Desert Island Albums
Jul 21
THE HOT 100 CLASSIC ROCK ALBUMS I’ve compiled a list of the top 100 CLASSIC ROCK albums which some of which have been featured as album of he month on the ROCK-IT With the Artist-Cat radio show – on Sydney’s triplehfm. I play these start to finish ‘unabridged’ and additional plays will be featured as part of specials from time to time. So the criteria here is simply that you can play the album end to end and there isn’t a bad track on it – if you were stuck on a desert island, these would be the albums you’d be happy to play time and time again and still be enjoying them years later. So here goes – here is the HOT 100. Commentary on the list is welcome, but there were strict criteria in compiling this. Firstly, we do have standards, so no punk or disco will be added. Secondly, we have standards, so the musicians have to be able to actually play their instruments and the singers have to be able to sing – no shallow gloss, which probably wipes out anything that appeared on the likes of ‘Idol’ for a start… Finally, we have standards, so anything which is droning and miserable sounding (like Radiohead) will be excluded. With all this in mind here are the “Desert Island Albums” which will be featured on the show. Check out Facebook or the “ROCK IT with the ARTIST-CAT” blog for dates when these will be played. The Hot 100 … (subject to change). 1. The Dark Side of the Moon – Pink Floyd [Played]. The ultimate in prog rock. This album stayed on the top 100 billboard albums chart for over 10 years – enough said. If you haven’t heard it – get yourself a record (or DVD audio) player, crank it up and close your eyes. 2. Hotel California – the Eagles [Played]. From the haunting opening riff and guitarist Don Felder’s incredible guitar solo on the title track, through to the beautifully tragic ‘Last Resort’, this masterpiece is the Eagles at their absolute zenith. If you could only buy one Eagles album, this is it …! 3. Déjà vu – Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young [Played]. This seminal supergroup only ever produced one studio album together, but as they say – the whole is greater than the sum of the parts. A must have in any serious music...
ROCK-IT, Artist Cat’s Radio Show
Apr 27
This is a page for programming updates for my radio shows, ROCK-IT with the Artist Cat… classic, rare and new rock (with blues)! Tune in to “Triple H FM” at this link here. Buy signed books…! Love the 70s? Take a trip down memory lane with on my books on 70s culture and rock music “The WONG WAY to MARRY” and “TRIPPIN’ the WRIGHT WAY”. Bookmark this page. a third book is in the works – stay tuned!!!! To buy signed books contact the Cat direct on Facebook Sydney shoppers can also buy signed copies at these great outlets: Red Eye Records, York Street, Sydney CBD; Mojo Music, York Street, Sydney CBD. ROCK-IT: ARTIST-CAT WEEKLY PROGRAM UPDATE LATEST NEWS The Cat will be returning to air in 2015 with a new co-host on the ROCK-IT show – 2HHH’s “Neil the Noob” (from Streetbeat fame!) Go to the ROCK IT Facebook Page for latest weekly updates! Every THIRD Wednesday of the month is “Desert Island Album” week – check out the hot 100 here Re-runs: We will repeat the three part special “HISTORY OF THE BLUES” with special guest presenters including Kevin Borich, Billy TK (Jnr) and Phil Jones. Kevin Borich at Triple H 100.1 (Hornsby studio) Recording ‘Blues Power” Link Hagley Park Christchurch NZ – 1974 NEW FEATURES The Musical LINK – including exclusive interviews with All Link members (and ex-cChapta vocalists), featuring Dick Whatson and Dave Kennedy. HISTORY OF THE EAGLES – Pts 1 & 2 Pt1 – On A Dark Desert Highway. From the beginning to life in the fast lane… Pt2 – Checked Out, but you can never leave. Solo years, the Resumption (Hell Freezes Over), the ‘farewells’… ARCHIVES Date: 3 June 2012 Show: The Cats Top 5 Revisited! The inaugural ROCK-IT show will repeat the Cats top 5 special songs as featured on “the Music Almanac” back in August 2011 with Rufus On Fire. Catch music from Led Zep, Deep Purple, Jimi Hendrix, The Allman Brothers Band, Eagles and local bands Ticket and Space Farm, with an exclusive interview with ‘Link’ front-man Dave Kennedy… Date: 10 June 2012 Show: Ticket to the Show – Ticket’s debut album AWAKE from 1971 is one of the most heavily bootlegged underground albums of the era. Hendrix inspired acid blues to Buddy Miles and Traffic style jazzy funk, this is a classic must have Desert Island Album. Triple H 100.1 FM ...
Kevin Hill – Rock Photographer
Apr 14
Kevin Hill. Rock Photographer for the Christchurch Music Scene 1968-1980 Kevin Hill was one of the most important rock photographers to capture the history of the Christchurch music scene from 1968-1980. He has a great love of music and also played in bands. He has a natural ability to take great photos of the musicians and bands, both on stage and off during that exciting time of our youth and the great music that was being played in the Motor Inns, Pubs, Dances, Halls and Night Clubs around Christchurch. Musicians during that period remember him saying, “These pictures of you guys will be part of history and they will be important in the future” and he has been proven right with the huge interest in his photographs today. Neville Claughton, a prominent Christchurch musician said: “Kevin was everywhere in those days and thank goodness he was as he was brilliant at taking great photos. It was the most interesting era of music and will never be repeated again, he is responsible for capturing our Christchurch music history, Kev you are a gem”. His photographs have appeared in newspapers, advertising, film documentaries, books, LP, tape and CD covers and inserts. Photography and music was his passion and he combined the both to record an era of the music history of Christchurch New Zealand. His day job as an Electrical engineer saw him move from Christchurch to Auckland in 1985 where he went back to photography and went on to be a very successful photographer in that city and having two studios in Queen Street in the central business district specializing in actor’s portfolios, commercial and fashion photography. In the 90’s he went to University and studied for a Diploma in real estate and today is on the management board of Harcourts Cooper and Co a highly successful company and he is a respected Manager, trainer and mentor to a National award winning sales team. Kevin has said. “As the song goes. music is my first love and it will be my last” If you would like to contact Kevin his email address is [spam]Kevin.hill@harcourts.co.nz[remove spam] The link to Kevin’s musical photo collection is: Christchurch Music Scene 1968-1980 photostream Updated Nov 2011: More photos have been added and original versions remastered for cleaner sharper images! VISUAL MEMORIES – the book is now available (2015); contact Kevin for your copy...
Dave Kennedy – LINK “Only Time Could Let Us Know” / “Highway Driver”
Aug 16
Dave Kennedy, singer / songwriter / musician headed the band LINK from 1973-1975 (after the demise of the Chapta, who had previously won the Loxenne Golden Disc Award for their song “Say A Prayer”). They officially released one single, double-A sided: ‘Only Time Could Let Us Know’ / ‘Highway Driver’ with ‘The Day You Came Into My Life’. The song reached the national top twenty in New Zealand and won the 1973 RATA Award for Best Group Song of the year. A little known fact is that the band also recorded a song titled “Break the Ice” which only ever appeared on a compilation LP titled “New Zealand’s Top 12 Groups”. The song is slightly heavier than “Only Time”, more reminiscent of the music Nazareth or Foghat were putting out at the time and never was released as a single [reportedly because the record company execs didn’t like it]. The two principle songwriters in Link were Dave Kennedy and keyboardist Dave Gillies. Due to gruelling work schedules rhythm section members changed frequently – the original line up below consisted of: Craig Nicholson (drums), Dave Kennedy (vocal / guitar), Nev Claughton (bass), Dave Gillies (keys). After Link Dave moved to London (in the mid 70s) then to Sydney, Melbourne and finally Auckland in the 90s. He was called back to his native Invercargill in 2003 and was awarded Southland’s vocalist of the year in 2005. He still sings and is a talented musician – playing guitar, bass and drums. To contact Dave go to this site:...
Medium, Rare and Well Done – Hard To Find NZ LP’s From The 1970’s and Early 80’s
Jun 15
There are some rare little gems from the shaky isles still on vinyl which have never been re-mastered and released on CD and for years it was assumed that they never would. Sadly, this means that they are as rare as hens teeth and attract ridiculous prices from vinyl scalpers around the world. Case in point are “original presses” of albums like “Ticket – Awake” which up until recently changed hands at prices akin to gold … well not quite, but a 120 gram vinyl record selling for $400 USD has got to be considered gold. There is some call you’d think to reissue these on CD and thus alleviate the pressure on prices. Only the resellers benefit; the bands themselves get no royalties for second hand sales and as for those who simply want to listen to the music it’s just downright hard to get hold of, if you can. OK there are a few “Best Of’s” and various artist compilation albums about – but they are largely eclectic collections that leave you somewhat wanting. Basically, nothing beats getting the original album, with perhaps a few bonus single tracks added. Now back in the 1980s when I started up my archival music collection (I’m still going some 30 odd years later) I tried to track down bands to see if they would be putting out their records on CD. To my dismay I discovered that record labels like CBS had dumped the original masters. But it gets worse… other producers sold the rights off-shore and as to access to the masters, well, who knows … the bands certainly don’t have the rights! Then you get all the label buy outs and the signing away of rights in perpetuity, so that even if the artists want to release their own works 30 years or more after the so called “sound recording mechanical rights” normally expire – it all just becomes ‘too hard’! There is some relief in play though – Ticket have released their classic 1971 album AWAKE on CD, so it’s available to the world again (and hopefully this will take the sting out of second hand record prices). You can now buy this in music stores, on eBay and on websites (like www.gocatalogue.com ) around the world. Wellington band ‘Highway’ have re-release their only self titled album on CD – great, I won’t have to try and...