rawk Archive
17 Sep 2019
Played a Set for Everyone: CCR at Woodstock (Part Two)
Continued from Part One… The story that gained traction over the years is that the band’s performance was somehow wanting or otherwise subpar, but that’s not at all what I hear on this recording. Doug: Well, thank you for that. Because John Fogerty said we – meaning the rest of us – didn’t play well.
16 Sep 2019
Played a Set for Everyone: CCR at Woodstock (Part One)
There’s a tired cliché that goes something like this: “If you remember the ’60s, you weren’t really there.” A half century later, an unfortunate reality is that if an event wasn’t properly documented, in the minds of current-day audience, it didn’t happen. And that has been the case with Creedence Clearwater Revival and the Woodstock
14 Sep 2019
Andrew Reed: Putting Things in Order
In a world increasingly defined by fractiousness and divisiveness, the music and world view of Western North Carolina multi-instrumentalist Andrew Reed is a welcome restorative. Though Reed — who’s been releasing albums since the 1980s — works in a variety of styles including progressive rock, his most recent solo album, If All the World Were
05 Sep 2019
Pet Benatar Still Hits You With Her Best Shot
Arguably the queen of 1980s rock, Pat Benatar has achieved a singular mix of success both critically and commercially. With record sales of more than 30 million units to her credit, Benatar is among the most successful artists of the modern era. Six of the diminutive singer’s albums have gone Platinum or better in the
23 Aug 2019
Denny Laine: McCartney’s Wingman is Still Flying (Part Two)
Continued from Part One … I started buying Wings albums when Band on the Run came out. I was 10. And as I followed the band, I began–even as a young kid, I began to get the sense that you were kind of a foil to Paul in that your presence in the group tended
22 Aug 2019
Denny Laine: McCartney’s Wingman is Still Flying (Part One)
Denny Laine was a founding member of the Moody Blues, along with longtime members Ray Thomas and Mike Pinder. He left and went on to a solo career, working briefly with a Birmingham “supergroup” called Balls (also including future ELO keyboardist Richard Tandy, Plastic Ono Band drummer Alan White and Apple protege Jackie Lomax). Later
21 Aug 2019
Spin it On: Denny Laine on Wings’ ‘Back to the Egg’ at 40 (Part Two)
Continued from Part One … I have a bootleg recording which is probably a rough mix of a working version of Back to the Egg, and the version of “Getting Closer” on it has you singing lead. Was that the original plan? I was probably just doing it along with the backing track or something.
20 Aug 2019
Spin it On: Denny Laine on Wings’ ‘Back to the Egg’ at 40 (Part One)
In the very early 1970s, not long after the Beatles had broken up, Paul McCartney decided he wanted to have a band again. With wife Linda, he recruited Denny Laine, a multi-instrumentalist, along with other musicians. It’s sometimes forgotten today, but Laine already had a well-established career long before Wings. He was the original lead
18 Aug 2019
Album Review: Jack Oblivian & the Dream Killers — Lost Weekend
Among the audiophile set, the term “lo-fi” is cause to run for the hills. Having grown up on a steady diet of 1960s garage rock, I have no such qualms. Hell, I even dig “Green Fuz.” And with that in mind, I welcome Lost Weekend, an LP from Jack Oblivian & the Dream Killers that
16 Aug 2019
Santana Speaks, Part Two
Continued from Part One … Bill Kopp: One of the qualities of your work that has always struck me is the way that you approach each project with what I would call intention. An album like Caravanserai probably didn’t seem like a commercial bid at the time, and it really wasn’t. It was not a