Few bands have made such a dramatic musical turn as Radiohead between the release of their second album ‘The Bends’ and third album ‘OK Computer’. With ‘OK Computer’ Radiohead continued on a path of musical adventurousness and in looking to move forwards, they looked backwards in terms of influences. Instead of drawing from other indie and alternative sources, the album drew heavily from prog rock experimentation and made the band heroes to many fans of 70s experimental sounds.
Category Archives: Live Archive
Watch: Led Zeppelin – Live @ Knebworth 11th August 1979
For a band that only existed during an era when filming concerts was both cumbersome and expensive, there is a fair amount of Led Zeppelin footage in the archives. For years, all fans had to enjoy was the 1973 Madison Square Gardens material from the ‘Houses of The Holy’ tour – footage that Jimmy Page famously dislikes.
It felt like a minor miracle when, in 1989, the BBC showed footage of Zep in Denmark promoting their debut album. The small stage, no frills show was a world away from the giant colossus Zep would become just three years later, but was no less thrilling.
Watch: Motörhead – Live @ Rock Am Ring 2004
Throughout their forty year career, Motörhead became renowned for their no nonsense live shows. There are a vast amount of official live recordings in circulation, with the 1979-80 period especially well served on CD and various later period shows on DVD (including the excellent ‘Everything Louder Than Everything Else’, a show capturing Lemmy & chums promoting the excellent ‘1916’ album.
WATCH: Traffic – Live at Woodstock ’94
One of the last things anyone would have expected in the 90s was the return of Traffic, the 70s rock band featuring Steve Winwood and Jim Capaldi. Arguably Britain’s closest answer to Grateful Dead, brilliant as they were, Traffic’s lengthy jazz-rock derived jams belonged squarely in the early time frame where most of them were created. The likelihood of a Traffic comeback became increasingly unlikely once Steve Winwood’s pop-oriented solo career made him a massive star in the 1980s.
Ric Ocasek: A Short Appreciation
Ric Ocasek was a legend. As a songwriter, his pop melodies were among the best. The way he blended alternative ideas with timeless power pop sensibilities marked him out as not only a great songwriter, but a master arranger. The very fact that tunes like ‘My Best Friend’s Girl’ and ‘It’s Candy-O’ became fixtures on oldies radio stations despite carrying the kind of vocal that was…quirky, to say the least, speaks volumes about his talent.