Friday's Playlist - Mixing Desk Hero: Bob Ezrin

Over a month ago we shared a playlist focusing on then-recently departed producer Martin Birch and it was a big success, so here's the second instalment in our Friday's Playlists Mixing Desk Hero series. This one focuses on the legendary Bob Ezrin.

Friday's Playlist: Children of Jimi

Today marks a pretty sad anniversary: it's been exactly a half century since Jimi Hendrix died. Jimi was arguably the most influential guitarist, well, ever really. His contribution to the musical lexicon is immeasurable and goes way beyond the realm of rock. His appeal also transcends generations, instruments, gender and race. Because Jimi's music didn't just break down musical walls: it broke down racial ones, social ones. Face it, Jimi's music was woke. Cross-breeding music to fight cross-burning mentalities.

Greatest Hits Live (2011-2020)

Everything is still up in the air at the moment. Life is on hold, and time stands still. It's been almost seven months since we've been to a live show. I don't know when things will resume here: the second wave of the virus is upon us. Some countries are still struggling with the first: India, Brazil and the United States are an absolute tragedy.

This site is now largely inactive except for the Playlists page which we had stopped back in March, but has now found a second lease on life. We may even resurrect the Album Reviews page just to keep things a little more active.

But let's not kid ourselves: essentially, music is dead until we can start being together in a venue again. Part of a crowd, cheering on our heroes. Livestreams just don't cut it. It's better than nothing, but it's barely anything. I'm not worried about the McCartneys and the Rhiannas, they'll be fine. But anyone who depends on live work for sustenance is in deep shit, and that's about 99,9% of working musicians.

In the mean time, you can always revisit the below gallery of our favorite concert shots. Lots of legends in there, and some less famous ones too. Click on the links below to access the full galleries, often complete with review of the show. 

We are also still somewhat active on our social channels so you can follow us on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter or YouTube.

Enjoy, comment, share and don't forget to wash your hands.

Angus Young (AC/DC)

R.I.P. Frederick Nathaniel "Toots" Hibbert

Extremely sad news: one of the originators of reggae has died at the age of 77 from complications of COVID-19. This shitty virus has wreaked havoc everywhere on the planet and has already taken some beloved musicians like John Prine, Manu Dibango, Dave Greenfield of the Stranglers, Trini Lopez, Adam Schlesinger of Fountains of Wayne, and many more.

Friday's Playlist: Southern Rock Epics

This Friday's Playlist is an overview of the most epic songs in the Southern Rock genre. Expect lots of cool guitar solos and even some sweet vocal harmonies here and there.

UPCOMING GIGS! Tentatively...

Although much of the world is still in the throes of a deadly pandemic and a second wave is due to hit our neck of the woods in the fall at the very latest or even as early as this summer according to some reports, some concerts are being scheduled (or re-scheduled) and hopefully we'll be able to hit some of them. It's hard to believe it's been six months since we last attended a rock show.

Our fingers are crossed, and so are our toes. Maybe real life, normal life, is on its way back. Because, you know, this virtual concert thing, it's better than nothing, but it's not exactly cutting it. Here are the concerts we'll be hitting, providing they actually happen.

The government has recently issued an extension of the ban on events of more than 5000 people, so everything is up in the air... Obviously, it's more important to stay safe. So let's wait this thing out. Don't forget to wash your hands and wear a fucking mask, people.

Friday's Playlist: Make It Funky!

In stark contrast to last week's playlist which showcased aggressive, negative vibes, this collection is a party. Funky grooves designed to make you Get Off Your Ass And Jam.

Friday's Playlist: Thrash, Death and Black Metal Classics

Let's get brutal, shall we?

Thrash Metal was a mostly American school of Metal that fused the violence and velocity of Punk and Hardcore with the epic heaviness of British Metal. Out of that first wave of early eighties Thrash, Metallica, Megadeth, Slayer and Anthrax were considered The Big Four. Metallica of course went on to become the Heavy Rock behemoth we know today. In their wake, bands like Exodus, Flotsam and Jetsam, Testament almost made it out of the underground. Overseas, bands like Kreator in Germany or Sepultura in Brazil would also carve a nice career out of frantic riffs, implacable drums.

Friday's Playlist: Great Live Performances (pt. 2)

We miss concerts. Our last one was six months ago (Tenacious D at le Zénith) so this playlist is the next best thing to actually gathering in a concert hall and rock out to your favorite band.

Over seven months ago we shared the first instalment in our Great Live Performances playlist series (it can be found HERE). Today we are back with an epic, gigantic, overblown, mammoth seven-hour  monster playlist. There is no real theme to it, but we've kept it mostly to the Rock idiom. Sure, some is Blues-Rock, some is Pop-Rock, some is Prog-Rock and some is Hard-Rock... But it all rocks.

Friday's Playlist - Awesome Guitar Solos (pt. 3)

Jimi Hendrix' Gibson Flying V - Play It Loud @ the Met

This Friday's Playlist is a new instalment in our ongoing "Awesome Guitar Solos" series. You can find part one HERE and part two HERE.

Friday's Monday's Playlist - Mixing Desk Hero: Martin Birch

With the sad news that legendary producer Martin Birch passed away at the age of 71, we scrambled our usual schedule and  decided to publish this playlist that pays tribute to the man's immense contribution to rock music, as an engineer and as a producer.

Friday's Playlist: Songs About Real People

 

This Friday's Playlist compiles songs about real people. As usual, there are some rules I've adhered to: I've tried to avoid presenting the same artists twice. I've also excluded any diss songs, which means there are no ex-bandmates feud songs like John Lennon's How Do You Sleep? or Guns N' Roses' Sorry. As usual, I've made an exception to that rule by including Pink Floyd's elegy for their former leader Syd Barrett.

Friday's Playlist: Free Jazz

In the mood for something a little challenging? Something wild, exhilarating, mysterious? Good. We got you. Check out this playlist of classic Free Jazz. Spontaneous combustions of sound, free-form expression, bursts of micro-tonal melodies, dissonant waves of pure music, improvised pathways to the subconscious.

Friday's Playlist: Welcome to New Orleans

This playlist gathers a few of New Orleans most famous bands and musicians. Of course, jazz and funk are heavily featured. Didn't everything start with Louis Armstrong? It sure feels like it did. Some of the very best music every recorded is in this playlist. Check out the Wild Tchoupitoulas or the Meters if you haven't already. Brilliant stuff.

Friday's Playlist: Unusual Songs by Classic Artists

These are a few songs by famous artists that sound nothing like the rest of their output. Sometimes it's a good thing: hearing a piano in AC/DC is just brilliant. Sometimes, it's not so good: why Guns N' Roses decided to close their last record of original material for close to two decades with the abysmal techno-turd rap My World is anyone's guess.