rawk Archive
20 Mar 2019
A Look Back at ‘Redd Blood Cells’
This is the third of three non-overlapping Redd Kross features. Enjoy. — bk Way back in 2001, the White Stripes were riding high with the release of their third album, White Blood Cells. Though the guitar-and-drums approach had been explored decades earlier by bands like Flat Duo Jets (not to mention countless early blues duos),
19 Mar 2019
Hot off the Press: Redd Kross’ Hot Issue
This is the second of three non-overlapping Redd Kross features. Enjoy. — bk In a way, Redd Kross is a band captured in time. When brothers Jeff and Steve McDonald launched their punk group in their hometown of Hawthorne, California (a fertile musical ground that also gave the world the Beach Boys and Emitt Rhodes),
18 Mar 2019
Shootout at the Bubblegum Factory: Redd Kross
This is the first of three non-overlapping Redd Kross features. Enjoy. — bk Since forming in 1980, Hawthorne, California-based Redd Kross has been expertly straddling the link between punk rock and power pop. And at its best, the band has erased the arbitrary line between those styles. Nearly 15 years after ending a lengthy hiatus,
11 Mar 2019
They Showed Us: ‘The Turtles Present the Battle of the Bands’ at 40
By the beginning of 1968, the concept album was very much in vogue; the form was in its ascendancy, with high-profile releases like the Beach Boys’ Pet Sounds (released May 1966), the Beatles’ Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band (released May 1967), The Who Sell Out (December ‘67) and the Moody Blues’ Days of Future
04 Mar 2019
Ozzy Osbourne Says Farewell But Not Goodbye
If Black Sabbath didn’t single-handedly invent a particular kind of heavy rock, the Birmingham, England group certainly refined it. Beginning with the group’s self-titled 1970 debut, Black Sabbath proved itself as an exemplar of a doom-laden, melodramatic kind of rock. The band’s first six albums are now widely recognized as highly influential genre classics. Tony
01 Mar 2019
Ghost Keeps the Spirit of Theatrical Rock Alive
Swedish rock band Ghost cuts a striking image, with masked musicians and a lead singer, Tobias Forge, who used to dress like a demonic pope (today he wears slightly more conventional garb onstage). The theatrically-focused band is in the midst of a world tour in support of its fourth album, Prequelle. I saw Ghost live
28 Feb 2019
The Paradox of Ghost
Arising out of Sweden’s vibrant metal scene in 2006, Ghost has carved out a unique place in the rock landscape. Fronted by songwriter and vocalist Tobias Forge, the band is populated by musicians known only as Nameless Ghouls (Forge’s identity was only revealed in 2017). Wedding showmanship in the tradition of Alice Cooper to a
25 Feb 2019
A Conversation with Producer Chris Thomas
Chris Thomas is among the most celebrated and admired record producers of the rock era. Beginning with the Beatles, he went on to work with many of the top acts of the 1970s and beyond. His list of credits includes production work for Procol Harum, Roxy Music, the Sex Pistols, Wings, the Pretenders, Pete Townshend,
22 Feb 2019
Learning to Fly Without Waters: Pink Floyd’s ‘Delicate Sound of Thunder’ at 30 (Part Two)
Continued from Part One… When Nicholas Schaffner published his excellent Pink Floyd biography Saucerful of Secrets – for many years the only definitive tome on Pink Floyd – the 1991 book included an appendix that featured the results of fanzine Amazing Pudding’s reader polls. One notable bit of information from that poll is that “Dogs
21 Feb 2019
Learning to Fly Without Waters: Pink Floyd’s ‘Delicate Sound of Thunder’ at 30 (Part One)
The Wall was the beginning of the end for the classic lineup of Pink Floyd. Though the balance of creative power in the group had begun to shift in Roger Waters’ direction after the unprecedented success of 1974’s The Dark Side of the Moon, the change was slow and gradual. But by the time of