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Hammond for nothing

Lots of people seemed to like what Sons of Apollo did with the Gates of Babylon. On the last tour before the proverbial excrement hit the proverbial fan, they regularly used to do a cover of Burn. Tony MacAlpine was supporting them, so he was joining to jam on this one. The only downside seemed to be that despite we were getting two guitar solos and a bass solo, it’s as if Derek Sherinian was lugging around that Hammond of his for nothing.

The video is from the Corona Theatre in Montreal, February 3, 2020, courtesy of TheMetalSyndicate.



10 Comments to “Hammond for nothing”:

  1. 1
    Tommy H. says:

    “Derek Sherinian was lugging around that Hammond of his for nothing.” What a waste … Unfortunately, that’s a very common fate for keyboard/organ players, regardless of their musicianship and sound. But it’s not only the fault of tone engineers, it’s also the musical arrangement and the inability of some guitar players to make a step back and leave some space for the keyboards. Dynamical playing can be a real blessing, also for the audience. Plus, I don’t understand why a real Hammond doesn’t seem worth to be appreciated, especially with someone like Derek playing it and employing customized high-power Leslies (it would be an understatement to say that this is a quite rare thing to have).

  2. 2
    MacGregor says:

    Yes indeed, Derek Sherinian doesn’t get a chance in this guitar wank fest. Appalling version for that reason. As soon as we see another guitarist it often happens, it’s show off time, destroys the music in many ways. Hard to see & hear Portnoy properly being hand held footage. But he seems to be keeping it simple & straight during the traditional Ian Paice busy drum fill sections. Cheers.

  3. 3
    Uwe Hornung says:

    Didn’t Mr Big play Burn too? Probably Billy’s idea then. He also does the best solo on it, emulating a Purple feel.

    It seems that after all these decades, Mk III’s work finally sees some reappreciation in muso circles. About time too!

  4. 4
    Gary Poronovich says:

    I love that Mike Portnoy (no drumming (drummer?) slouch himself) is wearing a T-Shirt with Neil Pearts name!!…. Gotta admire the respect musicians have ( or should have ) for each other!
    Enjoyable version!

  5. 5
    stoffer says:

    Yea it woulda been nice to hear some Hammond but I like it much better than the Dead Daisies version!

  6. 6
    aireight says:

    A much better version is the one I was at, Denver – Oriental 1/29. The best song of the night.

  7. 7
    mike whiteley says:

    There’s definitely a gaping hole where a growling Hammond should be.
    The fact that there’s a keyboardist in the band with said beast in front of him…… I don’t get it.

  8. 8
    MacGregor says:

    Derek Sherinian would be used to a guitarist dominating proceedings, he was in Dream Theater after all. But two guitarists here, too much, sheeesh! I think he is on the album Falling Into Infinity which I own along with Awake, which he isn’t on. I always wondered why Dream Theater have a keyboard player in many ways. To compete with John Petrucci & his wall of sound & metal riffs, well enough said there. A good band they are, however I ceased to listen to them after the 2000 era, too much the same old same old. Maybe Jordan Rudess has found a way or Petrucci has backed off a little, so to speak. Cheers.

  9. 9
    MacGregor says:

    @ 8 – ‘would be used to’ woeful use of the language there, upon reading that, I thought about it & a little research. Oh dear. Cheers.

  10. 10
    Dr. Bob says:

    I think people are being too critical of the sound quality of an amature video from a cell phone.

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