Dick Wagner was what you might call a ‘proper’ lead guitarist – flashy, technical, articulate but also melodic with a rich tone. The first time I noticed him was when he duelled with Steve Hunter (another guitarist in the same vein) on Lou Reed’s landmark live album Rock ‘n’ Roll Animal 1974. Harmony licks into […]
Arguably Alice Cooper were ( yes it’s were) a kind of early New York Dolls with bigger dreams. Glamorous trash rock with aspirations. Rock Stars before they even hit their first chord. Outrageous clothes, crazy hair, drinkers rather than junkies (maybe that’s why they could get out of the house), like The Dolls and along […]
This demented, long version of I’m Eighteen is from the German TV show Beat Club. Scaring parents all across Germany. The song reached Number 21 on the US charts and was released three months before the Love It To Death album. Possibly because the band were signed to Zappa’s Straight Record label, soon to be […]
As December arrives and the nights become bitterly cold, this 200 year old house fulfils its purpose as if it wants to keep you warm inside its walls, like a mother. The late snow is slowly moving towards us, a great enveloping army of white fingers stretching out blind, unsure of its own purpose – […]