Posts

Melissa Etheridge- The Awakening

Melissa Etheridge:"And I got to lie still, and I stopped being a rock star. I stopped working, I stopped striving, I stopped everything. And I was completely still . And being still is the best thing you can do for yourself. I mean it. We just don't do enough of it in our lives , and it is so important. And I just laid still, and I finally got to the point where my brain stopped chattering. It stopped waking up and wandering, and I started dreaming again. I started dreaming of what I wanted the rest of my life to look like ." RB: "With the diagnosis of breast cancer, you still could make plans for the future even before you completed chemotherapy and radiation ?" ME:" Oh my gosh , I want the rest of my life ! No no no, I'm not done at all, I'm just beginning . And with that new excitement, I started looking at what I had created , what I'm creating now, and what I wanted to create. I started reading like crazy , I started reading everything from cosmology to quantum physics , string theory, agnostic gospels, Buddhism, everything ! And everybody is saying the same thing , this simple thing : that we're all here to create, to be happy, and to love. You know, give me the peace signs and all the gooey stuff, but that's really what I started feeling.And when I started thinking ,'Oh my gosh , I want to write a new album ' , I had this joy behind it . I had this great desire to put my experience down and to ignite people and light 'em up and say , 'Look , you can do this too . We don't have to do it this way '. " RB: What attitudes and behaviors should we all look at ? ME: Today , right now, we have a choice .We have marketed ourselves into a little bitty corner of sound bites and fast food , and we think we can sustain ourselves on this . We think we can go to McDonald's every day , eat in our car , and be fine . We can just download that one little song that sounds just like that other song . They're little pieces . If you want to live your life on just little pieces of life , okay , that's your choice . But I think that there's a large bunch of us who really want more , who really do believe that the best food comes from the earth ; that it grows up out of the dirt ; and then you eat it and it nourishes you . And that music is made channeled through an artist . They craft it , they put it down in a certain place , and you can enjoy it for three minutes , or an hour , or you can even go to a live concert and enjoy it for three hours . Imagine giving yourself that time ! But I think our society needs to take a breath and step back , and get off this wheel that we're on of faster , faster , faster . I do ."
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Steely Dan- Can’t Buy a Thrill- Donald Fagen, the late Walter Becker

"Can't Buy a Thrill"  in November 1972 from Steely Dan this first varied assortment of smart pop from the songwriters Donald Fagen and Walter Becker sounds the least like any Steely Dan album which would follow, but my guests Donald Fagen & the late Walter Becker explain why that's the case In the Studio.
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George Harrison- Cloud Nine

George Harrison's "Cloud Nine" comeback album in 1987 included "When We Was Fab","Devil's Radio", the #1 cover of "Got My Mind Set on You", & the bluesy title song "Cloud Nine". The late George Harrison is my guest from In the Studio archives.
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Queen- News of the World- Brian May

With the release of November 1977's "News of the World" , Queen had succeeded as four real "mates" on an international scale, which  would continue only to increase for the next decade. With four writers and vocalists, the band had a surplus of strong songs, while Queen lead singer Freddie Mercury possessed such an operatic voice that it's easy to forget that both Brian May and drummer Roger Taylor also sang lead on select songs. Brian May is my guest In the Studio with "News of the World".
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INXS- Kick- Andrew & Tim Farriss, Kirk Pengilly, the late Michael Hutchence

Keyboard player/songwriter Andrew Farriss of INXS is joined by multi-instrumentalist Kirk Pengilly & guitarist Tim Farriss here In the Studio to share the backstory behind "New Sensation", "Devil Inside","Never Tear Us Apart","Need You Tonight", and the stunning "Kick" title song. Also we share my interviews with the late INXS singer/lyricist Michael Hutchence about the international blockbuster "Kick".
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Steely Dan- Aja- Donald Fagen, the late Walter Becker

Two purveyors of progressive pop, rock, and jazz in Steely Dan, singer/piano player Fagen and the late guitarist Walter Becker,  discuss  "Aja" with Redbeard In the Studio.
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Rush- Signals- Geddy Lee, Alex Lifeson, the late Neil Peart

Rush "Signals" interview with Geddy Lee, Alex Lifeson, the late Neil Peart In the Studio

Doobie Brothers- Toulouse Street- Tom Johnston, Pat Simmons, John Hartman

After a totally forgettable first album, the Doobie Brothers' sophomore effort "Toulouse Street" may just be the strongest second act of the Seventies. In the Studio Tom Johnston, Pat Simmons, & John Hartman joined me forf "Listen to the Music","Rockin' Down the Highway","Disciple", and the definitive cover of "Jesus is Just All Right".

Eddie Money- No Control

Eddie Money was always an effortless interview before his death in September 2019, a real pleasure, because he loved people, he loved to tell stories, and he had a million of 'em. As I prepared dual anniversaries for two of the late Eddie Money's best selling albums, “Eddie Money” debut in October 1977 and the big breakthrough “No Control” five years later in June 1982 forty years ago,  it occurred that one of the less recognized aspects of the brief but all-important Punk Rock trend in the latter half of the Seventies is how it aided and abetted countless upstart bands at the same time which were not necessarily a part of that CBGB Club scene. The late Eddie Money is my guest here In the Studio.

Alan Parsons Project- I, Robot

Rare classic rock interview with the namesake British recording engineer/producer of the Alan Parsons Project, whose 1977 second album in collaboration with composer the late Eric Woolfson was once  again based on a famous literary work, this time the Isaac Asimov science fiction classic "I, Robot".