rock/metal rewind
Classic Album: Iron Maiden – Seventh Son of a Seventh Son
Iron Maiden are a band whose name I have always known, but it is only in recent months that I have felt the impulse to actually investigate their work outside of a best of compilation. Crucial to my interest being tweaked has been the ongoing series of documentaries which have been generously provided on the …
A Beginners Guide to Ian Hunter & Mott the Hoople
Looking back, Mott the Hoople did it all as a rock band. From cult underground heroes, to chart bothering singles and albums, to glam rock superstars that no less a band than Queen supported. Formerly Silence, on signing to the Island record label, they were convinced to not only change their name, but replace their …
Not Forgotten: The Soundtrack of Our Lives – Extended Revelation For The Psychic Weaklings Of Western Civilization
Extended Revelation For The Psychic Weaklings Of Western Civilization is a cumbersome title, but then again Extended Revelation For The Psychic Weaklings Of Western Civilization is a cumbersome album. Like its predecessor, it weighs in at over an hour, and struggles to contain the musical inventiveness of The Soundtrack of Our Lives. If you think …
Classic Album: Led Zeppelin – Houses of the Holy
On the release of Houses of the Holy in 1973, there simply wasn’t a bigger band on the planet than Led Zeppelin. Over their first four albums they had perfected blues rock, invented heavy metal, and then fused that folk influences, released a fourth album that was so anticipated that it required neither a title, …
Not Forgotten: Led Zeppelin – How the West Was Won
Legend has it that Led Zeppelin were the best live band of the 1970s. For far too long the only official example of this for those of us that weren’t there at the time was the lackluster The Song Remains the Same soundtrack album which just showed how self-indulgent Led Zeppelin could be. This was …
Classic Album: Iron Maiden – The Number of the Beast
1982’s The Number of the Beast is one of Iron Maiden’s best selling albums, and saw the band re-assert their place as one of the prime heavy metal acts of the era. That they did this on the album that saw Bruce Dickinson replace Paul Di’Anno as their vocalist shows just how hard the whole …
Not Forgotten: Jethro Tull – Heavy Horses
Where to begin? The beginning I guess. My beginning. Or at least as far back as I can remember. You might be surprised to find out that I didn’t get into music until my early teens. Throughout my childhood, my parents, particularly my dad, were always playing albums, but none of them permeated into my …
Classic Album: Pink Floyd – The Dark Side of the Moon
Good old Dark Side Of The Moon, without its massive influence, would we have to put up with the legions of gloomy and pretentious rock bands that see every note they perform as a statement of loneliness and alienation? Probably not when you think about it. There’s no two ways about it, The Dark Side …
Classic Album: Alice Cooper – Billion Dollar Babies
Billion Dollar Babies is a prime example of what can be achieved if you strike while the iron is hot. The years in the run up to this album’s release saw Alice Cooper establish themselves as the great black hope of American rock and roll, with Love It to Death andKiller establishing them as an …
A beginners’ guide to Deep Purple
Despite being one of the three great pillars of 70s hard rock and heavy metal, Deep Purple have not quite received the same level of retrospective love as either Led Zeppelin or Black Sabbath in subsequent decades. Perhaps this is because they are so frequently associated with one single song. Or more accurately, one riff. …