be part of it. Wherever I go, Marco jokes I’m still a tourist. I mean, not with the camera or cell phone, but they’ll often go off and sometimes party a bit, and I’m off and I’m in the street meeting people. And I just love meeting people. I love hearing their stories. It’s just me. I’m the same guy at 75!
Ken Hensley’s final studio album, completed in 2020 and never released. A deeply personal and beautifully realised final chapter in his musical journey.
Legendary British musician/songwriter, Ken Hensley passed away in November of 2020, he’d left a massive wealth of classic rock, largely the 13 studio albums he made as part of Uriah Heep, numerous solo albums, as well as various other pre & post Heep bands and projects like The Gods, Toe Fat, Weed,Head Machine, and later Blackfoot. Throughout his career Ken was the main songwriter (in most cases), as well as keyboardist, slide guitar player, lead and/or backing vocalist. His last album My Book Of Answerswas recorded in 2020, but not released until 2021. But in his last few interviews Ken mentioned having recorded another album – something different, something special. This album is now being prepared for release. A Little Closer won’t be a regular release, although it will be made available in multiple formats, but you can find out details and sign up to show your interest at the official website – https://www.kenhensley.co.uk/
The album includes nine classic Uriah Heep titles, selected by Ken, alongside three new compositions. Following its completion, Ken felt that his vocal performances on the record were among his best.
Ken Hensley (The Progressive Aspect, 2019) “I’ve just finished a new album that will be called A Little Closer, I think it will shock people, it’s an album I’ve been wanting to make for several years. BMG, my record company, have a box set planned for the 50th anniversary of Uriah Heep, but I wanted to give the fans something that they didn’t have already.
I suspect that my new album will be released sometime in the spring. This new album of mine I’m very pleased with. I’ve worked with Richard Evans (Peter Gabriel’s engineer and producer) and also with a Middle Eastern musician, whose name I can’t pronounce, who handled the arrangements and keyboards. It’s a really satisfying body of work that might upset the purists, but I wanted to do something different. It’s fairly under wraps because we don’t want to dilute the impact with leaking it. However, you’ll hear about it soon enough I hope.”
Ken Hensley (Eon Music, Oct 2020) “I finished an album last year with Richard Evans [‘A Little Closer’], and that will probably come out in the third quarter of next year. I’m not really sure; we’ve kept it low profile right now because of the fiftieth anniversary thing, and then because of the other album that will come out at the end of January. But it’s really a beautiful record, it’ll piss off a lot of purists, but it’s a record I’ve always wanted to make. ”
Another list of “volume 2″s. Back when record companies made multiple compilations out of 4, 5, or 6 albums. The first FOREIGNER albums was the band’s golden era, and as a fan of those early albums, for me, their was a big drop off after the band’s first release of ‘hits’, titled Records in 1982. The band had a strong pile of hit singles by that point. But, there was a lot of other lesser hits, live favorites, and fan favorites from those four albums, which I’ve compiled below to make aRecords: Volume 2. I think a Volume 3 would be songs from the studio albums that came after 1982, frankly a list that would be a bit harder for me. The band hasn’t released an album of all new songs since 2009, and since then, (continuing on with just Mick Jones (til more recently) it’s been a steady bunch of live albums and compilations. The most worthwhile releases being 2008’s No End In Sight: The Very Best Of Foreigner, which covered the band’s entire career up til then, and more so the 2019 DVD/Blue-ray/CD release of Live At The Rainbow ’78. There was also Foreigner 4 Live, released earlier this year (as well as being part of the Foreigner 4 box set). Would be nice to get a few more ‘official’ live recordings from the band’s glory days (Where is the 1979 Atlanta show?)
Anyway, if you have any different choices, please drop them in the comments.
Tramontane **
An instrumental piece on side 2 of Double Vision, written by Greenwood, McDonald, and Jones. A great opener, as used for the band’s intro tape on the Head Games tour. (Was it used on the Double Vision tour?). Used as a B-side to the band’s huge hit “Hot Blooded”.
Headknocker
Hard to believe this wasn’t a single! A great rocker from the band’s 1977 debut, written by Gramm & Jones. Has been a live set regular and fan favorite, appearing on a few live releases and a number of compiations.
Break It Up *
The 4th worldwide single from Foreigner 4, and 4th top 30 hit from the album. Written by Mick Jones. One of my favorites from 4.
Love On The Telephone *
An underrated classic from Head Games. Love the intro and melody of this one. Released as a single in The Netherlands, where it became a top 40 hit. In the US “Women” was chosen as the 3rd single instead. Also written by Jones & Gramm.
The Damage Is Done **
The last track on side one of the first album, written by Jones & Gramm. A classic Foreigner ballad. Great vocal, guitars, synths, and production. This was used as the B-side to the hit single “Long Long Way From Home”. Another one from that album that could’ve been a hit.
Rev On The Red Line **
From 1979’s Head Games. This is my favorite Foreigner album, and I know there was other singles from it that I could have included, but this is just one of the coolest Foreigner tracks, and another that makes one wonder ‘why wasn’t this a single!?’. Written by Gramm and Ian McDonald. One of Lou Gramm’s best performances, and outstanding solo from Mick Jones. Used as a B-side to the hit “Dirty White Boy”.
Blue Morning, Blue Day*
Another cool rocker. This one from Jones & Gramm, and was issued as the 3rd single from 1978’s Double Vision. Imagine that this gem made it to #15 in the US and still didn’t make the cut for Records compilation!
Girl On The Moon **
Another Gramm / Jones song, from 1981’s Foreigner 4. It’s a ballad, which I much prefer to the one that was the big hit from this album! Buried as the 2nd last track on the album, and issued as a single in the Netherlands. Dig the slide guitar here, classic underrated Foreigner track.
I’ll Get Even With You *
A Mick Jones song, from Head Games. Just another great rock tune from this album. Love the chorus and synths. A shame this would be the last with Ian McDonald, who contributed so much to this song and album, even credited as co-producer with Jones and Roy Thomas Baker. Released as a single in the UK, 1980. Honestly had a hard time picking this one or it’s B-side “Blinded By Science”.
Starrider
From the debut album, written by Jones and Al Greenwood. Though not released as a single, this became a highlight of the band’s live show over the years, with Mick Jones taking lead vocals on much of this, and stretching out his guitar solo on occasion. Kind of a throwback to the early 70s, with the mix of acoustic guitars, harmonies, keyboards, and flute. Absolute masterpiece, and would fit perfectly to end such a compilation. There’s an excellent live version of this on the No End In Sight compilation.
Well, with 2 new cover versions of the Rainbow classic “Man On The Silver Mountain” being released, thought I’d compile a list of covers of this Blackmore & Dio classic rocker, originally from 1975. It was the opening track to Ricthie Blackmore’s Rainbow album, his first since leaving Deep Purple. Also released as a single from it, and becoming one of the band’s best known tracks, featured on a number of live albums since then, including singers that came after Dio. I think Graham Bonnet did a great job with it, but this is often seen as Dio’s song. It also featured in Dio ‘s (the band) live show.
*If there’s any versions out there that I’ve missed (or omitted), please leave them in the comments.
JOEY BELLADONNA (2011)
Anthrax’s Joey Belladonna did something different with this song. I’m not overly familiar with Anthrax, but dig this guys vocals as he performed the song acoustically a few times. I’ve only included it here because it’s so different, and the vocal is outstanding. A shame Joey hasn’t included this version on an actual album release.
ROB HALFORD, DOUG ALRICH, ...(2015)
These are the type of ‘tribute’ things I can’t get in to. I bought this CD when it came out, played it once or twice and got rid of it. Like my Judas Priest albums, but I really don’t think this suits Rob Halford. A decent take musically, I guess.
ALABAMA THUNDERPUSSY (2006)
Recorded for a 2006 compilation of various artists on Small Stone Records, titled Sucking The 70s. This is a pretty good heavy version of the song. Great band name!
IROCKERS CREW (2016)
Another cover that, although not officially released, I’ve included here. This German band performs this so well; great vocals, guitar, etc…
BONFIRE (2018)
Another German band. Bonfire have been around since the ’70s. This is from their 2 CD set of covers, Legends. I like this one. The vocal is different, the guitar is heavy and modern sounding, and there’s some organ in there. Sounds great!
SAXON (2023)
I really like Saxon, and Biff, but kinda prefer hearing them doing Saxon songs. Like Halford, Biff Byford has a pretty distinctive voice. But again, at least this is different to many others hear, as the band sound like their just having fun, rocking it out. From their Inspirations 2 release.
HAMMERFALL (2019)
Swedish power-metal band covered this, and included it as a bonus track to their 2001 Legacy Of Kings, 20th Anniversary box set edition. Love the guitar sound on this. It seems a bit faster and bit more, err, power to it. Great version.
TEAZE (2026)
Canadian band Teaze included their version of this on their brand new album Rev Your Engines (the band’s first in 46 years!). Absolute awesome take, with a an added intro (giving it something unique), and a great vocal from Brian Danter. One of the best versions here. (IMO)
SEBASTIAN BACH, MICK BOX, etc.. (2026)
From another ‘tribute’ project of performers mixed and matched for various tracks. Not bad. Love the guitar here – Mick Box and Doug Aldrich. Not a big fan of the vocals, but it has grown on me, so am liking this more. What is Jonathan Cain doing here?
Tim Durling’s latest book is On Record: The April Wine Album Review. It is the first book dedicated to the legendary Canadian band’s catalogue, with each studio album being discussed by panels of fans, as asked by Tim. So, I am honored to be included among in it. I recently spoke with Tim about On Record, April Wine, and putting this book together. As well we touched on Tim’s future plans.
You can order On Record: The April Wine Album Review on Amazon. It’s 222 pages of perspectives, recollections, and information on each of the band’s 16 studio albums. Tim’s doing a lot of promo to reach April Wine fans, and you can catch him on his channel Tim’s Vinyl Confessions, as he features deep-dives on each album over the next few months, as wll as appearing on various other Youtube channels, and in online publications.
Tim:I’ve done Grant’s Rock Warehouse so far, and I’ve done John Clauser’s channel, My Music Corner, and I’ve got a bunch of other things booked. So, the usual channels I go on, like The Contrarians and things like that and reaching out to other people and saying, see if you’re interested. So yeah, any exposure, I appreciate any chance to talk about it. I appreciate it. And for people to share on social media, it seems like a simple thing, but none of us have the exact same friends base or reach. So, all it takes is somebody to see a post that would have never normally seen a post and go, Oh, there’s a book about April Wine. It’s a simple thing, but it can mean a lot.
*Click on the banner below to order.
You’ve always done books, like you mentioned before, books on bands that don’t normally have anything written about them. Is that a large part of where this went, because there’s not a lot of books on April Wine other than Myles’ book or Ritchie Henman’s.
Yeah, there really hasn’t been any books that have been sort of studies into the band’s music, and I like being able to fill in that void. So, you’re right. Most of the books I’ve done have been bands that have hardly any books written on them or almost no books written on them. I mean, Myles’ memoir, Just Between You And Me, that he put out in 2016 is kind of the story from April Wine from his perspective, but I wanted something to go into each one of the studio albums, talk about all the songs, just like a lot of my previous books have been, and I think every classic rock band deserves to have something commemorating their career in this way.
Do you learn much from talking to everybody because you’re not doing interviews with band members and people that were actually there. It’s kind of just a fan analysis type thing.
Yeah, absolutely. The books that I’ve done like this have totally been based on Martin Popoff’s Album-By-Album series that he did. I just thought that What a great format to use; just like having a bunch of people sitting around a table and somebody poses a question, Hey, I think this is their best album, what do you guys think? And then everybody gives you their opinions. And so, I kind of adopted that concept. That’s certainly what I did for Y&T, for Kansas, and for Night Ranger, and for this April Wine one. And I find I learn a lot from talking to fans, especially fans that were either fans longer than I have been and have been there, can remember when albums came out and going to see them on that tour, or even younger fans that just discovered the band a few years ago. Sometimes they’ll hear stuff that I’ve heard for years but never picked up on. So, yeah, I’ve learned something each time around I’ve done one of these books, I’ve come out of it knowing more about the music or having a deeper appreciation for the music than I had before.
You have a wide variety of people, obviously, there’s, (I don’t know), how many people ended up in the book!? (Tim counts 29). I imagine, because I have probably a favorite five or six albums. Is it easier to find people that say, “Yeah, I’ll talk about Nature of the Beast, and I’ll talk about Harder…Faster”, and then when you get to certain albums, you’re kind of struggling to find people that have a good recall?
Yeah, absolutely. It’s like when I did my Night Ranger book, everybody wanted to talk about the first three albums, and I had a little bit of a harder time getting people to talk about the more recent ones. When I did the Y&T book a lot of people wanted to talk about Black Tiger and Mean Streak. So, with this book, it was no different. It was no problem getting people to talk about Stand Back or Harder…Faster or Nature of the Beast.
I did have a hard time finding people that wanted to talk about, say, Walking Through Fire or Roughly Speaking or Forever for Now, but I was able to fill it up to get a sufficient amount of people per chapter.
I could have talked about a few of those, but I think those three probably sit at the bottom of my April Wine list. I imagine you want to find people that have something positive to say as well!?
Not necessarily all the way through. It is great to have some differing opinions; we all hear these things differently. But, hen you’re really into something, I think that’s when the best content comes up, because if you’re really passionate about an album and passionate about a song, it’ll come out because you’ve listened to it so many times and you’ve analyzed it and you you’re like, Oh, I love this mid-section right here. I love the harmony vocals there. I love this verse right here, the way Myles sings it – or whatever. So, there are some dissenting opinions in some of the chapters.
Certainly, I would say in the in the first album chapter, you know, there’s a overwhelmingly, I don’t want to say negative, but it’s not that high on many people’s list, that first album. But there are some people that like that early stuff and that’s great.
Yeah, it’s a hard, I wouldn’t say a hard one to get into, but it’s definitely for particular tastes, right!?
I find that if I want to listen to the first April Wine album, it’s more of an intellectual exercise, like I shall now listen to the first April Wine album as opposed to I got to hear that debut album. It’s like that.
Obviously you’re doing a lot of promotion and that for this. Have you gotten any feedback from anybody connected to the band?
No, I really haven’t. At this point, the book’s been out for a couple of weeks or so. So, it’s still quite new. I have posted on, not the official band’s Facebook, but the fan page is there. And a lot of people have seen that. I know Dave Cameron liked one of my posts, so Dave Cameron’s pretty well connected in the April Wine world. People know that name. I don’t think that there’s anything particularly… it’s not about dirt – it’s just a bunch of fans and our opinions on these albums.
As far as beyond the reviews and the comments and stuff about the albums, you did a list of songs the band covered with the originals in that.
Yeah.
Was there anything you could have put in the book? One thing I really liked was your (and it’s a whole other topic), was your review of the live show, recently.
That was a really happy accident, because obviously I started this book quite some time ago, long before the Triumph reunion was announced and long before it was announced that April Wine would be opening for it.
I was so glad that it happened the way it did, and I got to see that show, because being completely honest, I was sort of in the background thinking, Boy, the idea of April Wine playing without Myles. It just seemed so strange to me because, he was the main voice, the main songwriter, one of the main guitar players. In a lot of ways, Myles was the sound of April Wine. So, the idea of somebody else doing that, I don’t know!? I’ve seen plenty of shows with replacement singers, but it just so happened that I really wanted to go see this Triumph reunion and April Wine were opening. And I came out of it, I was convinced that this music is in good hands now. Marc does a great job with the vocals. He doesn’t try to sound like Myles. I like the fact that they didn’t do what, say, Journey and Foreigner did and tried to find somebody that could sing like Myles because he’s got such a unique voice.
They just got somebody that could sing very well, deliver the songs. I will say that he’s really, I get the feeling that Marc has really taken time to study Myles’ guitar parts because when it came time for the lead parts, he had them down. And that that I would go see them on their own now. I would go see a full headline show from this lineup.
I saw him last year as part of the BTO thing and I was kind of the same thing. I kind of thought there’s one guy that’s played on albums here. I was, not skeptical, but I just…. But Marc brings a lot of energy to it.
Yeah, very much. And they talk about Myles a lot. He just sings those songs very well. That that opening set went over very well for the Triumph crowd.
As a matter of fact, I think that the crowd sang along louder to April Wine. But I think that also has a lot to do with the fact that, Triumph – I love Triumph; they’re one of my favorites. In Canada, they’ve got like maybe three or four songs that get a lot of radio airplay, whereas April Wine have maybe a dozen. So, like people just know those songs, right!? And they’re marginally not as heavy as Triumph. So, it kind of makes sense that it’s got more radio friendly appeal.
Triumph were great. But I just noticed that people were into that April Wine show from the get go, and you could hear them all singing along from the moment they started with “Oowatanite” til they finished with “Roller”.
So, was there anything you wanted in the book, you just didn’t get around to or anything kind of like a list of stuff or anything?
Not really, I tried to make sure I covered every officially released song. So if we got to, for instance, B-Sides, I put them in context of the album that they would have been affiliated with if they were a B-Side from On Record or Electric Jewels or whatever. Songs that are on live albums that weren’t on any studio albums. I think I just about got everything covered.
So far, I haven’t looked at and gone, Oh, I wish I had mentioned this or that. No, I’m kind of happy with the way it turned out.
I know all these things get brought up in the discussions from album to album, but there was no list of like related albums or just band personnel in general.
No. I think I try and cover the changing lineups as they occurred. I know one thing that, maybe some people thought I should have covered but I didn’t, was solo albums. I did talk briefly about the two blues albums that Myles did post-April Wine, because I find that those are probably the closest people were going to get to another April Wine album. It is kind of sad that Roughly Speaking, will probably go on to be their last album. And it was I mean, first of all, it was really short and I didn’t mind some of the songs. I just wish they’d made more music.
Yeah, it’s unfortunate they went from 2007 until now, not recording. I think Styx went for the same period of time until they finally put something out.
Yeah, Kansas did the same. They were16 years before they started putting out albums again. I suppose now, I don’t know. I can’t imagine there being a new studio album of newly written material, but you never know. It’s a good band. I will say that with Brian at the lead. And this music people still want to hear these songs.
Regarding your own favorite albums. Did you have any chapters you were looking forward to?
Sometimes it’s the albums that aren’t my favorites that I most look forward to because I really want to hear, because I always think that This is a good band. I just don’t happen to care for this particular album here. But somebody must like it. So, it’s always good to hear back when someone says, “I kind of like the late 60s vibe here…I kind of like….” I guess the two main ones would be the debut and Forever For Now. When it comes to, say, Harder…Faster, Nature Of The Beast, those are well-loved albums…Stand Back. So, I know it was no problem to come up with people that wanted to talk about those and were really passionate about them. But I kind of almost look forward to those lesser albums. And I’m interested to what people, think of them, especially if they’re albums that in some cases, I know that people have discovered them in recent years because of YouTube and being on different shows. One that I find has really risen amongst people that I communicate with is Back To The Mansion. I think that’s a really good latter day April Wine album.
I think once you get over the fact that it’s not a hard rock album.
Yeah, it’s not it’s not. Attitude was a pretty pedal to the floor, borderline heavy album. Frigate not quite so much, but there are a few songs on there.
But yeah, Back To The Mansion is nothing like that. Back To The Mansion really has more of the spirit of something like even lighter than say Powerplay. There are great songs to be found on there. I love that Brian sings two songs. It’s just it’s a really strong album. And I had no problem with them doing that blues sort of thing with Roughly Speaking, I just wish it was a longer album. The whole thing’s about 25 minutes long; so it’s barely an album.
I like the guitars on the album, but yeah, it’s too short. And it took me a long time to get into it. Same with Back To The Mansion, when it first came out, I was kind of like, It’s good, but, there’s no like, Frigate had “Look Into The Sun”.
Yeah, there’s nothing really driving on there. And that’s another thing I remember, because I got into the band when Attitude was a new album. I mean, I’d certainly heard of them for years before, but when I first started buying the albums and listening to them, it was when Attitude was out. And then Frigate came out just a year later, which was pretty rare in the 90s. So I remember thinking, Okay, we’re going to start to get some, a bunch of albums from them in pretty short order. Obviously, that didn’t happen. And I just think that’s a shame. I think there was a lot of talk about albums coming out, but it just it didn’t seem to happen. And I think I understand why, because obviously, there’s more money to be made on the road.
Have you read the other April Wine related books, Myles or Ritchie’s?
I’ve got to get Ritchie’s book. I don’t have it. I have Myles book, and I enjoyed it. When Myles talks about growing up, you know Myles was born in Woodstock, New Brunswick, which is my hometown. I was born there. Myles did not live there, and that’s the important difference, but still the Maritime provinces. So, I can picture a lot of things he was talking about when he was growing up. It’s pretty amazing, considering that band started in Waverly, Nova Scotia, made their way to Montreal, and then they had albums all over the world. They toured all over the world, and they did quite well for themselves.
Are you getting feedback on this outside of Canada?
Yeah, I’ve sold a lot of books to to folks in the States that I’ve talked to, and in the UK. I think it’s really important, and one of the goals of this book is to let people know that they didn’t just have those six albums on Capitol Records, from First Glance to Walking Through Fire; there’s a quite a career here, quite a distinguished career. The fact that First Glance comes out, lot of people might have thought that was their first album, but then in Canada, the next thing that comes out is their first Greatest Hits because they’d been doing it for almost a decade at that point. So, it’s a rich catalog to go back and discover. And I think people would be really surprised if they only know, say, those Capitol years, the big songs, how eclectic those earlier albums are.
Do you plan on doing anything further as far as the band goes down the road? Do you see any kind of follow up as far as April Wine goes? I’m just saying this because I know there’s not a lot out there on them.
I’m thinking that I don’t know what else there would be, unless somebody approached me and said, We’d like you to do their biography, and then I’d have to do some serious research. I’d have to borrow a lot from existing material, like Myles’ book. And, it’s my understanding, like some of those guys, like Gary Moffet, they just don’t want to talk about it. But somebody should; there really should be because it’s an unlikely story. The whole idea of them traveling from Halifax to Montreal, and they really didn’t have an invitation. It was sort of a nicely worded Don’t call us, We’ll call you, that they got from the guys that ended up starting Aquarius. It could have been a totally different story. So it’s unlikely, but they just they kept at it. They kept putting out records. And sooner or later, they made their mark. It’s interesting because, yes, in Canada, April Wine are kind of an institution as far as classic rock, and they’re mentioned up there with the biggest of names. Around the world it’s not like that, they’re sort of almost a mid-tier band if people remember them at all. And I think more people need to know about the band and know just how many albums they did, how much music they made.
What else do you have in the works?
I’ve got another book that at this point is proofread. It’s pretty much written and it’s proof-read. And I’ve been kind of on this schedule where I put a book out in early summer and then I put one out in the fall.
So, this next one will be coming out in the fall. I’m not saying who it’s about just yet, but it does follow along with a lot of the books that I’ve been already doing. I will say that it’s the next book that I’ve got it’s like my Sammy Hagar and my Fleetwood Mac books in that it’s all me. It’s an album by album, but it’s all me. And then I’ve got a couple other bands in mind. I don’t see any reason to stop.
I’m always looking around like, OK, so who do I really like!? I got to really like whoever it is before I commit to doing a book. And who also isn’t well represented in having something to pick up and read about them. I’m a huge Rush fan, but I don’t have a Rush book in me and there’s so many great books already written about them. So, it has to be something that really gets my interest when I’d really like digging into writing about these bands. And all right, Finally, I get to write about this band or I get to say what I think about this band and how great this album is. And more people need to hear it rather than saying, I think Moving Pictures is a great album. Well, so does most of the world. So, yeah, I’m going to keep on going, I think.
Is it getting easier to do? You started writing books, what, five years ago now or less?
Surprisingly enough – Yeah, it’s been about four years. It’s crazy in that time, I’ve got seven. And my good buddy, Matt Phillips, that works for his company’s Go North Design. He’s worked on all of my books. I’ve kind of got a system down, not a science, but we’ve both gotten better at, now that we’ve got a system, it’s working very well.
And I also want to thank my good friend Andy Campbell for doing the proof-reading, because that’s very important to me. I do not want to have grammar errors or spelling errors or factual errors. A good proofreader will find things that not just things that, it could be grammatically correct, and it could be something that if you’re a huge fan of the band, you’ll understand, but I’m trying to write my books for everybody.
So, I don’t want someone to write something that’s like an inside joke. And it’s like, Well, I don’t even understand what that means. So it’s like, Can you explain that a little more? That’s why there’s some editorial notes in there and stuff like that.
Do you have anything planned other than this just for a bookstore or anything like that?
Well, I do. As far as my channel, Tim’s Vinyl Confessions, every time I put out a book, as you know, I do a ‘deep dive’ series where I go through every one of the books. You’re in an upcoming one. And actually, what I’ve done this time that’s different than before, I’ve got two co-hosts per episode. So, I’ve got two people that are in the chapter for the albums. And so that’s going to take me into September because that’s 16 weeks.
And yeah, I’ve got actually in Woodstock, which I only live about a half an hour away from there now. I am doing an in-store for first Saturday in July at a local bookstore. So that’s coming up.
I’ve been doing, I’ve done Grant’s Rock Warehouse so far, and I’ve done John Clauser’s channel, My Music Corner, and I’ve got a bunch of other things booked. So, you know, the usual channels I go on, like The Contrarians and things like that and reaching out to other people and saying, see if you’re interested. So yeah, any exposure, I appreciate any chance to talk about it. I appreciate it. And sharing on social, for people to share on social media, it seems like a simple thing, but none of us have the exact same friends base or reach. So, all it takes is somebody to see a post that would have never normally seen a post and go, Oh, there’s a book about April Wine. It’s a simple thing, but it can mean a lot.
To be released on September 25 is a 5 CD lift-lid box which contains LUCIFER’S FRIEND’S 3 albums from their reunion years (2015-2019), as well as 1994’s Sumogrip, and the excellent 1981 album Mean Machine – all remastered by Andy Pearce.
Lucifer’s Friend released their debut album in 1971, very heavy and doomy, which is often listed among the classics of the era, alongside the first few Black Sabbath albums, Deep Purple’s In Rock, and Uriah Heep’s debut as well. The band would shift directions or styles from album to album, maintaining a core line up of Lawton, Peter Hesslein (guitar), Dieter Horns (bass), and Peter Hecht (keyboards), along with drummers Joachim Rietenbach and Herbert Bornhold. Following Lawton’s departure to Uriah Heep in 1976, Lucifer’s Friend carried on for 2 albums with Scottish singer Mike Starrs. This box begins with the band’s reunion album Mean Machine, which saw a return to a Hard rock sound, with heavy guitars and big riffs. But with poor promotion, the band soon split up. Lawton & Hesslein reformed Lucifer’s Friend, with a new line up for 1994’s Sumogrip (as ‘Lucifer;s Friend II’). A good album, but less heavy, featuring standouts “Heartbreaker” and “Sheree”, as well as remakes of “Ride The Sky” and “Free Me” (Uriah Heep). Again, decades would pass before the band reformed with Lawton, Hesslein, and Horns. First came the compilation Awakening, which included 14 tracks, 4 of which were brand new (put on a seperate disc); I don’t see these tracks here(?). Next the band played the Sweden Rock Festival,, and released a live album from that show. This was followed by 2016’s Too Late To Hate, and a final album, Black Moon, from 2019 – both good albums, though I prefer the latter, highly recommended. Sadly, Dieter Horns passed away in 2019, and John Lawton in 2021. The Last Stand was released later in 2021, a compilation, which included songs from the last 4 albums.
Jokers And Fools will be a welcome release for those interested in this legendary band. Although the last few albums aren’t that old, having all 5 albums together looks like a nice collection for fans. I’m also looking forward to the booklet, which includes an introduction from Iris Lawton. The band’s earlier albums are harder to find on CD (including Mean Machine), so here’s hoping that this is followed up with another such box set, including the band’s ’70s releases.
When I was in grade 6, J. GEIILS BAND’s Freeze-Frame album was one of the biggest albums happening, with 2 huge hits that were heard regularly. Eventually I picked this up, but I’d also picked up it’s predecessor not too long after, not knowing much else of the band. Yeah, I went back and picked up most of their back catalogue, when used LPs were dirt cheap. The earlier stuff I was less keen on, but they had some cool album covers!
Anyway, 1980’s Love Stinks would be my favorite album from the band. It was their 11th release, and 3rd album for EMI. The previous album, Sanctuary is pretty good too; it featured the hit “One Last Kiss”. Although the J. Geils Band, from Boston, originally was known for their R&B and Blues sound, and party band atmosphere, in later years they came around to a more, almost mainstream rock direction, particularly with Love Stinks. Most of J. Geils Band’s original material was written by singer Peter Wolf, and keyboard player Seth Justman, with the band doing much less covers by this point. At this point the band was also changing their image with the music, in time for the video (MTV) which came a year later. Love Stinks came in a unique cover design by Carin Goldberg, with the front featuring a seeminglyhappily married couple in the 50s, the back cover featuring childhood photos of bandmembers, and the inner sleeve consisting of various love themed pics and headlines. Pretty weird at the time.
Love Stinks starts out with 2 of the albums best tracks, the upbeat “Just Can’t Wait“, this one featuring that classic old organ and hand claps. “Just Can’t Wait” would be the 3rd single in North America, and hit the charts in Canada and the US. The next track, “Come Back” would be the album’s first single. Both songs go so well together, the latter with a more modern sound, more synths, heavier guitar, and a big drum sound. “Come Back” is my favorite here; love the instrumental section which features a guitar break, and highlights with an unusual drum section, and keyboards. The synths here and closer to the end remind me of things like Gary Numan’s “Cars”, and Alice Cooper’s “Clones”. “Come Back” would be a Top 20 hit in Canada, top 40 in the US,. “Night Time” is the a;bum’s lone cover, originally a 1965 hit for the New York band Strangeloves. The first side ends with the band’s comical track, “No Anchovies Please”, with Peter Wolf narrating a twisted tale, reminiscent of Brownsville Stations “Martian Boogie”
Side two opens with the album’s title track. Another big hit single, and like “Come Back” – a little more hard-rock. “Love Stinks” was performed by Adam Sandler in the movie The Wedding Singer (the J. Geils version appeared on the movie’s soundtrack, volume 2). It was also covered by Joan Jett, appearing as a bonus track to her Hit List compilation in 1990, as well as industrial metal band Bile, in 2002. Peter Wolf, himself would include a live stripped down version of this on his 2016 album A Cure For Loneliness. I always thought this song was meant as a bit of comedy, but it was penned following Wolf’s divorce from actress Faye Dunaway, which makes me wonder if any other songs resulated from this experience(?)
Next up is “Tryin’ Not To Think About It”, another excellent song that features a heavy riff, and a hard driring pre-chorus, but in between there’s pop, funk, blues….just a cool tune. “Desire” is the album’s ballad, again a really good memorable track that would’ve made a fine single. The album concludes with an old school J Geils type party rocker in “Til The Walls Come Tumblin’ Down”, which is perfect closer after everything else here.
Freeze-Frame came out a year and a half later. With Wolf only co-writing on half of this, leaving Justman to write most of the album, as well as produce it. I really liked the singles off it – “Centerfold” and “Freeze-Frame”, in particular, which drove the album to #1 in North America. But overall I found this album a bit more pop-ish, less guitar, and less memorable songs. A 3rd single, “Angel In Blue”, a ballad, also made the top 40, but beyond this I am much less keen on this record overall. A live album, Showtime, was released a year later. It contained 11 tracks, but omitted 2 of the band’s more recent hits – “Come Back” and “Freeze-Frame”! It made the top 30 in the US though. Soon after, internal conflict, largely Wolf disagreeing with the band’s more modern ‘techno’ direcetion, lead to his being fired. J. Geils Band continued with one more (largely forgettable) album soon after, while Wolf had a couple of successful solo albums in the 80s – Lights Out (1984) and Come As You Are(1987). The J. Geils Band broke up in ’85, but reunited with Wolf on a few occasions, even touring without the band’s guitarist and namesake., John ‘J’ Geils, who, sadly passed away in 2017.
New Tribute To BADFINGER Legend “JUST LOOK INSIDE THE COVER – SONGS OF PETE HAM”. To Be Released June 19 on Y&T Music
Includes new recordings by Ron Griffiths and Bob Jackson of The Iveys and Badfinger
Y&T Music is proud to announce the release of a special tribute album, “Just Look inside The Cover – Songs of Pete Ham,” featuring 22 new recordings of songs written by Pete Ham. This very unique tribute album features songs that were only previously released as home demos and never recorded by Badfinger.
Pete Ham was one of the 20th century’s greatest overlooked artists. Certainly, the Swansea, Wales-born musician received some recognition: three of his songs – “No Matter What,” “Day After Day” and “Baby Blue,” all recorded by his group Badfinger – were hit singles, and the popularity of those songs endures to this day. And “Without You” – co-written with band mate Tom Evans – would become a standard when covered by American singer-songwriter Harry Nilsson. With Badfinger, Ham made seven albums, all of which are today recognized as classics of melodic rock.
While the total output of Pete Ham penned songs released during his short lifetime would be less than 40 songs, he proved to be a startlingly prolific songwriter. Thanks to the diligent archival work of people working in close cooperation with The Pete Ham estate, demo recordings of many of these and previously unknown songs have come to light in recent years and are the focus of this tribute.
Many of those songs, compiled on several posthumous Pete Ham albums, demonstrate that Ham’s songwriting prowess yielded a bounty, the like of which would be astounding even if created by an artist who lived much longer than his brief 27 years. They also underscore the fact that Ham could – and quite often did – write excellent songs that were well outside the musical scope of The Iveys or Badfinger. Moreover, Pete Ham exerted great influence upon countless artists who came after him, many of whom weren’t yet born when he tragically took his life in 1975. His gifts with words and melody continue to inspire musicians and listeners alike.
This tribute features some of today’s most renowned artists in the field of melodic and indie rock, each providing their take on a gem from the largely overlooked portion of Ham’s creative output. Given complete creative control, some take the approach of arranging the song in a way that suggests how Badfinger might have done it; others use Ham’s words and music as a canvas upon which to paint a picture all their own. Just Look Inside The Cover also includes new recordings by Ron Griffiths, and Bob Jackson, both who have recorded and toured with Pete Ham, as members of The Iveys and Badfinger.
THE SONGS
1. Mike Delevante – A Lonely Day
2. Pezband – Tulip
3. Sharp Pins – Just How Lucky We Are
4. Eric Dover – Leaving on a Midnight Train
5. Arlan Feiles – You’re Such a Good Woman
6. Bill Lloyd – Our Song
7. Rob Bonfiglio – Hand in Hand
8. Mary Karlzen – Dawn
9. The Fraternals – Catherine Cares
10. Fernando Perdomo – Time is Mine
11. Mic Harrison And The High Score – A Little Bit of Rock and Roll
12. Tobin Sprout – Keep Your Country Tidy
13. Humbert – Little Mary
14. Steve Barton – Ringside
15. The Parlophonics – Makes Me Feel Good
16. Richard Barone (featuring The Midnight Callers) – I’m Only Human
17. Darren Hayman and Robert Rotifer – Love Will Be
18. Mark Healey – It Doesn’t Really Matter
19. Jeff Alan Ross – The Day Begins
20. Ron Griffiths – Take Good Care of My Baby
21. Bob Jackson – Just Look Inside The Cover
22. Tobin Sprout – Keep Your Country Tidy (Reprise)
Outsider Rock 