Archive for category: Beard’s Blog

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Faces- Ooh La La- Rod Stewart, Ronnie Wood, Kenney Jones

For what turned out to be The Faces finale "Ooh La La" win 1973, Rod Stewart, Ronnie Wood, drummer Kenney Jones with a cameo, and the late Ian McLagan face the music here In the Studio.
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REO Speedwagon- You Can Tune a Piano…45th Anniversary- Kevin Cronin, Neal Doughty

When it's the REO Speedwagon brand, you'll be surprised how fresh and tasty forty-five year old "Tuna Fish" is! Kevin Cronin and Neal Doughty of REO are In the Studio with Redbeard.
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Lynyrd Skynyrd- Street Survivors- the late Gary Rossington

The tale of Lynyrd Skynyrd and "Street Survivors"  seems to have been hatched in the vivid imagination of Tennessee Williams, Harper Lee, or William Faulkner, but the characters are so colorful, the childhood bonds so strong, the struggles so personal, the victories so inspiring, and the heartbreak so deep that there is simply no need for hyperbole in telling it. The dearly beloved late co-founder Gary Rossington was my guest In the Studio.
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ZZ TOP- Eliminator- Billy Gibbons, the late Frank Beard & Dusty Hill

And yes, the series of clever, campy videos on the upstart MTV video channel in America undoubtedly had much to do with that staggering (15 million just in US) level of popularity for "Eliminator" (truly ironic, since manager Bill Ham had steadfastly kept ZZ Top off of U.S. television until then). But the songwriting, musicianship, modern arranging, and state-of-the-art recording on "Eliminator" which I heard that day was truly extraordinary. Billy Gibbons, Frank Bread, & the late Dusty Hill are my guests In the Studio.
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Pink Floyd- Dark Side of the Moon- David Gilmour, Nick Mason, Roger Waters

To illustrate how seriously many of the post-British Invasion bands were approaching the rock idiom by early 1973, you need look no further than Pink Floyd's "Dark Side of the Moon" to see how this progressive rock movement had matured,  with spectacular results both artistically and commercially, confirmed in this fiftieth anniversary classic rock interview by my guests, musical lunar explorers David Gilmour, Roger Waters, and Nick Mason.
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U2- War- Bono,The Edge, Adam Clayton, Larry Mullen jr

With the rousing martial rhythms from Larry Mullen jr’s drums on the opening to “Sunday Bloody Sunday”, the tortured passion evident in Bono’s voice over The Edge’s stiletto guitar stabs on “New Year’s Day”, and Adam Clayton’s rolling bass on “Surrender” as well as “Two Heats Beat as One”, War  by U2 was a musical proclamation of a serious contender on the unfolding Eighties rock vista. Hear the fortieth anniversary classic rock interview In the Studio.
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Doobie Brothers- The Captain and Me- Tom Johnston, Pat Simmons

In the Studio classic rock interview with the Doobie Brothers The Captain and Me , released March 1973.
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Van Halen- Alex, David Lee Roth, Michael Anthony, the late Eddie Van Halen

The interviewsof the earliest years of Eddie and Alex Van Halen’s emigration from The Netherlands to Southern California, meeting Michael Anthony and David Lee Roth, playing Pasadena backyard parties to the Sunset Strip, and recording their January 1978 debut.
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Journey- Frontiers- Neal Schon, John Cain, Steve Perry

Jonathan Cain, band co-founder/guitarist Neal Schon, and former singer Steve Perry reveal considerable personal pathos during the Big Payday provided by  "Separate Ways", "Faithfully", and two more Journey hits which were inexplicably bumped off of "Frontiers", "Only the Young" and "Ask the Lonely".
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Alice Cooper- Billion Dollar Babies

In February 1973 when Alice Cooper's sixth album "Billion Dollar Babies" went  #1 sales, we all thought that Marshall McLuhan, Andy Warhol, and Alice Cooper were being hyperbolic with their predictions about video fame's impact on society. We laughed then, but as it turns out, the joke's on us...Alice Cooper is my fascinating guest on the 50th anniversary of “ Billion Dollar Babies”.