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ALVIN LEE: 'SAGUITAR'
R.A.R.E REPERTOIRE: RAR 1004
RELEASE DATE: MONDAY 8th OCTOBER 2007
ALVIN LEE, once known as 'The Fastest Guitar in
The West', sallies forth with a brand new album
entitled Saguitar (his star sign's Sagittarius, right?),
out now
on the R.A.R.E Repertoire label.
Featuring his battle-hardened trusty Gibson 335 - 'Big Red' - on the album sleeve - the guitar that wowed Woodstock back when the world was young, Saguitar finds Alvin in irrepressible guitar playing form, rattling through a fine set of unpretentious, unrepentantly rocking humdingers. Packed with bluesy vocals and dazzling guitar work,
After decades on the road with Ten Years After and the Alvin Lee Band, the guitarist now prefers to play a few festivals and concerts, in between spending time in the studio. Explains Alvin: “The album reflects what I’ve been doing for the past two years, enjoying myself and making music.”
His work with the legendary Scotty Moore in recent years has left an indelible impression on Lee; tracks such as Midnite Train and Memphis come with an authentic Sun Records confident swagger that is a joy to behold. Of course, the Blues is never far from Alvin's musical reference points, and Saguitar delivers on that front - Hotel Blues and Blues Has Got A Hold On Me are suffused with that ol' mood indigo, which Alvin inhabits like a natural.
Among the guest musicians on Saguitar is keyboard player Tim Hinkley, a veteran of Alvin’s past projects and one time leader of Jody Grind. He appears on the atmospheric Motel Blues, one of the highlights of this fourteen track album. A surprise item is Rapper, a track built up from various drum loops. Says Alvin: “I did my own drum fills and laid some hot guitar over the top. It’s a rap song which people have said is fantastic.”
Of course, if you'd made an album that pushes as many buttons as Saguitar,
you'd want to talk about it, and Alvin Lee is no exception; he is available for phoners from his home in Spain.
For more information, please contact Alan & Lesley at Indiscreet PR, on 07813 290 474 or via this website.
BLUE CHEER: 'WHAT DOESN'T KILL YOU'
EVANGELINE RECORDS: GELM 4112
RELEASE DATE: MONDAY 8th OCTOBER 2007
BLUE CHEER ARE BACK...
AND STILL LOUDER THAN GOD!
Blue Cheer, the undisputed giants of San-
Franciscan stoner rock, transcendentally heavy, psychedelic-soaked, lysergically-loaded (they took their name from a strain of LSD developed by 'Frisco Acid guru Owsley Stanley), the loudest band on the planet and one of the most influential combos of all time, make a blistering return to the recording fray with a brand new ten-track album entitled What Doesn't Kill You..., released on the Evangeline Records label on Monday, October 8th.
Featuring nine originals and a magnificent retooling of the Albert King classic, Born Under A Bad Sign, the Blue Cheer of 2007 still pack all of the uncompromising sonic punch of their Vincebus Eruptum heyday, a Blues-Metal conflagration that will not be denied.
Comprising the original Cheer rhythm section of Dickie Peterson (bass /
vocals), Paul Whaley (drums), and Cheer guitarist/vocalist of twenty
years standing Andrew 'Duck' MacDonald, What Doesn't Kill You is awesome proof of the band's reputation as the grandaddys of metal, monomanically committed to a leviathan sound that is dense, crashingly subtle and unrepetantly monolithic.
Still wowing audiences from their native US through to far-flung climes such as Brazil, the Far East and Europe, their dedication to their cause is nothing less than heroic in these fatally flawed and musically-compromised times, Blue Cheer are no musical museum piece; theirs is a classic sound that was picked up and embellished by the likes of Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath and a zillion others in their wake. The original is still the greatest, however, as What Doesn't Kill You triumphantly confirms.
Blue Cheer are available for interview in support of What Doesn't Kill You - please contact INDISCREET PR on 07813 290474 or via this website for more information.
THE RECORDS: 'MUSIC ON BOTH SIDES'
ON THE BEACH RECORDINGS: FOAMCD 8
RELEASE DATE: MONDAY 15th OCTOBER 2007
There was once a time, o reader, when guitar-based pop bands, playing well-constructed, lyrically sharp and strongly melodic rock and roll were not the spirit of the age.
Strange but true; the early 1980s were a desert for fans of that kind of gear.
Which is where The Records came in. Unabashed and unashamed to let their guitar-stoked melodic flag fly, in a time when electro-pop, New Romantic clothes-horse rock and bleak musical soundscapes ruled the roost, The Records pursued their own determined path with distinction and a flair that put them in pretty much as field of their own.
Music On Both Sides was their third and final album, originally released on the Virgin Records label in March 1982, and makes its debut on CD on October 15th care of the On The Beach Recordings label.
The Records were led by drummer Will Birch, who explains in the album’s informative and entertaining liner notes how he took the decision to vacate the percussive role and draft in the great Bobby Irwin (a stalwart of Nick Lowe’s many backing combos) on percussion for Music On Both Sides, affording a greater sense of production perspective. The band featured guitarist / vocalist John Wicks, bass player Phil Brown, and on Music On Both Sides, the band recruited vocalist Chris Gent (apparently it was felt that the band needed a ‘front man’ to crack America) and guitarist Dave Whelan.
As for the music on Music On Both Sides, the band came up with another collection of polished pop gems, such as Your Own Soundtrack (which was originally penned in homage to the-then newly minted Sony Walkman, but which can equally apply to the MP3 player, of course), and the bands’ typically open hearted attempts to induct electronic influences into their musical palette by way of such tracks as Imitation Jewellery and Heather And Hell. There are also thinly-veiled references to their business travails in the shape of Clown Around Town and Not So Much The Time. For the reissue, Birch has dug deep into his collection of Records demos and live tracks, including eight impressive additions to the original album’s twelve songs. Amongst those tracks are live performances from the 1978 Stiff Records tour (wherein they backed Rachel Sweet, as well as playing a set of their own), and a marvellous version of Lovin’ You Ain’t Easy, originally recorded by French Canadian rocker Michel Pagliaro, and featuring Akron, Ohio native Jane Aire on lead vocals. The delightful original retro-styled artwork by the late great Barney Bubbles has been lovingly reproduced and enhanced, too.
Music On Both Sides completes the trio of reissues by The Records, book-ending its predecessors Shades In Bed and Crashes. They serve to remind us of the bands’ utter compositional class, their dogged faith in classic pop shapes and sounds in the face of industry and public indifference, and represent a trove of great music just waiting to be discovered in the hear and now – never knowingly oversold. Indiscreet PR have limited copies of both available to interested parties, as well as Music On Both Sides.
Will Birch is a respected music writer, the author of the classic history of British Pub Rock, No Sleep Till Canvey Island, and a frequent contributor to leading UK rock publications such as Mojo and Record Collector. Will is available to talk about The Records reissues.
Will Birch is available to talk about The Records reissues. Please contact
Indiscreet PR for further details.