ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT, FEB. 16, 1995 By Steve Newton Those Guns N’ Roses guys sure know how to have their cake and gobble it too. When nothing’s happening with big old moneymaker GN’R they just get a few rockin’ pals together, head into the studio with a few dozen crates of … Continue reading Album review: Slash’s Snakepit, It’s Five O’Clock Somewhere (1995)
Album review: Van Halen, Balance (1995)
ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT, FEB. 2, 1995 By Steve Newton Eddie Van Halen is surely one of the best guitarists in rock, but I’m getting sick of only being able to hear him within the confining and predictable framework of his current band’s (mostly) run-of-the-mill tunes. The band’s last few albums have contained … Continue reading Album review: Van Halen, Balance (1995)
Album review: Mick Jagger, Wandering Spirit (1993)
ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT, APRIL 8, 1993 By Steve Newton Not satisfied with being just “the world’s greatest rock ’n’ roll band”, Keith Richards, Ronnie Wood, and Mick Jagger are now shooting for the title of “world’s greatest rock ’n’ roll solo artists”. And, for the most part, they hit the mark. … Continue reading Album review: Mick Jagger, Wandering Spirit (1993)
Fabulous Thunderbirds guitarist Jimmie Vaughan says his favourite thing about music, and life, is style
charles campbell photo ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED ON OCT. 9, 1987 By Steve Newton Like the title of their latest album, the Fabulous Thunderbirds of Austin, Texas, are a Hot Number these days. Their previous LP, the Dave Edmunds-produced Tuff Enuff, sold nearly a million copies, and their latest disc, also produced by Edmunds, will probably move … Continue reading Fabulous Thunderbirds guitarist Jimmie Vaughan says his favourite thing about music, and life, is style
Album review: Nathan Cavaleri Band, Nathan (1994)
ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT, DEC. 22, 1994 By Steve Newton Rock-guitar wizards just keep getting younger and younger. Last year I thought I’d seen the littlest guitar wizard around when 13-year-old Steve Vai protégé Thomas McRocklin and his band, Bad4Good, opened for Joe Satriani at the Queen Elizabeth Theatre. Now 11-year-old Australian … Continue reading Album review: Nathan Cavaleri Band, Nathan (1994)
Album review: Buddy Guy, Slippin’ In (1994)
ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT, DEC. 15, 1994 By Steve Newton I always felt that Buddy Guy’s two Grammy award–winning ’90s releases—Damn Right I’ve Got the Blues and Feels Like Rain—were fine examples of the legendary guitarist’s crossover blues, but when I wanted to hear him at his raw, sweaty, string-strangling best I … Continue reading Album review: Buddy Guy, Slippin’ In (1994)
Album review: Jimmy Page & Robert Plant, No Quarter (1994)
ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT, DEC. 1, 1994 By Steve Newton It’s sort of surprising that Jimmy Page and Robert Plant would name their reunion album No Quarter, since the former Led Zeppelin member who cowrote that tune and played its haunting keyboard parts doesn’t even show up on the new disc. Perhaps, … Continue reading Album review: Jimmy Page & Robert Plant, No Quarter (1994)
Album review: The Eagles, Hell Freezes Over (1994)
ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT, NOV. 17, 1994 By Steve Newton If the Eagles charged for CDs the same way they do for concert tickets, this little single-disc item would go for $30 or so, which would be an amazing rip-off, considering it includes only four new tunes. The brunt of the album is … Continue reading Album review: The Eagles, Hell Freezes Over (1994)
Album review: The Black Crowes, Amorica (1994)
ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT, NOV. 10, 1994 By Steve Newton You know there are too many crows in the backyard when premier music-trade mag Billboard, in its October 15 issue, runs a promo shot of the Black Crowes and mistakenly calls it a picture of Counting Crows. Although both bands are similar in … Continue reading Album review: The Black Crowes, Amorica (1994)
Album review: Lynyrd Skynyrd, Endangered Species (1994)
ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT, OCT. 13, 1994 By Steve Newton It’ll be 17 years this month since Lynyrd Skynyrd’s chartered plane went down in the Mississippi woods, killing—among others—vocalist Ronnie Van Zant and guitarist Steve Gaines. Ten years after the crash, the group’s survivors decided to honour the music of the lost rockers … Continue reading Album review: Lynyrd Skynyrd, Endangered Species (1994)
Album review: BBM, Around the Next Dream (1994)
ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT, SEPT. 29, 1994 By Steve Newton Not many rock guitarists could step into Eric Clapton’s shoes—especially the sizeable ones he’s wearing right now, following the release of his stunning blues album, From the Cradle. But when Jack Bruce and Ginger Baker picked Gary Moore to become the M … Continue reading Album review: BBM, Around the Next Dream (1994)
Album review: The Tragically Hip, Day for Night (1994)
ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT, SEPT. 29, 1994 Having gotten kinda used to the Hip starting off its CDs with hard-rocking tunes like “Blow at High Dough” and “Little Bones”, I was somewhat taken aback by Day for Night’s sombre leadoff track, “Grace, Too”. I was happy to hear that the pride of Kingston, … Continue reading Album review: The Tragically Hip, Day for Night (1994)
Album review: Phantom Blue, Built to Perform (1994)
ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT, APRIL 28, 1994 By Steve Newton With their snug-fitting cut-offs, tight tops, and knee-high boots, the young women in Phantom Blue could easily be misconstrued as boy-toy metal-Madonnas first and serious rock musicians second, but from the sound of their questionably titled CD, Built to Perform, they have … Continue reading Album review: Phantom Blue, Built to Perform (1994)