YES - In search of the holy sound grail
Yes, founded in 1968, are one of the longest serving bands in progressive rock, alongside King Crimson and Van der Graaf Generator. It is all the more astonishing that they are not only nostalgically wallowing in old successes, but with "The Quest" after seven years once again have a new work at the start. Together with the current main players Steve Howe and Geoff Downes as well as other musicians of the classic band line-up, we not only discuss the new album, but also take an intensive look back: Exactly fifty years ago, the two albums of 1971 established Yes' progressive pioneering role at the time
STEVE HACKETT - Message of Hope
At the age of 71, Steve Hackett is busier than ever. While his former Genesis companions Collins, Banks and Rutherford want to present their old songs again on the "The Last Domino?" tour soon, their former guitarist (who was not informed about the tour plans) constantly reinvents himself. So Hackett doesn't play it safe on "Surrender Of Silence" either, although there's definitely a risk in this approach, as he admits good-humoredly in the eclipsed interview.
ISILDURS BANE & PETER HAMMILL - Found the balance
Following their highly acclaimed 2019 collaboration "In Amazonia", Swedish prog collective Isildurs Bane and British music legend Peter Hammill have come together once again to record a second album together. "In Disequilibrium" is markedly different from its predecessor - not only because Hammill's lyrics focus on the Corona pandemic and experiences in Lockdown, but also in terms of how it was created: Instead of gradually sending completed sound files back and forth, Isildurs Bane mastermind Mats Johansson confronted Hammill this time with largely finished tracks, to which he added lyrics and vocal parts - a challenge for both sides, as Hammill and Johansson told in the interview.
GEORGE HARRISON - 50 Years of All Things Must Pass
For the 50th anniversary, George Harrison's classic "All Things Must Pass" will be remixed and released in various deluxe editions - albeit with a one-year delay due to corona. Responsible for the remix was British sound engineer Paul Hicks, who had previously been involved in the arrangement of the tracks for the John Lennon retrospective "Gimme Some Truth", among others. On top of that, Hicks is good friends with Harrison's son Dhani, with whom he played in a band for a long time. We talked to him about the sense and nonsense of remixing a classic and the disadvantages of Phil Spector's production method.
FAUST - A myth that began 50 years ago
Whenever Krautrock is mentioned, the name Faust must also be mentioned. From 1971 onwards, this band created a series of extraordinary albums that remained largely commercially unsuccessful but are all the more artistically valuable. Active again since the 1990s and as innovative as ever, Faust now present the opulent box set "Faust 1971-1974", which, in addition to the first four albums, contains remarkable archive material - including the group's previously unreleased fifth work, recorded in 1974.
TUESDAY THE SKY - "I didn't start this project to sell a million albums with it"
Usually Jim Matheos is on the road in heavier realms - be it with Fates Warning, Arch/Matheos or OSI. In addition, the guitarist and composer also has a penchant for quiet, mostly instrumental soundscapes, which he lives out on his solo albums and with his project Tuesday The Sky. The latter's second album "The Blurred Horizon" was recently released, and the first two OSI albums were re-released at the end of July. Two good reasons for a conversation with the New Hampshire-based musician.
CHARLIE WATTS - Who played the song
Late in the afternoon of August 24, it was announced that Charlie Watts, drummer for the Rolling Stones since 1963, had died in a London hospital at the age of 80. For a moment the music world stood still, and not only Stones fans knew that with the silent drummer one of the greats had gone. The unusually many and warm-hearted expressions of grief from colleagues from all musical genres confirmed this. Farewell to a gentleman who became a worldwide revered legend.
RAY WILSON - Heavyweight Homo sapiens
On his seventh studio album, RAY WILSON philosophizes about being human ... The Scottish singer and songwriter is considered a workhorse live. Why he nevertheless came to terms with the Corona-related forced break surprisingly well, even more, why it even came in handy for him, and how the new album came about rather unplanned, he revealed in the eclipsed interview.
HOELDERLIN - Between Krautrock, Prog and German Poetry
Between Krautrock, Prog and German poetry. It bordered on a small miracle: After almost a quarter of a century, the Kraut and Prog pioneers of HOELDERLIN reunited in December 2005 and celebrated their stage comeback with a concert at WDR's "Rockpalast" in Bonn's Harmonie. Now the concert recording "Live At Rockpalast 2005" has been released on CD and DVD. We talked to longtime bass player Hans Bäär (real name Hans Maahn, brother of Wolf Maahn), who joined Hoelderlin in 1975, about the comeback and the development of the band.
DAVID COVERDALE - The cock rocker turns 70!
It's a running gag in the editorial office that we should translate a David Coverdale text for the "Further in the text" section. Probably the eclipsed would then only be allowed to be sold under the counter ... Dave, affinity for such innuendos, asks for a minute's pause during the interview when he hears this anecdote, as he is about to undergo surgery for his hernia. "When I look at my pants, I have to say these are the fattest balls I've ever had, but unfortunately I can't laugh, not even at myself, because then it gets painful ..." Shortly before, Old Cov had undergone surgery on both hips
LINDSEY BUCKINGHAM - The Unfinished Man
With Fleetwood Mac, Lindsey Buckingham has sold around 120 million albums and filled the biggest arenas in the world. But he hasn't been truly happy with it - the eternal feud with Stevie Nicks has sapped his nerves and his health. After being kicked out in 2018 and suffering a near-fatal heart attack the following year, the guitarist and singer is now attempting a fresh start with his seventh solo album, which he himself describes as "the small machine" and "musical painting". What does he mean by this? eclipsed got to grips with the almost 72-year-old.
FINALLY GEORGE confirms his artrock ambitions and qualities with "Icy Skies
In 2018, he came out of nowhere. Georg Hahn aka Finally George surprised the art rock community with his debut album "Life Is A Killer". The then 52-year-old advertising musician, who also called himself a "noise maker" at times, appeared so abruptly in the scene that the eclipsed interview on the release turned out to be his very first ever. From then on he was "infected" - a word that has taken on a new meaning in the course of the three years that have passed since then - by the idea of staying on the ball. And he has stayed on the ball - with his new album "Icy Skies"
Prog veterans Jeff Brewer and Robert Hutchinson convince as THE FAR CRY
"It's not easy being a prog band in the U.S.," moans Robert Hutchinson, drummer for The Far Cry, who have released an imposing first album, "If Only ...," bursting with ingenuity and playfulness. "Prog is more of an obscure niche market with us. Anyway, you don't get offers from clubs or bars like other rock bands." Hutchinson should know, because although "If Only ..." is the first album from the formation he formed a few years ago with singer and multi-instrumentalist Jeff Brewer, both musicians are well-known veterans in the American prog world
NILS-PETTER MOLVAER makes peace with himself on "Stitches
Since his 1997 debut album "Khmer", Norwegian sound painter Nils-Petter Molvær has fought just as many inner battles in numerous editions of his music. With sometimes painful directness, he revealed the contrast between his gentle and his aggressive side, which often clashed abruptly. This personal conflict was expressed differently on each album, sometimes subliminally, sometimes offensively. On his new CD "Stitches" the trumpeter seems to have made peace with himself.
The MANIC STREET PREACHERS have finally recorded another outstanding album
By his own admission, one of the primary sources of inspiration for the new Manics opus "The Ultra Vivid Lament" was the Swedish quartet ABBA, whose melodies songwriter James Dean Bradfield has always held in high regard. He thinks there's hardly a better setting than this to package the band's socially critical messages in a way suitable for the masses ..
For TRIFECTA the fun is in the foreground on their debut album "Fragments"
That soundchecks serve to try out and jam together is nothing unusual. However, the fact that a band develops from these, including an official record release, is the exception. This is what happened in the case of the three Steven Wilson musicians Craig Blundell (drums), Nick Beggs (bass) and Adam Holzman (keyboards). We talked to the latter about the background of Trifecta.
Irish project VILLAGERS declares war on the algorithm blues
Beatles or Beach Boys? Or maybe Gil Evans meets Alice Coltrane meets Todd Rundgren meets Burt Bacharach meets Bright Eyes? Villagers aka Conor O'Brien has created a surreal world on the new album "Fever Dreams", which awakens many memories of the familiar and the familiar and in the end amounts to a wonderful island of sound where you can rest from the stress of reality
HOT'N'NASTY "dying" to perform live again with their new album
Winner of the "German Blues Awards 2020" in the category "Band". And rightly so! "Burn", the recently released new album by Hot'N'Nasty, is more than impressive proof of this - and they should actually get the 2021 prize right away. "We've received awards before, but you can't buy anything for that, but it's something to be proud of," says Malte Triebsch, the band's Dortmund-based guitarist and songwriter, about honours of this kind.
AMYL AND THE SNIFFERS love it loud, angry, sexy and head-on!
On stage Amy Taylor has something of a dervish: she prefers to wear nothing but hot pants, bikini tops and a blonde mullet, screams her head off, swears and curses like a barker or puts overly intrusive (male) concertgoers in their place with punches and kicks. In other words: a force of nature, reminiscent of Wendy O. Williams from the Plasmatics, who once beguiled even Lemmy. That's why she's unrecognizable in person: a rather shy, unbelievably friendly and eager 26-year-old from Melbourne, who seems as if she couldn't hold back a drop of water.
... and much more!
