Posts

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Tom Petty- Into the Great Wide Open

My interview with the late Tom Petty . Two significant events informed the songwriting on 1991's "Into the Great Wide Open" , Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers' first post-Traveling Wilburys/ "Full Moon Fever"   effort with his own band.
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Allman Brothers Band- Live Fillmore East-the late Gregg Allman, Dickey Betts

The original Allman Brothers Band had to be seen and heard live to be fully appreciated, and in 1971 the band headlined four shows over two nights on March 13-14 at the Fillmore East that were recorded. My guests remember it well: one of two original guitarists, Dickey Betts, & the late great Gregg Allman.

Van Halen- For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge- Eddie, Alex, Michael, Sammy

For Van Halen " For Unlawful Carnal  Knowledge" , we present an ultra-rare "fly on the wall" listen to the biggest hard rock band in America in 1991. The late Eddie Van Halen, brother Alex, Michael Anthony, and Sammy Hagar had the #1-selling album on the Billboard  chart containing "Poundcake","Judgment Day, "Runaround", "Right Now", and "Top of the World" when we had this lively conversation. This complete interview with all four members has never been heard, & it is now quite historic with the leaving of Sammy Hagar about five years later, & the passing of Eddie Van Halen in 2020.

Pat Benatar- Precious Time

" It went platinum (1,000,000 sales ) in thirteen days," Pat Benatar states matter-of-factly while she and hubby/ musical director Neil Giraldo reminisce In the Studio about the explosive third album,"Precious Time", as it headed rapidly to the top-selling perch in America in Summer 1981...
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Steve Winwood- Back in the High Life

"Higher Love", the #1 seller and winner of both the "Record of the Year" and "Song of the Year" Grammys for 1986, isn't about doing it in the top bunk. It's about love on a spiritual plane, not an airplane. By his mid-twenties, Steve Winwood already may have  been on a hall of fame career pace, singing and playing hits as a mere teenager with the Spencer Davis Group ("Gimme Some Lovin' "," I'm a Man"), Traffic, and Blind Faith. Yet Winwood told me in this  classic rock interview about 1986's "Back in the High Life"  that a 1972 bout with peritonitis almost killed him...
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Genesis- Invisible Touch- Mike Rutherford, Tony Banks, Phil Collins

Concerts came back just in time for the anniversary of Genesis' biggest album in their long fifty year+ career, Invisible Touch  (worldwide sales estimated at 15,000,000), so we convene Mike Rutherford, Tony Banks, and Phil Collins here In the Studio  to discuss the blockbuster sales behind "Tonight, Tonight, Tonight", "Land of Confusion", "In Too Deep", "Throwing It All Away", and "Invisible Touch".

Bryan Adams- 18 ‘Til I Die

Bryan Adams joins me for his seventh studio album, “18 'Til I Die”, a #1 seller in the UK and Top Five sales in Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Finland, Germany, Sweden, and Switzerland. The international popularity was driven by hits "The Only Thing That Looks Good on You is Me", "Have You Ever Really Loved a Woman", and the title song.
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Metallica- Load- James Hetfield, Kirk Hammett

Metallica "Load" did not budge from the top seller position for a full four consecutive weeks in June 1996 because of such tender love songs as "Ain't My Bitch","Bleeding Me","King Nothing", "The House  Jack Built", and "Until It Sleeps". Guitarist/singer James Hetfield and guitarist Kirk Hammett are surprisingly unguarded, conversational, and open about this dizzying rocket ride into superstardom.

Bonnie Raitt- Nick of Time/ Luck of the Draw

When "Nick of Time"  rose steadily, eventually becoming the #1-selling album in the US a year after release it's Spring 1989 release, no one was more surprised than Bonnie Raitt. When it also won three Grammy Awards including the coveted Album of the Year Grammy in 1990, no one was more appreciative. Then in May 1991, she released "Luck of the Draw", her biggest album ever. Bonnie Raiitt is my guest In the Studio.
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Rod Stewart- Every Picture Tells a Story

When the Jeff Beck Group made their American debut at New York City's Fillmore East, no one in the audience watching  the young lead singer Rod Stewart hide behind the backline amps  due to major stage fright could have imagined that the raspy-throated rooster-haired Englishman would become an international star just three years later with his third solo album, 1971's "Every Picture Tells a Story".