Category Archives: Miscellaneous

Machine Head: Pro-shot footage of UK Bloodstock Festival show

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US metallers Machine Head returned to the UK in the summer of 2012 to perform a headline set at the Bloodstock metal festival. Sharing a bill with Alice Cooper, Sepultura, Paradise Lost, Nile and Corrosion of Conformity, Machine Head found themselves as one of the headline acts on one of the strongest ever Bloodstock bills to date, and so, had to deliver.

Although there was no danger of Machine Head disappointing their fans, the final setlist was given an extra strength: fans were allowed to vote for the five ‘Burn My Eyes’ era songs they would most like to hear, thus celebrating twenty five years since Machine Head’s much lauded debut was released.

You can watch all of Machine Head’s set below:

Jon Lord: 9th June 1941 – 16th June 2012

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There are many words to describe organist Jon Lord, but one fits the bill far better than most:

Legend.

As founder member of Deep Purple, Jon Lord was – and will continue to be – a hero to rock fans of a certain age, while commanding respect from younger generations as one of the key figures in the birth of hard rock. His organ style and the absolute flair he bought to Purple’s work throughout the late sixties, the seventies and beyond has been influential to millions and emulated by many.

Throughout a musical life, Lord played on many songs now considered classics within the hard rock genre. While so many people will be familiar with Deep Purple, perhaps one of the finest records on which Jon Lord appeared was ‘Malice In Wonderland’ by Paice, Ashton, Lord, a short-lived supergroup which teamed him up with another heavyweight British keyboard player, Tony Ashton and his Purple band mate Ian Paice. On their sole studio outing, Lord lays down some great funky keyboard lines, constantly pushed forward by Ashton. It’s a record which any self-respecting fan of seventies rock should hear, if they’ve not already done so.

Following the dissolution of PAL, Lord played a pivotal role in the early Whitesnake where, as with Purple, his organ playing was essential to the ingredients that helped create the band’s classic blend of blues and hard rock. In later years, he could be heard playing with The Hoochie Coochie Men, a band which focused more on his love of blues.

Factor in Lord’s many classical compositions (including the much celebrated 1969 ‘Concerto For Group & Orchestra’) and it’s hard not to agree that this was a man with a great talent.

Most musicians would love to have a CV with any of the above credits. We should never under-estimate the mark Jonathan Douglas Lord left on the music world. We certainly won’t forget.

Editorial Comment: Def Leppard to re-record entire back-catalogue? No thanks.

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It has been announced that Def Leppard are planning to re-record their entire back catalogue.

The news comes following a royalties dispute with Universal. Frontman Joe Elliot has said “We’ll just replace our back catalogue with brand new, exact same versions of what we did“.

Exact same? It’s never going to be. Not ever. It can’t be. After all, not only does Joe Elliot sound different these days (although he’s supposedly working on getting his old voice ready for the new recordings), but rather understandably, Rick Allen doesn’t play in the same way he did pre-’87. Vivian Campbell is a superb guitarist, but do we really want repackaged versions of the band’s early albums with him playing Steve Clark’s guitar parts, no matter how great they’ll be? Steve Clark’s memory is kept alive by his recordings with Def Leppard throughout the 80s, and the idea of replacing those recordings is incredibly insensitive.

At REAL GONE, we love Def Leppard but this news is an absolute travesty. This dispute over royalties could lead to the Leps pissing on their legacy. This could turn out far worse than when Ozzy Osbourne issued remasters of ‘Blizzard of Ozz’ and ‘Diary of Madman’ with completely new rhythm tracks.

The crux of the matter is essentially this: Re-recordings can be fine, but the fact that Def Leppard plan to completely replace classic albums like the multi-million selling ‘Pyromania’ and ‘Hysteria’ leaves a very bad taste in the mouth. Granted, most existing fans should already own most – if not all – of the back catalogue already but the idea that, in the future, any new fans will only be able to buy potentially inferior re-recordings can surely only harm the band’s reputation.

The only people who hope to gain anything from this are the band themselves. Although long-term supporters and fans may welcome new recordings as an alternative, they shouldn’t be a replacement. New fans could always track down second hand copies of the proper recordings and, in the event of this all actually happening, would be strongly recommended to do so. If they did, Def Leppard wouldn’t earn any extra royalties from those either, of course, so this is potentially a losing situation for everyone concerned.

The band have already recorded new versions of their classic hits ‘Rock of Ages’ and ‘Pour Some Sugar On Me’. It is not known how long the process of re-recording the complete albums will take.

Let’s hope this is just a band mouthing off, making threats and the whole sorry mess gets sorted quickly. That way a run of great albums (and even the poor ‘Euphoria’) will be allowed to stay as they are.

July 2012

THE BLACK STOUT: Two live shows from Paris – July 2011/February 2012

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In 2010, Parisian punks The Black Stout released their debut EP. The self-financed release was one of that year’s best DIY punk releases, really capturing the spirit of the band’s influences while mixing it with a hefty dose of talent. Their second release – the eight song vinyl ‘A Pint of Riot’ – branched out a little farther, incorporating a few more punk ‘n’ roll elements. While not as instant, that second release proved this band on the rise still weren’t short of attitude.

Since those outside France have not had the opportunity to catch The Black Stout live (yet), below are two full length shows for you to enjoy. While the band may not appear as visually energetic as some, these clips more than capture the musical spirit of their two releases to date.

Enjoy. [Please note: the second clip features strobey lighting]

[Both EPs can be purchased from The Black Stout’s Bandcamp page.]

July 2012

METALLICA: Pro-shot footage of complete Orion Festival ‘Ride The Lightning’ show, Atlantic City, NJ

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During the weekend of June 23rd/24th 2012, Metallica headlined their own festival,  ‘Orion: Music + More’.  In keeping with all of their other festival appearances throughout the year, the second night of the festival featured the metal titans performing the whole of their 1991 self-titled release.

The first night, however, featured something rather more special.  On June 23rd 2012, Metallica performed the whole of their 1984 release ‘Ride The Lightning’ as the centrepiece for their two hour set.  Some of the ‘Ride’ songs had not had a regular slot in the band’s set list for some time, while ‘Escape’ had never been performed live previous to this occasion.

The rest of the set appeared as strong, and equally steeped in nostalgia. Being almost entirely constructed of tunes from between 1983-1991, it was left to ‘Hell and Back’ (from 2012’s ‘Beyond Magnetic’ EP) to solely fly the flag for Metallica’s more recent output.

[You can also watch another complete Metallica show from 2012 by clicking here]