Posts

Rush- Power Windows 40th- Geddy Lee, Alex Lifeson

When observing potential song subjects for October 1985's "Power Windows",  Rush lyricist/ drummer the late Neil Peart saw an uncanny number of socio-political issues which have become front page headlines again forty years later.
,

Santana- Abraxas 55th- Carlos Santana, Gregg Rolie, Michael Shrieve

In the Studio we never featured a more influential, important, essential album than Santana 's second effort, "Abraxas" released in October 1970. Simply stated, this is the Magna Carta of World Music. Carlos Santana and Gregg Rolie are joined by drummer Michael Shrieve In the Studio on the "Abraxas" 55th anniversary.
,

INXS- Listen Like Thieves 40th- Andrew & Tim Farriss, Kirk Pengilly, the late Michael Hutchence

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;

Foghat- Fool for the City 50th- late Lonesome Dave Peverett & Rod Price

British blues-rock foursome Foghat's "Fool for the City" album 50 years ago, with the title song plus "Slow Ride", dominated American FM airplay from its release in September 1975 all through the following year (#20 Billboard). Foghat were four British electric bluesmen who comprised the most successful  limb of the sprawling Savoy Brown musical family tree, albeit that success almost exclusively in North America. This is a bittersweet edition of In the Studio as both of my guests in this classic rock interview, Foghat co-founding guitarist/singer/songwriter Lonesome Dave Peverett and slide guitarist/songwriter Rod Price, have since passed away.
,

Ozzy Osbourne- Blizzard of Ozz 45th Anniversary

Ozzy Osbourne In the Studio for the making of 1980's "Blizzard of Ozz" on its 45th anniversary.

Allman Brothers Band- Idlewild South 55th- the late Gregg Allman

...for me in Autumn 1970 with discovering the Allman Brothers Band, as it was their second album, "Idlewild South" , which was my gateway drug to a five decade musical high for what turned out to be, as legendary producer Tom Dowd put it it, "the greatest musical fusion I've ever witnessed."

Neil Young and Crazy Horse- Ragged Glory 35th Anniversary

Fall 2019 when I made what felt like a pilgrimage to a suburban Dallas movie theater with very dear friends to see Neil Young and Crazy Horse's film of making their album, "Colorado" , I could not resist the comparisons to "Ragged Glory" three decades earlier. Neil Young joins me In the Studio.

Grateful Dead- Blues for Allah 50th Anniversary- Bob Weir, Mickey Hart

If you really want to have fun with a self-proclaimed Deadhead, first have him/ her set down their phone and then ask them to name the Grateful Dead's highest-charting Billboard   album up to the band's 1987 best-seller, "In the Dark" . You'll get a lot "Workingman's Dead" and "American Beauty" guesses, and after that I'd have picked "Terrapin Station". The correct answer turns out to be the tasty mid-decade effort by the Grateful Dead, "Blues for Allah". Bob Weir, Mickey Hart, & Phil Lesh are In the Studio.

Jethro Tull- Best pt 2- Ian Anderson

Selecting the fifty songs over the twenty-one studio offerings for the "50 for 50" massive undertaking proved a challenge for Ian Anderson to curate, not simply for fan expectations. If there ever was a lyrical wordsmith who learned his songwriting trade in the widescreen cinematic tradition of the album format, and who is ill-suited for the one-song You Tube world he found himself in fifty years hence, it would be Ian Anderson.
,

Pink Floyd- Wish You Were Here @50- Roger Waters, David Gilmour, Nick Mason

"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.