Posts

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Doobie Brothers- What Were Once Vices…Habits- Tom Johnston, Pat Simmons

The surprise success from "Black Water" fifty years ago afforded the Doobie Brothers some creative license on their next album, "Stampede",  released in April 1975. But as you will hear from Patrick Simmons, Tom Johnston, and the late Doobie drummer Mike Hossack, the non-stop grind of five years of one-nighters, stopping only long enough to record the next album, was starting to create stress fractures in the foundation of the band which  would sideline Tom Johnston with a bleeding ulcer and, ultimately, alter the sound of the Doobie Brothers for the next decade.

Rush- Power Windows- Geddy Lee, Alex Lifeson

When observing potential song subjects for October 1985's "Power Windows",  Rush lyricist/ drummer the late Neil Peart saw an uncanny number of socio-political issues which have become front page headlines again  thirty-five years later.

Ozzy Osbourne- Ozzmosis

Ozzy Osbourne's biggest seller in about fifteen years, 1995's "Ozzmosis" ironically was released after he had announced a very high profile retirement. "Me without a band is like I'm walking around naked or something. " Ozzy is a funny, charming, surprisingly insightful guest with me In the Studio. So hear about the emperor's new clothes with Ozzy Osbourne on "Ozzmosis".  
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ZZ Top- Afterburner 35th Anniversary- Billy Gibbons, Dusty Hill, Frank Beard

Thirty-five years ago ZZ Top's"Afterburner" came out. But don't go looking for it in the 2019 ZZ Top rockumentary film "That Little Ol' Band from Texas" .That otherwise well-done pastiche of just some of the chapters in this colorful trio's fifty year telenovella implied that all meaningful recording by ZZ Top wrapped at the conclusion of "Eliminator" way back in 1983. Billy Gibbons, Dusty Hill, and Frank Beard join me here In the Studio  on the thirty-fifth anniversary of "Sleeping Bag","Stages","Woke Up with Wood", and "Planet of Women".
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Santana- Abraxas- Carlos Santana, Gregg Rolie, Michael Shrieve

In the Studio we never featured a more influential, important, essential album than Santana 's second effort, "Abraxas" released in October 1970. Simply stated, this is the Magna Carta of World Music. Carlos Santana and Gregg Rolie are joined by drummer Michael Shrieve In the Studio.

Allman Brothers Band- Idlewild South- the late Gregg Allman

...for me in Autumn 1970 with discovering the Allman Brothers Band, as it was their second album, "Idlewild South" , which was my gateway drug to a five decade musical high for what turned out to be, as legendary producer Tom Dowd put it it, "the greatest musical fusion I've ever witnessed."
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Ozzy Osbourne- Blizzard of Ozz

Ozzy Osbourne In the Studio for the making of 1980's "Blizzard of Ozz".

Neil Young and Crazy Horse- Ragged Glory 30th Anniversary

Last Fall 2019 when I made what felt like a pilgrimmage to a suburban Dallas movie theater with very dear friends to see Neil Young and Crazy Horse's film of making their latest album, "Colorado" , I could not resist the comparisons to "Ragged Glory" three decades earlier.
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Pink Floyd- Wish You Were Here- Roger Waters, David Gilmour, Nick Mason

"YOU try following up 'Dark Side of the Moon'.  Go on, just try it!" playfully admonishes Pink Floyd guitarist/ singer David Gilmour. "We've been trying to do it ever since!", laughs drummer Nick Mason. Gilmour and Mason are my guests, Roger Waters makes a cameo, and we include archive comments from the late keyboard player Richard Wright to round out the definitive classic rock interview regarding "Wish You Were Here" on its fiftieth anniversary.

Jethro Tull- Minstrel in the Gallery- Ian Anderson

"Light and shade," Jimmy Page once told me, speaking to the secret of Led Zeppelin's universal popularity, and never was that combination more on display than on the title song to Jethro Tull's September 1975 "Minstrel in the Gallery".