Journey: Eclipse

Here we are now in 2011 and the latest album from Journey entitled Eclipse, the second studio album to feature not so new singer Arnel Pineda. I have to say that Journey have now reclaimed a lot of ground that they lost over recent years with the singer situation becoming a problem for the band. Arnel Pineda however has integrated into the band extremely well and on this his second album he sounds like he has been there forever and certainly more of a band member than he did on Revelation some three years ago.

Whilst the debut album, Revelation was a little bit of what you would expect from Journey Eclipse is a little more daring. There is no obvious big ballad. On Eclipse Journey prove that they can and do rock with the best of them. The album has I am presuming been written with performance in mind rather than radio although there are a few radio friendly tracks here with the opener City of Hope being the obvious track to fill that gap. Whilst there are no typical Journey ballads here To Whom It May Concern comes closest although the guitar is more upfront than the keyboards. In fact the whole album is very guitar dominated and for lovers of Neal Schon’s blistering style then this is no bad thing.

Having seen the way this band work live I just know that many of the tracks from this album will find their way into the set list including City Of Hope, Edge Of The Moment and resonate being the obvious contenders.

Eclipse is an excellent melodic rock album and in fact it is probably Journey’s most hard rocking album since departure in 1979. The band were certainly under Neal Schon’s tutelage on this album as the guitar is well to the fore in the mix and Kevin Shirley has come up with a very good sounding rock album.

So two albums in for Arnel Pineda and I think it is safe to say that he has earned his wings and the band are now set to go on to bigger and brighter things and leave the more recent troubled past behind them

Black Sabbath Born Again: Deluxe Edition

When Born again turned up in 1983 I wasn’t sure whether I was more surprised that Ian Gillan had joined Black Sabbath or that they had actually managed to get it together enough to record an album. Of course there was the thought at the back of my mind that a large amount of money was involved and I am sure that the band when they headed off for a year long tour made quite a bit of it. I have to say I was pleasantly surprised when I listened to the album however and in fact over the years I think Born Again has proved its worth as part of the Black Sabbath catalogue.

Gillan actually proved himself a very good member of Sabbath and Born Again is a really good album. Of course whether the Black Sabbath fan of old considers this is a debateable point. It cannot be denied however that Born Again is an extremely good rock album and there are some fine riffs from Tony Iommi throughout the album. Another good sign was that founder member and drummer Bill Ward was once again behind the drums although sadly by the time of the Reading Festival appearance which is featured as part of this package his place had been taken by former Electric Light Orchestra drummer Bev Bevan

In terms of material Born Again features some key songs including Disturbing The Priest, Thrashed and Zero the Hero with the latter being one of Iommi’s great riffs and one he occasionally revisited over subsequent years as part of his solo or worked into other songs in a live setting.

I think the problem for most Black Sabbath fans is that it was a former member of deep Purple that had joined and fans of bands can be extremely partisan at times. Of course for the Sabbath fan base it was only going to get worse with various singers coming and going over the next few years including another former Deep Purple man Glenn Hughes.

No Matter this deluxe edition of Born Again is a welcome release containing what in hindsight is a very solid album which has been fleshed out by two previously unreleased tracks the extended Stonehenge and an album session outtake The Fallen.

I do remember listening to the broadcast live from the Reading Festival in 1983 which now makes up the second disc of this set and was quite happy until the band launched into Smoke On the Water. Obviously because Gillan was in the band but to be honest IO don’t think Sabbath needed to perform this track. After all Gillan had joined Sabbath rather than the other way round So I would have preferred to hear another Ozzy era track perhaps or even a Ronnie James Dio era track but no mater it is carved in stone now to take its place in history.

Generally speaking this Deluxe Edition of Born Again is a worthy release and certainly one that I have enjoyed. The sleeve notes are interesting as well with Steve “Krusher” Joule explaining how he came up with the idea for the cover and also how initially he didn’t really want to do the job and conspired to do such a bad job that he wouldn’t get the commission; strange but true.

All this goes to make up the story of Born Again which seen with the hindsight of almost thirty years is an interesting chapter in the long and involved history of Black Sabbath

Def Leppard Mirrorball : Live And More

Def Leppard: Mirrorball, (Live and More)
Bludgeon Riffola


At long last I hear you say we have a live album from Def Leppard. Of course there are those who would say that the band could have released a double live album of immense quality some twenty years ago. That would have been the easy and perhaps obvious course to take but fair play to Leppard they stuck it out and competed by releasing studio albums that in the main did extremely well for the band.

So how does this live offering shape up. Well in true rock style it is a double live album although like most modern live albums there are three studio cuts bolstering the contents. The three tracks here are Undefeated, It’s All About Believin' and Kings Of The World. Of the three,my favourite is Undefeated and it is a superb track and obvious singles material but in fairness It’s All About Believin’ is also as good as anything the band have produced in the last thirty years. Kings of The World is a touching tribute to Queen (a band high up in the likes list of the guys in Leppard) and one which I am sure is heartfelt. Personally I think the track is ok not the monster track it could have been but certainly not mawkish or anything to be embarrassed about

Now to the live tracks well you get exactly what you would imagine here a large dose of British rock delivered with a huge amount of style not to mention substance from the band. I can remember the days when Leppard were dismissed for having the cheek to aim for the American market. Oh how those critics must be pulling their hair out now. Def Leppard are quite rightly a British tradition and a fine addition to all those other great British rock bands that have gone before them and conquered America and listening to this you can see why. They have great songs by the box full. Check out this list Rock Rock (Till You Drop), Rocket, Animal, Love Bites, Hysteria, Armageddon It, Photograph, Pour Some Sugar On Me, Let’s Get Rocked you can see where I am coming from here can’t you?

Add a few newer numbers like C’mon C’Mon and Nine Lives and you can see that there is a lot to offer from this band and they cover all the bases as one should in a live performance. Part audience pleasing but also part band pleasing in that they are not an oldies band and still want to prove they have it.....Leppard certainly tick the box on that score

The triple package also includes a DVD featuring backstage footage from the bands Sparkle Lounge tour of 2008-2009 plus live performances of Rock Rock (Till You Drop),Armageddon It, Pour Some Sugar On Me and Hysteria and if that wasn’t enough the two videos for Nine Lives and C’Mon C’Mon

Truly a Def Leppard fans delight and of course anyone who is into well written and performed rock music. Def Leppard long ago earned their right to be seated at the top table; this album is merely a reminder of how they did it.

Highly recommended

Saxon Call To Arms

Saxon: Call To Arms
Militia Guard

For more years than I care to remember Saxon has been delivering excellent rock albums to a rather large fan base. Of course the critics do like to take the Mickey out of Saxon presenting them sometimes as some sort of cartoon band. Wholly incorrect and while it must irk Biff and the boys that at least in certain parts of the press they get no respect the band has a massive worldwide following who not only buy the albums but turn up at the concerts too. Long may this continue and while the band continue to release albums of a high standard then I can’t see why that shouldn’t be the case.


Call To Arms is the latest album to come from Biff Byford and the men of Saxon on their own Militia Guard label and a rather fine album it is too. No messing about for Saxon they just get right on with the job in hand and the album opener starts things off the way they mean to continue with Hammer of The Gods possibly an obvious title for a Saxon song but hey if it ain’t broke then don’t fix it.

Saxon do what they do extremely well and are probably the embodiment of British heavy metal these days and call To Arms is an album packed to bursting point with extremely good examples of the genre. Other highlights include Back in ’79, Surviving The Odds and The Working Man all of which are applicable to Saxon. There is even a reprise of the title track in orchestrated form at the end of the album making for a majestic end to what I think is the bands 19th album.

That the band have continued under the leadership of Biff Byford and maintained a true course is admirable and this album really should fit the bill for the still massive Saxon fan base. So many of the songs here will also sound great in a live setting and I for one see these songs fitting in so well alongside other Saxon classics

Respect where it is due you know you are going to get an album that the band believe in when Saxon deliver a new release and Call To Arms is certainly another great album from the band and one that will almost definitely do good business both across the counter or however you decide to purchase the album; just buy it you won’t be disappointed!

Ringo Starr and The All Starr Band Liverpool Empire June 18th 2011

Set List
1.It Don't Come Easy
2.Honey Don't
3.Choose Love
4.Hang On Sloopy (Rick Derringer)
5.Free Ride (Edgar Winter)
6.Talking in Your Sleep (Wally Palmar)
7.I Wanna Be Your Man
8.Dream Weaver (Gary Wright)
9.Kyrie(Richard Page)
10.The Other Side Of Liverpool
11.Yellow Submarine
12.Frankenstein(Edgar Winter)
13.Peace Dream
14.Back Off Boogaloo
15.What I Like About You(Wally Palmar)
16.Rock and Roll, Hoochie Koo (Derringer)
17.Boys
18.Love Is Alive (Gary Wright)
19.Broken Wings Richard Page)
20.Photograph
21.Act Naturally
22.With a Little Help from My Friends
23.Give Peace a Chance

Saturday night in Liverpool and Ringo Starr returns to the Liverpool Empire with his 11th All Starr band for a sell out concert. Despite the press and some of the more vocal elements of Liverpool still creating a fuss over Ringo’s comments about Liverpool there was plenty of love in the building for him and his band tonight.

Ringo Loves Liverpool and Liverpool obviously loves him as well and as Ringo commented about Liverpool in connection to his song the Other Side of Liverpool his Aunty Ev knew what he was talking about in the song and she was in the audience as were Ringo’s wife Barbara and his daughter Lee. Both of whom enjoyed the evening and also no doubt catching up with all the Starkey family in the audience.

The concert kicked off in fine style with Ringo’s debut hit single from 1970 It Don’t Come Easy and from the outset it was obvious that Ringo and the entire band were really enjoying themselves onstage at the Liverpool Empire. In fact the guys in the band had huge smiles on their faces throughout the evening but then what’s not to like You are playing your biggest hits in front of an appreciative audience and also playing some Beatles songs with a Beatle. “A dream come true” as Richard Page and Edgar Winter both commented.

The set list is just amazing and there were so many highlights. For me Gary Wright’s Dream Weaver and Edgar Winter’s Frankenstein were up there but all the guys were fantastic and both the Mr Mister songs (Kyrie and Broken Wings) featuring Richard page were great. Rick Derringer proved just how good a guitarist he was during an extended solo in Rock n Roll Hoochie Coo and whilst the Romantics were never as big a band in the UK as they were back in America Wally Palmar really got the audience going with Talking In Your Sleep and What I Like About You both of which were massive hits back in the eighties for the Romantics. I must add a special mention for second drummer Greg Bissonette who just played and sang his heart out throughout the evening and looked as happy to be onstage with this amazing group of musicians as many were in the audience to see them.

Ringo however was on top form throughout enjoying a great rapport with the audience and chatting to individuals that caught his eye. Of course we wanted to hear the songs we knew him for and he didn’t disappoint with Boys, I Wanna Be Your Man, Act Naturally, Honey Don’t and of course Yellow Submarine all getting an airing; the latter with the entire audience on its feet singing along. The concert also featured some newer songs including Choose Love and Peace Dream which name checked John Lennon and also The Other Side of Liverpool which proves that Ringo still wants to record and promote new songs.

The concert however came to the end on a high note with the classic With A Little help From My Friends which then ran into Give Peace A Chance which was a touching and right end to the evening.

Once again Ringo Starr proved that The Beatles were something to be cherished and that Liverpool was also a place close to his heart despite what you may read in the press. The fact that the love for Ringo was reciprocated should come as no Surprise.

Aex Lifeson Interview October 2003

Rush burst out of Canada in the mid seventies recording a number of progressively sophisticated albums until the late nineties when Neil Peart suffered a devastating personal tragedy. His wife and daughter both died within a short space of time. It was to be five years before Peart re-joined Alex Lifeson and Geddy Lee to record another Rush album. Vapour Trails was released in 2002 and the band set out on a tour to promote the album. Demand for Rush was such that many extra dates had to be added. The tour finished in South America and the final date at the Maracana stadium in Rio de Janeiro was filmed and is due to be released on DVD as Rush in Rio. Jon Kirkman caught up with guitarist Alex Lifeson in Toronto to talk about the forthcoming DVD and CD and what lies ahead for Rush.


Jon Kirkman The DVD (Rush in Rio) was filmed in Rio de Janeiro at the end of the Vapour Trails tour. What was the motivation to go to Brazil because it was the band’s first trip to Brazil?

Alex Lifeson Right. We’ve long had offers to go to Rio to play at ‘Rock in Rio’ and we’ve always avoided it because we’re not really comfortable playing in that kind of pop festival format. We’re really about our own show and representing ourselves that way. Record sales don’t give you a true indication of your popularity in places like that. Our record sales are modest you know, nothing to go crazy about but this opportunity came up to do more than one show, to do a few shows. The promoters made it worth our while to come down because it’s a very expensive trip; to get all the gear down there, all our lighting you know, it’s heavy stuff.

JK I guess you would want to give the fans the full show and not skimp on anything?

AL Absolutely the full show, it has to be. So it’s quite a costly procedure to get everything down there and do these things. So anyway the opportunity came up. Now we had planned on shooting the DVD on one of the last American dates in upstate New York and we had some problems at the venue and decided to pull it on that last day. So really our only other choices were the shows in South America and we thought Rio would be the best choice. A lot of videos have been done in Rio, it’s a great audience and we could see from our ticket sales that it was going to be a really good enthusiastic crowd. We never expected then to be the way they were. They were just mind blowing.

JK I take it you were very surprised then at the reaction?

AL Oh yeah! We were completely surprised by it. We had 60,000 people in Sao Paolo and 44,000 in Rio. Those are the biggest audiences we have ever played to in a headline situation and the fact that in Rio we had all these Brazilians who don’t speak very much English sing every word to every song and even sing through the instrumentals, it just blew our minds. It’s such an amazing thing to watch.

JK If you look at the DVD this must have been pretty emotional for you guys on stage because in front of you you’ve got thousands of people who know every nuance and every word. They don’t particularly speak English that well and yet they know all the words to your songs so that must have been pretty emotional for you as well as the fans.

AL Well for me, well for all of us but for me the first set was difficult. We knew we were shooting this video; we were also recording. The gear got in late. We didn’t actually get on stage until ten thirty that night. There was no sound check, no line check, and no video line check. We went on dead cold. We got up on stage; we hadn’t even had a chance to see what the stage was like because we had forty cameras. There were cables everywhere; there were lights everywhere (laughs) that weren’t where they were before. So what was our very comfortable environment up there, suddenly was transformed into this very hectic and tense place so I had to really, really concentrate in the first set but there were moments where I just had a lump in my throat. Seeing the audience singing and hearing even through my in-ear monitors how loudly they were singing.

JK Do you think sometimes in a situation like that, which is a real seat of the pants job, that it gives the band the impetus to raise their game just that little bit more?

AL Sure, it always does. Everything was on the line. This was the last show of the tour, if it didn’t happen, if there was some big catastrophe or problem or if we just played poorly that would be it. Either we would live with that or not release it. So it put everything on the line. You know our crew, it was so unbelievable how hard they worked to get the show together, to get everything running and we raised our game as well I think. It was that much more intense on stage and I think it’s reflected in our playing.

JK I’m sure most Rush fans will know that Neil suffered a terrible personal tragedy a few years ago which took the band off the road and obviously Neil had to reconsider a lot of things in his life. But when a band comes back after an extended lay off you obviously want to promote the new album but how do you decide which of the older material you will perform? For instance there was a big response to Closer to the Heart on the DVD.

AL Yeah, Closer to the Heart was not included in the North American tour. We’ve played that I think every tour since 1977-1978 so it was a bit of a relief for us not to play it and slot some other things in that we hadn’t played before. In South America we’ve heard that it was a very popular song, one of our most popular songs down there so we thought we should really include it in the set and I think that was a smart thing for us to do. It’s always so difficult for us to get a set list together. I think we probably had about four and half hours of material that we whittled down to three hours (laughs) and Geddy and I sat down and went through all the albums and we listened to just about everything. Certainly there were songs that we would never plan to do live.

JK But surely that’s the case with every band. A band will record an album and certain tracks become popular and people want to hear them and then there are other tracks that will never get played live.

AL Yeah! That’s right.

JK Looking at the set list on this tour and DVD, it’s a very broad cross section of your career.

AL Yeah, we really tried to do that. We tried to include something from all the records. You know, Moving Pictures is a very popular record of ours and it’s popular with our whole fan base going back to the early fans and the more recent ones. Tom Sawyer, YYZ, Red Barchetta, those are songs that along with Limelight; we have to include them and that takes up a lot but Vapour Trails on this tour, we would have loved to have played the whole album. We were so inside that record and it was so important to us you know. The culmination of those four or five years of all the difficulties we had gone through.

JK I suppose it must have been like a release.

AL Oh absolutely it was.

JK Well the DVD and CD will be in the shops shortly and I have to ask this as the rumours are doing the rounds that this is the last thing Rush will do. So do you get fed up with hearing the rumours or do you just get on with things and not get caught up in that and do what you do?

AL Well that’s exactly right. (Laughs) We’ve always just done what we do. I think the way we feel right now; there’s certainly more music in us. There’s certainly more tours. We really enjoyed the last tour. It was the first time we had done a summer tour. So it was much brighter and happier and fun and I think we’d like to do that again. We’d like to play a summer tour and in fact we’re talking about possibly going back on the road next year without a new release and doing a thirtieth anniversary tour and this would also afford us the opportunity of coming to Britain and Europe.

JK I’ve been waiting to hear that for a few years.

AL Well it’s always been a very difficult thing because as we get older our touring schedule shrinks and of course we had the five years away and that compounded the problem and we haven’t been back in eleven years I think now and honestly we know that and we know we have an audience there and we have fans that would love to see us and we feel very guilty about not coming over. We had honest intentions, sincere intentions of coming over on the last tour. But once things started to get put together we weren’t sure how it was going to go for us; we’d been out of the loop for a while. There were a lot of questions. Neil had committed to a fifty, actually I think it was more like thirty eight dates in his original request and we ended up doing sixty seven shows so it just kept building and building and building and when we finally could squeeze in going overseas it was too late. The window of opportunity was gone. Hall availability had completely dried up until February of this year and this was in the summer we were looking at it. So this time around and I know Geddy of all of us is the most adamant that we come over and play. I don’t think he even wants to tour unless we come there and do a tour. This time we’re going to work it in so we absolutely will come because I think it would be great to bring this whole show. I know it would be different from the Vapour Trails tour but that would be the starting point for the new show. It would be great to bring that over and particularly for fans in Britain to see it.



JK Well I think I can speak for most Rush fans and say we’d love to see you.

AL Yeah and I think that’ll what we will do. We haven’t really confirmed that yet. Geddy’s away for a couple of weeks. He’s on a trip with his wife in Vietnam. So when he gets back from ‘Nam (laughs) we’ll sit down and finalise all this stuff but it really looks like we’re leaning that way and I’m glad of that. I think it would really be a lot of fun to go back out and do another tour especially a thirtieth anniversary of the band and stuff.

JK I think it’s probably just as important for the band as well as the fans that you celebrate and mark that because it is a very important landmark.

AL It is, I never thought we would be here thirty years ago. I was hoping for maybe five years at that point. If we could tour for five years and make four or five records, boy, what a great career that would have been.

JK I think a lot of bands think that and say, “Let’s see if we can stick around for five years and make a few records,” and before you know it you’re looking back on ten years.

AL Yeah, well when you’re a nineteen, twenty-year-old kid playing in bars six days a week, boy! Your vision beyond that isn’t that deep. (Laughs)

JK Well the Rush in Rio DVD is superb and is a must for any Rush fan or any real rock fan come to think of it and it’s great to hear that you guys are going to continue making more music and I can’t wait to see you in the UK. Thanks for talking to me today.

AL Thank you Jon.


© Jon Kirkman Rockahead 2003 and Classic Rock Radio 2011

Rush: Moving Pictures deluxe Edition

Well thirty years on and we have the Deluxe edition of the Rush album Moving Pictures.

As any fan of Rush will tell you the history of the band has been an exercise of great music becoming ever more popular with each successive release.
At the time of Moving Pictures Rush had moved into another stage of their career which had begun on the previous album Permanent Waves. Moving Pictures moved the band on another step and by now not only were the band playing to massive audiences throughout the world they were releasing hugely successful albums and even having hit singles. The hit singles drawn from this album were the obvious Tom Sawyer and the less obvious but no less great Red Barchetta a track that still remains a favourite of mine from the now massive Rush canon.

The album as a whole though proved to be one of the bands most successful up to that point. With Permanent Waves the band had almost re invented itself for the new decade. With Moving Pictures the band refined that vision and whilst there were no epics such as 2112 or Xanadu the songs still sounded majestic and contained the inherent greatness we had come to expect from Rush. The trademark sound was still there and it was most definitely Rush but perhaps the power was distilled into a more powerful punch. Tracks like Limelight, Vital Signs, Witch Hunt and YYZ still delivered that unmistakable Rush sound but the music now had a an undeniable commercial edge which was most definitely attracting new Rush fans across the globe.
This Deluxe edition is exactly what the Rush fans want and whilst there is no unreleased material included the package is still a desirable one. The packaging is first class and the booklet contains a lengthy essay from Rock journalist David Fricke alongside many previously unseen photos.

The second disc in the package however will be the real pull for most fans. The disc is a DVD disc and contains a photo gallery and the videos made for the album including Tom Sawyer. What will be the clincher though will be the full album in 5.1 Surround sound. Here is where it gets really good and if this album isn’t an album to recommend you go out and buy a surround sound system then I don’t know what is. Basically you are advised to slip the disc into the player turn up the volume and strap yourself in. A quite frightening but at the same time hugely pleasurable experience

So in summing up despite the fact that the album is thirty years old the album still sounds incredibly fresh and current something that is a testament to the vision and performance of Rush as a whole and something that continues to this day both onstage and in the studio.

Moving Pictures is the bands biggest selling album and listening to it you can see what it was that tipped the scales in the bands favour back in 1981. It really is one of the best rock albums of the last thirty five years and while many bands may claim that honour few can back that claim up. Rush however had and still have what it takes to back up a statement like that