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WhoCares album US sales

Tony Iommi, Ian Gillan - WhoCares album cover art

WhoCares charity compilation was released stateside on August 28. After selling just 700 copies in the first week of release, it nevertheless managed to land on the Top New Artist (a.k.a. Heartseekers) Albums chart at No. 52. The chart lists the best-selling albums by new and developing artists, defined as those who have never appeared in the Top 100 of The Billboard 200 (which in case of messrs. Gillan and Iommi release under WhoCares moniker is a pure technicality).

The pitiful number of 700 copies (and a place in the charts after that) just highlights the abysmal state of the recording industry today. You can improve this number (and help a good cause) by getting your copy.

Thanks to Blabbermouth for the info.

Coverdale at Vegas Rocks! awards

On August 26 David Coverdale received “The Voice of Rock” award from the Vegas Rocks! magazine. Here’s a red carpet video report of the event:
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All is not well in BCC camp

Black Country Communion in 2012; © Christie Goodwin, photo courtesy of Noble PR

The upcoming Black Country Communion’s new album might be the band’s afterglow indeed. Glenn Hughes has voiced his dissatisfaction with the state of affairs in an interview to ABC News Radio:

This may be the [band’s] last album. I hate to break it to you, but it just may be, because I need to be in a band that tours on a regular basis.

He went on to explain that due to Bonamassa’s own heavy solo touring commitments, BCC has no solid plans to hit the road in support of Afterglow:

If I had a magic wand, I would wave it over everybody’s head and go, ‘Hey, you guys, we’re gonna go and do 200 shows [in 2013] and we’re gonna be a huge rock ‘n’ roll band globally. It’s not gonna happen.

I figured that if this was to be the last album…then I need to come in with some pretty wild and epic tracks. So, I’m really proud of this album.

Apparently, Glenn sees his post-BCC future in connection with the Kings of Chaos project — Joe Elliott (Def Leppard) on vocals; with Duff McKagan on bass and Matt Sorum on drums (both of the Guns N’ Roses fame); and Steve Stevens (Billy Idol) on guitar. They have contributed Never Before to the ReMachined tribute album (albeit separately from Glenn) and have toured together with him in the Rock’N’Roll AllStars package:

[Kings of Chaos will] tour pockets of the world — the exotics, if you will, and the tropics and even America.

We’re gonna do a series of EPs. On those EPs there will be three covers and one original song. And…the lineups with the Kings of Chaos, vocally, will change. The core band will be the same. So, it’s gonna be always moving and changing.

Joe Bonamassa responded with a message posted on his forum (registration required to view the original):

I think this is unnecessary drama and a wind up by the Voice of Rock… I also think the conversation should be redirected to the band’s history as well as its the future that includes a record release in October.. I have said it here before I do not appreciate being cited as the reason of the bands lack of touring or the bands lack of future in this manner. I am 1/5th of this entity that is all. Kevin is family to me, Jason is a dear friend of mine, so is Derek as is Glenn.. Glenn is free and with MY FULL BLESSING to ring up one or all of his famous guitar player friends and take it out on the road BB King style.. Chickenfoot does it with Chad Smith while he is out with the Red Hot Chili Peppers. I hope for everyones sake that as Glenn embarks on the press tour for “AfterGlow” that he doesn’t taint in his own words ” His Masterpiece” by dragging us all into a TMZ moment..
What more can I say other at this point..

Thanks to Yvonne Osthausen and Daniel Bengtsson for the info.

Lost in Cambridge

Apparently Don Airey performed at the Cambridge Rock Festival in UK on August 5; the date that unfortunately slipped under our radar. In consolation, we offer you this video of his band delivering a blistering performance of Lost in Hollywood:
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Afterglow track by track

BCC Afterglow cover art; © 2012, image courtesy of Noble PR

Black Country Communion has circulated a press release in which Glenn Hughes provides a track-by-track breakdown of their third album Afterglow:

BIG TRAIN
It’s very quirky and British-sounding. Jason Bonham is an incredible timekeeper. I love the way he provides the engine room on that song.

THIS IS YOUR TIME
Let’s give Jason Bonham a little more love. He writes his songs on an iPhone whilst driving his car, which is completely nuts. It really helps the groove factor. He emailed me some footage of him playing this song. He wrote the music and I wrote the lyrics. It has a huge chorus, too. Jason is not just a brilliant drummer – he’s a great songwriter.

MIDNIGHT SUN
I had my wallet stolen in a Starbucks and arrived late at the studio. When I got there the guys were fooling around with a song that sounds quite a lot like The Who, thanks to those Rabbit Bundrick-style keyboards. I picked up my bass and joined in. It’s quite a romp; there’s a definite vibe of Moon and Entwistle.

CONFESSOR
The first album had ‘No Time’, which was slow and groovy. I wrote ‘Confessor’ that way too, but when Jason heard it he insisted upon playing it – in his own words – like his dad would have done. We’re a democratic band and I went along with that. When he turbo-d it up it really came to life.

CRY FREEDOM
I sang this one alone originally until Kevin pointed out that the album didn’t have a song with split vocals. Joe and I sing well together. I’ve never had a problem sharing a microphone with other great singers. We really let rip off one another on this one, which has a ZZ Top/Humble Pie kind of a vibe.

AFTERGLOW
[At more than six minutes long] it’s an epic song. I was adamant that this album should have a proper title instead of a number. I played it to the band right at the end of sessions – purposely so. When they heard it on acoustic guitar, everybody agreed that it should name the album.

DANDELION
I wrote it slower than we recorded it; maybe I had too much coffee that day. Had we done it that way then maybe it would have sounded a bit dirge-like. Jason sets the tempos – he’s got a really good ear for the way that a song should sound.

THE CIRCLE
It’s one of my favourites on this record. It gives me the chance to use my ‘breathier’ voice. Kevin asked me to sing it an octave higher than I intended, and it worked. The high voice in the chorus is not my falsetto, it’s my upper register natural voice. I’m singing about being powerless; being in a dreamlike state. People have spoken about my voice and bass playing for so many years, I hope that this time they notice my lyrics because I’m very proud of them.

COMMON MAN
That’s another of the songs that came from Jason. When he sang me its melody acapella I could hear myself singing it. It could have been a song from Deep Purple’s ‘Stormbringer’ album; he wrote it for my voice.

THE GIVER
When you listen to the end of the song, if people are trying to figure out what key it’s in, I’m playing a capo [a device that raises the pitch of notes] on the fifth fret. When I wrote it, I deliberately held back from completing it because it needed Joe’s input. Kevin helped as well.

CRAWL
Some people may know that this song was going to be on ‘BCC2’ but we held it over because there simply wasn’t enough room. To me, it fits this album a lot better. It’s a really aggressive song – it’s dangerous and angry. I love it. It’s a great way to finish the record.

Afterglow will be released on October 29 via Mascot Records.

Thanks to Noble PR and Daniel Bengtsson for the info.

Whitesnake TV

In the first episode of a new project called Whitesnake TV David Coverdale is being interviewed by his granddaughter Georgina for her school project:
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Gillan in Psychedelic Baby

Tony Iommi, Ian Gillan - WhoCares album cover art

It’s Psychedelic Baby Magazine has an interview they conducted recently with Ian Gillan on the occasion of promoting his and Tony Iommi’s charity release of WhoCares:

The list of musicians, that also appear on this project is amazing! How was it to work with them and how did you and Tony got along musically?

I know Tony well and love working with him; when he comes up with an idea I know exactly what’s expected of me. Old mates John Lord and Nicko McBrain were in the studio with Tony and myself, and the others were added remotely.

The album features a lot of new songs and also some rare ones. How did you guys decided what to add and what not?

The list was mostly compiled by Max Vaccarro at Edel records. Max has been a driving force behind the project.

Read more in It’s Psychedelic Baby.

Thanks to Yvonne Osthausen for the info.

“Concerto For Group And Orchestra” to be released on September 28

On September 28th. 2012, earMUSIC releases the studio recording of  Jon Lord’s “Concerto For Group And Orchestra”

concerto_cover.jpg

“Over these last years since leaving Deep Purple, I’ve played it over 30 times with different orchestras and conductors all over the world, and, of course, in 2000 I did it well over 30 times with Purple on the Concerto tour, so I’ve been honing the piece live on stage, and I’ve had the opportunity to change things in the score that weren’t sounding quite right. It is therefore  a  marvellous  and  exciting  prospect  to  have  the  definitive  recording  of  the definitive version of the score.” (Jon Lord May 2012)

Jon Lord recorded the rhythm section – Guy Pratt (Pink Floyd, Madonna) &  Brett Morgan (Jon Anderson, Sting) and the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra (with whom Jon had recorded twice before) in June 2011 in Liverpool – conducted by Paul  Mann. The production then moved to Abbey Road Studios in London to record Iron Maiden‘s Bruce Dickinson  (on vocals with  Steve Balsamo and Kasia Laska)  and Joe Bonamassa, Darin Vasilev and Steve Morse on guitars.

Happily, Jon got to hear and approve the final mixes a few weeks before he passed away.

BCC new album teaser

Black Country Communion’s 3rd studio album will be called Afterglow and will be released on October 30, 2012. Pre-ordering will start on September 11 and will be available at BCCommunion.com.
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Rock ‘n’ Roll in Four Movements

Jon Lord: 9 June 1941 – 16 July 2012BBC Radio 4 has aired a programme on fusion of rock and classical music titled Rock ‘n’ Roll in Four Movements. It prominently features Concerto for Group and Orchestra, with all the Big Three keyboard players of the classic rock — Jon Lord, Rick Wakeman and Keith Emerson — being interviewed. Jon’s contribution is from his last interview conducted just a week before his death.

The programme was on the air yesterday, August 23, and is available for replay until noon BST, August 30. (BBC’s iPlayer requires Flash plugin.)

Thanks to DPAS and Daniel Bengtsson for the info.

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