A Hart Life

Colin Hart & Dick Allix

Here’s classic case of not judging a book by its cover. One look at Colin Hart, the former Deep Purple and Rainbow tour manager who adorns this book’s cover, and you’ll be quick to judge the man as a smokin’ ‘n boozin’ wastoid. And while Hart danced with the demons of the road, his book about 30 years as a key confidant of one of Britain’s most legendary bands is a joyful read for anyone with a curious eye for the rock and roll life. Plus, this is probably the most insight you’ll ever get on the many moods of Ritchie Blackmore.

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FCA! 35 Tour: An Evening With
Peter Frampton

Peter Frampton

If you missed Frampton’s swing through your town, celebrating Frampton Comes Alive!, the biggest album of his career, this set — available as a triple CD, double DVD or single Blu-Ray — will more than make up for it. Not only does Frampton and his young band play the whole album, they also dig into more recent albums, Thank You Mr. Churchill and the Grammy-winning instrumental Fingerprints, which features a slithery take on Soundgarden’s “Black Hole Sun.” Frampton also pays homage to George Harrison with a beautiful rendition of “While My Guitar Gently Weeps.”

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A Knight In York

Blackmore’s Night

Blackmore’s Night fits right in with the holidays, and this DVD/CD live set most certainly will stir up the naysayers who think Ritchie Blackmore has indefinitely shelved his Strat for a lute and a pair of tights. Yes, it is mostly acoustic, Celtic and Renaissance-style music. But then three songs in, Blackmore does indeed strap on his cream-colored Strat for an extended solo on “The Circle.” That tone we all know and love cuts through like butter on a pretty driving tune. Really, the whole band is blooming with talent. Candice Night capably sings the songs, works the frontline and delights the audience between the songs with light banter. At one point, she brings out her and Blackmore’s young daughter. Seeing the guitarist as a doting father counters virtually everything Colin Hart makes him out to be in his book. It’s fair to say, a lot more than the music has changed for Ritchie Blackmore. .

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All I Need To Know I Learned From KISS:
Life Lessons From The
Hottest Band In The Land

Chris Epting

There are several reasons why KISS fans love KISS, and renowned music journalist Chris Epting sets out to explain how that love has had a measurable impact upon his own life. Prompted by an interview with the band, Epting documents growing up as an East coast teenager of the 70s, and he enlists KISStory milestones as his guide. Toward the end of the book, he lists 10 “key specific qualities that have been reinforced in my life, by KISS.” Even if you’re not swayed by the band’s music and image, you can’t deny their success; Epting makes a strong case for how their determination and hard work inspired him in his career. With an introduction by Stone Temple Pilot’s Robert DeLeo and the full support of KISS, this is a fun read anyone, KISS lover or hater, will shout out loud about.

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Making Tracks

The Yardbirds

Celebrating their 50th anniversary in 2013, the Yardbirds are still touring with two original members – drummer Jim McCarty and guitarist Chris Dreja – and three other younger and suitably talented players: singer, guitarist and harpist Andy Mitchell (since 2009), bassist David Smale (since 2009), and lead guitarist Ben King (since 2005). This double DVD captures the present version of the Yardbirds, and cynics may be pleasantly blow away by the performances. Ben King has the solos and then some down cold, while Mitchell is every bit the singer and harpist that Keith Relf aspired to be. All the classic like “Shapes Of Things” and “For Your Love” are greased up and prodded out, but when the players go off on a “rave up” during a roll through “Happening Ten Years Time,” “Dazed And Confused” and “I’m A Man,” you really get a sense the Yardbirds are still a viable band to see live. Rounded out with Glimpses (a tour documentary), band interviews, songs by the Jim McCarty Band, and more music from the Yardbirds, Making Tracks is one stocking stuffer anyone will dig.

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XX

Rage Against The Machine

This isn’t your typical Vintage Rock item, but we figure if Tom Morello can sit in with Bruce Springsteen…uh…close enough. And with 20 years behind them, Rage Against the Machine is getting there…so the dubiously titled XX celebrates the 20th anniversary of the band’s eponymous debut album in grand style. Originally released in November 1992, Rage Against the Machine were pioneers in the fusion of hip-hop and heavy metal with politically charged lyrics defiantly executed by singer vocalist Zack de la Rocha and Morello’s kinetically kinky approach to the guitar. The anniversary release is available in several enticing configurations: a box set with two CDs, two DVDs, a 12″ 180 gram vinyl LP, a 40-page booklet and two-sided poster; two CDs and a bonus DVD featuring six tracks in an oversized softpack; a single CD with three bonus tracks; and a single 12″ 180gm vinyl edition (a picture disc and a facsimile reproduction) without the bonus tracks. Not much to get in a rage about here at all.

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Live In California 1974

Emerson Lake & Palmer

Contrary to what you hear, this is not the first time these recordings have been released — video has even been released — but they are the best and most complete. Somehow Shout! Factory remastered the Cal Jam tapes, drawn from some unsavory source of who-the-hell-knows, and they actually punched up the tinty pre-FM noise with real lows and depth. For what is arguably Emerson, Lake and Palmer greatest concert, Live In California 1974 is a glorious overview that captures the talents of Keith Emerson, Greg Lake and Carl Palmer — individually and collectively at the height of their powers, playing most of Brain Salad Surgery, piano interludes, acoustic ballads and a huge chunk of Pictures Of A Exhibition, complete with Emerson’s daredevil spinning piano escapades (you’ll have to get the video to see it). This is the gift that keeps on living.

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Live In Concert

The Beach Boys

It seems like the Beach Boys 50th Anniversary tour, which reunited Brian Wilson, Mike Love, Al Jardine, Bruce Johnston, and David Marks for the first time in over two decades, ended way too soon. Over a span of five months and 75 dates, the band traveled all over the U.S and even over to Europe. They were backed by a enthusiastic group of musicians to keep it fresh and alive, while those unmistakable harmonies and melodies that defined a generation kept coming. The DVD / Blu-ray contains 21 songs — “Catch A Wave,” “I Get Around,” “Good Vibrations” among them — that highlight the Beach Boys like you haven’t seen or heard in ages. With Mike Love taking his version of the Beach Boys (excluding Wilson, Jardine and Marks) back out on the road, one has to wonder if we’ll be seeing or hearing any more from the classic lineup. You should tell that to anyone you give this set to make it even more special.

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Thick As A Brick
(40th Anniversary Edition)

Jethro Tull

In the Spring of 2012, Jethro Tull’s Ian Anderson threw a curve at his fans when Thick As A Brick 2 came out under the name Jethro Tull’s Ian Anderson. That album, a sequel to the 1972 classic, was wonderfully mixed for stereo and surround by Steven Wilson, and a tour followed. Anderson and his band, which included two members also with Jethro Tull, played both Thick As A Brick and Thick As A Brick 2 in their entirety. So what do you do for a year-end encore? Why not bring Wilson back to remix the original Thick As A Brick in stereo and surround. What’s even cooler is that they put it in a box set with a reproduction of the album’s original newspaper gatefold, along with additional articles about the album and photos. Whoever gets this one will likely be a friend for life.

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HQ Live

Incubus

Here’s another one not normally on the Vintage Rock radar, but there’s something about Incubus that recalls their Vintage Rock roots with a firm lock on the present. Another one with a 20th anniversary, Incubus rented out a gallery in downtown Los Angeles for an intimate performance, and they brought in a film crew to get it all down for prosperity. Available as a CD/DVD set, HQ Live is Incubus at their certifiably best. And if you’re a vinyl junkie, get ready for a flood of Incubus studio albums — A Crow Left Of The Murder, Light Grenades, Morning View, Make Yourself and S.C.I.E.N.C.E. — coming to 180 gram vinyl with all the trimmings in early January 2013.

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Waging Heavy Peace

Neil Young

This is the long-awaited memoir from one of music’s most iconic and elusive figures, written in a type of plain-spoken, eloquent prose that only someone like Neil Young could write. In the book, which doesn’t lend itself to any kind of linear storyline, Young talks about everything from bio-diesel automobiles to Lionel Trains to streaming audio services to home life to you name it. And yes, there are many pages where he touches on his music and the people he’s collaborated with, including Buffalo Springfield, Crazy Horse and Crosby, Stills & Nash. It may be the kind the book that only a Neil Young fan can appreciate, but you shouldn’t discount others who may be fascinated by the man’s longevity and inexplicable work ethic.

~ Shawn Perry