Song Review: Smoke On The Water, Written By: Deep Purple, Ian Gillan; Ian Paice; Jon Lord; Ritchie Blackmore; Roger Glover

Considered one of the greatest riffs of all time and a popular one for new guitarists to learn. It is one of the songs from Deep Purple’s 1972 Machine Head, which went to number 7 in the US and number 1 in the UK. When Smoke on the Water was released as a single in June 1973 it went to number 4 in the US. The creation of the song has now been embedded in rock myth. It was when the group were going to record their new album. They wanted to capture a live feeling on the album due to their popularity live. They decided to record the album at the Casino, in Montreux Switzerland, using the Rolling Stones mobile 16 track studio.

The day before Frank Zappa was playing a show at the Casino and during the show someone fired a flare gun which created a fire and the Casino burned down. Nobody was hurt but Deep Purple now had to find a new place to record. They choose the Grand Hotel. Ritchie Blackmore (the lead guitarist) had come up with the riff that was soon to spawn this song, so Ian Gillian had to quickly create some lyrics to it. It didn’t help that the Swiss police had arrived at the hotel due to neighbours complaining about noise. Apparently the police were left outside banging on the door until the track had been recorded.

The song itself is in fact about the whole event taking place, as the lyrics describe. To sum up the song, its main appeal is the guitar riff, but it has some nice keyboard and bass in it as well. The guitar solo is not technically great but it does sound good. This song is a classic, and defiantly is in my top 100.

The Bass Guitar

The bass guitar has always been a very important part of a band but has always been overshadowed by the lead guitarist and singer. Paul McCartney, although not really a talented bassist by today’s standards, did create some quite complicated bass lines (i.e. Come Together and Helter Skelter) for that time. But he was only ever really praised for his singing and song writing abilities. With the creation of Funk in the 70s, the bass guitar suddenly found itself swapping roles with the lead guitar as the driving force behind songs, while the guitar was mainly just used for rhythm. Funk bands that incorporate both guitarist and bassist well are Incubus and the Red Hot Chilli Peppers. Well, mostly the early stuff of both bands. As we enter the new millennium musicians are experimenting in different ways with the bass for new inventive sounds. It is definitely a great instrument that should not be underestimated and just pinned as a band's ‘undertone’. I call for more bass solos and lead riffs.

Old Bands Still Strong

I previously did an article on the Rolling Stones releasing an album and going on tour - well it has come to my attention that so are Deep Purple. They are also remastering the 1974 album Burn and adding remixes. I have the anniversary version of In Rock and that was great, so this will be a must have for any Deep Purple fan. Their last album was Bananas in 2003. So many bands from the 60s and 70s are still touring and making albums. Even Bo Diddley is still touring. It is crazy that rock stars seem to either die young or live forever.

Guns N Roses are also a good example, even though most of the band has formed a new band, Velvet Revolver. Brian May even makes an appearance on the Gun’s new album. The gods of surviving though are Black Sabbath. With all four members still alive, they are touring and there is talk of a new album. Ozzy Osbourne, a man with ADD, dyslexia, a life time of hard drugs and alcohol, was abused as a child and has a metal plate in his head due to a buggy crash, is still promoting a giant metal concert, OzzFest. He recently brought out a 4 disk box set with new recorded material on it. Now, only if John Bonham was still alive! Deep Purple goes on tour June 11^th

Dream Theater: Scenes From A Memory Originally released: 1999, EastWest America

The idea of concept albums was first created by the Beatles with Sgt Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band and have often been very popular such as the Who’s Tommy and Queen’s A Night At The Opera. 30 years later the concept album is usually not attempted by mainstream bands but the progressive rock metal band Dream Theater have come up with a cracker. The album is set around a character, Nicholas, being hypnotized and revealing the story of a murder investigation. This story is told in nine scenes with twelve songs, each unique in its own way but all an example of great musicianship.

This album is often named the band's greatest achievement. It is a great album - from the moment it sucks you in with its slow hypnotizing beginning (excuse the pun), it assaults your senses with powerful riffs and drum beats, enveloping you in its story. Throughout the album the band uses several different music styles, each played to perfection. The album itself must have been an experiment at perfection. The musicianship is amazing with fast changing tempos (19/16 and 15/8 - nuts), impossible shred guitar riffs and solos, piano ballads, good (in tune!) singing that really catches the right emotion, and YES, even a superb shred bass solo (really talented).

The instrumental song, The Dance of Eternity, is probably the most technically brilliant on the album, but from the song Overture 1928 to Beyond This Life the best fun can be had. A great metal album of the 90s, demonstrating real musical ability. I give this album 4.5 stars.

Who created Punk?

The punk of today is a little different to the punk of old. Whereas the punk of old was driven by a political agenda, punk today has lost this anti-establishment bite, retaining just the ‘punk’ sound - although that's not true of bands like the Living End, the Offspring and Green Day .

A forerunner of the punk movement was the 1920’s German expressionist movement, which pushed out the boundaries of creative expression, opposing Nazism and the cultural uniformity it imposed. When the Nazis came to power the movement was forced underground, re-emerging at various times in new artistic forms.

Punk has always been about being non-conformist. The dictionary meaning of punk is rock music with deliberately offensive lyrics expressing anger and social alienation; in part a reaction against progressive rock. During the 1960’s it was bands like the Who and the Rolling Stones who were offending and ‘standing up for their rights’. During the Vietnam War many anti-war bands protested loudly. But these bands still played acid, folk and progressive rock.

During the mid '70s a genre developed that was opposed to previous forms of music and was anti-establishment. The band that first created the punk sound must be penned to the American band the Ramones. They released a punk album first in 1976. The 'get out my face', out of tune singing and the fast-tempoed songs kicked it off. After this came classic songs such as Beat on the Brat and Blitzkrieg Bop. The following year the Clash and the Sex Pistols released their debut albums. Although popular the Clash took two years to hit it big with London Calling. The Sex Pistols were instantly popular with Never Mind The Bollocks and Here’s The Sex Pistols, which appealed to the angry and rebellious youth of England.

Although only releasing two studio albums, due to the lead singer, Sid Vicious, dying of an heroin overdose, the Sex Pistols are often heralded as the band that popularized Punk as a genre. They defiantly influenced the way people dressed and behaved. Through the 80's, the Clash and the Ramones kept punk in the mainstream, although very 'alternative' to popular music at the time. Other bands that joined in the punk movement were Black Flag and the Dead Kennedys, who like the Clash, were very political .

Out of Punk a different genre called Ska emerged in the 80's. This was a fusion of punk with reggae and jazz. Popular bands of this movement were the Smiths, the Specials and Madness. Without punk, ska would not have existed and the eventual creation of grunge may not have happened, but more about that another time.

The Ramones are underrated as actors in the creation of punk. As other genres took off in '74 (such as Metal and Glam) the Ramones were not yet seen in this light.

Song Review: Welcome to the Jungle, Written By: Guns N Roses

This song is one of my all time favorites. It is also the song that launched the career of metal band Guns N Roses. This and a number of other songs is what kept metal alive during those dark times when many different popular genres were being created. The year was 1986, and this song was spilling over the air waves to a young generation who didn’t yet have rock & roll heroes. AC/DC, Aerosmith and Motley Crue were the real super powers in metal at the time and were defiantly great in their own right but when Gun N Roses hit the scene they were heralded as the new rolling stones, the new bad boys of rock and roll.

The song did very well in the charts and won the Best New Artist category at the MTV Video Music Awards where they performed the song live. The song itself is technically brilliant with two guitarist working over time to produce a great sound that is clear, heavy and rocks. Great bass line, great drums and great vocals. The song is about LA and its dark side. The songs talks of drugs and how superficial the materialistic world of the city is. It is about the chaos and anarchy that you would find in a jungle and that deep down the city is no different. A great riff and a great solo. 5 stars for a metal classic.

Top Thirty Songs

Just in case you’re wondering what my favorite songs of all time are, I’m going to post them. Not in order of 'favoriteness' 'cause that would be too hard. I will do a favorite albums article, followed by a best song and albums of all time list later on. If you want to list your favorite songs you can in the comment box below. So here are my favs in no particular order:

Cream: Sunshine of Your Love

Bob Dylan: Highway 61 Revisited

The Rolling Stones: Sympathy For The Devil

The Beatles: Sgt Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band

Led Zeppelin: Stairway to Heaven

The Kinks: You Really Got Me

The Ramones: Blitzkrieg Bop

Jimi Hendrix: Voodoo Child (Slight Return)

The Animals: House Of The Rising Sun

Queen: Another One Bites The Dust

Aerosmith: Walk This Way

Guns N Roses: Welcome to the Jungle

The Clash: Should I Stay Or Should I Go

Muddy Waters: Mannish Boy

Black Sabbath: Iron Man

The Who: I Can See For Miles

Led Zeppelin: Heartbreaker

The Who: I Can’t Explain

Depeche Mode: Personal Jesus

Deep Purple: Child in Time

Incubus: A Certain Shade of Green

Steppenwolf: Magic Carpet Ride

The White Stripes: I Think I Smell a Rat

The Beatles: Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds

Red Hot Chili Peppers: Blood Sugar Sex Magic

Black Sabbath: Behind The Wall Of Sleep

U2: Elevation

Machine Gun Fellatio: Girl Of My Dream Is Giving Me Nightmares

The White Stripes: Ball and Biscuit

Queens Of The Stone Age: Go With The Flow

If you want to put your own list please do so in the comments.

The Rolling Stones Still Going

The Rolling Stones, legends in their own lifetime. These guys are amazing, having created some of the best songs (I Can’t Get No Satisfaction and Sympathy For The Devil) and albums (Exile On Main Street and Beggars Banquet) of all time. They are 41 years old and still producing albums (a new one out soon). Then to top it off they are going on another tour kicking off in august. These guys are in their sixties and have had a life time of hard liquor and drugs. But they are going to tour. Unbelievable! But I suppose Black Sabbath and the Who do it as well. The question is will the tour match up to the standard of last year’s extremely successful 40 licks tour? We will have to see. The new album is much awaited.

U2 :Achtung, Baby. Originally released: 1991,Island Records

Arguably U2’s best album Achthung was definitely a new step for the band away from its popular rock ballads. Achtung definitely has a rockier feel to it with tracks like Mysterious Ways and The Fly. I considered these tracks to be the best on the album. But what an album it is. The ballads that made famous are still there with One and Who’s Gonna Ride You Wild Horses. But there is a new experimental thing going on with disco and synth. The best of these is Even Better Than The Real Thing and Until The End Of The World. The album seems more personal than previous political driven albums and there is emotional under tone right the way through. The great thing about this band are musicians who are actually really talented, so no member stands out to much, but as a band they do. Bono appears to stand out because he is a showman, but this is only live. In an album, they are a four man band, each giving 100%. I give this album 4 stars.

Song Review: House of the Rising Sun, Written By: Old Traditional U.S. Song

House of the Rising Sun is about hard times and despair. In British and American ballads of the times the 'rising sun' was a symbol for brothels and gambling dens. It was very popular in the south among black and white musicians. A song called The Rising Sun was first recorded in 1928 by Texas Alexander, a black blues player, but the song has roots in the 1700's.It was first recorded commercially 1n 1938 by Roy Acuff. The Almanac Singers were the first to popularize the modern version of the song in 1941. It is about a southern girl trapped in a New Orleans brothel and it has become a popular folk song.

Bob Dylan did a version on his 1962 debut album but the most popular version of the song is the 1964 remake by the Animals. A couple of lines have been changed as well as the gender of the song's subject. The song is a rock song with a ¾ time signature. It also has a fantastic keyboard solo. Allan Price rewrote the song. The playing of notes within the chords during the song was also an innovation that made the song popular.

It is a good song for beginning guitar and bass players to get their fingers moving - especially for guitar players learning finger picking and chord progression. Keyboard players can also get a lot out this song. As a song I give it 5 stars for it’s musicality and it’s popularity. It is a rock classic and will probably always be played.

Album Covers

Does an album cover mean any thing to people? Do they make you want to buy the album regardless of the music inside? My favorite cover is the Californication album cover by the Red Hot Chili Peppers. It is great when a band puts thought into the cover because it can entice a buyer that little bit more into buying.

Piano Tribute To Nirvana

Well it’s good. Having listened to some of the tracks I can say that this tribute can actually get you to 'nirvana'. If you are a major Nirvana fan you might want to stay clear. The songs are really quite soothing and peaceful. It is a great idea ( and I love it) when artists have their work reinterpreted by other musicians. One other thing like this that I own is a jazz tribute to Jimi Hendrix. There is also a string tribute to Nirvana which I haven’t heard but have heard good things about. I really do like covers of songs when they sound good and different. A list of covered songs that have been well done is:

· Bob Dylan: All Along the Watch Tower. Covered by Jimi Hendrix

· Stevie Wonder: Higher Ground. Covered by Red Hot Chilli Peppers

· Gloria Gaynor: I Will Survive. Covered by Cake

· The Buggels: Video Killed The Radio Star. Covered by The Presidents of the United States of America

· Bob Dylan: Mr Tambourine Man. Covered by The Byrds

· Black Sabbath: Snowblind. Covered by System Of A Down

· The Ramones: Blitzkrieg Bop. Covered by Rob Zombie

· The Guess Who: American Woman. Covered by Lenny Kravitz

· Dusty Springfield: I Just Don’t Know What To With Myself. Covered by The White Stripes

· Depeche Mode: Personal Jesus. Covered by Marilyn Manson

· Gloria Jones: Tainted Love. Covered by both Soft Cell and Marilyn Manson

· Lead Belly: Black Girl/Where Did You Sleep Last Night. Covered by Nirvana

· David Bowie: Man Who Sold the World. Covered by Nirvana

· Lead Belly: Black Betty. Covered by both Ramjam and Spider Bait

· Led Zeppelin: Stairway To Heaven. Covered live by Frank Zappa

· AC/DC: Highway To Hell: Covered by Marilyn Manson

· Creedence Clearwater Revival: Fortunate Son. Covered by U2

· The Troggs: Wild Thing: Covered By Jimi Hendrix

· The Beatles: Helter Skelter. Covered by both U2 and Aerosmith

· The Beatles: Come Together. Covered by both NOFX and Aerosmith

· The Crickets’ Curtis: I Fought the Law. Covered by both The Bobby Fuller Four and The Clash

· Wings: Live and Let Die. Covered by Guns N Roses

· Bob Dylan: Knockin On Heavens Door: Covered by both Eric Clapton and Guns N Roses

· Rolling Stones: Sympathy for The Devil. Covered by Guns N Roses

· Lead Belly: Gallis Pole/Gallows Pole. Covered by Led Zeppelin

• Bob Dylan: Subterranean Homesick Blues. Covered by The Red Hot Chilli Peppers