eclipsed No. 156 / 12-2013 - 1-2014

GOOD TIMES, BAD TIMES
Led Zeppelin in the Mirror of the World Press: 1968-1980

The reverberation of Led Zeppelin is enormous. The band hasn't existed for more than 30 years, but they're still being reported on - almost unchecked. The coverage of her unique reunion concert in December 2007 was indeed just as hysterical as it was during her active reign. This era, the years 1968 to 1980, we trace on the following pages from the perspective of the contemporary world press and send our best wishes to the jubilarian Jimmy Page.

KEITH RICHARDS
The Soul of the Stones

Mick Jagger is the businessman and health fanatic. Charlie Watts the elitist jazz player. Ronnie Wood the eternal child's head. Keith Richards, on the other hand, stands for the essence and soul of the Rolling Stones: he plays what he lives, has seen and tried everything and today presents himself as the Elder Statesman of Rock'n'Roll. On the occasion of Richards' Seventieth on 18 December, Marcel Anders remembers his encounters with the primitive rock. A birthday speech in 8500 characters.

AYREON
Everything at the beginning

Arjen Lucassen has reinvented the Ayreon universe. After the projects Guilt Machine and Star One as well as the solo album "Lost In The New Real" the Dutchman even conjures up memories of "Into The Electric Castle" with "Theory Of Everything". With its four longtracks, the double album is also probably the most demanding, enigmatic and fragmentary Ayreon album ever.

DAY OF POETS
To the death of Lou Reed

Feedback inquisitor, speed freak, gallant cynic, gifted songwriter and lyricist, glam idol, gay icon, rock'n'roll animal, New York chronicler - the artist Lou Reed had unusually many facets and loved to undermine them again at the same moment. The Grantler, feared by journalists and even by fellow musicians, always took only one path - his own. It ended on 27 October.

OZRIC TENTACLES
30 Years of Maximum

Colour'n'Sound Probably no other active band stands for such a colourful sound cosmos full of psychedelic space sounds and driving grooves as the Ozric Tentacles. She has been true to herself and her style for thirty years now. Time for a review with mastermind Ed Wynne.

MIKE & THE MECHANICS
Second volume de luxe

What drives a rock star, who rushed from success to success with his band in the middle of the eighties, to found a second band? And Mike & The Mechanics is not just any side project, but a well-oiled hit machinery that sells records worldwide. Two years before the band's 30th anniversary, a new compilation is released, including a new and a previously unreleased song. eclipsed chatted with chief mechanic Mike Rutherford.

MARILLION
30 years "Script For A Jester's Tear"

In March 1983 the debut album "Script For A Jester's Tear" was released by a young band that had caused a lot of furore in their homeland Great Britain in the months before. Thirty years later the record is regarded as one of the milestones of Neoprog. eclipsed went in search of traces and spoke exclusively with guitarist Steve Rothery, singer Fish and drummer Mick Pointer about the history of the masterpiece.

MONKEY3
At eye level with yourself

With "The 5th Sun" the Swiss formation Monkey3 presents a milestone of New Artrock. An album that combines power, elegance and groove with such a dynamic force as you have only known from another album before: Monkey3's 2006 recording "39 Laps".

More in the lyrics! cult songs and their meaning
PRINCE - SIGN "☮" THE TIMES

Actually, Prince is better known for his revealing lyrics, in which it crackles with frivolity. The only item on the agenda is sex. The all-rounder surprised all the more with a musically minimalistic track: Accompanied only by a monotonous guitar riff and a drum computer playing in staccato beat, Prince announces the signs of the times in newsreader manner...

EINKAUFSZETTEL DREAM THEATER
Complex Hardness

At the beginning of the eighties sand comes into the gearbox of the North American prog scene. But at the same time the seed of British heavy metal falls on fertile ground in the USA, where a whole generation of young musicians worships Rush like gods. From the middle of the eighties the scene picks up speed again. Watchtower are getting into nirvana with "Energetic Disassembly" (1985), Fates Warning publish the milestone "Awaken The Guardian" in 1986, and Dream Theater follow up with "When Dream And Day Unite" three years later. Founded in 1985 by the Berklee students John Petrucci (guitar), John Myung (bass) and Mike Portnoy (drums) under the name Majesty, the band developed after their furious underground debut on "Images And Words" (1992) a hitherto unheard of mixture of technical finesse and epic catchy songwriting that defines the genre to this day.