Music Blurbs, Vol. 1

For awhile now, I’ve been writing “blurbs” for several altweeklies. These brief write-ups are a sort of capsule preview of artists who are (were) coming to town in the various markets for which I write. The blurbs I author for one of those outlets are a bit longer than the others, and as such they present a fuller sense of the artists. They’re certainly not meant to take the place of full features, but they do give a flavor of what the artists are about. And they’re all colored to various extents by my own personal perspective, though I endeavor to keep things positive. Since one of the functions of musoscribe.com is to serve as an archive/repository for all of my music-related writing, I thought I’d reproduce some of those blurbs here. I’ll work through my backlog over the coming Sundays, and going forward I’ll post more as I accumulate enough to make a posting worthwhile.

The Australian Pink Floyd Show
With the notable and high-profile exceptions of their one-off Live 8 reunion (2005) and release of an album compiled from decades-old outtakes (2014’s The Endless River), Pink Floyd ceased operations in October 1994. It has been three decades since the group toured. But the enduring legacy of Pink Floyd and its music endures. The band’s active years – 1967 to 1982 and then 1987-1994 – yielded many blockbuster albums. The most well-known among those are 1973’s The Dark Side of the Moon and The Wall (1979). Countless bands around the world have added Pink Floyd’s songs to their own repertoire, but an Adelaide, Australia-based group took things several steps further, launching a Pink Floyd tribute band. A pair of early breaks – championing by music journalist Glenn Povey and an invitation to play at the birthday part of none other than Pink Floyd guitarist David Gilmour – catapulted The Australian Pink Floyd Show into the big league, a status they’ve maintained and cultivated ever since. Today TAPFS has been together longer than the group to which it pays tribute. With a sound and visual presentation carefully crafted to recreate the experience of a Pink Floyd concert (albeit with a flying kangaroo instead of a pig), TAFPS brings the music of the iconic group to concert audiences around the globe.

Bachman-Turner Overdrive
Reliable purveyors of a kind of blue-collar, working-class, workaday meat ‘n’ potatoes brand of rock, Bachman-Turner Overdrive ruled the airwaves in the mid 1970s. Formed by guitarist Randy Bachman after he left the massively popular Guess Who, this Winnipeg, Manitoba group rocked hard and solid. Between 1973 and 1979, BTO landed 11 of its singles on the Canadian Top 40. They fared nearly as well in the U.S., with seven Top 40 singles. Among BTO’s biggest hits were the worldwide #1 smash, “You Ain’t Seen Noting Yet,” and other no-filigree singalong rockers like “Takin’ Care of Business,” “Roll on Down the Highway” and “Let it Ride.” The band’s 1976 best-of LP went Platinum in the U.S. and Canada. Bachman-Turner Overdrive’s style of rock fell out of favor in the ‘80s, and the band went inactive for a brief time, but they returned on and off well into the 21^st century. Today, singer-bassist Fred Turner appears only on select dates; it’s left to guitarist (and sometime lead singer) Bachman to lead the current lineup, one that includes his son Tal (who had a hit of his own in 1999 with “She’s So High”) on second guitar. 2014 Canadian Muisc Hall of Fame inductees, BTO remain one of Canada’s proudest musical exports, and the band is still takin’ care of musical business more than a half-century after their start.

Brit Floyd
Pink Floyd was in the top echelon of the rock era. The British foursome’s eighth album – 1973’s landmark The Dark Side of the Moon broke the band through to a massive, worldwide audience; that work would go on to break records as one of the most enduring albums in history, remaining on the Billboard 200 charts for 900 consecutive weeks and selling in excess of 45 million copies worldwide. Its critical status is well-established too; DSOTM consistently ranks among critics’ picks for the greatest album of all time. And in 1979, Pink Floyd released another juggernaut, the double-LP concept record The Wall. Founding bassist and lyricist Roger Waters left the group in the ‘80s; lead vocalist and guitarist David Gilmour continued on with founding members Nick Mason (drums) and Richard Wright (keyboards). That latter-day Pink Floyd lineup toured worldwide to great acclaim, releasing two studio albums and two live releases during their time together. Pink Floyd was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1996. After the death of Wright in 2008, the band ceased activity. But along the way, a set of tribute groups sprang up to fill the void. One of the most popular and long-running Floyd tribute groups is Liverpool-based Brit Floyd; founded in 2011, the group recreates the feeling of a Pink Floyd concert for 21^st century audiences. This current tour celebrates the 30^th anniversary of Pink Floyd’s 1995 live album, P*U*L*S*E.

Chicano Batman
The style of music known as “psychedelic soul” enjoyed an all-too-brief heyday in the late 1960s. Deftly fusing elements of Black American soul and the dreamier end of psychedelic rock, the genre was exemplified by music from artists including Sly & the Family Stone and The Chambers Brothers. In the 21st century, southern California-based Chicano Batman has developed its own distinctive, modern and original musical personality, based in large part on the influence of psychedelic soul. Chicano Batman’s sound borrows timeless elements from music’s past; songs like “Friendship (Is a Small Boat in a Storm)” – a standout track on the group’s third album (2017’s Freedom is Free) draw upon the music that the group members’ parents and grandparents loved. And while Chicano Batman is not explicitly politically-focused, there’s no mistaking some of the lyrical messages in the group’s music. The group takes an upbeat and positive approach to addressing social issues, with a goal of encouraging togetherness and driving away fear. Onstage, Chicano Batman cuts a memorable and striking visual image, with members often attired in matching ruffled-shirt tuxedos. But at its core the band remains primarily focused on the music. Their fifth and latest album Notebook Fantasy was released in March.

A.J. Croce
Jim Croce was a giant among singer-songwriters. Though his time in the national spotlight was comparatively brief, he left an indelible impression upon popular music. His musical vignettes were portraits of characters – some partly real, some the product of his fertile and creative imagination – and his straightforward way with words and melody earned him fame. Croce’s success would come comparatively late; after two non-charting albums, he struck gold with 1972’s You Don’t Mess Around With Jim. That LP spawned three hit singles: the title track, “Operator (That’s Not the Way it Feels)” and the classic “Time in a Bottle.” Two more successful albums and four more hit singles (including “Bad, Bad Leroy Brown”) followed in rapid succession, but his career was cut short when a plane carrying him crashed, killing him and five others. He was 30, and left behind a wife and toddler son, A.J. As the younger Croce grew to adulthood, he launched a creatively successful career all his own, with a style that drew upon musical traditions across the American landscape. Now in honor of the 50^th anniversary of Jim Croce’s best-loved works, A.J. has mounted a tour honoring the life, music and stories of his late father.