The 70s, one of the most racially difficult eras for Britain. Despite the general discrimination against the black population, it was very common for the police force to behave brutally against them. The Carnival of Notting Hill which started in 1959 as a response to a series of racist attacks that took place during the 50s, became crucial for the integration of the Caribbean immigrants. The year of 1976 was very important for the racial relationships in the country. London was like a bomb ready to explode as serious attacks occurred. In the summer, during the Notting Hill Carnival in the fear of a possible upcoming riot more than 3.000 police officers where gathered in the festival area. Continue reading »
The 24th of November was the 19th anniversary of the death of the front man of Queen, Freddie Mercury. Undoubtedly Queen is a group with a large diversity in their music. We can see it in the Innuendo album, in the Night at the Opera? There aren’t many of their albums that you can disregard.
Farrokh Bulsara (that was Mercury’s the original name) was born in Zanzibar. His ethnic cultural background is visible everywhere in the band, both in their compositions and the performance which was fresh change in the rock scene, a real revolution in music.
Mercury was a multi talented individual. At the age of 8 Freddie was sent in a boarding school in Mumbai (India) where he showed good performance not only in the arts but in gymnastics and boxing. He firstly formed the band “The Hectics” where he played the piano. He spent his childhood in India and then he went back to Zanzibar where, trying to escape from the local troubles, he moved to London. He studied arts in Feitham and Isleworth and also graphic design in the Ealing Art College. During this time his main music influences were the Who, The Beatles, Aretha Franklin,Elvis Presley, The Rolling Stones, Jimi Hendrix, and more. Continue reading »
“Well I’m standing by a river, but the water doesn’t flow, It boils with every poison you can think of, and I’m underneath the streetlights, but the light of joy I know, scared beyond belief way down in the shadows” – Chris Rea. An English songwriter with dedicated fans who became famous in the late 80’s especially with the songs “Heaven“, “Blue Cafe”, “Road to hell“, “On the beach“. Today he is withdrawn from his international pop career and focuses mostly on his blues origins and performances.
Rea started his career in the late 70’s and his music then was different comparing to his famous songs. The first albums sound more like blues and there is nothing remarkable about them as they still sound immature (with the exception of “Fool if you Think it’s Over”). Chris Rea started sounding good from the “Chris Rea” album of 1982 where we find the song “With every beat of my heart”. This is a fantastic ballad where the for first time we identify his rich Italian influences (he is of Italian descent). Next comes the album ?Water Sign? which clearly shows good improvement with the notable songs “Candles” and “Texas”. Not so good was the “Wired to the Moon” album where the title song is the only worthy one. Continue reading »
The Scorpions: a hard rock band from Hanover, Germany that sold over 75 million albums worldwide has been pronounced “Germany’s No. 1 Rock Export” and reached the peak of their fame with their monster ballads ‘Rock You Like a Hurricane”, “Still Loving You”, “Holiday”, “The Wind of Change”. And still it is strange that and in most of the English-speaking countries they are a relatively unknown or non-signinficant band. It definitely is an underrated band and at the same time there are other musicians/bands that are wildly successful but musically speaking, inferior to the Scorpions.
Their first two albums sound completely different comparing to the Scorpions we know today. Lonesome Crow and Fly to the Rainbow have nothing to do with their subsequent material due to the lineup changes. These two albums are the hidden treasures of their career. Michael Schenker was the lead guitar in “Lonesome Crow” and in the second album Uli Roth’s guitar and makes it sound great.Continue reading »
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