Posts

Pat Benatar- Precious Time

" It went platinum (1,000,000 sales ) in thirteen days," Pat Benatar states matter-of-factly while she and hubby/ musical director Neil Giraldo reminisce In the Studio about the explosive third album,"Precious Time", as it headed rapidly to the top-selling perch in America in Summer 1981...
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Steve Winwood- Back in the High Life

"Higher Love", the #1 seller and winner of both the "Record of the Year" and "Song of the Year" Grammys for 1986, isn't about doing it in the top bunk. It's about love on a spiritual plane, not an airplane. By his mid-twenties, Steve Winwood already may have  been on a hall of fame career pace, singing and playing hits as a mere teenager with the Spencer Davis Group ("Gimme Some Lovin' "," I'm a Man"), Traffic, and Blind Faith. Yet Winwood told me in this  classic rock interview about 1986's "Back in the High Life"  that a 1972 bout with peritonitis almost killed him...
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Genesis- Invisible Touch- Mike Rutherford, Tony Banks, Phil Collins

Concerts came back just in time for the anniversary of Genesis' biggest album in their long fifty year+ career, Invisible Touch  (worldwide sales estimated at 15,000,000), so we convene Mike Rutherford, Tony Banks, and Phil Collins here In the Studio  to discuss the blockbuster sales behind "Tonight, Tonight, Tonight", "Land of Confusion", "In Too Deep", "Throwing It All Away", and "Invisible Touch".

Bryan Adams- 18 ‘Til I Die

Bryan Adams joins me for his seventh studio album, 18 'Til I Die  , a #1 seller in the UK and Top Five sales in Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Finland, Germany, Sweden, and Switzerland. The international popularity was driven by hits "The Only Thing That Looks Good on You is Me", "Have You Ever Really Loved a Woman", and the title song.
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Metallica- Load- James Hetfield, Kirk Hammett

Metallica "Load" did not budge from the top seller position for a full four consecutive weeks in June 1996 because of such tender love songs as "Ain't My Bitch","Bleeding Me","King Nothing", "The House  Jack Built", and "Until It Sleeps". Guitarist/singer James Hetfield and guitarist Kirk Hammett are surprisingly unguarded, conversational, and open about this dizzying rocket ride into superstardom.

Bonnie Raitt- Nick of Time/ Luck of the Draw

When "Nick of Time"  rose steadily, eventually becoming the #1-selling album in the US a year after release it's Spring 1989 release, no one was more surprised than Bonnie Raitt. When it also won three Grammy Awards including the coveted Album of the Year Grammy in 1990, no one was more appreciative. Then in May 1991, she released "Luck of the Draw", her biggest album ever. Bonnie Raiitt is my guest In the Studio.
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Rod Stewart- Every Picture Tells a Story

When the Jeff Beck Group made their American debut at New York City's Fillmore East, no one in the audience watching  the young lead singer Rod Stewart hide behind the backline amps  due to major stage fright could have imagined that the raspy-throated rooster-haired Englishman would become an international star just three years later with his third solo album, 1971's "Every Picture Tells a Story". 
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Peter Gabriel- So

(cont)...It was not until stumbling into the broadcast media/entertainment business that I got to witness, up close and personally, individual musicians who have been given enormous powers of influence through the modern phenomenon of celebrity, by the very people who they entertain. Case in point is this week's classic rock interview subject: ex-Genesis lead singer Peter Gabriel had a cult following after four studio solo albums, with his most significant creation being the ground-breaking "Shock the Monkey" video. But with the May 1986 release of So (#1 UK,#2 U.S., over 5 million sold; 4 Grammy nominations including Album and Record of the Year for the #1 hit "Sledgehammer"), Peter Gabriel was vaulted into international pop stardom with all of its attendant door-opening , barrier-eliminating amenities...(more)

Moody Blues- Long Distance Voyager- Justin Hayward, John Lodge

After scoring a worldwide #1 seller with "Seventh Sojourn" in 1972, then spending the next two years mounting the largest concert tour in history at the time, the Moody Blues baffled everyone by taking practically the rest of the Seventies off as a collective. To fill in the missing piece of the puzzle, as well as mark the fortieth anniversary of their #1 selling album "Long Distance Voyager", Moody Blues lifers Justin Hayward and John Lodge are my guests here In the Studio.

Alan Parsons Project- Tales of Mystery and Imagination

"Basically he signed a blank tape," Alan Parsons chuckles about 20th Century Records President Russ Regan greenlighting a concept album "Tales of Mystery and Imagination", based on the books of Edgar Alan Poe, composed by the young Abbey Road studio hound and songwriter Eric Woolfson as The Alan Parsons Project.