The current issue / eclipsed No. 230 / 05-21

BOB DYLAN - 80 Years of Masquerade

Bob Dylan is not only one of the greatest musicians in rock history, he also stands for a constant questioning of his own role and position like no other. As an artist, he hides his true self behind constantly changing masks, not only trying out musical styles like clothes, but also constantly searching for a new identity to present to his audience as "Bob Dylan". On the occasion of his 80th birthday, eclipsed has decided not to write another comprehensive tribute to a great career, but to go into the most important phases of his creative period one by one, because this is the only way to understand this mysterious artist and his multi-layered work.

KRAUTROCK Part 5 - The history of Krautrock from 1980 to today

From the beginning of the eighties, new styles such as German punk, independent and especially the NDW replaced the "rock from German lands". Many bands like Novalis and Hoelderlin, who at least partially embodied the genre in the past, slipped into shallow waters, Anyone's Daughter still did well with the Hermann Hesse-inspired "Pictor's Metamorphoses" (1981), but generally there was a "shift in the shaft". It would be a decade before interest turned back to the highly creative and productive years of Krautrock's heyday. Especially specialized reissue labels brought many forgotten pearls back to light since the 90s.

JETHRO TULL - Half a Century of "Aqualung

On the album cover a homeless man with shaggy hair in a beggar's coat. Aqualung" got its title from his rattling breathing sounds, which sounded like a diver's lung. With its musical class, which combined hard rock, fine folk, romantic classical motifs and jazzy improvisation, the work was well received worldwide and is considered a milestone in Jethro Tull's band history as well as in rock and prog history in general. We roll up the history and meaning of "Aqualung" with mastermind Ian Anderson and guitarist Martin Barre.

RPWL - Silver lining in the german artrock sky

A good twenty years ago RPWL stepped into the limelight with their debut album. Their album "God Has Failed" completely revived the art rock after the Floydian model in German lands. Now the band from Freising celebrates their anniversary with a live recording - in Corona times only for the living room at home. Singer/keyboardist Yogi Lang and guitarist Kalle Wallner talk about the new recording, look back at the time of the album's creation and also tell about the special relationship between RPWL and the Aschaffenburg eclipsed circle.

LAZULI - Abbey Road in the South of France

The French formation Lazuli is in many ways unique in the progressive rock scene. This is due to their unique musical approach between prog, folk, chanson and world music. It's because of her outfit, her special live presence and her close relationship to her fans. Our guest author Marcus Cordier went on a house visit to Deaux in the south of France. Claude and Dominique Leonetti willingly gave information about their home base, the current album "Dénudé" and the change on the six strings from Gédéric Byar to Arnaud Beyney

NANCY WILSON - "Mama Rock" - A Woman To Steal A Horse From

Nancy Wilson, best known as the guitarist of Heart, releases her first solo album at the age of 67 - a work with which she counters several misconceptions: for instance, that her band is a purely American phenomenon, that she had her best musical moments in the 1970s and has hardly any relevance today. As far as the latter is concerned, "You And Me" is a resounding slap in the face for all such critics, because the first woman on lead guitar in a successful rock band shows that she hasn't lost anything, but has learned a lot.

GODSPEED YOU! BLACK EMPEROR - Art as Resistance

We're approaching the apocalypse? No, we're already in the middle of it. This is the credo of the Canadian band Godspeed You! Black Emperor, who herald doom with their eighth album "G_d's Pee AT STATE'S END!". With their own statements to the press, Godspeed You! Black Emperor have always been very reserved. But Ian Ilavsky, co-founder of the Constellation label and close confidant of the band, gives us insight into the background of an album that is a kind of new beginning for GY!BE

STEVE CROPPER, who made the world groove, returns with new album

If there's one musician who deserves to be called a "veteran", it's the master of grooves who now lives in Nashville, Tennessee. Back in the early sixties, he was already shooing dance-hungry teenagers onto the dance floor with Booker T. & The M.G.'s. A storybook career followed, during which Steve Cropper made a name for himself as a guitarist, composer and producer. The down-to-earth musician was not only equally praised by Eric Clapton or Keith Richards, but also wrote proverbial evergreens like "Knock On Wood", "In The Midnight Hour" or "(Sittin' On) The Dock Of The Bay"

PAT METHENY puts down the guitar and lets others play for him

Hardly any other musician has revolutionized the electric guitar in the last four and a half decades as fundamentally as Pat Metheny. With his Synclavier guitar and various other technical innovations, but also with his cinematic imagery, he has created countless sound epics. On his new album "Road To The Sun" he does not play himself for long stretches, but lets play. The record consists of three parts. In the first suite "Four Paths Of Light" the classical virtuoso Jason Vieaux performs, the six-part Ritel suite is interpreted by the renowned L. A. Guitar Quartet, and only the last piece from the pen of the Estonian composer Arvo Pärt is played by Metheny himself.

For their first cover album MONSTER MAGNET dig deep into the past

"A Better Dystopia" sounds like Monster Magnet through and through - and yet it wasn't written by them. Instead, bandleader Dave Wyndorf curated gems from the psych-rock underground - a declaration of love to the music of his childhood.

Even after a heart attack Ton Scherpenzeel still feels like KAYAK

Ton Scherpenzeel can't let it go. The 68-year-old is a musician through and through, neither Corona nor a heart attack, which he suffered in October 2019, stops him. For 49 years now (with a long break between 1981 and 1999) he has been the boss of Kayak, arguably the most important Dutch prog rock band besides Focus. Whereas: he would disagree with the last sentence, because he says: "We could play a concert exclusively with prog music, yes. But we are not a prog band. That would only be half the truth."

Older and healthier, RYLEY WALKER finds himself on "Course In Fable"

Unwrapping an album by Ryley Walker is always a bit like freeing a Christmas present from its wrapping paper. If you like Walker, you know you can't be disappointed, and yet it's always completely open what exactly is waiting inside the wrapping. Currently Ryley has two new albums on the go, the song album "Course In Fable" on his own new label Husky Pants and a drone album with Chicago permanent innovator David Grubbs

With "A Secret To Hide" POVERTY'S NO CRIME start into their anniversary year

Poverty's No Crime are rich. Rich in experience, after all, the band has existed for 30 years, 20 of which were completed in the current line-up alone. Rich in creativity, with "A Secret To Hide" the number of released albums rises to eight. And rich in musical competence, their melodic progressive metal has maintained an amazing qualitative and stylistic consistency over all this time.

Even Corona can't shake the newcomers of IVY GOLD on their debut

"We didn't actually plan to make an album, and certainly not to make it this big," says singer Manou, still seeming a bit baffled when it comes to why and how the rather private project with husband Sebastian Eder, ex-guitarist of prog-metallers Avalon, eventually turned into a band with a remarkable line-up and the debut "Six Dusty Winds". "We started writing together and eventually these ten, twelve songs were ready. Which we also wanted to record, but more or less just for us. Sebastian then pre-produced the songs. Because we both always have a high standard, the whole thing should be well recorded."

CAMERON GRAVES brings jazz rock and thrash metal to a common denominator on "Seven"

Nine o'clock in the morning in Los Angeles. Cameron Graves has not yet practiced the piano, but he has already completed his daily martial arts program. He especially appreciates the meditative aspect of Xingyiquan and reports that his mentor Stanley Clarke is also a big martial arts fan. He has been friends with the ex-bassist of Return To Forever for many years: "When I was 17, I went to an audition with Stanley and took my friends from the West Coast Get Down [musician collective from Los Angeles; author's note] with me: Kamasi Washington, Ronald and Stephen Bruner [a.k.a. Thundercat; note], Miles Mosley. However, none of us made it, except Ronald, the drummer." Ten years later, things did work out for Graves, albeit only as a keyboardist.

...and much more!