Special guest…

There’s a rare Roger Glover session due in the form of a guest spot on the new Alice Cooper album, out on July 28th.  We do not know exactly what he gets to do, but hopefully it’s not just tamborine!*  The album is out through Ear Music.  Thanks to Mark Maddock for the info.
[* Answers on a postcard as to which this session was!]

Manchester

Awful news from Manchester today.  It’s a city which has always meant a lot to us at DTB. We go back regularly for a mooch and a culture fix at the galleries.  We’ve seen Deep Purple (and others) at the Arena and were hoping to catch them there again later this year.  Many of us will remember the destruction caused near by to the Corn Exchange during the IRA violence in 1996, and history since then demonstrates both the futility of this sort of action and how a city can recover.  But to the people caught up in this attack last night that will be of very little comfort.

Photos

Some great shots of the Geneva concert on Saturday evening on the local paper’s website, click to see their gallery.  Thanks to Denis Zuercher.

I Surrender (redux)

Us old stick in the muds will be tested come May 26th when Rainbow release two download only tracks via iTunes.  They’ve done a re-recording of I Surrender with the current singer Ronnie Romero, and a new track, Land Of Hope And Glory.  Both tracks are greyed out on iTunes right now, so you cannot get a preview listen but those in the know suggest the remake is more guitar heavy.  Thanks to Tim Summers for the heads up, he says Ronnie has been hinting at this for some time now, and it makes a clever gee-up ahead of the live shows.

Souvenirs

Nice set of memorabilia here for Saturday’s show in Geneva; the concert poster, a full page press advert (which would look good as a poster) and they even a special ticket design.  Thanks to Denis Zuercher for sharing these with us.  Guess where he will be Saturday evening!

Purple People

A wedge of Glenn Hughes back-catalogue is appearing through the new Purple label run via Cherry Red.  Some offer no extras over and above what has been out before, but Feel gains a bonus disc of live material from Holland, Germany and Japan recorded in 1994.  Source is not known, the shows have all appeared as bootlegs but they may have gone looking for original tapes.  Addiction, one of my faves from the man, has a live show from Holland in 1995 as a bonus disc. Again this has appeared as a decent bootleg before (one of the boot sleeves is shown above.)  Thanks to Mark Maddock.
(A few people keep asking but this is nothing to do with the Purple label as run by Simon which was closed a few years ago now after Tony Edwards died.)
Also busy on the archive front is Graham Bonnet, with a new Anthology CD/DVD combo any time and there is a more recent CD/DVD set taken from a festival slot in Italy in 2016 also on the way.  His biography is in the very final stages of production and is expected to be in print during June. Check the publisher’s site for more info or to register for early details.  Thanks to Stephen Hines for the info (and owner of one of the best email names I’ve seen so far!).

Infinite set-list spoiler!

Well the wait is over and the Infinite tour set list is now doing the rounds after Saturday’s opening show.  And no fewer than four songs from the new album have made it, including what seem to be the top three judging from most people’s feedback on the album.  And interestingly two songs from Now What have also stayed the distance. However this does mean that there is only one other reunion era track left, and the other half of the set is much as before.

If you do not want know the details look away now!

Time For Bedlam / Fireball / Bloodsucker / Strange Kind of Woman  / Johnny’s Band  / Uncommon Man  / The Surprising  / Lazy  / Birds Of Prey  / Hell To Pay  / Perfect Strangers  / Space Truckin’ / Smoke On The Water. Encores : Highway Star / Hush / Black Night

Seems a bit of a shame to break up the two new ‘epics’ with Lazy on the face of it, but we’ll have to wait and hear how it sounds.

Alt sleeve

For those who only bought the regular CD (hands up!) here is the cover variation of the 2 disc edition of the new album, the one with regular CD and the DVD combined.  I imagine in the age of vinyl us collectors would be madly trying to locate copies as it does look very different with this image on the front! Still finding that type a bit heavy handed mind…
How’s the actual music on the album faring up a month on though? I actually put a few tracks on, then ran some from Now What right after to try and get a feel for the two side by side at the weekend (while I was testing the hi-fi having finally got it onto the new shelves!).  I think my faves from Now What have a bit of an edge, sounding more thought out and planned. The stand-outs on Infinite still hold good though.  Now we’re just four days from seeing which tracks make it to the new set!  Sweepstake anyone?

The Chart Show

David Browne has put together a chart for those of us who enjoy stats, which compares the highest positions reached for Now What with the new album Infinite.  This chart covers the first month of the new release, but realistically unless there is a sudden surge somewhere this should be the final best placings. It gives us a good idea of where it has sold best and while it hasn’t got quite as many number 1 slots, it has charted higher in more countries than Now What. Infinite has also given the band 7 ‘best chart position since’ placings, sometimes as far back as the Seventies, and it is the best selling album for the band in the UK since 1984 which is a real milestone. World sales are estimated at 135,000 for the month although this figure will grow.

Glenn ‘n Graham

Glenn Hughes has been added to the bill at the Ramblin’ Man Fair in Maidstone, playing on the Saturday bill, July 29th.  The event also has a Friday evening bill, which sees Graham Bonnet Band supporting Saxon.  All this according to the ad. on the back page of this month’s issue of Viz!  Naturally given the source I went to the festival site to double check…