Steve Hackett - Darktown (1999)

One of the common complaints of progressive rock is that it's all technique and no feeling or emotion. The ever versatile Steve Hackett took that stereotype head-on and flushed it down the toilet with his 1999 release, Darktown.

The album starts going full speed ahead out of the gate with the instrumental Omega Metallicus a heavily distorted musical onslaught, heavy on the bass, heavy on the distortion and totally in your face from the first note to the last before shifting to the darkly ambient title track.

Darktown is a largely Vincent Price-esque spoken word piece on the backdrop of heavily distorted Robert Fripp-esque guitar flourishes. Indeed if Price had still been alive when Hackett had recorded Darktown his voice would have been a perfect fit. That being said, Hackett does an admirable approximation of Vincent Price in his vocal delivery.

While the whole album is incredibly strong, something that I've come to notice from most of Hackett's solo material incidentally-- the consistency of quality. I don't believe Hackett has ever recorded a song that could be described as "filler." His material varies in quality from very good to excellent. There is no mediocrity.

The other standout track is The Golden Age of Steel, in it Hackett tells a tale of a young boy during WWII who seamlessly switches sides in the ongoing war in order to survive and profit. In the excellent liner notes Hackett describes the song as an example of "opportunism at its worst." Hackett's voice while not great is certainly passable and does work for the material he is performing. His vocal style is reminiscent of Pink Floyd's David Gilmour. That being said Hackett's strength is certainly much more with his guitar than his voice. And it's for his guitar that this album is well worth listening to.

Incidentally this was one of the first solo albums of Hackett's I ever purchased. The cover art jumped out at me. There was something so dark but at the same time so beautiful about it and I wanted to hear the music that would inspire a photo of a tombstone as its cover artwork. I was not then, nor have I ever been disappointed with that decision.

Unfortunately, this album is now out of print in the United States. If you are able to find it at a decent price either as a new import or used I highly recommend it. If you think you know Hackett from his work in Genesis in the seventies prepare to be surprised. Prepare to be taken on an ambient and haunting musical journey. In the end, you'll be glad you did.

Related Links
Steve Hackett (official site)
Steve Hackett (wikipedia)

Steve Hackett - Metamorpheus (2005)

In the seventies Steve Hackett made a name for himself as the guitarist for Genesis during their progressive era.

Within a year or two of Peter Gabriel's departure, Hackett followed. While he hasn't necessarily had the commercial success Peter Gabriel has had since departing Genesis, Hackett has certainly made a name for himself by displaying his versatility on the guitar-- performing all range of genres world music, classical, progressive, and rock.

In 1997 Hackett released his highly lauded classical guitar album, A Midsummer Night's Dream-- Hackett's musical interpretation of the classic Shakespeare play.

In 2004 he entered the studio to record the follow-up, Metamorpheus-- Hackett's musical interpretation of Orpheus' passage into the underworld.

In a word this album is "lush." It's beautiful from start to finish. Hackett plays softly and beautifully from start to finish. His use of nylon strings gives his playing a simple beauty that belnds nicely against the backdrop of his Underground Orchestra.

For many classical music is heard but rarely listened to. Metamorpheus dares to be listened to. To merely hear this album without taking the time to really listen to and absorb its beauty is doing the listener, not to mention this music, a tremendous disservice. There are so many beautiful and subtle nuances-- this music paints a beautiful portrait on an aural canvas.

Simply put, Hackett has created a lush beautiful classical guitar album for people who wouldn't normally listen to classical guitar. Metamorpheus is an even further demonstration of Hackett's overwhelming versatility on guitar. His work with Genesis merely whets the appetite, Metamorpheus sates it!

Related Links
Metamorpheus (wikipedia)
Steve Hackett (official site)
Steve Hackett (wikipedia)

The Doors - Other Voices (1971)

In 1971 Ray Manzarek, Robby Kreiger, & John Densmore decided to soldier on without Jim Morrison.

Wait, the Doors without Jim Morrison?! That does not compute, doesn't make sense by any stretch of the imagination.

But at the same time Morrison was constantly trying to shift focus away from himself to his bandmates. There are group photos where, while he is front and center, he's kind of cowering lower to try to put the focus on Kreiger, Densmore, and Manzarek. So something tells me, on some level, this is a decision that Morrison might have smiled down on.

I have to give credit where it's due. The music is actually pretty damned good and the three remaining Doors did right by Morrison by not trying to replace him, they merely continued on without him-- Kreiger and Manzarek taking on the vocal duties in the Lizard King's absence.

Manzarek was no stranger to singing for the Doors as he was known to sing lead for them on many ocassions when Jim was still alive but too inebriated or incapacitated to perform. Rather than cancel or reschedule, often times the Doors would perform with Manzarek handling the vocals.

But Manzarek is no Morrison, nor for that matter is Robby Kreiger. It took some serious stones to soldier on without Mojo Risin' but as a tribute to Morrison perhaps they should have changed their name.

In order to listen to this album objectively it's best to forget it's a Doors album. Close your eyes and listen to it for its own sake. The music IS good and good music should be enjoyed without prejudice. The keyboard/organ playing is trademark Manzarek, the drums are still John Densmore, and the guitar is still good ol' Robby Kreiger.

When a person goes blind or deaf his or her other senses tend to grow stronger to compensate for the loss of that sense. As a trio the Doors play even tighter than as a quartet. It's almost as if Morrison's passing brought the remaining three members of the band that much closer together.

Even if deep down inside I can't bring myself to refer to Other Voices as a true Doors album, I also can't deny that it's thirty-nine plus minutes of damned good music. I just wish that Densmore, Manzarek, and Kreiger had made a fresh start and recorded under a new band name. They and their music deserves to be appreciated free from the ghosts and constraints of their past. Retaining "The Doors" moniker severely handicapped the album's potential success before the first note was even recorded.

Related Links
The Doors (official site)
The Doors (wikipedia)
Ray Manzarek (official site)
Ray Manzarek (wikipedia)
Robby Kreiger (official site)
Robby Kreiger (wikipedia)
John Densmore (official site)
John Densmore (wikipedia)

America - Homecoming (1973)

There's something magical and slightly unusual about this album. It's one of those perfect "summer albums" that captures and crystallizes the "California sound." I mean, to me, this album has always "felt" like California to me. From Ventura Highway to California Revisited there's a mellow laidback easy-going California summer vibe.

What makes this unusual, the 3 members of America were born in England to US Servicemen. Whether it was a startlingly brilliant imagination or a rapid osmosis of California culture upon moving to the States listening to Homecoming one could easily forget these guys weren't native born Californians.

There's a comfortability to Homecoming that makes it a welcome listen regardless of the mood I'm in. I can feel and taste the summer air in all of the songs (and those smells and tastes are particularly welcome during Chicago winters).

Dan, Dewey, and Gerry had truly found something brilliant in their vocal chemistry as evidenced by their debut just a couple years earlier. But with Homecoming they took the successes of their debut to a different level. The material is stronger, the harmonies are tighter (quite an accomplishment considering how tight the harmonies were on their debut), and the whole album actually "flows" better. The gentle familiarity of the music makes one WANT to listen to it from start to finish. Opening with Ventura Highway hooks the listener and the progression of the successive songs gently holds the listener's attention straight through to the closing bars of Saturn Nights.

While their subsequent albums would give glimpses of the brilliance of Homecoming none would ever quite match its consistency or brilliance. This was America at their best. If you were to only own one America album it would be a tough call between Homecoming and their debut... but Homecoming gets my vote, if only by a hair.

Related Links
Ventura Highway (official site)
America (wikipedia)
Gerry Beckley (official site)
Gerry Beckley (wikipedia)
Dewey Bunnell (wikipedia)
Dan Peek (official site)
Dan Peek (wikipedia)

Cold Chisel - Cold Chisel (1978)

Starting as heavy metal covers band, Orange, in 1973, Cold Chisel changed their sound, shifted its line-up a bit, relocated from Adelaide then to Melbourne, and inevitably to Sydney before being signed by Warner and recording their debut album in 1978.

Little did anyone know at the time that this workingman's pub rock band would become one of the seminal, pivotal, and definitive Australian rock bands.

In the years since, history has shown that Cold Chisel is generally a band that's better enjoyed live than in the studio but their raw energy and bluesy swagger shines through even on their studio releases.

In the years paying their dues in the pub and club circuits of Adelaide, Melbourne, and Sydney keyboardist/organist Don Walker had emerged as the band's primary songwriter. So it's little surprise that all but one of the songs on Cold Chisel's debut were written solely by Walker (he and vocalist Jimmy Barnes collaborated on Juliet).

The nice thing about this album not being recorded until about five years after the band's inception-- many of the kinks were worked out. Jimmy Barnes had left and rejoined the band several times due to the somewhat volatile relationship with his bandmates. Being a Scot his relationship with Liverpool born drummer Steven Prestwich was particularly heated. Barnes absences in the band's beginnings also allowed guitarist, Ian Moss, to exercise his vocal chops as he often took over on vocals during Barnes' absences from the band.

Going into the studio to record this debut, the kinks were for the most part smoothed over, the material was strong as some of it had been performed in the club circuits over the years and there was a tightness and raw energy in the band's sound that gave them instant appeal across a broad spectrum of the population.

From the opening notes of Juliet to the closing notes of Just How Many Times the band is firing on all cylinders. You can feel your feet sticking to the stale beer soaked floors, see the paint peeling off the walls, smell the acrid ammonia stench emenating from the hallway where the restrooms lurk on every blues-tinged hard rocking note they play.

While Jimmy Barnes handles most of the vocals with his gritty vodka drenched swagger (reminiscent of a cross between AC/DC's Bon Scott and Brian Johnson) Ian Moss does contribute his considerably smoother vocals to One Long Day and Rosaline which keeps the album's vocals consistently interesting. There's not a throwaway track on this release, although admittedly other than the live staple Home and Brokenhearted and the Vietnam anthem, Khe Sanh the material on Cold Chisel's debut is not as recognizable as what would come on later releases.

While this may not be the definitive Cold Chisel album, it does show the band in their somewhat humble beginnings. And the great thing about this band is that they never lost their swagger, drive, or energy. To hear them from the beginning is a real treat that should be enjoyed and savored.

Related Links
Khe Sanh

Cold Chisel (official website)
Cold Chisel (wikipedia)
Jimmy Barnes (official website)
Jimmy Barnes (wikipedia)
Ian Moss (official website)
Ian Moss (wikipedia)
Don Walker (official website)
Don Walker (wikipedia)
Steve Prestwich (official website)
Steve Prestwich (wikipedia)
Phil Small (wikipedia)

Guy McDonough - My Place (1985)

Guy McDonough's contributions to Australian Crawl are often sadly overlooked or forgotten about. In addition to playing guitar for Australian Crawl, Guy wrote or co-wrote a handful of songs on the Sirocco album, McDonough also sang lead on Oh No Not You Again and shared lead vocals with James Reyne on Errol (a song about the late Australian film star, Errol Flynn).

It didn't help McDonough that his voice bore a striking similarity to that of Reyne. To the untrained ear of the more casual fan it sounded as if all of Australian Crawl's songs were sung by Reyne.

In June 1984, Australian Crawl was forced to abruptly end their tour when Guy McDonough was admitted to a Melbourne hospital. Unfortunately, Guy would succumb to viral pneumonia on June 26, 1984. He was only 28.

Prior to his death with his brother Bill (former Australian Crawl drummer) on drums, Sean Higgins on keyboards & synthesizers, Nigel Spencer on bass & synthesizers, and Michael Bright on lead guitar Guy had recorded a handful of demos. Following his untimely passing, as a labour of love, Bill completed work on the demos and polished them up for the posthumous release of Guy's debut and only solo album. A handful of other musicians lent their talents to Bill in his completion of My Place most notably including Guy's bandmate, James Reyne on background vocals, Men at Work's Colin Hay also on background vocals, and Mick Hauser and Jo Camilleri (of Jo Jo Zep and the Falcons) on sax.

Other than being overly synthesizer friendly (it was recorded in 1984 after all!) the material on My Place would not have sounded out of place on an Australian Crawl album. For that matter, Guy had re-recorded Things Don't Seem which he had written and had been originally recorded on Australian Crawl's Sirocco album (although the Crawl's version featured James Reyne on vocals). The songs are all relatively catchy and the material is generally strong. Camilleri's sax is a welcome addition to songs like Too Many People and Can't Help Myself. The latter of which sounds like it just as easily could have come from a Jo Jo Zep album.

Given Guy's untimely passing it's unfortunate that his output was limited to this album, 1 EP and 2 LPs by Australian Crawl. My Place shows incredible promise and does keep the listener wanting more. Incidentally, Australian Crawl did attempt to soldier on without Guy to rather abysmal results. The band's final studio album, Between a Rock and a Hard Place (with Simon Hussey and Mark Greig replacing Guy on guitar) was an abysmal failure that didn't even chart. The band had paid $400,000 out of pocket to record the album and toured extensively to pay off the recording fees associated with that album. Once the album had been paid off and the tour was over, Australian Crawl called it quits. This is quite a testament to Guy's contributions to the Crawl prior to his passing.

Related Links
My Place (download the album in here! compressed in .rar format)
My Place (album details from Midoztouch.com)
Guy McDonough (wikipedia)
Australian Crawl (wikipedia)

Dragon - O Zambezi (1978)

Dragon's story is an interesting one. They started out as a prog-rock group in the early seventies but were met with general indifference. It took some personnel changes and a move from Auckland to Sydney for their careers to take off.

The most notable of the personnel changes was the addition of vocalist Marc Hunter who replaced the departed Graeme Collins at the request of his brother and Dragon guitarist, Todd Hunter.

Marc Hunter looked the part and had the voice and the change of venue was just what the band needed. The move to Sydney put Dragon on a stratospheric trajectory in their adopted homeland.

Following their success in Australia they decided to try to crack the US market on a disastrous tour supporting Johnny Winter. After inciting a crowd in Texas by derogatorily insinuating they preferred the romantic company of the same gender. Marc Hunter related the story in a 1994 interview:

I remember seeing someone standing holding a pistol and shouting 'Im gonna kill you, you son of a bitch'... I didn't know it but by this point the rest of the band had left the stage. I was still singing because I could still hear the music in my head. It took ages to clear the pile of debris on the stage - broken glass, bottles, chairs, half a table - but I was totally unaware of this, I thought I was going over really well and I'm standing there in a crucifixion pose with my arms out, really gone, with heaps of eye make-up on, looking like some sort of twisted priest. And apparently Johnny Winter was taking bets on the side of the stage as to how long it would take before somebody shot me. Then I turned around and saw no one was on stage so I realised I wasn't going over too well after all and I went back to the dressing room and everyone was just standing there... I said 'We went great, weren't we terrific?' At that stage of the band I was really a shocking sod. And all the record company people were just staring at me like I was an insectoid from Mars. And so that was it for us for that trip to America."

O Zambezi was released just before Dragon's ill-fated tour of the United States in 1978. From start to finish this album is a catchy capsule of late seventies rock. The album only peaked at 17 in Dragon's native New Zealand but in Australia it was a much different story as the album shot all the way up to #3 largely on the strength of the #1 hit single Are You Old Enough? and the catchy Still In Love With You. To this day, O Zambezi remains Dragon's highest charting album and largely on the strength of their catalog from this era of the band, Dragon was inducted into the ARIA Hall of Fame in 2008.

If you're new to Dragon O Zambezi is an excellent album to start with as it's a snapshot in time of the band at the pinnacle of their success when they were firing on all cylinders making infectious uptempo pop music.

On a sad footnote keyboardist Paul Hewson died of a drug overdose on January 9, 1985 and the excesses of the rock and roll lifestyle also caught up with vocalist Marc Hunter. He was forced to retire from performing when he was diagnosed with throat cancer in 1997. Unfortunately, he inevitably succumbed to cancer on July 17, 1998.

Related Links
Are You Old Enough (music video)

Still In Love With You music video

Dragon (Fan Site)
Dragon (AllMusicGuide)
Dragon (wikipedia)
Take Me To the April Sun In Cuba (excellent article by Chuck Miller)
Todd Hunter (wikipedia)
Marc Hunter (wikipedia)
Kerry Jacobson (wikipedia)

John Wetton - Battle Lines (1995)

Coming from a strong progressive rock pedigree in the seventies with his stints as lead singer/bassist in King Crimson, touring with Roxy Music, briefly with Uriah Heep, and the short lived prog-rock supergroup UK (with Allan Holdsworth, Eddy Jobson, Bill Bruford, and later as a trio with Terry Bozzio replacing Bill Bruford and Allen Holdsworth departing not to be replaced).

In the eighties Wetton shifted his focus slightly to what could best be described as prog-pop or possibly "Arena-Prog" with the early eighties MTV arena rock supergroup juggernaut, Asia.

With 1995's Battle Lines Wetton shifted even further into the pop realm with his brief foray into the realm of adult contemporary music in an attempt to attract some new listeners and perhaps make himself a bit more accessible.

While not as adventurous or as interesting as Wetton's more progressive material, Battle Lines is certainly more accessible. The material is still uminstakably John Wetton but it lacks a bit of the adventurousness of his earlier career.

As a prog-pop album, Battle Lines, is a bit of a disappointment. As an adult-contemporary album, on the other hand, Battle Lines, is thoroughly enjoyable from start to finish. The only "throwaway" or "filler" track to be found is Jane which would not have sounded out of place in the eighties-- somewhat troubling consideirng that Battle Lines was released well into the nineties.

Other than the lone hiccup, Wetton's voice is thoroughly enjoyable as always. While he may not be the best singer, what he lacks in vocal quality he far more than makes up for in the overall passion of his vocal delivery. His vocals particularly stand out on the title track, Battle Lines, and on the utterly heart-wrenching, tear-jerking Hold Me Now.

There are far too numerous songs about unrequited love to even begin to count, but what sets Hold Me Now apart from the rest of the sizable pack is not just Wetton's impassioned delivery but also the subject matter. This isn't a song of romantic love, but of love between a child and his mother. The pain in Wetton's voice is downright palpable as he implores;

Mama, just hold me now
You don't have to be pretend
Smash the chains and throw them to the floor
Hold me now and let me believe that a kiss is the way it should be
'cause it means the world to me

Hold Me Now makes Battle Lines well worth the purchase price on its own, let alone the rest of material on the album.

With subsequent releases Wetton would start to return to his more progressive roots much to the delight of his fans. But this album shouldn't be dismissed out of hand. Taken in the right context this album is as thoroughly enjoyable as anything else Wetton has ever recorded. And some credit must be given for Wetton to at least try his hand at a genre he was not known for performing.

Related Links
John Wetton Interview (1994)

John Wetton & Steve Hackett (ex-Genesis) performing Battle Lines

John Wetton (official site)
John Wetton (wikipedia)
Voice Mail / Battle Lines (wikipedia)

Toto - Live @ Montreux 5/7/1991

By 1991 Toto had more than proven themselves. They'd had a string of hits in the eighties and a mantle full of Grammy Awards collected for Toto IV and Rosanna at the 1983 Grammy Awards.

They also had soldiered through a revolving door of lead singers-- Bobby Kimball, Fergie Frederiksen, Joseph Williams, and Jean-Michel Byron (the last of which the band and most fans try to forget).

But you take the good with the bad and after the sour taste that Byron had left them with, Toto decided to soldier on with guitarist Steve Lukather handling the lion's share of lead vocals.

The 1991 Montreux Jazz Festival in Switzerland was the first glimpse Toto gave of their then upcoming album, Kingdom of Desire.

What the band didn't know, and couldn't have known at the time was that this would end up being one of Jeff Porcaro's final concerts with the band before his untimely passing in August 1992. As such this bootleg is arguably the highest quality and one of the only bootlegs available featuring Porcaro playing material from his final album with the band.

Toto's set starts out with the fiery On the Run (which, incidentally, didn't make it onto Kingdom of Desire) an uptempo rocker, and easily one of the heaviest and hardest rocking songs that Toto had ever recorded. It would not have sounded out of place on Kingdom of Desire which ended up being, arguably, Toto's heaviest, hardest, and rawest album. (On the Run did inevitably make it onto Toto's 1997 twentieth anniversary rarities collection, XX.)

The band also plays Kingdom of Desire and the intensely grooving instrumental Jake to the Bone from Jeff Porcaro's final album.

In addition to the new material the band also dips into their back catalog with the Lukather penned and sung ballad I'll Be Over You, the smash hits-- Africa, Rosanna, and Hold the Line. In the absence of a regular tenor vocalist on Rosanna and Hold the Line Toto taps background singers (Fred White and Jenny Douglas respectively) to handle the tenor vocals. At times the background singers are equal to the task but for the most part their vocals fall thin compared to Bobby Kimball's vocals on the originals.

A couple of covers round out Toto's set, the Hendrix cover Red House that lets Steve Lukather cut his teeth a bit more on guitar and the seemingly out of place throwaway Ike & Tina Turner cover, I Wanna Take You Higher featuring Toto's female back-up singers (Jenny Douglas & Jackie McGhee) singing lead. While this cover might not have sounded out of place at a Toto concert in the late seventies, given the rest of the songs in this early nineties set, it sounds woefully out of place and sticks out like a sore thumb.

That being said, this bootleg is definitely worth adding to any collection largely on the strength of On the Run, Jake to the Bone, Kingdom of Desire, and the Hendrix cover Red House. And for any Toto fan, this is a must given its significance as the first time any material from Kingdom of Desire was performed live (and by Jeff Porcaro to boot!).

Related Links
Kingdom of Desire (wikipedia)
Toto (official site)
Jeff Porcaro (wikipedia)
Steve Lukather (official site)
Steve Lukather (wikipedia)
David Paich (wikipedia)
Mike Porcaro (wikipedia)

The Art of Racing in the Rain by Garth Stein

The plot of The Art of Racing in the Rain is not necessarily original. Nor are the issues of grief, weighing career versus family, or child custody issues… All have been fodder for numerous novels over the years. Where Stein excels is not in the story he tells, but in how he tells the story or perhaps more appropriately WHO is telling the story.

The Art of Racing in the Rain is told from the perspective of Enzo, a mutt that is at least part Labrador Retriever although the rest of his genetic make-up is never really firmly defined. At one point it’s hinted that he’s got a German Shepherd/Poodle mix, although Enzo firmly believes his father was an Airedale Terrier.

While the story is largely about Enzo and his relationship with his owner, Denny, Enzo provides much more of an observational role for Denny, a Nick Carraway to Denny’s Jay Gatsby if you will.

Denny is an aspiring race car driver, trying to make his big break into the world of professional race car driving. Stein does an excellent job creating a sense of empathy and understanding for Enzo, Denny, Denny’s wife Eve, and his daughter Zoë.

Stein’s telling of Denny’s story through Enzo’s eyes also allows him some semblance of detachment and some of Enzo’s observations are scent based and not visual. This gives Enzo a decidedly different perspective on the events that surround him and while not omniscient Enzo does come across as “more knowing” than Denny or his family. He senses the positive and negative intentions of many of the minor characters before Denny does, and gives the book at times a sense of foreshadowing, and at other times it can be somewhat foreboding (in particular the chapter in which Enzo describes the true nature of crows).

There’s also a sense of longing and frustration throughout the book that stems from Enzo’s desire to be human or at least be able to communicate with Denny, Eve, and Zoë better than he does. And at his core, Enzo is more human than canine, a human soul trapped in a dog’s body.

From start to finish The Art of Racing in the Rain is both a compelling, original, and enjoyable read. It feels like a solid 4 out of 5 stars. It falls short of that fifth star largely because the ending feels slightly rushed but more because at times Enzo’s innate “human-ness” really challenges the reader’s suspension of disbelief. If Stein had just slightly toned down Enzo’s “human-ness” and made him a bit more canine he would have been a bit more believable. These are minor quibbles though and should not be reasons to avoid reading this original and otherwise excellent novel.