Posts

The Cult- Electric/Sonic Temple- Billy Duffy

It was the latter-Eighties, and rolling the streets of Dallas/Ft.Worth at night felt less like a big-block muscle car and just right in a fire-engine red BMW M3, moonroof open, with The Cult Love  cassette alternatelyly jammed in the dash player blasting "She Sells Sanctuary"and "Rain" with the follow up in April 1987, "Electric", slamming "Love Removal Machine","Wild Flower", and "Lil Devil". The Cult guitarist/songwriter Billy Duffy is my guest In the Studio.

John Mellencamp- Seventh Son- Chess Studio, Chicago 5-’89

John Mellencamp and his wonderfully talented band left his garage in Central Indiana back in early May 1989 and headed north by northwest to  legendary Chicago Chess Studio and cut this live version of the Willie Dixon song made famous by Johnny…

Peter Frampton- Shine On Early Best

The sub-title of this classic rock interview should probably be "Frampton Barely Survives". Everybody knows that young Englishman Peter Frampton revolutionized the recording industry in early 1976 with his live double set  "Frampton Comes Alive". But where did those now-iconic songs like "Show Me the Way", "Lines on My Face", "Baby I Love Your Way", "All I Want to Be (Is By Your Side)", and "Do You Feel Like We Do" originally come from? Peter joins me In the Studio to trace the days after he left Humble Pie, his struggles with four solid but woefully under-exposed solo studio albums, his phenomenal transformation into pop superstardom with the live album, and the tumultuous years immediately afterward trying to survive it all.
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Eric Clapton- Journeyman 30th Anniversary

Eric Clapton's mid-Eighties trifecta of studio albums, starting  in 1985 with Behind the Sun   followed by  August,   peaked in Fall 1989 with   Journeyman.  Thirty years on it has aged remarkably well, a combination of strong songs,…

Rolling Stones- Mixed Emotions- Toronto 9-3-89

When interviewing Keith Richards in early January 1989 ostensibly about his solo album Talk is Cheap,  I was repeatedly reminded by his delightful publicist Jane Rose not to ask about the 900 pound gorilla in the studio: the Rolling Stones,…
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Aerosmith- Pump- Steven Tyler, Joe Perry, Tom Hamilton, Brad Whitford, Joey Kramer

Steven Tyler, Joe Perry, Tom Hamilton, Brad Whitford, and Joey Kramer pay at the "Pump" by joining me In the Studio to discuss the phenomenal 1989 seven million-selling album.

Aerosmith- Love in an Elevator- Brussels 10-31-93

Revving you up for the Aerosmith Pump   thirtieth anniversary coming in a few weeks. Proof positive that on Halloween night 1993, there was not a band on the planet better than Aerosmith in concert. Exhibit A is this sizzling live version of…

Stevie Ray Vaughan & Double Trouble- In Step

1989 album "In Step" by Stevie Ray Vaughan and Double Trouble, just the mere facts are impressive. "In Step" was the Texas trio's fourth studio album, but their first after Vaughan's collapse and near death from substance abuse." In Step"  won a Grammy Award, one of six Vaughan amassed, while racking up the best sales of Vaughan's lauded career because of "The House is Rockin'","Crossfire", "Tightrope","Let Me Love You Baby", and the stunner "Riviera Paradise". Yet the significance of In Step   as a musical statement of intent cannot be told by mere sales or awards. It can only be assessed by the friends who knew Stevie Vaughan best (Eric Clapton), the musicians who inspired him first (Buddy Guy, the late Doyle Bramhall), the players who supported him before and after recovery(Chris Layton, Tommy Shannon), the musicians who in turn Vaughan inspired (Joe Bonamassa ), and the biographer who tried to capture his lightning in a bottle (author Joe Nick Patoski). They are all In Step here In the Studio.

John Mellencamp- Big Daddy

John Mellencamp interview "In the Studio" with Redbeard about 1989's "Big Daddy".

Edie Brickell of the New Bohemians- Dallas January 1989

It would be fascinating to watch the latest Oscar-nominated remake of A Star is Born  with Dallas-based Edie Brickell and the New Bohemians, whose 1988 debut Shooting Rubberbands at the Stars  was THE Cinderella best-seller that Fall and…