The Finest Band In The Land...That You've Never Heard Of
Dead Rock West: Live At McCabe's — Glitter & Gold Record Release Celebration 9/22/19
Concert Review by Eric Sandberg
Photos by Eric Sandberg
If Dead Rock West were ever to saunter onto the stage of America's Got Talent, and stand before whatever four schlubs are the current sitting judges, they could sing any song from their repertoire and shortly find themselves covered in Golden Buzzer confetti.
Their music is as American as music gets, whether they're singing covers or their own first rate songs, the combined voices of Cindy Wasserman and Frankie Lee Drennen immediately evoke the Everly Brothers, without copying them. They clearly embrace the similarities, having just released their second collection of Everly's covers Glitter & Gold, which also features one new song written by Drennen and Exene Cervenka. Read more
Photos by Eric Sandberg
If Dead Rock West were ever to saunter onto the stage of America's Got Talent, and stand before whatever four schlubs are the current sitting judges, they could sing any song from their repertoire and shortly find themselves covered in Golden Buzzer confetti.
Their music is as American as music gets, whether they're singing covers or their own first rate songs, the combined voices of Cindy Wasserman and Frankie Lee Drennen immediately evoke the Everly Brothers, without copying them. They clearly embrace the similarities, having just released their second collection of Everly's covers Glitter & Gold, which also features one new song written by Drennen and Exene Cervenka. Read more
New Steve Hackett Interview
Former Genesis Guitarist talks about breaking in a new drummer, working with an orchestra & his early guest singers
Interview by Eric Sandberg
In early 1971, Steve Hackett's ad in Melody Maker seeking musicians "determined to strive beyond current stagnant musical forms" had paid off. Genesis, with two major label albums to their credit, had just lost their guitarist and main writer Anthony Phillips to stage fright. The ad caught singer Peter Gabriel's attention.
Hackett was asked to join the band, along with their first "proper" drummer Phil Collins. Hackett and Collins were initially kindred spirits as they were the two commoners among a trio of posh friends who once all wore Charterhouse school uniforms. One can only imagine the many times Hackett and Collins shot furtive glances at each other whenever Genesis founders Peter Gabriel, Mike Rutherford and Tony Banks experienced a "disagreement" in the rehearsal studio.
Hackett's unique playing style (he employed 'hammer-ons' nearly a decade before Eddie Van Halen) and compositional chops made an immediate impact on Genesis's sound — coupled with Collins's skilled drumming and vocal contributions that helped soften the impact of Gabriel's often harsh delivery.
Five years later, Gabriel left to start a solo career and Collins was promoted to front man. With each new album as a foursome, and with Collins emergence as a writer, Hackett became frustrated with his contributions being consistently voted down for inclusion on albums. Genesis's fortunes were on a steady rise but Hackett chose musical autonomy over a regular dole and bravely left the band.
For his first post Genesis solo album Please Don't Touch Hackett employed some heavy hitters as singers on an eclectic array of songs that touched upon folk, jazz-inflected pop and rock. Steve Walsh, from American prog rockers Kansas, folk icon Richie Havens and future jazz & R&B star Randy Crawford, whom Hackett saw perform in a Chicago nightclub, all appear and showcase Hackett's tremendous skill and versatility as a songwriter. Read more
Hackett was asked to join the band, along with their first "proper" drummer Phil Collins. Hackett and Collins were initially kindred spirits as they were the two commoners among a trio of posh friends who once all wore Charterhouse school uniforms. One can only imagine the many times Hackett and Collins shot furtive glances at each other whenever Genesis founders Peter Gabriel, Mike Rutherford and Tony Banks experienced a "disagreement" in the rehearsal studio.
Hackett's unique playing style (he employed 'hammer-ons' nearly a decade before Eddie Van Halen) and compositional chops made an immediate impact on Genesis's sound — coupled with Collins's skilled drumming and vocal contributions that helped soften the impact of Gabriel's often harsh delivery.
Five years later, Gabriel left to start a solo career and Collins was promoted to front man. With each new album as a foursome, and with Collins emergence as a writer, Hackett became frustrated with his contributions being consistently voted down for inclusion on albums. Genesis's fortunes were on a steady rise but Hackett chose musical autonomy over a regular dole and bravely left the band.
For his first post Genesis solo album Please Don't Touch Hackett employed some heavy hitters as singers on an eclectic array of songs that touched upon folk, jazz-inflected pop and rock. Steve Walsh, from American prog rockers Kansas, folk icon Richie Havens and future jazz & R&B star Randy Crawford, whom Hackett saw perform in a Chicago nightclub, all appear and showcase Hackett's tremendous skill and versatility as a songwriter. Read more
Music Review: Robyn Hitchcock/Andy Partridge — Planet England (Sorry Luv, We're closed)
EP review by Eric Sandberg
A collaboration between two of England's preeminent weirdos has been mooted for years. An abortive attempt, some years ago, seemed to have fizzled leaving the two not exactly on speaking terms.
That I found this four-song EP on my porch today can almost fully be put on Twitter. Andy Partridge's relatively brief time on the social media platform (initially disguised as a fan of his own former band, XTC) enabled some unprecedented access for Partridge devotees — and detractors (who are really just disappointed fans who want more music).
If asked a direct question on Twitter, Partridge would provide a direct, unvarnished answer. The inevitable question was posed: 'What happened with you and Robyn Hitchcock?' Read more
That I found this four-song EP on my porch today can almost fully be put on Twitter. Andy Partridge's relatively brief time on the social media platform (initially disguised as a fan of his own former band, XTC) enabled some unprecedented access for Partridge devotees — and detractors (who are really just disappointed fans who want more music).
If asked a direct question on Twitter, Partridge would provide a direct, unvarnished answer. The inevitable question was posed: 'What happened with you and Robyn Hitchcock?' Read more
Those Hollywood Nights, In Those Hollywood Hills — The Rails Live In Nichols Canyon 8/31/2019
Concert Review by Eric Sandberg
Photos by Mike Berman
Photos by Mike Berman
Before record labels, Soundscan, Sam Goodies — long before there were recordings of any kind, musicians survived through a system known as patronage. Wealthy patrons of the arts, including the courts of Kings, Queens and emperors, commissioned composers to create works and arrange and conduct performances. Musicians made their livelihoods by performing for patrons and their invited guests in their homes.
Haydn embraced the patronage of a prince while his contemporary, Mozart, famously despised his musically ignorant benefactors, burned his bridges and essentially became music's first freelancer.
Chances are, even Mozart would have loved Peter Hastings, Hollywood producer, writer, voice actor, musician and music lover. With the music industry in a shambles, and composers and performers receiving checks for pennies from billion dollar streaming companies, the idea of patronage is making a modest comeback. Noted New Orleans jazz pianist Tom McDermott recently documented his house concert tour on social media after booking a number of inquiries from eager patrons before setting out in his marginally reliable car.
Hastings often turns his spacious, post-modern home, nestled in windy Nichols Canyon above Hollywood into a music venue, not too dis-similar to McCabe's guitar shop in Santa Monica, with various vintage stringed instruments lining the walls of his spacious front room.
From this point forward we were at a swanky Hollywood cocktail party with Hastings's de-facto co-host, the inimitable Nancy Covey greeting and chatting up each new arrival. As the ranks of beautiful people, who all seemed to know each other, swelled I began to feel as if I had crashed the party. There was an aircraft carrier-sized kitchen island full of hors d'oeuvres, a wine table, Stella Artois on ice and a bucket of La Croix flavored water, all out of Hastings's pocket as all the proceeds from the event were going to the performers.
By 8:30 PM an announcement was made and the attendees filed into the front room to their seats, already mostly claimed by the presence of an article of clothing or a half-filled wine glass, and Peter Hastings introduced The Rails in a humorous, self-deprecating manner.
The Rails are a wife-husband duo from England who have released four albums [their first was under a different name] and a handful of EPs. Kami Thompson and James Walbourne have just released their latest album Cancel the Sun [Psychonaut Sounds/Thirty Tigers]. Produced by Stephen Street [The Smiths, Morrissey, Blur, Cranberries, Sparks] Read more
The Road Less Traveled: The Fab Four Perform Abbey Road Live — The Pacific Amphitheater, Costa Mesa, CA 8/3/2019
Concert review by Eric Sandberg
Photos by Mike Berman
Photos by Mike Berman
"Whew!" Ardy Sarraf must have been thinking moments after crooning "...someday I'm gonna make her mine" last night in Costa Mesa. A lot of the more casual Beatles fans were already flooding the exits when Sarraf and guest guitarist Doug Couture sauntered back on stage to remind everybody that the "The End" isn't quite the end of Abbey Road.
In fact, "Her Majesty" was followed by a relaxed and relief-driven encore of "Hey Jude" forcing many of the early 'Beatlexiteers' to freeze in their spots like latecomers to a baseball park during the National Anthem.
This capped off a sublime evening of Beatles music from Sarraf as Paul McCartney, Joe Bologna emulating Ringo Starr, Liverpudlian Gavin Pring as George Harrison,and Newcastle-Upon-Tyne native Adam Hastings taking the role of John Lennon. The fabulous foursome opened the show with a set of road-worn songs from the Beatles's earlier catalog:
"She Loves You"
"All My Loving"
"Hard Day's Night"
"Eight Days A Week"
"Can't Buy Me Love"
"I Saw Her Standing There"
"Twist And Shout."
Over the past twenty-two years the Fab Four, clad in period-correct Shea Stadium outfits, have played these songs live countless more times than the real Beatles ever did, and it shows. Sarraf and Hastings also provided an updated version of Beatles style banter:
"The people in the cheap seats, clap your hands. The people in the front, rattle your IPhones!"
"We'd like you to stand up for this one............take your time." Read more
Album reviews by Eric Sandberg
Having rewritten "Sweet Jane" three times over his last two albums notwithstanding, Peter Perrett is an effortlessly charming and engaging songwriter. In 1978 Perrett scored a hit with "Another Girl, Another Planet" as a member of The Only Ones. The band folded in 1980 after releasing three albums.
Perrett briefly resurfaced fifteen years later as The One — but drugs, and the ensuing poor behavior often caused by their use, cut this comeback short. In 2017, buoyed by his son, guitarist/arranger/producer Jamie, Peter Perrett surprised everyone who cares with the release of How the West Was Won, a strong collection of all new songs.
Now, just two years later, the rejuvenated Perrett has graced us with another album of first rate new songs. Humanworld finds Perrett in full command of his [previously thought lost] melodicism and poetic lyricism. Jamie Perrett provides all of his dad's songs with the musical grandeur they deserve and even contributes one of his own which fits in seamlessly thanks to the similarity of their voices. Read more
Music Review: The Ocean Blue — Kings and Queens / Knaves and Thieves
Album review by Eric Sandberg
The Ocean Blue are on a roll. With the release of their seventh full-length album Kings and Queens / Knaves and Thieves on June 21, the band has cut the gap between albums to a paltry six years. Their previous record, 2013's Ultramarine was widely hailed as their finest to date, but that standing may be in jeopardy.
The new album continues to explore the unique musical niche the band created for themselves with their debut self-titled Sire/Reprise album in 1989. Indeed, the semi-title track "Kings and Queens" kicks things off with all the band's hallmarks: a shimmering guitar arpeggio buoyed by a Wurlitzer counter melody and a lyrical reference to the ocean delivered in front man David Schelzel's soothing, laconic voice, which I might describe as Nick Heyward after the Ambien has kicked in if I had less self-control as a writer. Read more
Less Is More — The Waterboys — Where The Action Is
Album review by Eric Sandberg
Mike Scott used to make music so big that the first three albums by his band The Waterboys are collectively referred to as "The Big Music." The fiery young Irishman wrote passionate, powerful songs about important things and delivered them, with key band mates multi-instrumentalist Karl Wallinger and saxophonist Anthony Thistlethwaite, in a manner that is required listening.
Wallinger, a gifted songwriter himself, departed to form World Party, after which The Waterboys broke through with "The Whole of the Moon" from their third album This Is the Sea. After this success Scott decamped from London back to Ireland with a huge batch of new songs that veered away from rock toward folk. The addition of fiddle/mandolin player Steve Wickham enhanced the charm of these songs and Fisherman's Blues is regarded by many as the band's high watermark.
After a fine follow up, Room To Roam, their final album of new material for Chrysalis Records, Scott signed a deal with Geffen, moved to New York City, put together a whole new Waterboys and made some not so big music. After the relative failure of Dream Harder Scott made two low key albums under his own name before resurrecting the Waterboys moniker permanently, ably restoring the name's reputation with two strong albums A Rock In the Weary Land and Universal Hall which boast appearances from both Thistlethwaite and Wickham.
Scott continues to deliver a steady stream of Waterboys product including unreleased material from the Fisherman's Blues sessions, live albums and several albums of new songs backed mostly by session musicians. Lately, perhaps aware of his own mortality, Scott has ramped up the band's activity releasing three new albums in five years including the double album Out of All This Blue in 2017. Read more
How A Nice Jewish Boy From Pittsburgh Became A Spanish Folk Legend
A musician profile by Eric Sandberg
Michael Lee Wolfe grew up in the Pittsburgh neighborhood of Point Breeze in the 70's, graduating from Taylor Allderdice high school [the school that gave the world Marty Allen and Wiz Khalifa, among other luminaries] in 1979. An avid music fan, Mike embraced what is now called classic rock, jazz and jam bands like the Allman Brothers and The Grateful dead. He took up guitar in his teens, taking a year of lessons from Pittsburgh jazz legend Ken Karsh but...
"I wasn't a very good student so I mostly taught myself."
Mike's parents wanted him to become a lawyer but he felt there were enough of those already. After finishing his studies at the University of Michigan he spent the summer "Eurailing" where he eventually met up with a school friend living in Leon, Spain, a classical guitarist named Cy Williams.
While there, he was introduced to some people from Oviedo, the capitol of Asturias in northern Spain, who invited him to come up and party like it was 1984. Within minutes of stepping off the train in Oviedo Mike met Monica, the woman who would eventually deign to marry him. He wrote a song about it for one of his many musical projects Maraya Zydeco. Read More
Eric Sandberg speaks with Ardy Sarraf, the Fab Four's own Paul McCartney about their upcoming live performance of Abbey Road
Ardy Sarraf as Paul McCartney Photo courtesy of Manny Dominguez Photography
I've never been overly fond of tribute bands. I'm not against nostalgia but I'd rather listen to someone sing his or her own songs, or at least spirited versions of classic songs by a variety of artists, than see a band fall all over themselves to look and sound like one established act. I especially don't get tribute acts for bands that are still around. What is the point of a Cheap Trick tribute band when the real Cheap Trick is more than likely going to play your town four times this year?
My general disdain for tribute acts has one notable exception — Beatles tributes. Among the thousands of rock and pop acts to emerge since Little Richard began abusing his piano in public, The Beatles are a law unto themselves and an integral part of worldwide culture. When Gustavo Dudamel conducts the LA Phil no one calls it a Mozart Tribute act. The Beatles are on that level.
There are many, many Beatles tributes operating throughout the world. Notable ones include Rain, The Fab Faux, England's Bootleg Beatles and, of course, Southern California's The Fab Four who, in my opinion, are the best of them all.
They do it right. For example: Ardy Sarraf, who has been portraying Paul McCartney since the show's inception in 1997, is normally a right-handed player. We've all tried to write, throw, or maybe play an instrument with our opposite hand at one time or another — it ain't easy. That's dedication.
It doesn't stop there. There are the costumes, the accents, the banter, the staging, the Ed Sullivan impersonator; along with the breathtaking skill and attention to detail brought to the musical arrangements and performances. Over the years The Fab Four have progressed from a Tuesday open-mic night lark, to a Disneyland attraction, a Vegas headliner and, ultimately, the globe-trotting, ticket selling phenomenon they are today. Read More
I've never been overly fond of tribute bands. I'm not against nostalgia but I'd rather listen to someone sing his or her own songs, or at least spirited versions of classic songs by a variety of artists, than see a band fall all over themselves to look and sound like one established act. I especially don't get tribute acts for bands that are still around. What is the point of a Cheap Trick tribute band when the real Cheap Trick is more than likely going to play your town four times this year?
My general disdain for tribute acts has one notable exception — Beatles tributes. Among the thousands of rock and pop acts to emerge since Little Richard began abusing his piano in public, The Beatles are a law unto themselves and an integral part of worldwide culture. When Gustavo Dudamel conducts the LA Phil no one calls it a Mozart Tribute act. The Beatles are on that level.
There are many, many Beatles tributes operating throughout the world. Notable ones include Rain, The Fab Faux, England's Bootleg Beatles and, of course, Southern California's The Fab Four who, in my opinion, are the best of them all.
They do it right. For example: Ardy Sarraf, who has been portraying Paul McCartney since the show's inception in 1997, is normally a right-handed player. We've all tried to write, throw, or maybe play an instrument with our opposite hand at one time or another — it ain't easy. That's dedication.
It doesn't stop there. There are the costumes, the accents, the banter, the staging, the Ed Sullivan impersonator; along with the breathtaking skill and attention to detail brought to the musical arrangements and performances. Over the years The Fab Four have progressed from a Tuesday open-mic night lark, to a Disneyland attraction, a Vegas headliner and, ultimately, the globe-trotting, ticket selling phenomenon they are today. Read More
Thirty Odd Minutes With Stewart O'Nan
Interview by Eric Sandberg
At fifty-eight years young, Stewart O'Nan has seen seventeen of his works of fiction published along with two non-fiction books, one of which is Faithful [with Stephen King] a best-selling bleachers-eye-view of the first championship season for the Boston Red Sox since Babe Ruth was traded. All of this since he, with the full support of his saintly wife, Trudy, abandoned his career as an Aerospace engineer to earn his MFA, ultimately publishing his first collection of short stories In The Walled City [Drew Heinz Literary Prize] in 1993.
His first novel Snow Angels was adapted as a film and at least two other novels are in pre-production with names like Tom Hanks and Emily Watson being bandied about. Early in his career, Granta named him one of America's best young novelists.
Stewart O'Nan and I both grew up in the Pittsburgh neighborhood of Squirrel Hill. We went to the same schools [he lived right across the street from Linden Elementary where we first met in Kindergarten], though we didn't routinely hang out [and start a band] together until high school. We reconnected after my father brought me a copy of Snow Angels he stumbled across in the Faulkner book store in Pirates Alley, New Orleans. Since then, I've been just one in a legion of avid readers of O'Nan's works all over the world.
With his new novel Henry, Himself set to publish on April 9, I reached out to Stewart to ask him if he would allow me to exploit our acquaintance by granting me an interview. He foolishly agreed. If you're a fan, I guarantee that you'll not read a Stewart O'Nan interview quite like this one anywhere else.
Eric Sandberg: When Scott Turow writes a new book it's going to be in a courtroom, if it's Kathy Reichs, bones are sure to figure heavily. You are a literary writer with a healthy curiosity and we fans never know what your next book is going to be about: A family tragedy, a crime spree, World War II, fire and plague, a restaurant about to close — I could go on...and on.
Yet with all this variety in your work, you've managed to write three books about the same family. What keeps bringing you back to the Maxwells?
Stewart O'Nan: I guess it's that feeling that I haven't told the whole story. That goes way back to being a short story writer — the amount of compression that goes on. In order to get that compression, you leave a lot out. When I was writing Wish You Were Here I thought the book was going to be all about Emily Maxwell but, as it turned out, I thought the other characters were just as interesting so I followed them as well.
I really didn't get to tell her whole story, so when I started writing Emily Alone I needed to give her some room. And then, just thinking about Henry, he's dead and there's two other books. So we have hearsay about him from the other characters but we don't really know him. I started thinking 'Who exactly was Henry?'
I'm always attracted to a life story. Emily Alone is a life story the same way Henry, Himself is a life story. I figured let's give Henry his room and go back and see what I could find. Read More
Music Review: Jon Anderson — 1000 Hands - Chapter One
Album review by Eric Sandberg
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When Founding Yes singer Jon Anderson announced the forthcoming release of of his fourteenth solo album 1000 Hands —Chapter One-- I was bemused, at best. Of the dozens of solo albums released by the various members of Yes [hundreds if you include keyboardist Rick Wakeman's catalog] only a couple are worthy of the band's best work.
Jon Anderson's first solo album Olias of Sunhillow [1976] was written, composed sung, played and produced by Anderson by himself. He spent countless hours out in a barn teaching himself to play a myriad of instruments and recording multiple overdubs of his unique high tenor voice. The result was stunning. In and out of Yes, throughout Anderson's spotty solo career, Anderson became increasingly less inspired and, frankly, lazy when it came to making albums, preferring to solicit completed music tracks from other musicians, both known and unknown. He would take these tracks and warble nonsensical hippy-dippy platitudes over them, exposing a voice weakened by the acute respiratory failure he barely survived in 2008, just prior to a planned Yes 40th anniversary tour. Much to his chagrin, Yes replaced Anderson with a stand-in and he has been an exile from the band he founded ever since. Well, sort of. Over their fifty years of existence, Yes has had over thirty-five different members pass through the ranks so it's not too difficult put together another version of Yes [or twelve] from among the remaining cardholders. Read more Book Review: The Sentence Is Death by Anthony Horowitz
Book review by Eric Sandberg
Anthony Horowitz is a clever Dick...err, Tony. His name made its first attempt at penetrating my hardened transom some years ago as it appeared on my television screen as the writer of various TV episodes of Poirot and Midsomer Murders (this was before opening credits meant one last peek at Facebook before a grisly murder occurs).
It wasn't until Foyle's War, a show I looked forward to as much as a new series of Inspector Lewis, that the name Anthony Horowitz achieved a foothold in my addled pate. Even then I was more in awe of the remarkable performance of Michael Kitchen than I was of the writer putting words in his mouth. The first book I purchased by Horowitz was not for myself, but for my father, who is a fan of Foyle's War and, as a young man, loved reading Ian Fleming's James Bond. As Trigger Mortis promised to contain original material by Fleming and was written in the style of the original novels (no futuristic gadgets or metal-mouthed giants chomping on tram cables), I thought he would enjoy it, and he very much did. A few years ago, I heard a radio interview with Horowitz who was describing the plot of his then forthcoming novel The Magpie Murders. A book editor becomes embroiled in the murder of her most popular writer while clues abound as to the identity of the killer in the victim's final, yet to be published manuscript. A book within a book. That was enough for me. Read more |