Archive for category: Medium Rare

Rare musician interviews by Redbeard not part of the weekly radio series .

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Tom Cochrane- Mad Mad World 35th Anniversary

The tumblers all clicked for Tom Cochrane with the September 1991 (2/92 in the US) release of "Mad Mad World" containing the Billboard #6 earworm "Life is a Highway", driving initial sales of over 500,000 copies in the US alone. Tom Cochrane is my guest In the Studio on the thirty-fifth anniversary of "Mad Mad World".
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YES- Magnification @25- Jon Anderson, Steve Howe,the late Chris Squire & Alan White

It's the 25th anniversary of YES releasing their 21st century chestnut "Magnification" in September 2001, with Jon Anderson, Trevor Rabin, the late Alan White, Steve Howe, Tony Kaye, and the late Chris Squire ALL In the Studio.
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Kansas- The Prelude Implicit 10th- Phil Ehart, Rich Williams, Ronnie Platt, David Ragsdale

In 2016 the first new original studio album in sixteen years, "The Prelude Implicit",  from all-American progressive rockers Kansas, was one of the most pleasant musical surprises in 2016...like discovering the "lost"  album which would have fit naturally between early mid-Seventies efforts "Song for America"  and "Masque". Lifers drummer Phil Ehart and guitarist Richard Williams are joined here In the Studio  by violinist David Ragsdale and impressive veteran lead singer Ronnie Platt.
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Dire Straits- On Every Street 35th Anniversary- Mark Knopfler

When the song "Money for Nothing" by Dire Straits became a worldwide hit in Summer 1985, the album Brothers in Arms spent a stunning nine weeks as the #1-seller in the US in 1985, eventually selling a staggering 26,000,000  copies worldwide. This kind of celebrity could not have happened to a more reluctant rock star than Dire Straits leader Mark Knopfler, and trust me, there is absolutely no way to prepare for what comes next.
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Triumph- Allied Forces 45th- Rik Emmett, Gil Moore, Mike Levine

If you've ever been in a band, you need to listen to this honest, heartwarming, hysterically funny interview with Triumph ... 1979 breakthrough "Just a Gam"e with the songs "Hold On" and "Lay It on the Line", plus the even bigger seller "Allied Forces" forty years ago with "Magic Power" and "Fight the Good Fight".
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Bob Seger- The Fire Inside

August 26, 1991 I had the great honor and pleasure of co-hosting the world premiere radio broadcast  with Bob Seger of "The Fire Inside". His fourteenth (!) studio album, it came a long five years after Seger and the Silver Bullet Band's "Like a Rock", the Detroit rocker's fifth multi-million seller in a row.

Julian Lennon- Help Yourself 35th Anniversary

...prior to "Help Yourself". A peculiar and confounding thing happened with the reception to that fourth Julian Lennon album and its brilliant eco-ballad "Saltwater". The song went to #6 in the UK and straight to #1 in Australia, but failed to even chart in America. Julian Lennon is my guest In the Studio.

Ten Years After- A Space in Time 55th- the late Alvin Lee, Leo Lyons

"When things get put onto celluloid, they tend to get bigger than life," the late guitarist/ singer Alvin Lee told me by way of explanation as to how Ten Years After was catapulted from the second tier of English boogie and blues by their prime spot in the Woodstock Festival   movie documentary. The band utilized that momentum to deliver their most popular album ever in late Summer 1971, " A Space in Time",  which included "One of These Days", "Baby Won't You Let Me Rock'n'Roll You", and what turned out to be their biggest hit, "I'd Love to Change the World".

Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers- She’s the One/Angel Dream 30th anniversary

On the thirtieth anniversary of the original motion picture soundtrack by Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers comes "Angel Dream", the film soundtrack recordings remixed and remastered, which are integrated here into my original North American radio broadcast classic rock interview, where the late Tom Petty explains unequivocally his reasons for doing them.

The Pretenders- Pretenders II @45- Chrissie Hynde

We had never met anyone in rock music quite like The Pretenders bandleader Chrissie Hynde, and honestly in the  forty+ years since, I still haven't...I have Ms. Hynde here to speak for herself In the Studio  about The Pretenders/ Pretenders II, one of rock's most important one-two Post-punk punches.