Joe Satriani will release a new studio album, Shockwave Supernova, July 24.
Below, you can preview a track off the new album, "On Peregrine Wings."
While recording the album late last year at Skywalker Sound in Lucas Valley, California, Satriani assembled a trio of world-class musicians—keyboardist and guitarist Mike Keneally, drummer Marco Minnemann and bassist Bryan Beller.
“I couldn’t have asked for a better band to help bring these songs to life,” Satriani says.
The album sees Satriani once again joining forces with co-producer and engineer John Cuniberti. Satch and Cuniberti share production on Shockwave Supernova, as they have on numerous albums, including 1986's Not of This Earth and its legendary followup, Surfing with the Alien.
Recently, during the final performance of his two-year Unstoppable Momentum tour, Satriani had an epiphany; he found himself “playing the guitar with my teeth an awful lot. I thought, ‘Why are you doing this?’ It’s as if something else, or somebody else, was driving me to do it.” Satriani seized upon this moment of self-realization as the springboard for his alter ego, “Shockwave Supernova,” the outlandish and extroverted "performance side" of the normally shy and reserved guitarist.
Finally recognizing the on-stage symmetry with his alter ego allowed Satriani to also take a risk on this particular style of storytelling.
As a result, “guitarist Ned Evett and I have created an animated series called Crystal Planet," Satriani says. "The Crystal Planet is our very own Earth, set billions of years in the future. The hero of the show uses music generated by a unique electric guitar to travel through time while the show’s characters struggle to preserve the future and past of humankind.”
More information on Crystal Planet will be available soon.
In the meantime, fans are able to pre-order the album with an exclusive signed poster at satriani.com. Satriani will be selecting art for the poster from fan-submitted art; check his Facebook page for details. The album is available for pre-order on Amazon and iTunes and also will be available as 2LP 120 gram vinyl.
Satriani and Steve Vai will perform at a third benefit concert in support of music industry veteran and their good friend, Cliff Cultreri. “A Benefit for Cliff III” is set for 8 p.m. June 12 at Wiltern Theatre in Los Angeles. It will feature performances by Satriani, Vai and Animals As Leaders.
Satriani and Vai, along with other artists, have donated various items to be auctioned at the event. Among these items are autographed guitars and a chance to join Satriani’s “G4 Camp,” which takes place June 28 to July 2 in Cambria, California.
Master the art of playing rhythm guitar with this complete tutorial, the all-new 20 Essential Rhythm Guitar Styles.
Learn all the techniques used by guitarists in rock, country, metal, blues, folk, reggae and many other styles of music.
Through 20 lessons that build upon each other, this lick pack will teach you how to play basic barre chords, open-chord embellishments, "pumping" power chords, chord arpeggiation, eight- and 16-note syncopations, rhythmically driving "boom-chick" strumming patterns, the all-purpose passing chord and much more.
Learn to play in the style of:
• The Eagles • Led Zeppelin • Bob Marley • Metallica • Johnny Cash • The Beatles
On May 19, guitar legend Jeff Beck will release Live+, a new, mostly live album.
We say "mostly live" because it also contains two of his first new studio recordings since his last studio album, 2010's Emotion & Commotion.
Today you can check out one of the new songs, "Tribal."
"'Tribal' was the first thing I came up with, on day one of the LA recording sessions," Beck told Rolling Stone."It was meant to be for extreme club/dance-type music, and it went through several radical changes that just didn't work. So with Ruth [Lorenzo]'s vocal we stripped it back to just me and Veronica [Bellino, drummer], with Rhonda [Smith]'s bass dubbed later, which brought back the wild roughness I was originally after."
Note that the album's two new tracks are merely a teaser for the studio album Beck has been working on for more than a year.
Live+, which will be issued via Atco Records, can be pre-ordered here.
The guitarist will spend the next two weeks playing shows in the Midwest.
Canadian prog-rock legends Rush recently began their 40th anniversary R40 Live Tour with a show at the BOK Center in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
Though their set featured classics like "The Spirit of Radio" and "Tom Sawyer," it also featured notably obscure cuts, like "Lakeside Park" and "What You're Doing."
Check out this video of the band performing "Jacob's Ladder," a song from Permanent Waves that the band hadn't played live in 35 years!
Triple Fret is an all-female guitar trio from the Philippines, where they’ve made a splash with a classical guitar repertoire that includes tangos, jazz standards, Filipino songs and more.
Now they appear to be on the cusp of going viral, if you will, thanks to a new GoPro video that shows them performing a traditional song called “Calypso”—on one guitar.
Some YouTube video headlines refer to the girls as "sisters," but that's not true. They are, in fact, Marga Abejo, Iqui Vinculado and Jenny de Vera.
In the top clip, Iqui starts things off on the high strings and is joined by Marga, who plays the lower melody. Jenny then joins to handle the bass notes.
Some of you might know Andy Aledort as the guy from hundreds of Guitar World lesson videos and the writer of countless GW lessons and features.
But he's also the author of more than 200 guitar instruction books; he performs and records with Dickey Betts & Great Southern, not to mention Double Trouble (Chris Layton and Tommy Shannon) and appears on the Experience Hendrix DVD with Buddy Guy, Mick Taylor and other guitar legends.
Today, Aledort is demoing the new John Page Classic Ashburn guitar.
Designed by John Page, co-founder of the Fender Custom Shop, the Ashburn is a production guitar ($1,499 MSRP) with all the features in the high-end custom guitars Page builds himself. It’s produced to spec in a state-of-the-art workshop in Japan, then set up in the U.S. by authorized John Page Classic techs.
Page has created guitars for artists including Eric Clapton, Pete Townshend, David Gilmour, Elliot Easton and Cesar Rosas. He has designed guitars in conjunction with Harley Davidson, Playboy and Jaguar. Page is featured in The Dream Factory: Fender Custom Shop by Tom Wheeler (Hal Leonard, 2011) and other books on Fender and the Fender Custom Shop.
PRS Guitars has announced four new models in its SE Standard series.
These all-mahogany instruments, the SE Standard 22, the SE Standard 24, the SE Standard 245 and the SE Santana Standard, are designed for beginners or players operating on a budget and will start at $499.
The SE Santana Standard is named, of course, after Carlos Santana, one of the main forces behind the creation of the SE Standard series.
"The SE Series started with Carlos [Santana] and the desire to make PRS Guitars available to a larger number of players," said Paul Reed Smith, founder and owner of PRS. "To be able to maintain the quality we demand and be able to get these sold through our dealers for less than $500 is remarkable."
The new SE Standards are the most affordable PRS Guitars to date, and they include familiar PRS hallmarks such as bird inlays and PRS stoptail tremolo bridge designs. They also feature all-mahogany bodies and set mahogany necks with rosewood fretboards.
To learn more about the individual features of these instruments, visit prsguitars.com.
Chuck Berry used banjo strings to make his bends easier, and you can always shush the guy who says “Thicker strings give you better tone” with “Well, Billy Gibbons uses 8's!”
StringJoy is an online custom string shop that makes its own strings in the U.S. and lets you pick the gauges. Sure, it offers a common .10-.46 electric set, but its aim is to let you build a set you can’t get elsewhere, even for seven- and eight-string guitars.
Picking a custom set is as easy as selecting a gauge from a drop-down menu. Gauges run from .008 to .090 for guitar strings and .025-.135 for bass strings.
For my review, I went with a Light .10-.48 electric set, a Custom .030-.105 five-string-bass set (tuned EADGC) and a Custom Acoustic set so I could tune my guitar to Nashville tuning. (Nashville tuning requires tuning a six-string guitar to the octave notes of a 12-string guitar.)
For the Nashville tuning set, I used StringJoy’s “Find the Perfect Set” section where you explain what you want to do, and with what guitar, and they’ll suggest a set for you.
Each set arrived in a sealed envelope with each string labeled in a plastic bag. Everything went on and tuned up as planned. I had plenty of slack to work with.
StringJoy’s custom strings sound and feel like a good set of strings. I know that sounds vague, but what I mean is they didn’t try anything extreme. The tone is well balanced and there’s no odd texture or coated feel to the string.
Here’s a clip with all three string sets featured. The acoustic set is on an Ibanez JX70, the bass set is on a Fender P5 Precision Bass and the electric set is on a Fender Strat. Enjoy!
Web:stringjoy.com. Price: Six-string guitar sets are $10 (add $2 or $4 for seven- and eight-string sets); four-string bass sets are $25 (add $5 or $10 for five- and six-string sets)
You can't believe everything you read on the Internet, but Billy Voight is a gear reviewer, bassist and guitarist from Pennsylvania. He has Hartke bass amps and Walden acoustic guitars to thank for supplying some of the finest gear on his musical journey. Need Billy's help in creating noise for your next project? Drop him a line at thisguyonbass@gmail.com.
We always love talking to Richie Kotzen. This time, we decided to talk tone.
Kotzen played a huge part in developing the Tech 21 Signature RK5 Fly Rig, which happens to play a major role in how he gets his signature sound.
While Kotzen primarily uses his RK5 live in conjunction with his standard amp rig, this compact unit embodies an entire rig on its own. At its heart is the all-analog SansAmp, which makes it possible to go direct to a PA or mixer. For effects, you have the essentials: a reverb, a delay with tap tempo, a powerful boost and Kotzen’s Signature OMG overdrive.
Below, we discuss the RK5, the Winery Dogs his new solo album and more.
GUITAR WORLD: How did your relationship with Tech 21 begin?
They had sent me a few of their delays and other pedals to try out. I took a liking to the delay and started using it as my primary one. During tours with my band, I found myself doing these fly gigs where I would fly in, do a show or two and then fly out. I really wanted something compact and easy to deal with.
What I wound up doing was combining their delay pedal with the overdrive I was using at the time and then added a foot-switch mechanism for my amp and put it all into one little box. It was crude and wasn’t always super reliable, but I showed it to Andrew Barta at Tech 21 when he was in LA and he agreed it was a great idea. It took a good six months in developing until it was exactly right.
Was there a lot of trial and error involved in the process?
The delay was simple because I already knew what I wanted. The overdrive was a little trickier. I learned a lot about circuits by comparing things but relied a lot on my ears. It went through several variations until Andrew came up with a design that’s just right. I can put that pedal in front of any amp and still get a good sound.
What do you like most about the RK5 Fly Rig?
The fact that it's my personal overdrive design and that it's so small and convenient. It really is about convenience. I've never been a big pedal board guy. I've always liked to keep things simple so I can focus on the music and not have to worry about being on stage doing a tap dance when I'm trying to connect emotionally to the song. The Fly Rig gives me the essentials I need. There's reverb, delay and a two-stage overdrive. It's small and compact. It's perfect.
Since I've got you, let’s discuss a track from your new solo album, Cannibals. What can you tell me about “The Enemy”?
That was a song I wrote last summer. I knew the chorus and melody was special, but after I had demoed the song I realized the verse wasn’t working the way I wanted it to. So I went into my archives and found this old song that had an introduction that really grabbed me. I took that and used it as the intro for “The Enemy” as well as the verse. What’s interesting is that you have the original drums from the demo but then other parts of the song have a completely different drum set that was recorded 10 years ago in a different studio. I was able to meld them together to be effective.
There are all kinds of ways to create music. Sometimes things happen at one time and then over the course of a few years you find that things you thought may not have worked now suddenly make perfect sense!
Has your songwriting style changed much over the years?
Not really. As time goes on I feel more connected to myself and that helps me continue to grow. What works for me is that I try to avoid a situation where I write under pressure. For me, my best work is material that just happens naturally. And it comes in cycles. There might be a period of time where I won’t have any ideas, and then all of a sudden I’ll have a bunch of them. The main thing that happens over time is your awareness of how it all works. The more familiar you are with yourself, the easier it is.
It’s a great time and the surroundings are really inspiring. It will be exciting for us to once again connect, more personally, with people who are listening to our music. Last year, we had people who were new to music who just wanted to know how to get their band going and other people who were hobbyists who just enjoyed the vibe. The whole experience was genuinely rewarding. I walked away feeling like we really participated in something special. That’s why we’re doing it again.
For more about Kotzen, visit richiekotzen.com. For more about the Tech 21 Signature RK5 Fly Rig, visit its page on tech21nyc.com.
James Wood is a writer, musician and self-proclaimed metalhead who maintains his own website, GoJimmyGo.net. His articles and interviews are written on a variety of topics with passion and humor. You can follow him on Twitter @JimEWood.
With a rumble and a twang, “She’ll Take Tonight” rolls off of Jamie Lin Wilson’s tongue like bittersweet honey.
The song is from Wilson’s new release Holidays & Wedding Rings, due out May 19, 2015.
It’s about that heartbreaking, never-ending search for love. And Wilson knows how to deliver that sentiment to a T.
She shares, "I wrote this song with Dani Flowers about a friend of mine who was in a really dark time in her life. She did find that kinder and gentle man, by the way."
I love a happy ending! Check it out here:
Jamie Lin Wilson wasn’t planning to carry her third child and first full-fledged solo album, Holidays & Wedding Rings, simultaneously, but if there’s one thing this Texas singer-songwriter has learned from her experiences with the Gougers and the Trishas (and motherhood), it’s that life has a way of going in unexpected directions. And when it does, little bumps in the road (or the belly) wind up making the journey even more special.
The album, produced by John Ross Silva and Kevin Szymanski, arrives May 19, 2015. Picking up where her 2010 EP, Dirty Blonde Hair, left off, Holidays & Wedding Rings finds Wilson marking milestones large and small in 12 country-leaning Americana tunes, many written with collaborators including Jon Dee Graham,Heather Morgan and Wade Bowen — who also duets on his co-write, “Just Some Things.”
The imagery within these songs is so rich, listening feels almost like flipping through someone’s photo album — one filled with images reflecting the strong bonds of a woman whose roles include daughter, wife, mother, relative and friend. Those relationships fill almost every track, in soul-baring lyrics that touch the heart, yet never overdose on sentimentality.
If we could peek inside a similar history of Wilson’s music-making career, we’d find evidence of a rather fabulous trajectory, though it traces back less than 15 years. Wilson first picked up a guitar during her sophomore year at Texas A&M after watching Natalie Maines do a solo tune during a Dixie Chicks concert. By the time she was a junior, Wilson was writing songs and performing in the Sidehill Gougers, which morphed into the Gougers. (She’d also dumped engineering to study agricultural journalism.) Together, they released two albums and an EP, and toured extensively. They were regulars at MusicFest, the annual music-and-skiing shindig in Steamboat, Colo., where Wilson sometimes played solo as well.
The type of music she likes to make is, she says, influenced by “the greats” — Emmylou Harris, Kris Kristofferson, Guy Clark, Townes van Zandt, John Prine, Rodney Crowell and Tom T. Hall. But it’s equally inspired by those friends and contemporaries, including her band, the Trishas and song-swap pals like Patton,Drew Kennedy and Owen Temple.
While I own, play and love more than my fair share of imported guitars, I still prefer electric models made in the good ol’ U. S. of A.
After all, Americans invented the electric guitar, and we design and build them like no one else. So it deeply warmed my heart earlier this year when ESP announced its USA Series Eclipse, Horizon and M-III models, which are the company’s first guitars made at its brand-new factory in North Hollywood, California.
We took a look at ESP’s classic-inspired single-cutaway Eclipse model.
FEATURES The overall features of the Eclipse USA present a familiar formula—figured maple top, mahogany neck and chambered body, dual humbuckers, 24 3/4–inch scale, and so on—but several details make this model stand out from the usual classic clone.
The “set-thru” neck joint is particularly impressive, featuring contours that smoothly and seamlessly bring the neck and body together as if they were one continuous piece of wood. The ebony fretboard, 22 extra jumbo frets, 12-inch radius and thin U-shape neck profile provide the fast action and silky playability today’s players demand.
Hardware consists of Sperzel Trim-Lok locking tuners, TonePros locking bridge and stop tailpiece, Schaller Security Lock strap buttons and Seymour Duncan APH-1 passive humbuckers. Controls include separate volume knobs for the bridge and neck pickups, master tone with push/pull coil splitting and a three-position pickup selector.
PERFORMANCE Our test example had a Vintage Natural finish (Tea Sunburst and See-Through Black Cherry are also available) that reveals every glorious detail of the high-grade materials and first-class workmanship. The figuring of the maple top and headstock overlay is drop-dead gorgeous, and the seams of the two-piece mahogany back and neck joint are almost invisible. The rounded edges of the fretboard and body (including a comfortable rear-body contour) give the guitar the luxurious feel of the finest handcrafted goods, and as a result the guitar plays like a dream.
The Eclipse USA’s tone is stellar. Classic warm, sustaining dual-humbucker tones abound, but the maple top delivers crisp, detailed attack that complements the mahogany’s fat midrange and resonant bass. The simple control configuration delivers a rainbow of textures, from full-throttle metal punch to velvety jazz warmth to single-coil sparkle.
LIST PRICE $3,999 MANUFACTURER The ESP Guitar Company, espguitars.com
The set-thru-neck construction provides a smooth, seamless transition between the neck and the body, as if they were one continuous piece of wood.
Hardware includes Sperzel locking tuners, TonePros locking bridge and stop tailpiece, Schaller Security Lock strap buttons and Seymour Duncan APH-1 humbuckers.
THE BOTTOM LINE Providing a compelling blend of vintage design and modern features, the ESP USA Eclipse is the ideal single-cutaway dual-humbucker solidbody for players seeking a high-performance classic.
Gretsch has built a solid reputation with its impressive line of popular archtop hollowbody guitars, like the Country Gentleman and the White Falcon. But what’s often overlooked is the company’s superb line of solidbody guitars, such as the Duo Jet.
Introduced in 1953 with a single-cutaway body, the elegantly styled Duo Jet was a competitive response to the Fender Telecaster and the Gibson Les Paul.
Its unique-sounding DeArmond Dynasonic pickups offered the raucous twang needed for rockabilly and just enough jangle for rock, making it the choice of guitarists like George Harrison and, in his early Nineties rockabilly phase, Jeff Beck.
Over the years, the Duo Jet has evolved into many different models, including a double-cutaway version, introduced in 1961, frequently used by AC/DC guitarist Malcolm Young.
The new Gretsch G6128T-1962 Duo Jet is an inspired reworking of that version, complete with modern updates, vintage cool looks and authoritative tones that will help set you apart from the rest.
FEATURES The G6128T-1962 features a short 24.6-inch/625mm scale length, but where it departs from a traditional Duo Jet is in the symmetrical double-cutaway that makes it look somewhat longer-scale. Appearances aside, the guitar is well balanced, with a solid mahogany body, an arched laminated maple top and a sleek black gloss-urethane finish.
The set neck is mahogany and includes premium touches, like a bound headstock, a bound ebony fingerboard, Neo-Classic thumbnail inlays, 22 frets (including a “zero fret”), a 12-inch fretboard radius and a slim C-profile neck shape. Hardware consists of a Bigsby B3C vibrato, an ebony-based Space Control roller bridge and Grover Sta-Tite slotted peg-head tuners with an 18:1 ratio for rock-solid tuning. Instead of DeArmonds, the guitar is wired with a pair of High Sensitive Filter’Tron pickups. Electronics consist of two volume controls (bridge and neck), a master volume (located at the lower-bout cutaway) and two three-position toggle switches for pickup switching and master tone.
PERFORMANCE The vintage styling of this Duo Jet immediately feels in the pocket thanks to its springy feel and low action. But there’s nothing quite like the sound of a Gretsch guitar, which is why this is a must-have for tone aficionados. To be fair, the Filter’Tron pickups combined with the master tone three-way switch can be a maddening or appealing experience, depending on your choice of rig. The High Sensitive Filter’Trons have more output, and they sound dark, with a very pronounced midrange, but with a brighter amp and a combination of EQ and overdrive, they have incredible sparkle that cuts though any mix. Using the master tone circuit cuts the high-frequency tone in half and gives notes a honky midrange, but most players will probably opt to take it out of the circuit altogether.
The master tone switch lets you choose from two high-frequency roll-off options or disable the circuit altogether.
The Bigsby B3C vibrato is ideal for half-to-whole-step dives that stay in tune, thanks to the 18:1 ratio of the Grover tuners.
THE BOTTOM LINE The stylish G6128T-1962 Duo Jet is pure magnetic charm, with enough raw tones to make it perfect for aggressive rock or rockabilly twang.
This series includes performance notes and accurate tab for the greatest songs of every genre.
From the essential gear, recording techniques and historical information, to the right- and left-hand techniques and other playing tips—it's all here!
Master 25 acoustic tunes, including:
• Big Yellow Taxi • Closer to the Heart • Free Fallin'• Going to California • Good Riddance (Time of Your Life) • Hey There Delilah • I Got a Name • Lola • Losing My Religion • She Talks to Angels • Wish You Were Here • and more.
In my quest to raise my guitar-playing game to the highest level, I find it essential to devise practice techniques that will push my pick- and fret-hand abilities as far as possible.
A great way to go about this is to combine the focus on these technical issues with the creative endeavor of writing original riffs and patterns that will hopefully spark new song ideas.
FIGURE 1 is a 19-bar etude—a musical exercise that sounds like a mini-composition—I came up with that effectively addresses several fret- and pick-hand techniques that I consider crucial to mastering the art of metal guitar playing.
In bars 1–4, I alternate a series of two-note power chords on the A and D strings against the palm-muted open low E string, which functions as a pedal tone. Notice that the E note on the A string’s seventh fret is common to each of the two-note chord shapes as the higher note on the D string ascends chromatically (one fret at a time).
In this way, I’ve incorporated a melodic idea into a hard-driving rhythm part. At the end of bar 2, the note on the D string descends in order to set up the restatement of the pattern in a musically satisfying way.
In bars 5 and 6, I initially accentuate an E5 power chord on the downbeat of beat one, and then repeatedly accent this chord every three 16th notes. The twist here is that, after the initial attack on each E5 chord, I hammer on from B to C on the A string, which creates a subtle grind that makes the riff sound heavy.
Then, in bars 7 and 8, I switch to a single-note figure played in straight 16th notes across the bottom two strings, palm-muting the low E virtually the entire time in order to enhance the idea’s rhythmic power. In bars 9–12, I bring back the rhythmic approach from bar 1 but with different chords: here, a low E5 power chord is followed by C, Cs and D voicings on the A, D and G strings. Once again, I employ quick hammer-ons as I shift from chord to chord.
The idea then wraps up in the final seven bars, starting in bars 13–15 with a lick played in steady 16th notes and built around consecutive pull-offs that are performed quickly while rapidly moving across the bottom three strings. I use a different fretting finger on each string—index on the low E, middle on the A and ring on the D—and it will take some practice to master this lick and get it up to the desired brisk tempo.
The aggression culminates in bar 16 with a fast descending run that also moves across the bottom three strings, starting with 16th-note-triplet double pull-offs that incorporate a four-fret stretch as I move from the pinkie to the middle finger to the index finger. At the end of the pattern—bar 16, beat four—I shift up the neck slightly and switch the fretting fingers to pinkie, ring and index.
All in all, this is a fun and challenging etude. Be sure to work it up to tempo gradually with attention paid to clear and precise articulation.
In the video below, Biff Parsons—who looks, sounds, plays and deadpans exactly like Brad Paisley—demos the pickups and playability of his new hand-pinstriped Crook Custom Red Sparkle T-Style guitar.
As you'll see in the video, Parsons is not a Paisley fan ... at all.
Obviously, Parsons is Paisley! But Paisley (or someone) even went out of his way to create a Twitter account for the Paisley-hating Parsons, and you can follow him here.
Like a lot of Paisley's guitars, this model is equipped with a McVay G-bender, which Paisley (aka Parsons) also demos in the clip.
To see this guitar in action, check out Paisley's recent performance of Van Halen's "Hot for Teacher" (bottom video).
Damian Fanelli is the online managing editor at Guitar World. He's a B-bending guitarist who collects B-bender-equipped guitars. He has four at the moment. Follow him on Twitter.
"Don't call it a comeback / I've been here for years."
So said LL Cool J in the title track from 1990's Mama Said Knock You Out, which came out when many fans and critics thought his career was just barely limping along.
The album turned out to be a massive critical and commercial success. So, with our apologies to Mr. Cool J, we are calling it comeback.
Because a comeback—as defined here at Guitar World—is any critically and/or commercially successful or significant album that follows a career-altering absence (breakup, retirement) or low point (death of band members, "dead" careers, being dropped by your label, critical uber-flops, telling a London audience that you're ashamed that George W. Bush is from Texas ...).
So, with that in mind, here's our list of the 10 best (and worst) comeback albums of all time.
10. U2 — All That You Can’t Leave Behind (2000)
The Set-Up: Sitting-on-top-of-the-world stadium rockers U2 took some chances in the '90s, releasing three adventurous, occasionally bizarre albums. The last of the bunch, 1997's Pop, the techno-, dance- and electronica-influenced culmination of their self-inflicted reinvention, was harshly panned and widely misunderstood. It was as if fans and critics collectively said, "Enough already, guys."
The Comeback:All That You Can't Leave Behind was, in every respect, a homecoming. With producers Daniel Lanois and Brian Eno back at the helm, the band returned to its classic sound (although brilliantly updated) with an emphasis on grand melodies and a renewed reliance on guitar, bass and drums. Rolling Stone called it U2's third masterpiece, next to The Joshua Tree and Achtung Baby.
09. Allman Brothers Band — Brothers and Sisters (1973)
The Set-Up: Allman Brothers Band co-founder and slide guitar master Duane Allman was killed in a motorcycle accident in late 1971 while the band was recording Eat A Peach. As if that wasn't terrible enough, bassist Berry Oakley was killed the same way—in the same Georgia town—one year later. Although the band—fortified by talented replacements—forged ahead, it was as if a dark cloud had found them and decided to stick around for a spell.
The Comeback: The album that would follow the band's tragedies, Brothers And Sisters, was, by far, their greatest success, settling in for five longs weeks at No. 1 on the U.S. albums chart. It also was a high point for guitarist Dickey Betts, whose composition, "Ramblin' Man," would become the band's only hit single, reaching No. 2 on the charts. The album featured two more eternal FM radio staples, "Southbound" and "Jessica," both written by Betts. Simply put, it was the band's—and Betts'—commercial high point.
08. Foo Fighters — Foo Fighters (1995)
The Set-Up: There's no doubt that Nirvana changed everything, and that by 1994 they were one of, if not the biggest band in the world. For a few years, all of the United States felt like Seattle, and the sale of thrift-store sweaters was at an all-time high. That is, until the suicide of lead singer/guitarist Kurt Cobain in April of that year.
The Comeback: It would take one hell of an effort for anything Dave Grohl released from that point on to not be considered a mere footnote in the history of Nirvana. The fact that we now know Grohl as one of the biggest personalities in rock—who also has shared the stage with the likes of Jimmy Page and plays in a band with John Paul Jones—is a testament to his tenacity and talent for crafting memorable hooks.
It could be argued that the second Foo Fighters album (and their first as a real band), The Colour and the Shape, is better suited for this position because it spawned the first mega-hits for the band, but the first Foos album was Dave Grohl playing everything himself, a lone man trying to forge ahead and create something meaningful after the demise of the biggest band on the planet. If that's not the meaning of a comeback, we don't know what is.
07. Metallica — Death Magnetic (2008)
The Set-Up: Napster, Tom Cruise film soundtracks, St. Anger. Let's face it, the turn of this century was not kind to Metallica when it came to public opinion.
Their latest, guitar-solo-free album had left fans more confused than betrayed, and the follow-up film, Some Kind of Monster, showed the band in a new, vulnerable light that left fans of Ride the Lightning scratching their heads. It would take one hell of an album to get the image of the band in group therapy talking about feelings out of the heads of fans.
The Comeback: Enter Death Magnetic. While the album itself was met with some criticism—mainly for its over-compressed sound—there's no doubt that it re-ignited interest in the band's thrashier roots and made people forget about "I Disappear," perhaps for good. One might even venture to say that, had the band made another St. Anger or Load, the Big Four shows might not have ever happened. Can anyone imagine Kerry King, Dave Mustaine, Charlie Benante and others joining James and crew onstage for a rendition of "Tuesday's Gone"? Didn't think so.
06. Johnny Cash — American Recordings (1994)
The Set-Up: Although Johnny Cash never really went away (much like LL Cool J), during the 1980s, record sales and support from his longtime label, Columbia, were at all-time lows. After putting out a string of fine yet occasionally overproduced albums (Check out his cheesy cover of CCR's "Have You Ever Seen The Rain" from 1985's Rainbow album), Cash found himself without a label in the early '90s.
The Comeback: Enter Rick Rubin. The producer, known for his work with A-list hip-hop artists and heavy metal bands, offered Cash a contract with his label, American Recordings, and got right to work, stripping the Man in Black's sound down to the basics: voice and acoustic guitar. The album, considered his finest release since the late '60s, transformed Cash from museum piece to the ultimate in cool.
05. Aerosmith — Pump (1989)
The Set-Up: The early Eighties were not kind to Aerosmith. The had band lost both their guitarists by the time of the recording of Rock in a Hard Place (you know, the album with Jimmy Crespo and Rick Dufay) and were in serious danger of being a footnote of Seventies American rock.
Aerosmith in the mid-'Eighties can be summed up as this: When the movie This Is Spinal Tap came out, Steven Tyler actually thought the movie was about Aerosmith. In a 1997 interview, Brad Whitford was quoted as saying, "The first time Steven saw it, he didn't see any humor in it."
The Comeback: Sure, Run DMC gave them another taste of the spotlight, and Permanent Vacation gave us "Dude Looks Like a Lady" and "Rag Doll," but if anything is going to be called a comeback album for Aerosmith, it would have to be 1989's Pump.
Commercially, Pump does have a slight edge over Permanent Vacation, with the latter going a measely five-times platinum as opposed to Pump's seven-times, good enough to make it the second-best-selling Aerosmith album of all time behind Toys in the Attic. But beyond numbers, Pump just felt like an Aerosmith album (yes, even the horn section). That's not to knock the strong numbers on Permanent Vacation, but Steven Tyler singing about needing to get away to St. Tropez when the whole world was still wondering "Where were you?" may have been a bit premature.
04. John Lennon and Yoko Ono — Double Fantasy (1980)
The Set-Up: The mid-'70s weren't the best of times for John Lennon. He had endured a separation from Yoko Ono and a complicated lawsuit filed by Morris Levy (regarding breach of contract and the messy Roots / Rock 'n' Roll scandal), not to mention the disappointing — by former-Beatle standards — sales of his 1975 greatest-hits album, Shaved Fish.
So, after taking part in a recording session for Ringo Starr's 1976 Ringo's Rotogravure album, Lennon made the shift from rock star to house husband, living a private, tame existence at the Dakota in New York City with Ono and their 1-year-old son, Sean.
The Comeback: In 1980, after taking several years off, Lennon felt it was time to get back to work. Inspired and/or awakened by new music by Madness, The Pretenders and the B-52s, he decided it was "time to get out the old axe and wake the wife up," as he told Rolling Stone. The album he and Ono made, Double Fantasy, was the perfect comeback, representing a fresh start for a well-rested couple who were ready to greet the world again. The irony is that when Lennon was killed on December 8, 1980, Double Fantasy went from comeback to sad farewell.
03. Deep Purple — Perfect Strangers (1984)
The Set-Up: After releasing a string of heavy, successful albums between 1969 and 1973, including Deep Purple In Rock, Made In Japan and Machine Head, the classic "Mk II" lineup of Deep Purple — Ian Gillan (vocals), Ritchie Blackmore (guitar), Roger Glover (bass), Jon Lord (keyboards) and Ian Paice (drums) — basically just fizzled out. By the mid-'70s, when only Lord and Paice remained (David Coverdale, Tommy Bolin and Glenn Hughes had come onboard), the band was just a shell of its former self. Their lackluster late-1975 album, Come Taste the Band, was sonic proof of that. Deep Purple disbanded in 1976.
The Comeback: In 1984, Deep Purple regrouped — with the Mk II lineup, thankfully — and released Perfect Strangers, a major worldwide hit that went platinum in the U.S. The band reached back and dusted off its classic sound, spotlighting Gillan's ageless vocals and Blackmore's lightning-fast snake-charmer scales. The album spawned several radio hits and a tour that just kept on going — because people just couldn't taste enough of the band.
02. Ozzy Osbourne — Blizzard of Ozz (1980)
The Set-Up: After two less-than-stellar releases from Black Sabbath — 1975's Technical Ecstasy and 1976's Sabotage— Ozzy Osbourne took a brief break from the band to work on a project he called "Blizzard of Ozz." At the request of the band, Ozzy dropped the project to return to the band for the recording of 1978's Never Say Die!, which brought tensions in the band to a new high.
A myriad of drug problems and mounting tensions between Osbourne and Sabbath guitarist Tony Iommi led to the group unanimously deciding to fire Ozzy. Within two years, the band had recorded Heaven and Hell with new vocalist Ronnie James Dio, which proved that the band could remain relevant without Osbourne. The question then became, could Ozzy pull himself out of the gutter and remain relevant as well?
The Comeback: It turns out all Ozzy needed was new management. Of course, not just any manager would do. It took then-girlfriend Sharon Arden (daughter of Sabbath manager Don Arden) to pull Ozzy out of his haze and set him to work on his "Blizzard of Ozz" project. With the help of bassist/lyricist Bos Daisley and a young guitar prodigy named Randy Rhoads, Ozzy finally finished the album, Blizzard of Ozz, which would re-ignite his career and eventually lead to his being one of the biggest personalities in rock and metal.
01. AC/DC — Back in Black (1980)
The Set-Up: In late 1979, AC/DC unleashed Highway to Hell on the world. While not a departure in sound from their previous albums, the production efforts and arrangement contributions of producer Mutt Lange, alongside the wry lyricism of lead singer Bon Scott and always-fiery guitar efforts of Angus Young, made Highway to Hell the band's most commercial success to date. Less than six months later, Scott was found dead in the back of a car, having choked to death on his own vomit.
The Comeback: Whether or not to continue the band without their charismatic frontman wasn't an easy choice for the remaining members of AC/DC, but after much soul-searching, the band recruited former Geordie singer Brian Johnson to try and fill the void left by Scott's death.
Johnson had his own troubles after joining the band, struggling to pen lyrics he felt were up to the lofty standards set by his predecessor. As fate would have it, a storm rolling in one night over the Bahamas, where the band had retreated to in order to write, inspired the opening lyrics to "Hells Bells," the opening track from the ultimate comeback album — not to mention the second-highest-selling album of all time — Back In Black.
Next: Honorable Mentions
Honorable Mentions
Iron Maiden – Brave New World
Eric Clapton – 461 Ocean Boulevard
Avenged Sevenfold - Nightmare
Alice in Chains – Black Gives Way To Blue
Van Halen – 5150
Red Hot Chili Peppers – Californication
Celtic Frost - Monotheist
Heaven & Hell - The Devil You Know
Judas Priest - Painkiller
Next: The Top 10 Worst Comeback Albums of All Time
Nita Strauss shredded on That Metal Show late last month—five times—and we've got the official clips of all of her guitar solos below.
Strauss—a member of Alice Cooper's band and the Iron Maidens—appeared on the April 25 episode with former Kiss guitarist Ace Frehley and former Grand Funk Railroad vocalist/guitarist Mark Farner.
For all things related to Strauss, visit nitastrauss.com. For more about That Metal Show, visit vh1.com. Enjoy! We're partial to the top three clips, btw.
In case you missed last week's season premiere of the History Channel's American Pickers, you'll get another chance to catch it tonight.
The episode features singer/guitarist Dan Auerbach of the Black Keys.
Auerbach—along with Mike Wolfe and Frank Fritz of Antique Archaeology in Nashville—check out a Chet Atkins model Gretsch guitar—that once belonged to someone named "Rudy."
Auerbach isn't the first Nashville guitar picker to appear on American Pickers; Jack White acquired a decorative elephant head on a 2012 episode of the show.
The Auerbach episode of American Pickers airs 8 to 9 p.m. EST today (May 13) and midnight to 1 a.m. May 14. You can check out a preview of the episode below.
For more about American Pickers, visit history.com.
We recently spent some quality time with the super-talented Tony Lucca. Good music. Cool guy. Excellent tattoos. It was all good.
You may have seen him on the 2012 season of “The Voice,” where he came in 3rd. But for me it’s Lucca’s self-titled 2015 release that really turns up the heat.
Since “The Voice” Lucca made a record with Adam Levine, toured with Maroon 5 and Kelly Clarkson and was cast on the hit show “Parenthood” playing himself as a rock singer, and performed an original song.
His 2015 album Tony Lucca is a rockin’ roller coast ride of down and dirty bluesy rock. It’s worth a listen or 5.
Here Lucca shares his single “Delilah” acoustically live. Driving and soulful the song spills out in a supremely satisfying way in this stripped down version.
Check it out here and come back for our exclusive interview, coming soon! Find out more at www.tonylucca.com
Today, GuitarWorld.com presents the exclusive premiere of a new music video by Upsilon Acrux.
The track, "Smells Kline," is from the band's latest album, Sun Square Dialect, which was released April 14 via New Atlantis Records.
Upsilon Acrux have gone through several incarnations over their 20-year run. Now featuring founder/guitarist Paul Lai, backed by two drummers, another guitarist and a Rhodes piano, the Los Angeles band's intricate compositions are polyrhythmic...and polyunbelievable.
Sun Square Dialect was recorded at Infrasonic Sound (The Jesus Lizard, Death Grips) and the Record Plant (in the room where Guns N' Roses'Appetite for Destruction was recorded, by the way). It was mixed and mastered by Pete Lyman (Omar Rodriguez-Lopez, Xasthur). You can stream the entire album right here.
The "Smells Kline" video was directed by Dylan Louis Pecora.
For more about Upsilon Acrux, follow them on Facebook.
