Month: December 2022

The tantalising story of Baby Face, the supergroup that almost was

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I always loved both bands and II once did a cover of The Rocker, which is a great Thin Lizzy song. Deep Purple got me with Machine Head and Made in Japan was a well-done piece of rehash. I’m not sure this supergroup would have ever taken off. Too much attitude and ego for one band IMO. I’m more into Supper Groups.

“It was meant to be a free-flowing kind of thing,” recalls Paice, who says the reason nothing came of Baby Face was purely musical. “It never got off the ground mainly because Phil wasn’t really a good enough bassist yet.“Phil’s voice was staggering, wonderful. But he couldn’t play, at least not to the standard that we needed if it was just Ritchie, myself and a bass. When there’s only three of you, everybody’s got to be really good on everything they do. “Really, the bass playing had to be on a par with someone like Jack Bruce. And, God bless him, Phil wasn’t there yet. He was pretty simple, and quite often out of tune and out of time. And although he became really, really good at everything he did, at that point he wasn’t.“Ritchie and I looked at each other and went: ‘It’s not working. It’s a nice attempt to try and do this three-piece thing, but let’s go and rethink it.’ But we never did rethink it. We got back on the road with Purple and it just sort of disappeared into the mist.

Source: The tantalising story of Baby Face, the supergroup that almost was | Louder

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Study reveals truck drivers who listen to rock and metal have more sex | Louder

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The study reads: “These findings discredit the stereotype of truck drivers loving country. After all, trucks are great vehicles for just about anyone! But what do most truck drivers have in common? And do any of their experiences align with their favourite type of music?”Despite country music having the most truck-related songs of any genre, it sat toward the bottom of truck owners’ genre preferences — just 27.7 per cent said it was their favorite. Instead, an overwhelming percentage of truck owners (47.1 percent) said they prefer classic rock. Other favourites were alternative (41.6 percent), blues (41.2 percent), and hip-hop (40.7 percent).”

Source: Study reveals truck drivers who listen to rock and metal have more sex | Louder

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Brian Eno is MORE DARK THAN SHARK

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Arch English ‘non-musician’, Roxy Music’s departed distortion master, the producer Television rejected, progenitor of the whole radical synthesizer trend, the receding video experimenter who breathed new life into New York by unearthing the ‘No Wave’ bands, Robert Fripp’s sidekick, the guy who helped David Bowie re-invent himself with Low and, perhaps most remarkably, the producer/collaborator who’s led stark American outfit Talking Heads through a series of albums which saw them ultimately metamorphose late last year, with Remain In Light, into a bizarre funk orchestra gang amid accusations of cultural imperialism.Nevertheless, after various copyright problems, group leader David Byrne and Eno have just unleashed a much-discussed LP project which further explores what Eno refers to as his ‘African psychedelic vision’. Called My Life In The Bush Of Ghosts, it features much ‘found’ material from disc and radio (everything from Algerian chants to politicians to exorcists) backed by Eno, Byrne and a host of other musicians working up a percussive sweat.What can it all mean? To try to find out we talked to Eno by ‘phone in New York, where he was busy smoking ciggies and drinking cups of tea…

Source: Brian Eno is MORE DARK THAN SHARK

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For a year Tommy James was bigger than The Beatles. Then the mafia ruined everything | Louder

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Good stuff here. I never realized what a big deal Tommy James was though I liked his music a lot. It’s the same with Hoyt Axton. A great songwriter with tons of hits, covered all over the place. But the business got to them. It’s brutal.

Tommy James was a 19-year-old from Dayton, Ohio with a No.1 regional hit in Pittsburgh called Hanky Panky when he entered Levy’s orbit in 1966. Over the next six years James and his band The Shondells would give Roulette 23 gold singles and nine platinum albums. In 1968 James’s sales outstripped The Beatlesin US. But as his book Me, The Mob And The Music makes plain, his relationship with Levy – the model for record mogul Hesh Rabkin in The Sopranos – was toxic from the very beginning.

“When I signed, I’d taken Hanky Panky to everyone in New York and got a yes. Roulette was the last place. Next day I got calls from all the companies – Columbia, Epic, RCA, Atlantic and Kama Sutra – and they said: ‘We gotta pass.’ Morris had phoned all the label bosses and told ’em: ‘It’s my fucking record. Leave it alone.’ And they did. It went downhill from there.”

The James-Levy handshake had ‘love-hate’ tattooed on its knuckles. “If I’d gone to a corporate I’d have been a one-hit wonder,” James insists. “Roulette needed me because they hadn’t had a hit for three years, so they allowed us freedom. We did everything from writing the songs to designing the covers. It was a total education. Getting paid was different – that was like taking a bone from a Rottweiler.”

With hits like Mony Mony and Crimson And Clover, Tommy James should have had the time of his life. Instead, he found himself robbed and threatened by the Mafia

Source: For a year Tommy James was bigger than The Beatles. Then the mafia ruined everything | Louder

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Robert Fripp interview: how I met Toyah and why I love her | Louder

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So on December 4, 2010, on my last performance as a working musician, I came home, and around February 2012 for the first time in my life I was happy [Fripp announced that King Crimson were going on indefinite hiatus 2010, and confirmed his retirement in 2012. A year later, he announced the band’s return].

Source: Robert Fripp interview: how I met Toyah and why I love her | Louder

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Liam Gallagher says Mick Jagger, Bono and Robert Plant wouldn’t be able to headline Knebworth solo like he has, but “Freddie Mercury might” | Louder

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I actually like Noel better. He is less arrogant and more talented.

Former Oasis frontman Liam Gallagher has pondered the likelihood of other rock legends being able to headline solo gigs at Knebworth like he did earlier this year

Source: Liam Gallagher says Mick Jagger, Bono and Robert Plant wouldn’t be able to headline Knebworth solo like he has, but “Freddie Mercury might” | Louder

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Bob Dylan has a secret signal he uses when he doesn’t want to be spoken to

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The move, although not as subtle as fiddling with a ring or moving around a royal handbag, would see Dylan simply chuck his hood over his head.

“When he wears the hood, you’re not supposed to talk to him,” Burnette says. “I didn’t know that until one day we were in line to get on a plane at the airport. I tapped him on the shoulder. The drummer said, ‘No, no. He don’t talk to anyone when he’s got the hood on.’ I was like, ‘OK. I’m glad you told me.’”

Despite being one of the most famed stars on the planet, as Burnette explains, he has ways of making himself disappear.

“He’s slippery,” the guitarist continues. “He can walk in an airport … they lost him one day. They couldn’t find him anywhere. I’m in this little gift shop and I turn around, and there he is. He goes, ‘Hi, Billy.’ I was like, ‘How did you get in here?’ He moves around. It’s a weird thing.”

According to Bob Dylan’s former touring guitarist, the folk legend has a certain move to let everyone know when he’d like to be left alone

Source: Bob Dylan has a secret signal he uses when he doesn’t want to be spoken to | Louder

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