Harmonica Day

In 1970 Black Sabbath released their self titled debut album. It was a monument in heavy metal and screaming guitars combined with a bluesy harmonica.

David Bowie released this song in 1973 on his album Aladine Sane when glam rock was at its peak. A timeless classic even though people keep claiming that the song sounds too much like Blockbuster by The Sweet

Ten years later Elton John released another highlight of his later work, in which he dared to incorporate a harmonica that sounded as if it were being played by Stevie Wonder.

By the time you read this, I’ll have already been in Hungary’s capital, Budapest, for a few days. It’s a city I’ve wanted to visit for a long time, but Orban’s regime has kept me from going until now.

Monday's Long Song

 

Brant Bjork is one of those musicians who enjoys a good reputation in the scene but is largely unknown. Growing up in Palm Desert, California, he devoted himself to surfing and played in a band from a young age, which Josh Homme later joined. 

In the beginning, he hid behind the drums and founded the doom rock band Kyuss to play psychedelic-inspired Black Sabbath heavy rock. After a couple of albums he left the band and formed Fu Manchu, where he developed stoner rock for himself. 

In 1999 he released his debut Jalamanta where he played all instruments and became his masterpiece for me. An album filled with psychedelic blues songs and it became the blueprint of stoner rock. This album is probably the link between heavy rock of the late 60's and as he called it low-desert punk.

Brant Bjork - Defender Of The Oleander

OZZY OSBOURNE 1948 - 2015

 

This evening the sad news arrived that Ozzy Osbourne died at the age of 76. He was the head and voice of Black Sabbath maybe one of the first metal bands in history. For me their first album was epic, although their music is not my style but it was the sound of my youth. I loved their dark sound, their heavy guitars and their energy. Osbourne often named by his fans as the prince of darkness had a full live of rock and roll with all his hights and downs and later in a private novetly show. His legacy will be more than a few songs from this genre. A person who has left nothing out in his life.

RIP Ozzy

Planet Caravan

Last Friday the copy of the latest album by Cari Cari arrived and I had the chance to listen to the whole album. It fulfilled my expectations but listening to the last song I was a little bit confused.

 

Confused may be not the right term but I thought by myself I know this song. Until I realized that I didn't mean the same song, but one that sounds almost identical. It was 1970 when Black Sabbath released their classic Paranoid that became one of the blueprints of heavy metal. On this album there was an untypical song from them where they drifted into space. Also played with reverberated guitars and similar vocals.

Some research revealed that Cari Cari count Black Sabbath among their role models and that this song is supposed to be something of an homage. Nevertheless, both are absolutely worth listening to.

 Black Sabbath - Planet Caravan

Uncle Acid Is Back Again

Autumn and spring it the regular time for bands to promote their newest albums. So it was with Uncle Acid & the Deadbeats. I saw them a last week in a small club where the most artists have a background in the punk/new wave era. I knew their latest record and got into the gig for a very small money and didn't expected very much than a good evening. What I got was a concert that brought me back to the psychedelic and hard rock era when bands like Black Sabbath ruled the scene. Heavy guitars over a doom sound with a singer that is more to melodic rock than to this heavy sound. They built a wall of heavy sound in front of the audience to slip into slow, psychedelic improvisations. And the sound almost blew me away. Massive, direct very own they gave the audience a feeling being back in times. It is surely not the kind of music I listen often at home but it was the sound for a really good live concert. Even the slow song have a lot of psychedelic magic.

Uncle Acid & the Deadbeats - Slow Death
Uncle Acid & the Deadbeats - Yellow Moon
Uncle Acid & the Deadbeats - Waiting For Blood

Melody Lane

Sometimes you are surprised when you listen to a new band. I've never heard about Uncle Acid and the Deadbeats before. I expected from this Cambridge based band nothing more than classic British guitar music. From the start of the record I felt like years back in time when bands like Black Sabbath was played. These four guys also reveal themselves on the topical album The Night Creeper as a magician who conjure one or other catchy tune by monotonous repeating of the melodic sombre reef which cite the doom of the seventy-year-olds with pleasure. The weight-bearing basic riff are varied in the course of the rather long songs marginal, but to let arise just enough, in order no boredom, sometimes the bass breaks out, sometimes a guitar plays solo in the background. The amazing is present that one reaches an extremely high recognition value already thus without succinct song. Uncle Acid and the Deadbeats means steadily flow without evident outbreaks of violence, but under the surface it ferments gloomily and menacingly. But while a lot of bands walk to the cemetery at night when the crypt is open, the Uncle rather turn to the stoned hippies who dance between the gravestones.