Content tagged 'article'

23 years ago today, The Pretenders released a live acoustic album, giving their fans an idea of what the band might’ve sounded like if they’d appeared on MTV Unplugged. (They never did appear on that particular program, however, so if you’ve read otherwise online or elsewhere, please feel free to sound the Fake News alarm.) Recorded and filmed at Jacob Street Studios in London, THE ISLE OF VIEW found frontwoman Chrissie Hynde backed by the same band members who’d played with her on 1994’s LAST OF THE INDEPENDENTS, which – not coincidentally – was the album The Pretenders were touring behind at

Today we celebrate the song with which the late, great Warren Zevon is generally best remembered, and we do so not because it was recorded today, not because it was released today, nor because it hit a chart high today. No, we celebrate it because, y’know, it’s the Halloween season, so we thought we’d make with the werewolves. (Makes sense, right?) A songwriting collaboration between Zevon, Waddy Wachtel, and LeRoy Marinell, “Werewolves of London” made its debut on Zevon’s 1978 album EXCITABLE BOY, but its origins can be traced back to 1975, when Phil Everly – with whom Zevon had been touring

If you’re a Chicago fan, then you’ve doubtlessly found that you can’t get enough of the legendary band’s live performances, and that’s definitely a good thing, what with Rhino releasing not one but two live albums by the band today. First up: GREATEST HITS LIVE, a 13-track set which was recorded in 2017 for PBS’s Soundstage series. It’s available on CD as well as in a CD/DVD set which offers video of the performance, not to mention a 5.1 audio mix. Oh, and lest you be concerned, it’s of course available digitally as well. Next up: LIVE AT THE ISLE OF WIGHT, which offers up Chicago’s

19 years ago today, Stone Temple Pilots released their fourth album, and you’ll never guess what they called it! Produced by Brendan O’Brien, NO. 4 wasn’t exactly the band’s best promoted album, but the blame for that situation must be set squarely at the feet of the late Scott Weiland, unfortunately, as he kicked off a one-year jail sentence just before the LP’s release, which definitely put a crimp in any possible tour plans. That’s a shame, too, because not only is it one of the band’s strongest albums, but it’s also one of their hardest albums, so one can only imagine that the material

If we’ve said it once (and we have), we’ve said it 50 times: when a band celebrates its 50th anniversary, what better way to commemorate the occasion than by releasing a compilation featuring 50 songs from throughout those 50 years of music? Well, as far as we’re concerned, there’s no better way, which is why Rhino is releasing Fleetwood Mac’s 50 YEARS – DON’T STOP on November 16. This will be a pretty spectacular set – it’s going to represent every era of Fleetwood Mac’s career – and to make sure that as many people have an option to pick it up as possible, it’s being released in a variety of

Since today is Halloween, we here at Rhino thought it would be appropriate to offer up a Single Stories feature on a song with a title that matches the mood of the holiday, so let’s take a look at the origins of a song from Van Halen’s debut album which – in another nod to the date – features a monstrous guitar riff. Credited jointly to Michael Anthony, David Lee Roth, Alex Van Halen and Eddie Van Halen, “Runnin’ with the Devil” isn’t actually a Satanic song, although you’d really have to search far and wide to find anyone who really thought it was, anyway. In truth, the members of Van Halen

51 years ago today, The Stooges played their first show, but to say that it was an actual concert would probably be an overstatement: it was at a house party in Ann Arbor, Michigan, and it was, uh, something else. John Sinclair, manager of the MC5 was there, along with a number of other folks, but it’s fair to say that the Stooges themselves were the stars of the show, and the performance, based on how it was described by Rolling Stone, was decidedly memorable: “Iggy, in a thrift shop nightdress and a robotic wig created by pasting foil strips on a bathing cap, sat on the floor playing

Dire Straits' 1985 album BROTHERS IN ARMS turned the band into a commercial supernova, thanks in large part to a more streamlined approach to songwriting. It’s difficult to imagine leader Mark Knopfler coming up with platinum pop songs like “Walk of Life” or “So Far Away,” or a simple hard rock cut like “Money for Nothing” for 1979’s COMMUNIQUE or 1980’s MAKING MOVIES, records with Dylanesque lyrical aspirations and Springsteenian sonics. And although 1982’s LOVE OVER GOLD contained the proto-“Money for Nothing” in “Industrial Disease,” it also contained the 14-minute “Telegraph Road,” the

Is perfection achievable? Why would one ever want to attempt it? With 1976’s HOTEL CALIFORNIA, the Eagles made perhaps the quintessential ‘70s California rock record, on par with records like Fleetwood Mac’s RUMOURS, Carole King’s TAPESTRY, Jackson Browne’s LATE FOR THE SKY, and the thorny but brilliant stuff Neil Young was putting out all decade long. When pondering the follow-up, chief Eagles Don Henley and Glenn Frey were adamant – they wanted to top HOTEL CALIFORNIA. They felt perfection was in their reach, and they were going to go for it. Eighteen months of recording sessions later

The return to active duty of the RUMOURS-era Fleetwood Mac was a welcome bit of news in 1997. Each of the band’s three main songwriters -- Lindsey Buckingham, Stevie Nicks and Christine McVie -- had done solo work that, while quality stuff, had not nearly scaled the commercial heights of the band in their prime. And drummer Mick Fleetwood and bassist John McVie’s stab at moving on without their singing trio -- 1995’s desultory TIME, featuring ex-Traffic guitarist Dave Mason -- could hardly have fared worse. From the opening notes of “The Chain” on THE DANCE -- the live album and video project