What are you listening to?

Led Zeppelin's document of their early travels in Morocco are played out on this track, "Achilles' Last Stand". Very unconventional arrangement for a rock outfit, the album version is superb but this live cut from 1977 is also pretty darn decent. I first heard this song way back in 1995 and it expanded my ideas of what was possible in rock music. Within 3 years of this show the drummer died and the band of brothers was no more, but for a good seven years of their time together they were simply unmatched for sheer musical drama and raw power.

 
In the Still of the Night, by the doyens of hair metal in 1987, Whitesnake. Singer/lyricist David Coverdale is a really interesting bloke, very down to earth with a crafty line in self-deprecation. With this song he created something which still holds up today, the production is pristine. I got given this by my elder brother in the summer of 1988, he copied his vinyl onto a c90 tape for me, with The Cult on side 2. Amazing! I was just a kid and didn't really understand hard rock music, but I was blown away by how massive this kind of music sounds. Gives me waves of nostalgia this one, loads of happy times that summer, playing pool in our garden and drinking shandies with the family. Great days!:lol:

 
Another selection of nostalgic hits from David Coverdale and his awesome band. He explained in an interview many years back that in his songwriting process he tries to write songs as catchy as 60s soul songs, but with a clean but heavy hard rock instrumentation style. Works like a charm, and boy he's got a fine set of pipes, a multi-octave range and then some. He always works with great guitar players too. As a naive 13 year old kid I got a lesson in teenage catharsis from this kind of music. God bless my dear departed older brother who shared these records with me. The last song I've shared below is a tongue in cheek ode to all things feminine that never fails to bring a smile to my face. The 80s had some great moments from this band. One of the best albums from my old schoodays and effortlessly rockin!:-)





 
As I mentioned in a post above, my older brother copied The Cult's Electric album from 1987 for me too, and this selection demonstrates how amazingly simple and effective their brand of sleazy hard rock was. Singer/lyricist Ian Astbury has forged a 50 year partnership with lead guitarist Billy Duffy, creating awesome records from about 1984 to the present day. Electric stands tall in my schoolday guilty pleasures. It's filthy but such a rush to listen to. Producer/engineer Rick Rubin is so good at getting really raw performances from the bands he works with too. They fuse the earthy rock style of Zeppelin with the quasi shamanic ethos of The Doors. This album was essential listening for me back in 1988. This record still sounds amazing today. This easily makes a top 10 all time album in my collection online and on CD.





 
A legendary recent gig capturing Whitesnake at their most Purple! Most of these songs were originally co-written by Coverdale himself back in 1974/5 as a debut singer with Deep Purple for their Burn and Stormbringer albums. As a 50 year old insomniac, who struggles to get 6 hours of sleep a night, gigs like this are a fine way to unwind after a day of work. I can happily while away 5hrs just searching for classic gigs on YT. It cheers me up knowing that 65 year olds like him are still rockin' our benighted earth. A solid offering from these guys here. They put an idiosyncratic spin on well known tunes from an awesome band like Purple. With such good source material they can't go wrong.

 
My last offering, a gig capturing the raw energy of The Cult in their current lineup. The setlist is choc-filled with well crafted rock gems from the Astbury/Duffy creative partnership, yielding some marvellous moments and memorable, singalong shamanic rock. I've enjoyed sourcing a shed-load of old classic rock gigs today, it's been fun. If you like solid heavy rock you can't go wrong with this gig.

 
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