Ozric Tentacles - Spirals In Hyperspace (2005)

It's hard to put your finger on Ozric Tentacles, and just when you think that you have them figured out, they defy your expectations by evolving, chameleon-like, into something else entirely. Formed by multi-instrumentalist Ed Wynne back in the dark ages (1983), the Ozrics originally sold a blend of jazz-rock fusion similar to Mahavishnu, mixed with flighty space-rock a la Hawkwind. By the end of the decade the band had become the sole province of the British "crusty" movement. A sort of cross between '60s vintage hippie culture and '80s-era New Age thought, crustys roamed across the English countryside from one outdoor festival or rave to another–kind of like a cosmic Anglo Grateful Dead caravan. During the mid-90s, the Ozrics even flirted with U.S. audiences. A 1994 tour and two major label releases failed to break the band stateside, although they did attract a loyal cult following, including many fans of the jam band phenomenon.

Through the years, the band has dabbled in a number of genre-hopping exercises, from prog-rock and Eno-inspired ambiance to trance and electronica. No matter the path they've chosen, every Ozrics album was certain to feature Wynne's edgy guitarwork and imaginative songwriting, and Spirals In Hyperspace is no exception. The latest effort from the Ozric mastermind is basically a studio creation, falling heavily into an electronic vein, with a few friends and former bandmates dropping by to lend a hand here and there. Wynne handles guitars, keyboards and synth programming on most of the tracks, painting a dense, multi-layered portrait of sound and emotion. The sound here runs the gamut from the manic oscillating vibe of "Chewier," which includes Ozrics drummer Schoo and Brandi Wynne on glide bass, to the aggressive "Akasha," which features guitarist Steve Hillage floating adrift amidst a chimera of shimmering instruments.

Each of the nine songs on Spirals In Hyperspace has been carefully crafted, mixing organic instrumentation and technological flourishes in the creation of unique musical experience. Not one of the songs clocks in at less than five minutes, and the average length is closer to the eight-minute mark. The results can be breathtaking and, at times, hypnotic, luring the listener inside and setting them up for an unexpected change in direction. "Plasmoid," for instance, is supported by a funky, Stax-sounding six-string groove and chirping electronic rhythms, Wynne's wicked guitar lead threaded throughout the song. "Plasmoid" tumbles into "Oakum," however, an extended space music jam that incorporates ambient electronics, stabs of muted keyboards, aboriginal rhythms and a soaring guitar line that flies all over the damn place. You never know what to expect until it hits you upside the head....

While not the most engaging album in the Ozric Tentacles' canon–my personal favorites remain Strangeitude and Arborescence–Spirals In Hyperspace is nevertheless an invigorating collection of songs. Appealing to fans of just about any sort of progressive instrumental rock or electronic experimentation, Spirals In Hyperspace might be the closest that you can get to travelling in outer space without leaving the comfort of your own home. (Magna Carta Records)

(Click on the CD cover to buy Spirals In Hyperspace from Amazon.com)

Nihilist - The Nihilist Demos (2005)

One of the most trailblazing of the early-90s death metal bands, Sweden's Entombed earned a worldwide audience on the basis of its immense instrumental skills and willingness to experiment sonically. The band's chameleonlike nature is the stuff of legend – just when you thought you had Entombed all figured out, the band would go and change directions on you. As maddening as this might be for hardcore fans, it has served to earn Entombed a status as one of the most influential bands in the heavy metal genre.

Before there was Entombed, however, there was Nihilist, a band formed by future Entombed members Alex Hellid and Nicke Andersson. Harbingers of the sound that Entombed would eventually unleash upon the world with its groundbreaking Left Hand Path album, Nihilist, in many ways, sketched out the blueprint and threw together the foundation upon which death metal was built.

To say that Nihilist's early sound is a revelation might in itself be an understatement. This self-titled release features four distinctive demo sessions from across two years, several songs that, although circulated for a decade and a half in underground metal circles, have never been released on CD to my knowledge. The eleven songs remembered here display the band's evolution and maturation, from the low-fi, bass-heavy screamers of "Sentenced To Death" and "Carnal Leftovers" (from 1988's Premature Autopsy demo) to the no-quarter-asked-and-none-given sonic barrage of "Morbid Devourment" (from 1989's The Drowned Sessions).

Fueled by Andersson's massive percussion work, Nihilist blends the heaviest of metal with extreme hardcore and no little amount of doom-and-gloom, delivering a soundtrack to oblivion. Andersson's drums hit you like the galloping heels of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse while Hellid's surgically-precise guitar leads are paired with muscular riffs and LG Petrov's demonic vocals.

Rounding out the disc is a trio of early Entombed demos from 1989's But Life Goes On sessions. These three recordings – "But Life Goes On," "Shreds Of Flesh" and "The Truth Beyond" – would earn the band its first recording contract, Entombed later reprising a couple of the tunes for its official debut, 1990's Left Hand Path. The demos offered here are raw and undiluted, even by death metal standards, offering metal fans one of the most brutal sounds this side of the River Styx.

After disbanding Nihilist, Andersson and Hellid would recruit the band's vocalist Petrov and frequent guitar collaborator Ulf Cederlund to form Entombed and, as they say, the rest is history. The history of this important band can be found in the grooves of these demos, however, Nihilist providing an integral missing link in the storied history of death metal. Heartily recommended for fans of bands like Napalm Death, Obituary, even Pantera...and, of course, Entombed. (Candlelight Records)

(Click on the CD cover to buy The Nihilist Demos from Amazon.com)

Napalm Death - The Code Is Red...Long Live The Code (2005)

For almost two dozen years, heavy metal innovators Napalm Death have delivered the goods unlike any other band. These guys wrote the fuckin' blueprint for extreme metal, Napalm Death cranking out some of the most brutal, unrelenting and uncompromising music that your ears will ever experience. There's nothing subtle about the Napalm Death approach – the band's signature sonic assault could be more closely compared to a lead pipe colliding with your skull rather than the stiletto stuck between your ribs.

There's also little about The Code Is Red...Long Live The Code that will appeal to a mass audience bottle-fed whitebread "nu-metal" and "modern rock" by MTV and corporate radio. Make no doubt, Napalm Death is a cult band, deservedly so, and methinks that the band would have it no other way. Beneath the din and glorious noise of The Code Is Red...Long Live The Code is a spectacular worldview, a misanthropic perspective that is as brutally honest as the music is honestly brutal. With lyrics penned by vocalist Barney Greenway, who's demon-on-acid vocals have been imitated by every lesser death metal frontman for decades now, the album tackles such heady subject matter as the war in Iraq, American imperialism and economic injustice. With disdain for the current cultural landscape worthy of Artaud, Greenway's blistering lyrical attacks on political hypocrisy are as intelligent and informed as they are menacing.

Of course, deciphering he lyrics from Greenway's rabid delivery is difficult enough a chore, even more so when combined with Napalm Death's monster mix of death metal, hardcore punk and industrial-strength bluster. Guitarist Mitch Harris wields his guitar much the same way that a Viking warrior would swing his battleaxe – with strength and deadly accuracy. It's the explosive rhythm section of bassist Shane Embury and drummer Danny Herrera that serve as the band's backbone, however, with rapid-fire drumbeats and bludgeoning basslines supporting Greenway's manic vocals and driving each song to the edge of insanity.

The Code Is Red...Long Live The Code brings in some guest vocalists to thrash around with the band, notably Jamey Jasta of Hatebreed, Jeff Walker of Carcass and former Dead Kennedys' frontman Jello Biafra. Biafra's contribution to "The Great And The Good" is as close to a duet as you're likely to hear on a Napalm Death album. Intertwining his distinctive vocals alongside Greenway's, Biafra manages to move the song from the band's usual scorched earth delivery into the realm of something really nightmarish. Napalm Death defined the "grindcore" genre a generation ago, and longtime fanatics of the sound will not be disappointed by The Code Is Red...Long Live The Code. There's still a lot of life left in these old dogs; with its 13th album, Napalm Death has effectively captured the sound of the coming cultural Armageddon...eerie, even by the standards of extreme music. (Century Media Records)

(Click on the CD cover to buy The Code Is Red... from Amazon.com)

Mardo - Mardo (2005)

Swaggering out of your speakers like a drunken Robert Plant, with effects-laden, multi-tracked guitars joyfully piercing your eardrums, Mardo's self-titled debut is the kind of stone-cold, live-wire rock & roll that the Reverend cut his teeth on. As the legend has it, brothers Aron (bass) and Robbie Mardo (drums) were raised on a central California farm, weaned on the kind of oldies station rock that was fashionable back in the day. You know the stuff...the Beatles, the Kinks, the Who, Zeppelin, Sabbath, Motown junk and '70s funk that once lit up the airwaves before corporate consolidation and programmed playlists neutered rock & roll radio. The brothers Mardo, with guitarist Rob Small, have incorporated all of these influences and more into a single vision that has resulted in what is, perhaps, the best damn rock & roll debut that you'll hear this year.

Forget about retro-sounding acts like the White Stripes or the Darkness that pay lip service to the past with their musical tributes to sounds long gone. Mardo grabs its influences by the neck like a cat toying with a mouse, shaking that sucker until the essence drops into the grooves. These three longhaired fools aren't so much "retro" as they are mad scientists, reinventing arena-rock with a new millennial gloss. How many bands would have the cajones to cover a hard nut like Huey Lewis' "I Want A New Drug" and make it work? Infusing the petulant '80s new wave vibe of this treacley hit with big drumbeats, ripping guitar riffs and bluesy, echoed vocals, Mardo makes the song entirely its own.

So there's the obligatory cover tune, "how about the original music?" you ask. Take the reckless abandon of Black Oak Arkansas, throw in a little of Levi Stubbs' soul, Black Sabbath's unrelenting darkness, Led Zeppelin's metallic sturm-und-drang and add the memory of a hundred half-forgotten songs and you'll have Mardo's exciting and refreshing sound. "Cold Creepin'" takes a Golden Earring riff and mutates it into something even scarier than "Radar Love," pummeling the listener with a non-stop barrage of thunderous drumbeats and slashing guitarwork. "Broken Bones" kicks off like early Judas Priest, takes a left turn towards Metallica and finishes with overdriven Motorhead, Aron Mardo's growling vocals punctuated by Small's dangerous riffing and brother Robert's enormous drumwork. With staggered drumbeats and heavy, throbbing bass, "Poor Paul" takes the glam-rock roots of T-Rex and Slade and raises the ante with a soaring chorus and Small's fluid, imaginative leads.

Once upon a time, way back in the day, the Reverend did an interview with a Boston band called the Cavedogs. When asked to describe the band's sound, the lead singer said, "well, we make a lot of noise for three guys!" Ditto for Mardo, the last rock & roll innocents, three misguided fools with one foot in 1973 and the other in 2005, blasting a new take on the classic rock & roll sound out of massive Marshall cabinets, every song a feast of youthful recklessness. For three guys, Mardo makes a hell of a joyful noise. Everything you ever loved about rock & roll can be found right here, if you haven't gotten too old or too jaded to listen. (House Of Restitution Records)

(Click on the CD cover to buy Mardo from Amazon.com)

Living Colour - Live From CBGB's (2005)

I remember seeing Living Colour perform during their 1989 tour in support of the band's debut album. I had seen the band once before, prior to the release of Vivid in 1988, but this 1989 show at the infamous Exit/In club in Nashville would become the stuff of legend. Since I had met them once before and had interviewed both the band's extraordinary guitarist Vernon Reid and excellent drummer Will Calhoun, my friend Mark S. and myself hung out with the band backstage after the show. Reid and I discussed music; cyberpunk sci-fi writers like Bruce Sterling and William Gibson and horror writer H.P. Lovecraft. The band members were genuinely friendly, intelligent, talented and obviously on their way "up" in the music world–and they put on a hell of a live show.

By the time Living Colour would play Nashville again the band would blow up big-time. Vivid would go platinum, selling over a million copies–quite an accomplishment for an African-American hard rock band that every record label in the world passed on. The band was all over MTV at the time with its video for the raging "Cult Of Personality" and would subsequently walk off with a pair of Grammy™ awards. The release of Time's Up in 1990 along with a couple of high profile tours would solidify the band's superstars-in-the-making status. Unfortunately, the band's commercial fortunes would quickly diminish and, with only three albums under their collective belts, Living Colour became one of the casualties of grunge and the Seattle scene. The band would break up not long after the 1993 release of Stain.

If any live recording could capture the band's on-stage energy and chemistry, they would have been even bigger stars than they already were. Sadly, the band never released a live album during its initial run, something that might have revived its prospects and found Living Colour a wider audience. Although Live From CBGB's comes along about a decade-and-a-half too late, it's definitely a case of "better late than never" for Living Colour fans who have been living with seedy bootleg tapes of live performances for 15 years. This particular show, a homecoming of sorts for the band, was captured live at the legendary CBGB's in the Bowery in New York City in December 1989, between the releases of Vivid and Time's Up.

From the album's tracklist and relatively brief hour-long running time, I'm guessing that Live From CBGB's doesn't include the band's entire performance from that night. There are only four songs featured here from Vivid, including the set-opening "Cult Of Personality" and the somber "Open Letter To A Landlord." Almost half of the live album features songs from the yet-to-be-released-at-the-time Time's Up, the band obviously showcasing songs from its upcoming album. Two new cuts make their debut here while the band's relentless cover of Bad Brain's "Sailin' On" is a hard-to-find obscurity.

Although a lengthier performance might have made for a hardcore two-CD set, Sony chose to release this version so we have to live with it, which isn't too difficult. The band is red-hot throughout these songs, Reid's six-string pyrotechnics tearing through the smoke and heat of the club while frontman Corey Glover's powerful vocals punch through the darkness with fire and passion. Some of the band's best songs are represented here, from "Information Overload" and "Cult Of Personality" to "Funny Vibe" and "Love Rears Its Ugly Head." Of the two previously unreleased tracks, "Soldier's Blues" offers some tasty guitar shuffles, Hendrix-inspired riffing and Calhoun's jazzy drumbeats while "Little Lies," a tortured ballad spotlighting Glover's vocals, sounds out of place until it kicks into overdrive.

Overall, the band's performance on Live from CBGB's is simply explosive. Reid's incendiary guitarwork, informed by his avant-garde jazz training, still sounds groundbreaking today; nobody currently playing can match the underrated Reid's style and innovation. Glover was a soulful vocalist of some range and heart while the rhythm section of bassist Muzz Skillings and drummer Calhoun were one of the finest in rock at the time, providing a solid bedrock for the dueling frontmen.

Unfortunately, no matter how good it is, Live From CBGB's is unlikely to draw new listeners to the phenomenal, hard rocking Living Colour sound. If this set had been released in 1991 or so, perhaps its impact would have provided the band with a stepping stone to greater things. In 2005, however, with Living Colour considered yesterday's news by young audiences, a "classic rock" band at best, Live From CBGB's will appeal mostly to existing fans. Young music lovers wanting to know what all the hype was about could do worse than checking out Living Colour live. (Sony Legacy)

(Click on the CD cover to buy Live From CBGB's from Amazon.com)

Reeves Gabrels - Rockonica (2005)

Long-time David Bowie foil and session gunslinger-for-hire Reeves Gabrels isn't a well-known name, even among guitar fanatics...though he should be. Besides recording and performing alongside the legendary rocker for most of the '90s, Gabrels has also turned in admirable session work with a diverse range of artists like Ozzy Osbourne, Public Enemy, the Cure and the Mission UK. Although his solo recordings have been few and far between, with several years spanning each effort, Gabrels' third album – Rockonica – should be the one that puts his name on the rock & roll map for good.

Whereas on previous albums Gabrels would call in favors from famous frontmen like Bowie or the Cure's Robert Smith to provide vox on his songs, with Rockonica the axeman truly flies solo without a net, handling most, if not all the singing chores. It's not surprising to say that his vocals aren't half bad, his soulful Yankee drawl working well with the material. Sure, he's no Bowie, but Gabrels' voice does bring a bounce to his lyrics, with a cadence that is reminiscent of Wayne Kramer's early solo work. This is no coincidence, I'm sure, since Kramer drummer Brock Avery is on board, providing a rhythmic, Motor City edge to the songs (especially on "Underneath," which quotes quite liberally from the Kramer playbook).

It's all academic, really, since Rockonica is, first and foremost, a showcase for Gabrels' enormous skills. A vastly underrated guitarist often overlooked in the music media's rush to crown a new "guitar god," Gabrels is a hard rock instrumentalist with an avant-garde heart. Think of a cross between Johnny Thunders and Robert Quine and you're probably in the right ballpark. Gabrels' material cuts across stylistic barriers and genre considerations, the six-string maestro mixing straight-ahead rock riffs with taut leads that unwind like a runaway spool of razor wire. Angular, prog-flavored song structure, heavy metal thunder and jazzy, free-form improvisational soloing are blended together with incredible phrasing, unmistakable tone and breathtaking dynamics.

Gabrels is no string-shredder like Zakk Wilde or fretboard racer like Joe Satriani and Steve Vai. Reeves Gabrels is an entirely different creature, an experimental musician whose powerful performances and instrumental wizardry don't get in the way of having a good time. The ten-minute "Anywhere (She Is)," for instance, offers more twists and turns than a mountain road while "The Conversation" starts out big and blustery, like prog-rock run amok, before settling into a minimalist soundtrack with odd time signatures and an almost bluesy riff. "Leper" offers some tasty lead work before bouncing into a funky groove of '70s vintage while the lengthy, epic "Long Day" displays just about every weapon in Gabrels' toolbox, from slow, considerate chording to shimmering, hypnotic fretwork.

If you're the type of listener that appreciates skillful guitar playing within a heavy rock & roll background, then Rockonica might just possibly be an album worth looking for. With more experience than today's typically young string-bender, and with a penchant for coaxing just about any damn sound out of his stick, Reeves Gabrels creates music that is intelligent, challenging and, ultimately, rewarding in a way that much of the current corporate chart-fodder fails to achieve. (Favored Nations)

(Click on the CD cover to buy Rockonica from Amazon.com)

Special Retrospective: A Heap O' Heep! (2001)

Adored by their fans, reviled by critics, Uriah Heep are one of the most overlooked and underrated pioneer bands in heavy metal. With a peculiarly British perspective, Heep tossed out the rulebook, mixing elements of classical music, crash-n-bash hard rock, prog-rock and guitar pyrotechnics to create an entirely unique and distinctive style of rock & roll. While most American "metal kidz" circa 1974-75 were trashing their high school hallways to the strains of Black Sabbath, Led Zeppelin or Deep Purple, Heep's band o' maniacs were blazing an artistic trail for bands like Rush and Rainbow to follow.

Founding members David Byron and Mick Box went through a number of band incarnations before adding multi-instrumentalist Ken Hensley to the mix and adopting the Dickensian name "Uriah Heep" in 1970. This threesome would make up the core of Heep until Byron's departure in 1977, with almost three dozen other members passing through the doorway during the band's lengthy history. The most commercially-successful band line-up included Byron on vocals, Box on guitar, Hensley on keyboards and guitar, Gary Thain on bass, and drummer Lee Kerslake. This talented group of musicians would record five best-selling albums between 1972 and 1975.

Interest in Uriah Heep continues to grow, the band still touring and recording, most recently releasing the live album Future Echoes Of The Past, the album Spellbinder in 1999 and the well-received Sonic Origami in 1998. Lucky for us long-time Heep fans looking to replace natty old vinyl copies and fill in some holes in our CD collection, Sanctuary Records has obtained the rights to many mid-70s Heep titles from Castle Music. Sanctuary's reissue series provides a welcome look at this era of Heep's lengthy career, adding bonus tracks to the discs and providing liner notes and credits along with original album artwork.

This is perhaps the most criminally-overlooked period of the band's career, a period of musical transition that saw Heep maturing as a studio outfit while still keeping up a breakneck touring schedule. Following up on the successes of Demons & Wizards (1972), Magician's Birthday (1973) and Sweet Freedom (1973), the band had little to gain and much to lose. Because of England's oppressive tax structure during the seventies, and because of the overwhelming success of the million-selling Uriah Heep Live (1973) album, the band was forced to record in Germany for purely financial reasons. If the various band members felt a strain at recording Sweet Freedom out-of-country, it didn't show in the grooves. However, with the subsequent release of Wonderworld (1974), being away from home and familiar turf during the creative process undoubtedly began to affect the band's music. A popular though unremarkable album, Wonderworld would nevertheless yield a pair of excellent songs in the rock raver "So Tired" and the otherworldly "Dreams." The title cut was an ethereal Hensley composition that would echo the sound of Heep to come, concerning itself with the familiar themes of dreams and life's many possibilities.

Return To Fantasy (1975) was Heep's eighth studio album and the first to bring aboard former King Crimson/Roxy Music bassist John Wetton to prop up the bottom line. Wetton brought with him a different sort of rock & roll professionalism, adding mellotron soundscapes to many of the songs, his vocals supplementing David Byron's operatic wail. Still, a lot of Return To Fantasy sounds like typical Heep with the exception of an abundance of Rick Wakemen-styled prog-rock keyboards, courtesy of Ken Hensley. The album would hit number seven on the British charts and go on to become Heep's most popular album in their homeland.

Musically, Return To Fantasy mixed several styles as the band continued traveling the experimental path they began with Wonderworld. The title cut is traditional Heep with a return to mystically-oriented lyrics and church-organ Goth overtones, the vocals propelled by Lee Kerslake's powerful rhythms. "Devil's Daughter" features an extended instrumental jam that is dominated by Hensley's keyboards, matched with a funky drumbeat. "Prima Donna" is a horn-infused boogie romp similar to what Jo Jo Gunne would do stateside while "Your Turn To Remember" is a Journeyesque ballad with some great bluesy guitar from Mick Box. "Beautiful Dream" is the album's best tune, a wicked synth riff kicking off the song and Byron's vocals soaring as high as they've ever flown.

Of the bonus tracks provided Return To Fantasy, "Shout It Out" and "The Time Will Come," which were a B-side singles, are the best additions, true rarities that mimic classic Heep with over-the-top keyboards, heavy vocals and screaming guitars. Alternative versions of "Beautiful Dream" and the title cut are interesting, the latter shaving better than two minutes off the length of the album track. Return To Fantasy would yield several fan favorites, songs that Heep would play in concert for years to follow.

With High And Mighty (1976), the band decided to produce themselves, creating their first album without manager/producer Gerry Bron at the helm. The resulting effort is considered one of Heep's slightest albums. With vocalist David Byron rendered ineffectual due to a growing problem with alcohol, Ken Hensley emerged as the band's front man. Whereas previous Heep albums had been a group affair, with Byron, Hensley and Mick Box working out songs together, Hensley wrote or co-wrote every song on High And Mighty. Working with bassist Wetton to create an entirely new sound for Uriah Heep, Hensley took the band into a strange new direction, one that seemed to echo his own solo album from the previous year.

The least rocking album of Heep's mid-70s catalog, the band managed to hide some good songs among the chaff nonetheless. The album-opening "One Way Or Another" offers some nice six-string mangling courtesy of Mr. Box, Ken Hensley's keyboards wail like a banshee in heat and Kerslake's steady drumbeat propels the song along. "Weep In Silence" opens with some slash-and-burn riffage before drifting off into a mesmerizing ballad. "Can't Keep A Good Band Down" is a rocking reply to the band's (many) critics. Of the bonus tracks, "Name Of The Game" is an unreleased outtake from the album that only saw the light of day on a 1994 Hensley solo album. This tune is the best example of the band's lack of production experience. "Name Of The Game" is the strongest track on this reissue, with more power and emotion than any of
High And Mighty's other ten songs, yet it was left off in the final mix.

Overall, Hensley's dominance and the downplaying of Byron's strong vocals diminished the band's power and make High And Mighty mostly unforgettable, an album for hardcore fans and completists only. While touring the U.S. in support of High And Mighty, Byron would spiral further out of control. The band would end up firing the founding member for substance abuse, much as they had bassist Gary Thain a year earlier. Wetton left soon thereafter, later finding fame and fortune with Asia, leaving Hensley, Box and Kerslake to ponder their future. By the end of 1976, it looked as if Uriah Heep had run its course.

Jump ahead to Innocent Victim (1977), Heep's second of three albums with new vocalist John Lawton, formerly of Lucifer's Friend. As Byron's replacement, the band broke their new vocalist in with the Firefly (1977) album, following up with Innocent Victim a few months later. This quick creative turn-around would find Heep lacking in 'Grade A' material, even if the addition of Lawton and bassist Trevor Bolder from Bowie's Spiders From Mars band would improve the level of musical professionalism in the band. The stripped-down, back-to-basics sound of Firefly would retain the band a share of their early fans, while the more experimental direction of Innocent Victim, released at the height of the punk revolution in Britain, would struggle to keep those same fans.

A couple of hard rocking tunes stand out on Innocent Victim, especially "Free 'N' Easy," which featured Lawton's best operatic Byron impersonation. The single "Free Me," an engaging, sparse ballad, would end up becoming an international hit, topping the charts in Germany, Australia and New Zealand and selling well throughout Southeast Asia. The band was treading water, however, as musical trends in England had passed them by. Although both Firefly and Innocent Victim were slick, professional musical efforts, both album's radio-friendly tunes seemed designed to recapture the U.S. market that the band had enjoyed with Sweet Freedom.

Lawton would leave the band after a 1979 tour in support of Fallen Angel (1978), an even more desperate attempt by Heep to court the FM airwaves both in American and the U.K. Although a fourth album with Lawton was planned, internal conflicts and managerial problems would lead to a complete shake-up of the band. Drummer Lee Kerslake, the backbone of Heep's sound for years, left soon after Lawton, followed by band mainstay Ken Hensley and bassist Trevor Bolder. As the '80s dawned on Uriah Heep, founding member Mick Box was left to travel the path alone.

As the third distinctive leader of the band, Box rose to the occasion, carrying Heep beyond its problems to create the strong Abominog (1982), forming an entirely new band after a brief hiatus. Heep would seem to have a revolving door throughout the '80s, changing members with every album and tour. Box's six-string talents would be the spark that kept the Heep flame burning in the face of punk, new wave and college rock until heavy metal became popular again in the late-80s. By then, a line-up had solidified behind Box that included former Grand Prix vocalist Bernie Shaw and keyboardist Phil Lanzon, Trevor Bolder back on bass and Lee Kerslake, returning from Ozzie's band, on drums. This formation of Heep, although not the most commercially successful, is the longest-lived and has earned an ever-growing audience that continues to increase today. After touring constantly for a couple of years, this line-up of the band made its first studio album with Raging Silence (1989).

A spectacular live band, Uriah Heep has released a number of successful concert albums. The above line-up was invited to perform a series of shows in Moscow, which has been documented on the Live In Moscow (1988) CD release. A greatest hits-styled performance, the album includes inspired, dynamic performances of such Heep standards as "Easy Livin'," "July Morning," "Gypsy" and "Stealin'." Sanctuary Records has also reissued Live In Europe 1979 (1986), a tour compilation that features a late-seventies line-up with John Lawton and Ken Hensley.

Critics usually divide Uriah Heep into two separate eras – the David Byron era (1970-1977) and the post-Byron era (1977-now). Personally, I'd divide it further, splitting the post-Byron era into the Hensley era (1977-1979) and the Mick Box era (1979-now). Box has had as significant an influence on the band's sound as any of the departing members, and his leadership has kept the band rolling with much the same line-up for fifteen years now. The double-disc Anthology II - Blood On Stone (2001) documents the post-Byron years and showcases much of the Box era of Uriah Heep, from the Firefly album to Different World, including material from Abominog, Raging Silence and the live discs. An excellent anthology with liner notes by Joe Geesin, Blood On Stone includes the best of Heep's late-70s/early-80s output, songs like "Free 'N' Easy," "Free Me," "Woman Of The Night," and "The Other Side Of Midnight."

Uriah Heep are a crucial link to early heavy metal pioneers like Dust and Sir Lord Baltimore, contemporaries of Led Zeppelin and Deep Purple, and were major influence on artists like Iron Maiden and Metallica. Thirty years after their initial assault on our ears, Uriah Heep are still plugging away at it, the band entering its fourth decade of ear-blistering, speaker-shredding rock & roll. Thanks to these reissues, young fans of the genre can discover the hard-rocking sound of Uriah Heep for themselves. (Sanctuary Records)

(Unfortunately, most of these titles have gone out-of-print since I wrote about 'em in 2001, but if you click on the album cover links, there are still vendors on Amazon.com that have them for sale....)

Mad For The Racket - The Racketeers (2001)

Wayne Kramer is a survivor in every sense of the word. From the legendary MC5 in the '60s through collaborations with Mick Farren, Deniz Tek and Johnny Thunders in the '80s and '90s to Mad For The Racket, his new project, Kramer has enjoyed a lengthy and impressive music career. If most of his almost forty years in the biz seem to have been spent at odds with the establishment, that’s their problem, not his. As Kramer enters his fifth decade as an artist and musician, he does so with a new CD, a new label and some old friends.

Primarily a collaboration between Kramer and former Damned/Lords Of The New Church axeman Brian James, Mad For The Racket also includes the instrumental contributions of Blondie drummer Clem Burke and former Guns ‘N’ Roses bassist Duff McKagan. Stewart Copeland sits behind the kit for a song or two, as does longtime Kramer drummer Brock Avery. “The Racketeers” is a guitar showcase, however, and in spite of the impressive credentials of the various rhythm-makers, it is the slash-and-burn dueling six-strings of Kramer and James that dominate the proceedings. Swapping red-hot riffs and vocal duties, much like Kramer did with Tek on the excellent Dodge Main CD, the two guitarists are similar enough stylists to make these songs work. They differ enough in their approach, however, that they manage to create some live-wire tension in the grooves.

The sound cranked out by Mad For The Racket is standard hardcore roots rock, filled with razor-sharp ribbons of six-string work, thundering rhythms and old school punk attitude. The material here is not that dissimilar from that which Kramer kicked out on a trio of studio albums for Epitaph, overlooked classics that showcased his vastly underrated guitar style and ever-maturing songwriting skills. On “The Racketeers” Kramer and James share the songwriting duties, sometimes resulting in a dud like the heavy-handed “Prisoner Of Hope,” with Kramer’s over-the-top vocal histrionics mangling hackneyed lyrics. Kramer has done better on his own with similarly themed material. More often than not, however, the pair has created winners like the dark, disturbing “Tell A Lie,” the seedy “Czar Of Poisonville” or the blazing “Chewed Down To The Bone.”

Kramer’s vocals are always adequate, unique and easily identifiable, flawed but forceful. James’ pipes are weaker but meet the challenge of the material, sometimes sounding like former bandmate Stiv Bators; other times – as on the lively “I Want It” – James sounds like a young Iggy Pop. Both play the guitar like maniacs, loco mosquitoes hell-bent on tearing down the walls with the sound of their axes alone. Together, the two grizzled rock & roll veterans have created an entertaining and hard-rocking collection of songs, an album that showcases their strengths and furthers their already considerable legacies. “The Racketeers” is the sound of punk rock entering middle age, and for Wayne Kramer and Brian James, they refuse to go quietly into that good night. (Muscle Tone Records)

(Click on the CD cover to buy The Racketeers from Amazon.com)

Paul Reddick + The Sidemen - Rattlebag (2001)

I’ve heard a lot of blues music during my ever-lengthening lifespan and I’ve found that most contemporary blues artists fall into one of a handful of categories. There are Texas bluesmen like the Fabulous Thunderbirds, with one foot in rock & roll and the other in Lightnin’ Hopkins. There are the revivalists, like the Tarbox Ramblers, who camp it up old school-style with roots in Mississippi John Hurt, Son House and Robert Johnson. There are the six-string acolytes, who worship at the altar of Stevie Ray and, finally, there are the Chicago stylists with their stacks of Chess wax, following the footsteps of Muddy Waters, Junior Wells and Buddy Guy.

After playing Rattlebag a dozen or so times, though, I have to admit, dear readers, that I’ve never heard anyone quite like Paul Reddick + The Sidemen. With Rattlebag, their fourth album, this highly underrated blues outfit manages to incorporate damn near the entire history of the blues into sixteen rollicking songs. Reddick and the Sidemen have enough rock chops to boogie with the best of them. They also have a firm grasp on the artistic demons that drove hundreds of young men out of the Mississippi Delta and north towards the promise of a better life. The sixteen songs on Rattlebag mix rural blues, the Chicago sound, Texas six-string wizardry and New Orleans R&B into a thick musical gumbo that will satisfy your soul even while tickling your lobes.

Reddick blows a manic harp, sounding a lot like Paul Butterfield tho’ with a grungier edge. His vocals are perfectly suited to the material, gruff and soulful with just the right amount of world-weariness. Reddick is a talented wordsmith as well, infusing the material with a literary style absent from most blues tunes. Guitarist Chris Burgess is a mean six-string maestro, creating rich sounds and distinctive tones while the bass/drums combo of Greg Marshak and Vince Maccarone are capable of both great power and quiet subtlety.

It is the songs that do the talking on Rattlebag, though, carefully crafted compositions like the blustery “Sleepy John Estes” or “Trouble Again” with its infectious rhythms and mad harpwork. The title cut is a monster collection of rampaging riffs and wickedly echoed vocals while “I’m A Criminal” is a down-and-dirty blues tune that simply crackles with electricity. “Pear River Blues” is mesmerizing, Reddick’s voice weaving a rich, soulful tapestry that lulls the listener into a trancelike appreciation of the swamp-rock blues the band is kicking out.

Altogether, Rattlebag is one of the strongest blues albums these ears have enjoyed this year. Paul Reddick + the Sidemen claim that they deliver “hard blues for modern times” and you’d better believe it.... (Northern Blues Music)

(Click on the CD cover to buy Rattlebag from Amazon.com)

The Twangbangers - 26 Days On The Road (2002)

With three mighty fine pickers in the persons of Bill Kirchen, Dallas Wayne and Redd Volkaert, as well as steel player Joe Goldmark and Kirchen’s rhythm section of Johnny and Jack, the Twangbangers are the closest thing to a roots rock supergroup that you’re likely to find rolling down the road between the white lines. Kicking out the jams with a high-octane blend of rockabilly, kinetic blues and traditional country, 26 Days On The Road provides all the cheap thrills and reckless energy of an out-of-control roller-coaster ride. Recorded live at the Outland in Springfield, Missouri and provided sympathetic production by fellow traveler Lou Whitney, 26 Days On The Road showcases each of the Twangbangers’ personal strengths even while it reveals a remarkable musical chemistry between the individual artists.

Dallas Wayne’s deep baritone vocals, dripping with country soul on songs like his original “The Stuff Inside” or Johnny Paycheck’s somber “In Memory Of A Memory” makes one question why Nashville hasn’t come calling on this talented honky-tonk stylist. “Wacky Walk” spotlights Joe Goldmark’s steel-playing skills as well as the six-string prowess of Kirchen and Volkaert, which are also put to test on rollicking tunes like Redd’s “She Loves Anything That Swings” and the spirited instrumental “Telewacker.” Willie Nelson’s “I Gotta Get Drunk” is provided a proper reading by Kirchen while the Robbie Fulks/Dallas Wayne composition “Rock Bottom” is a wonderful slice of hillbilly blues, infused with twangy steel guitar and cry-in-your-beer lyrics.

The highpoint of 26 Days On The Road, though, is the show-stopping, album-closing rendition of “Hot Rod Lincoln,” made famous by Kirchen during his days as Commander Cody’s right-hand man and provided a hilarious footnote here. During a break in the song’s story where cars are pulling off the road to let the “Hot Rod Lincoln” pass, Kirchen and crew name check everybody from Elvis Presley and Johnny Cash to Chuck Berry and Muddy Waters to Jimi Hendrix and the Sex Pistols. Each artist is identified through a brief musical signature, the homage carrying on for over nine minutes as the Twangbangers pay their respects to the country, rock, jazz and blues artists that have inspired and influenced each of them. It’s a pretty cool way to spend nine minutes and the perfect way to close 26 Days On The Road, an inspired collection of performances by a talented group of musicians who play not because they’re chasing fame and fortune, but rather because they love the music they’re playing. (Hightone Records)

(Click on the CD cover to buy 26 Days On The Road from Amazon.com)