Posts

David Bowie- Toy

The late David Bowie was already sowing the seeds of the fabled "Toy" project, which would remain unreleased until 2022, even as I watched him perform live at New York City's Kit Kat Klub on November 19, 1999 and then sit with me In the Studio for this in-depth interview. -Redbeard

The Pretenders- Pretenders II- Chrissie Hynde

We had never met anyone in rock music quite like The Pretenders bandleader Chrissie Hynde, and honestly in the  forty years since, I still haven't...I have Ms. Hynde here to speak for herself In the Studio  about The Pretenders/ Pretenders II, one of rock's most important one-two Post-punk punches.

Moody Blues- Every Good Boy Deserves Favour- Justin Hayward, John Lodge, the late Graeme Edge

"Every Good Boy Deserves Favour" was the Moody Blues' seventh album in a string of commercially and critically popular efforts including "Days of Future Passed", "On the Threshold of a Dream", and "A Question of Balance". Singer/ lead guitarist Justin Hayward, singer/ bass player John Lodge, and drummer Graeme Edge take "Every Good Boy Deserves Favour" to share here In the Studio insights into some of the Moody Blues' best of those early years.

Def Leppard- High’n’Dry- Joe Elliott, Rick Savage, Phil Collen

Def Leppard's Joe Elliott, Ric Savage, & Phil Collen join Redbeard "In the Studio" for their second album,"High'n'Dry".
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20 More Rock Hall Snubs

20 More Rock Hall Snubs

Cheap Trick- Essential- Rick Nielsen, Robin Zander

On a maximum scale of five stars, the 1977 debut by Cheap Trick  receives AllMusic.com's highest rating, and the even more melodic, better sounding  sophomore effort "In Color" in the same year earns 4 1/2 stars. Then Cheap Trick's Rick Nielsen, Robin Zander, Tom Petersson, and Bun E. Carlos wrote and recorded the  masterpiece "Heaven Tonight" in May 1978, yet again scoring a critics' perfect five star rating. So in hindsight it would appear that recording the Rockford IL quartet's set while performing the strongest material from these three killer studio albums, in front of an adoring audience in one of the world's premiere venues, would be as obvious as a sumo wrestler in your shower stall.
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Rush- 2112: Early Best 45th Anniversary- Geddy Lee, Alex Lifeson

"2112"  by Rush was an amalgam of hard rock, progressive rock, science-fiction and Ayn Rand socio-economics right about the same time that The Ramones, The Dead Boys, and Ian Dury and the Blockheads were singing "Sex and Drugs and Rock'n'Roll". So things were about to get interesting in 1976. Geddy Lee and Alex Lifeson of Rush join me here In the Studio
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Doobie Brothers- Takin’ It to the Streets- Tom Johnston, Pat Simmons, Michael McDonald

The fact that the Doobie Brothers reinvented themselves for their March 1976 album "Takin' It to the Streets"  is quite widely known, but the reasons for the musical shift, and the manner in which they made it work so successfully, is a fascinating back-story worthy of an HBO mini-series.. On the album's 45th anniversary, Tom Johnston, Pat Simmons, & Michael McDonald are all here In the Studio to recall how it really went down.
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Phil Collins- Face Value

Of his cinderella  first solo album "Face Value" forty years ago, Phil Collins recalls the real-life betrayal and heartbreak which inspired "In the Air Tonight", "I Missed Again"; and why he did not include another original, "How Can You Sit There?", on Face Value nor it's follow up, Hello I Must Be Going, but opted instead to give it to the soundtrack of the 1984 movie Against All Odds, going on to become Phil Collins' first #1 hit.
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ZZ Top- Rio Grande Mud- Billy Gibbons, Dusty Hill, Frank Beard

Their much-improved second album,"Rio Grande Mud" in 1972, with Billy Gibbons, Frank Beard, and the late Dusty Hill who passed away in July 2021 following hip surgery.