Cover Albums

 

The March 2022 issue of Classic Rock Magazine has its cover story on … covers.  “Covers” are when one musician plays a song by another musician.  Oddly, although Garage, Inc. (Metallica’s double covers album) is mentioned, there’s really no discussion of cover albums per se.  And as I can show you below, there are now plenty of them to talk about.

Morning and Evening.  When bands are starting out, they have to rely on covers until they hone the skills necessary to write acceptable quality material of their own, obviously drawing upon the inspiration of those covers.  The Beatles had gone to 100% originals by the third album, A Hard Day’s Night, but even Please Please Me (#1) and With The Beatles (#2) were less than 50% covers.  The Stones didn’t make it to 100% originals until Aftermath, their fourth album, and the first album had only one original.

Likewise, when the bands get older and run out of gas, rather than put out an album of substandard originals, it’s much easier just to do an album of covers.  Of course, it’s intriguing to hear how they put their mark on other bands’ music.  What I noticed, though, was most of these covers predate the band’s own material and – as Saxon explicitly acknowledge with the album title – were their inspirations.  What I rarely hear are any of these bands playing covers of their own peers and competitors.  Thus no Beatles covers on Blue & Lonesome, no Black Sabbath (and just a snippet of “Dazed and Confused” in a medley) on Turning to Crime, no Megadeth, Slayer or Anthrax on Garage, Inc. 

Here they are, listing the songs and the original artists.

Deep Purple, Turning To Crime.  The most recent of these.  Half are fairly obscure 50s tunes, the rest are more famous 60s tunes.

7 and 7 Is (Love); Rockin’ Pneumonia and the Boogie Woogie Flu (Huey “Piano” Smith); Oh Well (Fleetwood Mac); Jenny Take A Ride (Mitch Ryder & the Detroit Wheels); Watching The River Flow (Bob Dylan); Let The Good Times Roll (Louis Jordan & the Tympany Five); Dixie Chicken (Little Feat); Shapes of Things (Yardbirds); The Battle of New Orleans (Johnny Horton); Lucifer (Bob Seger); White Room (Cream); Caught in the Act (medley including “Dazed and Confused” (Led Zeppelin), “Hot ‘Lanta” (Allman Brothers))

Ace Frehley, Origins Vols 1 & 2.  The original lead guitarist for KISS.  These were released separately in 2016 and 2020.  He claims he’ll do a Vol. 3, but the story quoting him saying so isn’t dated.

Vol #1.  White Room (Cream); Street Fighting Man (Rolling Stones); Spanish Castle Magic (Jimi Hendrix); Fire And Water (Free); Emerald (Thin Lizzy); Bring It On Home (Led Zeppelin); Wild Thing (Troggs); Parasite (KISS – really a cover?); Magic Carpet Ride (Steppenwolf); Cold Gin (KISS); Till The End of the Day (Kinks); Rock and Roll Hell (KISS)

Vol #2.  Good Times Bad Times (Led Zeppelin); Never In My Life (Mountain); Space Truckin’ (Deep Purple); I’m Down (Beatles); Jumpin’ Jack Flash (Rolling Stones); Politician (Cream); Lola (Kinks); 30 Days In The Hole (Humble Pie); Manic Depression (Jimi Hendrix); Kicks (Paul Revere & the Raiders); We’ve Gotta Get Out of This Place (Animals); She (KISS)

Fu Manchu, The Covers.  I have this on vinyl, and have never seen it on CD.  It doesn’t show up on Amazon or eBay in either format, nor does their Wikipedia discography even mention it.  Apparently it was a limited release of 700 copies by the band itself.  As stoner rock bands go, FM have shorter, snappier, high tempo songs, often about skateboarding, so the punk influence is definitely front center, as the cover choices make clear. 

Who Are You (Void); Nothing Done (SSD); D.O.A. (Van Halen, not Bloodrock); When The Shit Hits The Fan (The Circle Jerks); Moving in Stereo (The Cars); Beach Blanket Bongout (JFA); Freedom of Choice (Devo); Godzilla (Blue Oyster Cult); Things Start Moving (Adolescents); Ride To Live (Live To Ride) (Twisted Sister); Six Pack (Black Flag); Words To Live By (Penance); Jailbreak (Thin Lizzy); Chevy Van (Sammy Johns).

Yngwie Malmsteen, Inspiration.  A few years back before the Saxon album.  YM plays large headstock Stratocasters with scalloped fretboards and took classical music into overdrive, blending it with obvious influences of Ritchie Blackmore, Uli Roth, and Jimi Hendrix, which makes their inclusion on this covers album a no-brainer.  Although he’s obviously talented and practiced those oddball scales rigorously, somehow he doesn’t seem to pull off more bluesier solos that well.  My recollection is that I got the UK album after hearing this one, the only track on the album I wasn’t already familiar with. That’s a prog super group with Allan Holdsworth (guitar), John Wetton (bass & vocals), Bill Bruford (drums), and Eddie Jobson (keyboards).

Carry On Wayward Son (Kansas); Pictures of Home (Deep Purple); Gates of Babylon (Rainbow); Manic Depression (Jimi Hendrix); In the Dead of Night (UK); Mistreated (Deep Purple); The Sails of Charon (Scorpions); Demon’s Eye (Deep Purple); Anthem (Rush); Child in Time (Deep Purple); Spanish Castle Magic (Jimi Hendrix)

Metallica, Garage, Inc.  Before this, they had “broken in” Jason Newsted with the $5.98 EP, Garage Days Re-Revisited (1987), before his bass was ignored on …And Justice For All.  Fast forward to 1998, when the band released Garage, Inc., which included the EP on disc 2 along with other previously released covers – including “Am I Evil” (Diamond Head) and “Blitzkrieg” (Blitzkrieg) which had been the b-sides of “Creeping Death” and tacked on to the Elektra version of their first album, Kill ‘Em All.  Then they went into the studio and recorded a whole CD worth of new covers, for a two disc set.  I like that they pick more obscure tunes instead of big hits.

Disc 1 (Freshly recorded):  Free Speech For the Deaf (Discharge); It’s Electric (Diamond Head); Sabbra Cadabra (Black Sabbath); Turn The Page (Bob Seger); Die, Die My Darling (Misfits); Loverman (Nick Cave); Mercyful Fate (Mercyful Fate); Astronomy (Blue Oyster Cult); Whiskey In the Jar (traditional, played by Thin Lizzy); Tuesday’s Gone (Lynyrd Skynyrd); The More I See (Discharge)

Disc 2 (previously released):  Helpless (Diamond Head); The Small Hours (Holocaust); The Wait (Killing Joke); Crash Course in Brain Surgery (Budgie); Last Caress/Green Hell (Misfits); Am I Evil? (Diamond Head); Blitzkrieg (Blitzkrieg); Breadfan (Budgie); The Prince (Diamond Head); Stone Cold Crazy (Queen); So What (Anti-Nowhere League); Killing Time (Sweet Savage); Overkill (Motorhead); Damage Case (Motorhead); Stone Dead Forever (Motorhead); Too Late Too Late (Motorhead) 

Monster Magnet, A Better Dystopia.  New Jersey's premiere stoner rock band.  Dave Wyndorf gave us this collection of mostly obscure tunes.  I would have preferred an entire album of Hawkwind covers – or least add in their earlier covers of “Brainstorm” and “The Right Stuff” – but at least he gives us the distinction of the only Hawkwind cover on any of these albums.

The Diamond Mine (spoken word intro); Born To Go (Hawkwind); Epitaph For A Head (Blackfoot); Solid Gold Hell (Scientists); Be Forwarned (Pentagram); Mr. Destroyer (Poobah); When The Wolf Sits (Jerusalem); Death (Pretty Things); Situation (Josefus); It’s Trash (Cavemen); Motorcycle (Straight To Hell) (Table Scraps); Learning To Die (Dust); Welcome To The Void (Morgen)

Motorhead, Under Cover.  Given that the man himself, Lemmy, already did “Motorhead”, “Lost Johnny” and “The Watcher” on both On Parole and Motorhead, I suppose Hawkwind songs weren’t going to show up here, though “Silver Machine” would have been cool. 

Breaking The Law (Judas Priest); God Save The Queen (Sex Pistols); Heroes (Bowie & Fripp); Starstruck (Rainbow); Cat Scratch Fever (Ted Nugent); Jumpin’ Jack Flash (Rolling Stones); Sympathy For The Devil (Rolling Stones); Hellraiser (Ozzy Osbourne); Rockaway Beach (Ramones); Shoot ‘Em Down (Twisted Sister); Whiplash (Metallica)

Ozzy Osbourne, Under Cover.  Yes, the same title as Lemmy’s.  Instead of Zakk Wylde, his guitarist on this is Jerry Cantrell of Alice In Chains.  Mike Bordin of Faith No More (who also played drums with Ozzy’s solo band, and Black Sabbath on the 1997 Ozzfest tour) is here on drums.  Ozzy gives us lots of hits from left field: a Beatles song, two John Lennon songs, King Crimson, and the hit the Moody Blues had before Justin Hayward and John Lodge joined and they became a prog band with Days of Future Passed, “Go Now”. 

Rocky Mountain Way (Joe Walsh); In My Life (Beatles); Mississippi Queen (Mountain); Go Now (The Moody Blues); Woman (John Lennon); 21^st Century Schizoid Man (King Crimson); All The Young Dudes (Mott the Hoople); For What It’s Worth (Buffalo Springfield); Good Times (The Animals); Sunshine of Your Love (Cream); Fire (Arthur Brown); Working Class Hero (John Lennon); Sympathy For The Devil (Rolling Stones); Changes (Black Sabbath – yes, like Ace, covering a song he was originally on)

The Rolling Stones, Blue & Lonesome.  Eleven years after their last album of original material, A Bigger Bang (9/5/05), the Stones come back with an album of exclusively blues covers.

Just Your Fool (Little Walter); Commit A Crime (Howlin’ Wolf); Blue and Lonesome (Little Walter); All of Your Love (Magic Sam); I Gotta Go (Little Walter); Everybody Knows About My Good Thing (Miles Grayson & Lermon Horton); Ride ‘Em On Down (Eddie Taylor); Hate To See You Go (Little Walter); Hoo Doo Blues (Otis Hicks & Jerry West); Little Rain (Ewart G. Abner Jr & Jimmy Reed); Just Like It Treat You (Willie Dixon); I Can’t Quit You Baby (Willie Dixon)

Rush, Feedback.  Back in 2007, fairly short – just an EP.  They did a tour for this album, which we saw, and for which some of the concert t-shirts were tie-dyes, with the 2112 Naked Man (who may or may not be the same naked guy from the Hemispheres cover) is now afraid of a peace symbol instead of a red star.

Summertime Blues (Eddie Cochran, but homage to The Who version, not the Blue Cheer version); Heart Full of Soul (Yardbirds); For What It’s Worth (Buffalo Springfield); The Seeker (The Who); Mr Soul (Buffalo Springfield); Seven and Seven Is (Love); Shapes of Things (Yardbirds); Crossroads (Robert Johnson/Cream).

Saxon, Inspirations.  Along with Iron Maiden and Def Leppard, among the trio of most successful New Wave of British Heavy Metal (NWOBHM) bands to emerge from the early 1980s and not merely survive but prosper, even if they aren't quite as famous or successful as the other two.  Biff & his comrades came out with this relatively recently.

Paint It Black (Rolling Stones); Immigrant Song (Led Zeppelin); Paperback Writer (Beatles); Evil Woman (Crow); Stone Free (Jimi Hendrix); Bomber (Motorhead); Speed King (Deep Purple); The Rocker (Thin Lizzy); Hold The Line (Toto); Problem Child (AC/DC); See My Friends (Kinks)

Tesla, Real to Reel (Discs 1 & 2).  Often lumped together with Motley Crue and Skid Row as a "hair metal" band, Tesla were less about image than about the music itself, with a sincerity that was sometimes borderline naive.  Disc 1 was sold outright in CD packaging allowing for two.  The second disc was given at the shows for that tour, which I saw at the Ram’s Head Live in Baltimore.  Frank Hannon himself was at the merch booth and give me the disc – and signed the insert.

Reel 1.  Space Truckin’ (Deep Purple); Walk Away (James Gang); Hand Me Down World (Guess Who); Bad Reputation (Thin Lizzy); Thank You (Led Zeppelin); I’ve Got A Feeling (Beatles); Day of the Eagle (Robin Trower); Ball of Confusion (Temptations); Rock Bottom (UFO); Stealin’ (Uriah Heep); Bell Bottom Blues (Derek & the Dominos); Honky Tonk Woman (Rolling Stones); Dear Mr. Fantasy (Traffic)

Reel 2.  All The Young Dudes (Mott the Hoople); Make It Last (Montrose); Shooting Star (Bad Company); Not Fragile (BTO); Street Fighting Man (Rolling Stones); It’s My Body (Alice Cooper); I Want To Take You Higher (Sly and the Family Stone); Do You Feel Like We Do (Peter Frampton); Beer Drinkers and Hell Raisers (ZZTop); Seasons of Wither (Aerosmith); Saturday Night Special (Lynyrd Skynrd); War Pigs (Black Sabbath)

UFO, The Salentino Cuts.  They started off with Mick Bolton on guitar for two space jam-type albums, then found Michael Schenker for five major seventies albums and a later trio of reunion albums; Vinnie Moore has been the guitarist for the last several albums.  The only constant member has been vocalist Phil Mogg, and they give us a rare gem: a LATER song, “River of Deceit” from Mad Season. 

Heartful of Soul (Yardbirds); Break on Through (The Doors); River of Deceit (Mad Season); The Pusher (Steppenwolf); Paper In Fire (John Mellencamp); Rock Candy (Montrose); Mississippi Queen (Mountain); Ain’t No Sunshine (Bill Withers); Honey-Bee (Tom Petty); Too Rolling Stoned (Robin Trower); Just Got Paid (ZZTop); It’s My Life (Animals).

As these are all experienced professionals, I didn’t hear any songs butchered, though I didn’t hear any where I felt they had improved on the originals.  In about 20% of the cases I was unfamiliar with the source material to make any kind of comparison anyway.  As a Monster Magnet fan, though, I was dissatisfied with Wyndorf’s choices; it seems he deliberately picked extremely obscure tracks to continue cultivating his “aren’t I cool?  I wear sunglasses at night” persona. 

Tribute Albums.  I suppose the opposite of a covers album, where one band covers all sorts of different bands’ songs, is a tribute album, in which all different bands cover one band’s songs.  The most recent was Blacklist, where Metallica’s 1991 self-titled, so-called Black Album, gets cover treatment by a host of bands outside their own genre.  The sad apart about it is that almost all of them make the original versions sound that much better.  It’s almost as if the band was thinking, “well, everyone seems to think we sold out on this album, but here are versions of our songs which are far more commercial than our own.  See how you like those.” 

Lemmy, Hawkwind, and Motorhead

Tuesday night’s Clutch concert at Terminal 5 in NYC featured exclusively Motorhead songs on the PA leading up to the band’s stage appearance and a call-out by singer Neil Fallon.

With Ian “Lemmy” Kilminster’s recent death and intense and widespread outpouring of regret, sympathy and fond remembrance, I checked my blogs and realized I hadn’t done one on this subject, although I did cover Time of the Hawklords, Michael Moorcock’s Hawkwind sci-fi book, back in March 2014.

White Line Fever.  His autobiography.  If you haven’t already, check it out.  I did so because of the Hawkwind angle, which he does cover briefly – though enough to make it worth checking out for Hawkwind fans.  Required reading for ALL Motorhead fans.

His more recent DVD documentary, “Lemmy”, is also fun to watch.  He gives a tour of his rent-controlled, Nazi-memorabilia filled apartment in L.A., and the cubbyhole of the Rainbow Bar & Grill where he hangs out.  I liked Scott Ian ragging on him for his Daisy Dukes (very short jean shorts). 

Sam Gopal.  Before Hawkwind, Lemmy was in Sam Gopal’s band, and he’s on Escalator.  He plays lead guitar and sings.  This is a bit more Indian toned than Hawkwind, so maybe not that great for Motorhead fans. 

Hawkwind.  I’ve seen Hawkwind twice, but both times was in the 1990s well after Lemmy left.  He’s on Doremi Fasol Latido (1972),  Hall of the Mountain Grill (1974), and Warrior on the Edge of Time (1975), plus their must-have live album, Space Ritual (1973), which oddly does NOT have “Silver Machine”.  It was on the Warrior tour that he was busted in Canada and effectively kicked out of the band.  Sadly, Lemmy was never in the band at the same time as Huw Lloyd Langton (HLL) [except ONE live show] – that would have been killer.  

            Compared to Motorhead, Hawkwind are a completely different animal.  Amazingly psychedelic, but with a strong core of strength – thanks to Lemmy – it was weird, but fun.  Those albums with Lemmy are arguably the best ones, though Levitation and Xenon Codex – both with HLL – are also awesome. 

            “Motorhead”, “Lost Johnny”, “The Watcher”, and “Silver Machine” are Lemmy’s contributions to Hawkwind, really where any Motorhead fan should start.  I prefer the Hawkwind version of “Motorhead”, though it doesn’t have Lemmy singing, plus it has a slower lope to it than the Motorhead version.

Motorhead.  I’ve seen them a few times, including one major show at the Bayou (DC) in January 1996, headlining, plus opening for Black Sabbath (1994) and Iron Maiden (2003).   Ace of Spades is, of course, the definitive album, but I prefer Another Perfect Day, the one-off album with Brian Robertson – better known as half of Thin Lizzy’s guitar attack with Scott Gorham – and Phil Taylor (RIP recently as well). 

            In more recent years Lemmy tended to switch up and ease the throttle a bit on some songs.  “1916” is an excellent example of this.  He couldn’t do this for more than a song or two per album, but an entire album of such songs – like Opeth’s Damnation – would have been great.  F**k Motorhead fans if they can’t deal with it.  Part of what kept me from being a stronger Motorhead fan was that too many of his songs sounded exactly the same, and the same attitude was endlessly repeated to the point of boredom.  He complained that fans always mention Ace of Spades and tried to remind people that he’s made 18 albums since that one.  Dude, all those 18 albums sound the same!  If he’d done that prog album I’d asked for, maybe it would be different.  

The Power of Three

For some reason, 3-piece bands are quite popular, and have been for some time.  Usually – though not always - the bassist is also the singer.  They’re well done enough to put out enough power to be competitive with more traditional 4 and 5 piece bands, but I don’t think of them as being MORE powerful.

 Jimi Hendrix Experience.  Active from 1966 to 1969. Noel Redding played bass, Mitch Mitchell played the drums, and Jimi sang and … played guitar.  Fairly well, in fact.  Remarkably, they only have 3 studio albums, Are You Experienced?, Electric Ladyland, and Axis: Bold As Love.  Hendrix was one of those rare persons whose skill at guitar was light years more advanced, in terms of intuitive knowledge, beyond anyone else.

 Blue Cheer.  I did a previous blog on this band.  They came out around the same time as Jimi Hendrix and Cream (1967), from San Francisco; I think of them as part of that scene, but to this date all the attention goes to the Grateful Dead and Jefferson Airplane, with BC being almost completely ignored, an unwanted stepchild or black sheep, which is a shame, because they are definitely MUCH heavier than the others, but it wasn’t – as the others claim – using excessive volume as a crutch for poor talent.   The classic lineup was Dickie Peterson (bass/vocals), Leigh Stephens (guitar), and Paul Whaley (drums).  Stephens retired long ago, so now Duck McDonald is the guitarist – and Dickie IS Blue Cheer.  BC’s claim to fame is their cover of Eddie Cochran’s popular “Summertime Blues” – which they still play in concert.

 Cream.  Also a contemporary (1966-68): Eric Clapton (guitar/vocals), Jack Bruce (bass/vocals), and Ginger Baker (drums).  “Crossroads”, “Sunshine of Your Love”, “White Room”, “Badge”, “Born Under A Bad Sign”, and “Tales of Brave Ulysses” are the top songs.  Clapton went on to do Blind Faith, Derek & The Dominos, and then his solo career.  While he’s definitely a good guitarist, I think he’s overrated; I also consider his solo material a bit too commercial, ironic given he quit the Yardbirds to join John Mayall’s Bluesbreakers because he considered the YBs were getting too commercial (!). 

 Mountain.  Leslie West’s band, along with Corky Laing (drums) and Felix Pappalardi (Bass).  They were at Woodstock.  West is a big guy – not a bad guitar player, but it’s hard to get past his bulk and appreciate his skill (probably best to LISTEN to him rather than WATCH him).  His most famous song was “Mississippi Queen”.  We saw them open up for Deep Purple in 1985 (Perfect Strangers tour) and he forgot the words to “Nantucket Sleighride”, which didn’t impress us. 

 Emerson, Lake & Palmer.  Keith Emerson (gonzo keyboardist), Greg Lake (bassist/singer – formerly with King Crimson) and Carl Palmer (drummer) – though Cozy Powell stepped in briefly in the mid-80s.  We saw them play at the Cap Center in 1986, but I can’t remember anything.  I’ve heard Pictures at an Exhibition, but didn’t like it – it was too much like King Crimson without a guitarist.  But the first album (self-titled) and Tarkus (2nd album) are both excellent.

 King Crimson.  They qualify only for the Red album, which they didn’t even tour: Robert Fripp (of course) (guitar), John Wetton (bass/vocals) and Bill Bruford (drums).  As I noted in my lengthy KC blog, Red was the pinnacle of a three-album streak including Larks’ Tongues in Aspic and Starless.  Thankfully they did play “Red” on their most recent tour.  And around the time of Thrak (1995), KC was actually a “double trio”: Fripp and Belew on guitar, Trey Gunn and Tony Levin on bass/stick, and Pat Mastelotto and Bill Bruford on drums.

 Grand Funk Railroad.  Mark Farner (guitar/vocals), Mel Schacter (bass), and Don Brewer (drums/vocals), from Flint, Michigan and associated with Terry Knight.  They had their peak in the 70s.  I never liked their top hit, “We’re An American Band”; they had so much better songs, “Walk Like A Man”, “Sin’s A Good Man’s Brother”, “Heartbreaker”, “Mean Mistreater” and “Can’t Take Too Long”.  Supposedly the press hated GFR, even if Homer Simpson was a huge fan. 

 Rush.  From Canada, starting in 1974, and with the same lineup since Neil Peart (drums) replaced John Rutsey after the first album.  Alex Lifeson (guitar) and Geddy Lee (bass/vocals) are the other two.  Lee’s voice took some time to get used to.  My introduction was Moving Pictures and “Tom Sawyer”.  Geddy doubles up on keyboards, filling out the sound a little more.  They are still active, and featured in “I Love You, Man”. 

 Triumph.  Also from Canada, coming out in the mid-70s, and accused of being Rush clones, though their sound is much heavier and more pop-oriented – far closer to Blue Oyster Cult than Rush (though with none of BOC’s quirky and obscure references).  Rik Emmitt (guitar/vocals), Gil Moore (drums/vocals) and Mike Levine (bass).  We saw Triumph at the Patriot Center on Halloween, 1986, with Yngwie Malmsteen opening up – front row seats.  They broke up in 1988, but Rik Emmitt still tours and plays Triumph material. 

 Budgie.  From Wales, England, starting off in the early 70s with Burke Shelley (vocals/bass), Tony Bourge (guitar), and various drummers, most consistently Steve Williams.  Shelley’s voice is somewhat like Geddy Lee’s.  The first four albums were heavy, even to the point of having early Black Sabbath producer Rodger Bain producing them, but with the strangest song titles: “She’s As Hot As A Docker’s Armpit” and “Nude Disintegrating Parachutist Woman”, topping Frank Zappa and Blue Oyster Cult.  The later three of seven albums with Tony Bourge (Bandolier, If I Were Britannia I’d Waive the Rules, and Impeckable) have a snappier, jazzier feel, even vaguely bossa nova, before Bourge left – to be replaced by John Thomas, at which point (1980) they turned into a New Wave of British Heavy Metal Band.  Metallica resurrected their career by covering “Crash Course in Brain Surgery” (on the Garage Days Re-Revisited EP) and “Breadfan”.

 Motorhead.  Fresh from Hawkwind’s ill-advised sacking of him in 1975, Lemmy (bassist/vocalist) lost no time in forming this band.  The classic lineup, which recorded Ace of Spades in 1980, was Lemmy, “Fast” Eddie Clarke (guitar – I always thought he looked like Ritchie Blackmore, even to the point of playing Stratocasters) and “Philty Animal” Taylor (drums).  For one album, Another Perfect Day, the band had Thin Lizzy’s Brian Robertson, but that lasted almost no time.  They also had Pete Gill (Saxon) for some time as well.   Briefly Motorhead had two guitarists, Wurzel and Phil Campbell, but are back to a trio format with just Campbell.  All their albums sound the same to me, but they do rock.  Lemmy is certainly one of the more colorful characters in hard rock.

 Stevie Ray Vaughan & Double Trouble.  If I included Hendrix here, SRV belongs here too.  His bassist was Tommy Shannon (who used to play with Johnny Winter), his drummer was Chris Layton.  The Texas blues guitarist died in a helicopter crash in 1990.  He was the younger brother of Jimmy Vaughan, guitarist in the Fabulous Thunderbirds.  His major hits were “Pride & Joy”. “The Sky Is Crying”, and his cover of Jimi Hendrix’ “Voodoo Chile (Slight Return)”. 

 The Police.  I’ve never been a fan of this band, though I do like “Wrapped Around Your Finger”.  Sting (Gordon Sumner) (bass/vocals), Andy Summers (guitar), and Stuart Copeland (drums).  In high school they were the band to see, but I passed on the Synchronicity Tour.  I liked Sting in “Dune” as Feyd-Rautha Harkonnen.  Rik Emmett (as noted above) put it well, commenting on Andy Summers: “he was very much a Telecaster w/chorus kind of guitarist, and my preference was Les Paul through a Marshall.”  The Edge has a similar light and fluffy touch on the guitar – and they both make Mark Knopfler sound like Pete Townshend.

 Nirvana.  I’ve noted them already in my grunge blog: Kurt Cobain (guitar/vocals), Krist Novoselic (bass) and Dave Grohl (drums).  Grohl did a spell in the Queens of the Stone Age as well as his own band Foo Fighters.

New Wave of British Heavy Metal

Recently I got two albums, Songs From the Sparkle Lounge, the new album by Def Leppard, and The World’s Gone Mad, a two-disc compilation of Vardis.  Both of these bands came from England in the early 80’s, part of a musical trend now referred to as the New Wave of British Heavy Metal (NWOBHM).  I won’t pretend to cover the genre exhaustively – I have neither the patience, nor the knowledge, and Lars Ulrich has already collected practically every album by every band.  I’ll comment on the bands I’m most familiar with.

            In the late 70’s, England was particularly unhospitable for “metal” bands, with punk bands and new wave dominating the record companies’ interests.  Iron Maiden formed in 1977 but took until 1980 to secure a record deal, frequently having been told to “cut their hair and play punk music” if they wanted to get a deal.  Needless to say, not everyone in England was enthusiastic about the Sex Pistols, Dead Kennedys, Black Flag, and other hardcore acts.  Nonetheless, a new crop of bands managed to spring up like unwanted mushrooms in the dark, fetid underground of the UK.  They shared a love for Black Sabbath (sped up by a factor of 2-3), Marshall stacks turned up to 11, Gibsons & Fenders, and particularly atrocious production.

            At first listen, especially listening to the NWOBHM compilation I have, all the bands sound exactly the same.  This isn’t helped by the fact that in many cases, they do sound the same, or that the particular songs chosen were considered “representative” of the genre, probably none more so than “Helpless” by Diamond Head.  And while bands like Iron Maiden eventually developed a unique sound, at this point in their career they were pretty much like everyone else.  You really have to delve into the individual bands for at least one album each to begin appreciating their subtle differences, though with the lesser lights, such as Venom, it hardly seems worth the bother.  So here’s a brief rundown of the various bands which make up this subset of metal, as it were. The most successful of the NWOBHM bands were Saxon, Def Leppard, Iron Maiden, and Motorhead.

Saxon.  From Yorkshire. Saxon have the distinction of being the NWOBHM band which (A) lasted the longest AND (B) changed their sound the least – quite the opposite of Def Leppard.  The lead singer, Biff Byford, appears frozen in 1980.  Their top albums are Wheels of Steel, Denim & Leather, and Strong Arm of the Law, which provides my favorite Saxon song, “Heavy Metal Thunder.”  They still put out albums, still tour, and to listen to Saxon, it may well still be 1981.  By now, former guitarist Graham Oliver and bassist Paul Dawson have split off to form “Oliver/Dawson Saxon”, with Biff retaining the rights to just plain “Saxon”.  Like Leppard, Saxon love to wave the Union Jack, or white/red English flag, around, and embrace their heritage; they were kicked off a slot at a metal festival in Dubai due to their older song, “Crusader”.  They just need to stop in the middle of the show, sit down, and drink tea, maybe a likely outcome as they get older and Biff’s long hair turns grey.

Def Leppard.  From Sheffield (North England), their equivalent of Pittsburgh.  To me their peak was High’n’Dry, produced by John “Mutt” Lange, released back in 1981.  Still forged steel balls, especially “Lady Strange”, “Another Hit & Run”, “Bringing on the Heartbreak”, and “Switch 625.”  Not a bad cut on the whole album.  Pyromania, which followed, was a step in the commercial direction.  But if we thought Pyromania was a sellout album, Hysteria, which followed, showed us what the band would REALLY put out had they signed their souls away to the Devil for as much commercial success, money, and pussy as they could possibly handle – apparently Rick Allen’s arm, and Steve Clark’s life, were the price they paid to Eric Bloom’s friend Lou C. Fer for all that success.  Despite these losses, they’ve kept going since then.  We saw the Hysteria Tour in 1987 (supported by Tesla!) but lost interest after that.  Their newest album, Songs From The Sparkle Lounge, is not bad, but it might as well be Hysteria II.  If you’re nostalgic for 1990, by all means knock yourself out.  They’ve had a bit of a Union Jack gimmick going on for awhile, either Rick Allen wearing Union Jack boxers, or Joe Elliott wearing a Union Jack sleeveless t-shirt (who says Americans have a monopoly on flag-waving – though I’m not aware of any other country whose own people actually BURN the flag!).

Iron Maiden.  I mentioned this band earlier, referring to Live After Death.  Maiden come somewhere between Saxon and Def Leppard.  They achieved phenomenal commercial success, particularly in the late 80s.  Unlike Def Leppard, they did this without selling out.  And unlike Saxon, they have improved their sound and progressed:  Number of the Beast, Piece of Mind, Powerslave, etc. show a remarkable maturing of ability over the first two, very raw albums Iron Maiden and Killers – and I don’t mean just replacing Paul D’ianno with Bruce Dickinson. [By the way, I’ve heard “Sanctuary”, “Iron Maiden”, and “Wrathchild” enough times by now.  “Phantom of the Opera” is a good song, and a nice bone to be thrown to us as an early classic, but can we please hear “Strange World” or “Prodigal Son”?].  A Matter of Life and Death, their most recent album, is 100x more advanced and different than Iron Maiden, than Saxon’s most recent material is from Saxon.   Fortunately, after two loser albums with loser vocalist Blaze Bayley (hardly surprisingly, X Factor and Virtual XI have easily the lowest sales numbers of any Maiden albums) Bruce Dickinson came back - with a haircut.  I can’t say that Brave New World, Dance of Death, or A Matter of Life and Death are as high caliber as their earlier work with Dickinson – unfortunately, they are undeniably past their prime – but they certainly don’t stink as much as the Blaze Bayley albums and are better than No Prayer for the Dying and Fear of the Dark, the last two Dickinson albums before he went solo.  If you count their popularity in Brazil, Iron Maiden are as big as ever.

Motorhead.  Funny, I never considered them a NWOBHM band.  Lemmy was kicked out of Hawkwind in 1975 after being busted for amphetamines in Canada, on their Warrior on the Edge of Time tour.  Shortly after, he formed Motorhead.  Lemmy was already famous in an established band, Hawkwind, during its classic period, and he got Motorhead up and running – first album in 1977 (not counting On Parole’s delayed release) - long before the NWOBHM thing got going, so it’s hard to qualify Motorhead as a NWOBHM band, although their sound is certainly consistent, and Ace of Spades came out around the right time (1980).  It’s probably more accurate to consider them the #2 influence, after Black Sabbath, on the NWOBHM bands.  Lemmy tends to bitch that we consider Ace of Spades their peak, and insists that the band has been productive since then.  Yes, they still put out albums and tour.  But every Motorhead album sounds exactly the same, like a yearly copy of Iron Fist, Bomber, Ace of Spades, etc., with 1916 and Another Perfect Day being rare exceptions.  Maybe they have been cranking out new albums, but if they sound exactly like every prior album, there is little reason to buy the new albums and listen to them.  I’ve seen them a few times and they are good in concert – I particularly remember seeing them at the Bayou in Washington DC, in January 1996 in the middle of a huge blizzard.  Lemmy and the guitarist like to leave their instruments leaning up against the amps at the end of the show to feed back.

After these three, you get the lesser known bands who have fallen by the wayside and probably deserve more attention:

Diamond Head.  From Stourbridge (southwest of Birmingham).  Easily the top “underrated” band of the NWOBHM thanks to Metallica.  “Am I Evil”, “The Prince”, “Helpless” were all covered by Metallica, though my favorite, “Sucking My Love”, only appears on Metallica bootlegs.  Like Iron Maiden, they languished in the wilderness for years before getting a record deal – mainly because they were so atrociously managed.  They broke up in 1985 after three albums, the third of which, Canterbury, was a light & fluffy commercial turd.  It seemed they were bored with metal and wanted to try something else, but couldn’t get anyone to listen to them, or a record deal, in Def Leppard mode.  After a few brief reunions including Sean Harris, the singer, and a few times opening for Metallica and Megadeth (Sean Harris collaborated with Dave Mustaine on a song) they are back again, with only guitarist Brian Tatler as the remaining original member, Nick Tart handling the vocals now.  Diamond Head seem to be the sturdiest, most substantial bridge between Black Sabbath (70’s metal at its heaviest and finest) and Metallica (late 80s-90s metal at its finest).

Vardis.  From Wakefield (Yorkshire), led by Steve Zodiac, a remarkable cross between Mark Farner and Johnny Winter.  He played Telecasters exclusively (and got a good, meaty tone like Page on the first Zeppelin album) and insisted on going on stage in bare feet. Vardis were a 3 piece, with the one of the most bluesiest sound of all the NWOBHM bands.  Their first album, 100 MPH, was a live album, described as a continuous guitar solo (sounds like Man’s set at the Greasy Truckers show to me).  After some management problems, their record company went broke, so 1986 was as long as they lasted.

Witchfynde.    Another northeast band, from Nottinghamshire.  Their first and notable album, Give ‘Em Hell, features one of the best NWOBHM songs, “Leaving Nadir” (Lars Ulrich’s favorite, and mine as well).  Their major problem was various record labels going under or failing to promote them.  After some time apart, they have reformed, including guitarist Montalo, and have new material pending.

Angel Witch.  From London, of all places.  In fact, I lump them in with Witchfynde not only by name, but also having a good first album (Angel Witch) and being somewhat of a fairly decent ripoff of Black Sabbath; their sound has been described as “the first Sabbath album played through a cement mixer.”  Along with Witchfynde, one of the better obscure NWOBHM bands given that Diamond Head have been so heavily publicized by Metallica.  Instead of having (A) management issues, or (B) record company issues, Angel Witch suffered the “Deep/Snake/Crimson/Rainbow” problem of personnel issues, Kevin Heybourne (vocals/guitar) being the only consistent member.  In one case a US version of the band led by him was undone by the INS….which deported him back to England.

Grim Reaper.  I got one album of theirs, See You In Hell, but wasn’t overly impressed (apparently sharing Beavis & Butt-head’s opinion).  Oddly, they have reformed without Nick Bowcott.

Venom.  Talk about over the top.  I got Black Metal, and we had tickets to see them in fall 1985, but the show was cancelled.  Later, at college, my buddy Baron had a video of Venom which we watched, hammered with a few dozen beers between us, and fell out of our chairs laughing so hard, it was so awful.  Cronos, Mantos, and Abaddon (no, not their real names) could barely seem to play their instruments to save their lives.  It was like KISS meets Alice Cooper, or even Spinal Tap.  I hate to imagine anyone who took these clowns seriously.

Budgie.  Here’s a judgment call.  Budgie, from Wales, predate the NWOBHM movement by a long shot (starting off around 1971) but when the NWOBHM trend came around, they had lost guitarist Tony Bourge, gained guitarist John Thomas, and jumped on the bandwagon.   Power Supply, Nightflight, and Deliver Us From Evil were the three albums with JT, and sound almost exactly like Saxon and the other NWOBHM bands.  It’s a shame, because with their last 3 albums with Bourge, Bandolier, If I Were Britannia I’d Waive The Rules, and Impeckable, they finally transcended their Black Sabbath influence and injected some looser jazzy elements – even somewhat bossa nova (???) – and achieved what could finally be called their own unique sound.  With these JT albums, they’re just another (competent) NWOBHM band.  It’s ironic, though: Metallica, more than any other band, has been responsible for bringing bands like Diamond Head to light, but the two Budgie songs they cover, “Breadfan” and “Crash Course in Brain Surgery”, date from the earlier Tony Bourge era, not the John Thomas NWOBHM era.  And they’re not even Budgie’s best songs.  Their newest album, You’re All Living in Cuckooland, the first since they reformed after the John Thomas era, bears more resemblance to the Bourge material, but is somewhat undefinable.

Honorable Mentions:  As I noted, the list is not exhaustive.  Here are the other bands commonly considered part of the genre: Tygers of Pan Tang (notable for John Sykes), Praying Mantis, Samson (prior band of Bruce Dickinson), Holocaust (Metallica covered “The Small Hours”), Sweet Savage (prior band of Vivian Campbell, Metallica covered “Killing Time”), White Spirit (prior band of Janick Gers), Jaguar, Fist, Cloven Hoof (I saw their album at FNAC but passed on it, they looked a bit too goofy), Girlschool & Rock Goddess (both all-female bands of not only dubious talent, but unfortunately dubious attractiveness as well), Pretty Maids (who we saw open for Saxon), and Demon (I remember seeing their albums at FNAC but never bought one – they seemed to steal their logo right from Dodge!).

Bottom line: A surplus of talent, an absence of luck, all too often the story for many of these bands, especially when you consider that of the bands that ended up being least successful, those are the ones who most influenced Metallica, with the major exception of Motorhead, who Metallica consistently cite as a major influence even though I don’t think they really qualify as a NWOBHM band.  In a sense, Metallica scooped up their influence and used it to start their own career.  The three bands who were independently successful – Saxon, Iron Maiden, and Def Leppard – have the least connection to Metallica in terms of influence.

Hawkwind-Motorhead

I always prefer the original Hawkwind version of this song - and this slideshow is pretty damn well done (especially the acid effects).

Unknown Guitar Heroes

Yet another installment on musical subjects, in this case, unknown guitar heroes. In this case, Huw Lloyd Langton and Andy Powell.

 Langton is best associated with the space-rock band Hawkwind. By now Hawkwind are most known, if at all, for being the band Lemmy – Motorhead bassist/singer and another of these Ozzy-like godfathers of metal – was in before forming Motorhead. Hawkwind made one of the most collossal mistakes of the history of mankind in dumping him following a drug bust in Canada on the Warrior on the Edge of Time tour in 1975. In addition to Lemmy, Hawkwind was also "home" to a curvacious stage dancer Stacia, the eccentric Bob Calvert, and British science fiction/fantasy author Michael Moorcock. They still record, still tour England, and remain on good terms with Lemmy. Hardly a Motorhead interview fails to mention Hawkwind.

 Anyhow, back to Langton. He played on several Hawkwind albums scatttered over their career, but the highlights are: the first album (simply titled Hawkwind) from 1969, Levitation (a fantastic comeback album of 1980 with, of all people, Cream’s Ginger Baker on drums), The Chronicle of the Black Sword concept album (1985), and lastly, a fantastic trip called The Xenon Codex (1989) – before returning to the same obscurity he enjoyed from 1969-79. (Unfortunately he’s not on any of the same albums as Lemmy).

 Langton has a heavy sound, but melodic – somewhat like Don Felder, Dave Murray, and David Gilmour. Like Gilmour does in Pink Floyd, he serves as a solid rock base amidst a chaos of psychedelia, somewhat standing outside of the mess, as opposed to Jerry Garcia, who is part OF the mess the Dead create in their extended jams.

 I say "unknown" with respect to him because he seems to be off the radar except to Hawkwind fans. Aside from Hawkwind he seems to only pursue a solo career; he has seven solo albums.

 Similarly, Andy Powell is only associated with Wishbone Ash. Indeed, at this point, he is the only original member of the band left. Neither Ted Turner (second guitarist), Martin Turner (no relation to Ted, bassist), nor Steve Upton (drums) have any apparent interest in remaining in Wishbone Ash, though they did reunite briefly between 1989 and 1992 for Nouveau Calls and Here to Hear. Formerly with long wavy hair and cleanshaven, now Powell effects the "bald w/goatee" gothic look, though keeping the glasses and trademark Gibson Flying V.

 Powell’s style is similar to Langton’s, and similar to his erstwhile bandmate, Ted Turner. Though Powell, even today, always works with another guitarist, both sharing lead guitar duties in Wishbone Ash; and he has knack for finding excellent partners on lead guitar. As they are now, they’re no longer playing Merriweather Post Pavilion, as they did in the 70s – they play Jaxx, to sparse crowds. They come on the stage with the house lights on, plug into half-stacks or combos, and proceed to blow away the 20-30 people (in a venue that could probably accommodate 200) who had the extremely good judgment to show up and witness the show. The newest albums are OK, but the classics are definitely the starting point, particularly the original Powell-Turner-Turner-Upton lineup of the first four albums and live album: Wishbone Ash, Pilgrimage, Argus (their Dark Side of the Moon, and even BEAT that album in 1973 in a contest for best album of the year in the UK), Wishbone IV, and Live Dates.