Classic Rock Interviews

Forty years ago ZZ Top's"Afterburner" kicked in. But don't go looking for it in the 2019 ZZ Top rockumentary film "That Little Ol' Band from Texas" .That otherwise well-done pastiche of just some of the chapters in this colorful trio's fifty year telenovella implied that all meaningful recording by ZZ Top wrapped at the conclusion of "Eliminator" way back in 1983. Billy Gibbons, Dusty Hill, and Frank Beard join me here In the Studio  on the thirty-fifth anniversary of "Sleeping Bag","Stages","Woke Up with Wood", and "Planet of Women".

"Days of Future Passed" Moody Blues mainstays Justin Hayward and the late John Lodge document the fascinating story of a true Hail Mary pass to avoid abject poverty and starvation, resulting not only in timeless hits "Tuesday Afternoon" and "Nights in White Satin" but also igniting a musical movement, Progressive Rock,

It was their fifth album,"Listen Like Thieves" in Fall 1985, where INXS finally picked the lock to the top of the American charts with "Listen Like Thieves". For the story of INXS' formative years, the band's keyboard player/ songwriter Andrew Farriss, guitar-playing brother Tim Farriss, and guitar/sax man Kirk Pengilly, tell of the tough and tender early days forming in the most remote city in the world, Perth Australia; surviving the one-nighters there,  in Sydney and in Melbourne; allying with a talented singer from Hong Kong-via-Hollywood,  the mercurial snake-hipped Michael Hutchence;

"YOU try following up 'Dark Side of the Moon'. Go on, just try it!" playfully admonishes Pink Floyd guitarist/singer David Gilmour. "We've been trying to do it ever since!", laughs drummer Nick Mason. Gilmour and Mason are my guests, Roger Waters makes a cameo, and we include archive comments from the late keyboard player Richard Wright to round out the definitive classic rock interview regarding "Wish You Were Here" on its fiftieth anniversary.

By August 1970 when The Moody Blues released "A Question of Balance", the only thing that rivaled their prolific musical output was their supernova of fame. Moody Blues mainstays Justin Hayward, John Lodge, and the late drummer Graeme Edge all walk the tightrope of rock history here In the Studio with my classic rock interview on the fifty-fifth anniversary of the #1 UK-seller, #3 US "A Question of Balance".