Should old farts just crawl under the nearest rock?

There is always fierce debate amongst most anyone you ask about the merits of old rockers continuing to slog away 20 or even 30 years after their “best before” date. Personally for most of my adult life I have clung desperately to the older generation of musicians. Walking wonders such as Deep Purple, Black Sabbath (includin OZZY of course) and Nazareth, you get the picture. Now I have to admit most of these guys have let me down big time at some point. The last 2 Deep Purple albums were abysmal beyond belief, Black Sabbath after OZZY were always patchy with moments of pure magnificence and crap in equal measure. Nazareth carried the torch for gritty rock, but have fallen silent for the last five years or so and show no signs of changing that situation, although they do still tour very heavily.

There have been 2 albums released in recent times that have caused me to ponder such vitally important topics.

The first one up for discussion is the new Ian Gillan thing called Gillans Inn. What it is is an album of cover songs of his own songs! Yep the once great man is reduced to dredging up his own old songs and trying to polish them up a little for the young’uns. The result? Well it sounds like a sad tired old man trying to convince someone he was someone once upon a time. This is perhaps the most dismal excuse for an album created for the most dismal reason imaginable.

Check out “all new and improved” versions of two of his greatest songs, both dating back over 30 years. It don’t get any sadder than this.

Smoke On The Water

when a blind man cries

The other album that got me pondering is a brand new album from Suzie Quatro, remember her? She had a string of hits in the mid ‘70s like Can the Can, 48 Crash, Cat Size and of course Devil Gate Drive.

She has released her first album of all new stuff in years. Other than the “remember me” title Back To The Drive, the album itself is a very respectable effort for a 56 year old lady. Ian Gillan would do well to take note. My main criticism of it is that she seems to be firing off different musical styles at every turn, like throwing lots of mud at the wall hoping some will stick. This shotgun effect I think lets her down a little. The album works best when she is in her own self created stamping ground of anthemic foot stomping sing alongs. The first two songs are indicative of her sound when it works. I must admit, some of it is simply not my cuppa tea, especially the drivel that sounds like Loretta Lynn (Sometimes Love Is Letting Go) but as I said on the whole, this is a very respectable effort. Good luck to her. Suzie can stay, Ian time for you to find that rock.

Back To The Drive

15 Minutes Of Fame

PS. These songs are very low quality rips and will only be up for a short time. Grab em while the’re hot.

Don’t they look cozy?

It looks to me like they share a genuine like for each other.

I seem to remember lots of people complaining that the (alleged) friends that Dubya left out of the loop, or pissed off during the lead up to the war in Iraq would take decades to reconcile.

In my humble opinion, it’s all in the ideology, and that changes from year to year. When governments of similar ideology are elected in various parts of the world, they usually become allies.

Maybe I am over analyzing the picture (which by the way I stole from here). Whatever what way you look at it, it sure is a good picture.