01). Jethro Tull - Aqualung

The title track of probably their best known album, released in 1971. "Aqualung" was their fourth album. The album also featured classic Tull tracks such as "Locomotive Breath", "Cross-Eyed Mary" and "My God". The line-up included Ian Anderson on vocals, flute and acoustic guitar, John Evan on keyboards, Jeff Hammond on bass and alto recorder, Martin Barre on guitar and Clive Bunker on drums. An orchestral version of this album has recently been released, as has a new dvd. Read up on Jethro Tull elsewhere on The RockIt Scientist website.

02). Wild Turkey - Butterfly

From "Battle Hymn" in 1972, the debut album from the band formed by bass guitarist Glenn Cornick when he left Jethro Tull in 1971.(Whilst he was 'between' bands, he featured on Blue Cheer guitarist Leigh Stephens's "Cast of Thousands" album in 1971). The band also featured vocalist & acoustic guitarist Gary Pickford-Hopkins, previously of Welsh blues outfit Eyes of Blue, Alan "Tweke" Lewis on lead guitar, Jon Blackmore (ex-Man) on guitar and vocals and Jeff Jones on percussion, with Cornick also handling keyboards and the odd bit of guitar. The band signed to Chrysalis Records and released the featured album to critical acclaim. There were elements of blues, folk and rock and it would seem that Cornick had done the right thing in leaving Tull, as he now had total freedom to do what he wanted to do musically.

The band's second album, "Turkey", was released the following year. Mick Dyche had replaced Jon Blackmore on guitars, and sixth member, keyboard player Steve Gurl, had joined. The album was an improvement on the second album, but it wasn't well received and Wild Turkey folded in 1974, playing their final gig at London's famed Marquee Club on 24th of June. At the time of the band's demise, guitarist Bernie Marsden had joined, replacing Tweke Lewis, and Kevin Currie had replaced Jeff Jones on drums.

Gary Pickford-Hopkins would later join Warhorse's Ashley Holt in Rick Wakeman's band, Steve Gurl and Bernie Marsden joined Babe Ruth, Mick Dyche later joined Sniff 'n The Tears and Tweke Lewis had a short stint with Man. Glenn Cornick featured with German jazz/rock outfit Karthago before forming Paris with vocalist Robert Welsh in 1976. Cornick, Lewis and Pickford-Hopkins revived Wild Turkey in the mid 90's, together with drummer Brian Thomas and they released a very good album called "Stealer of Years" (a track from that album appears on the first Dinosaur Days cd, released in 1999).

Two live albums of early 70's concerts, ''Final Performance" (2000) and "Live in Edinburgh"(2001) were released on the Audio Archives label.

03). Bedlam - Seven Long Years

Taken from their sole self-titled album, released in 1973. A UK band, they evolved out of a band called Big Bertha and were comprised of Cozy Powell on drums, Frankie Aiello on vocals, and the Ball brothers, Denny on bass and Dave on guitar. This was one of the best hard rock albums to emerge from the UK in the early to mid 70's. Cozy Powell later went on to Rainbow, Black Sabbath and a host of other bands before dying tragically in a car accident on April 5th, 1998. Denny Ball went on to feature with David Byron (ex-Uriah Heep vocalist, on his "Take No Prisoners" album in 1975, as well as with Long John Baldry in 1976, and with Ken Hensley (ex-Uriah Heep keyboard player/guitarist/vocalist on his "Free Spirit" album in 1980). Dave Ball featured with vocalist Jonathan Kelly and Procol Harum in 1972 and he also appeared with Long John Baldry in 1976. Frankie Aiello later featured with Cozy Powell on his "Tilt" album in 1981.

Two further Bedlam albums, "Anthology" and "Live In London", were released a few years ago.

LIVE INTERVIEW

This week on The RockIt Scientist saw the first live interview with one of the many promising bands bands we have here in South Africa who get very little, if any, airplay by any of the major radio stations.

Clint & Co, who's members include Clint Cunningham on vocals & acoustic guitar, Peter "The Hammer" Hanmer on guitar, Mike Dorea on bass and Glenn Welman on drums, recently released their new album, 'Hammer, Mother & Rock', and the tracks:

04). Only If It Rains

05). All My Life

06). Freedom (aka Remember September)

07). Rock Bottom

were featured on The RockIt Scientist this week (all the tracks are playlisted on 1485am Radio Today)

Clint Cunningham is an extremely talented and versatile singer in the David Coverdale mould. A very charismatic and entertaining singer and songwriter, he's been playing the live circuit for many years.

Peter Hanmer, who is one of the country's finest guitarists, has been around the live music scene since the early 80's in various bands, the best known being Off The Edge.

The rhythm section of Glenn Welman and Mike Dorea have also worked with the likes of Toxic Shame, and they've developed into one of the tightest units in the country.

The above line-up also doubles up as the Creedence Clearwater Revival, U2 and Joe Cocker and Friends tribute bands, which makes them one of the most popular and hard working bands in the country. They also feature as Off The Edge, although Off The Edge gigs are scarce. When they do come around, they're certainly worth the wait!

08). Ken Hensley - When Evening Comes

From "Proud Words On a Dusty Shelf", the debut solo album from The Gods//Toe Fat/Head Machine and Uriah Heep guitarist/keyboard player/vocalist and principal songwriter. Released in 1973, the album featured contributions from Uriah Heep bass player Gary Thain and drummer Lee Kerslake. His next solo album, "Eager To Please", released in 1975, featured Colosseum bass player Mark Clarke and drummer Bugs Pemberton (who'd worked with guitarist/vocalist Jackie Lomax in The Undertakers), together with steel guitarist BJ Cole and sax player Ray Warleigh.

It would be a further five years before he released another live album. ''Free Spirit", featuring contributions from Mark Clarke, Gary Taylor, Denny Ball and Trevor Bolder (all on bass), Kenny Jones, Ian Paice, Geoff Allen and Jim Toomey (all on drums), was released in 1980. It was also around this time that he left Uriah Heep and he later went on to work with the likes of Blackfoot and WASP.

One of the most respected musicians and songwriters in rock, he's released around 11 albums to date, including a few compilations. He "rejoined" Uriah Heep for The Magician's Birthday party gig a few years ago. He's now living in Spain and is involved in management and production.

09). Trapeze - Black Cloud

From "Medusa" in 1970, their second album. The band, which initially started out as a quintet comprising ex-Montanas members John Jones on vocals & trumpet and Terry Rowley on guitar, keyboards & flute in the late 60's, trimmed down to the trio of Mel Galley on guitars, Glenn Hughes on bass and vocals and Dave Holland on drums. Their self-titled debut album, released in 1970 on the Moody Blues' Threshold label, was a very mild affair in comparison to the blues/rock/funk direction the trio of Hughes, Galley and Holland were soon to follow.

"Medusa'' was their first album as a trio, and it set the stage for great things to happen for Glenn Hughes, who would later join Deep Purple. A third album, "You Are The Music, We're Just The Band", came out in 1972 and Trapeze were at their peak. The band continued to perform and record after Hughes had left in 1973. In fact, the next album, ''Hot Wire", released in 1974 (which featured second guitarist Rob Kendrick and bass player Pete Wright), was just as good as anything the band had recorded when Hughes was with them. The band were now becoming very popular in the US, and they went on to release a number of great albums such as "Trapeze", in 1975, "Hold On/ Running" in 1979 and the Live in Texas "Dead Armadillos" album in 1980 (with vocalist Pete Goalby of Fable, Uriah Heep and Shy fame)

The band split in the early 80's, with Mel Galley later joining Whitesnake before forming Phenomena. Dave Holland went on to find fame with Judas Priest. Glenn Hughes became a very famous solo performer and he worked with everybody, from Gary Moore to Black Sabbath. The "classic'' Trapeze line-up of Holland, Galley and Hughes, together with keyboard player Geoff Downes of Asia fame, reformed in the early 90's and they released a great live album called "Welcome To The Real World - Live in 1992". Recorded at London's Borderline Club, the band featured many of the tracks that had made them such a brilliant band in their heyday. A further live album, ''Live-Way Back To The Bone", featuring Hughes, Galley and Holland, was released in 1998, although these were older recordings (no actual date shown).

10). Foghat - Dreamer

Taken from "Rock and Roll Outlaws", in 1974, their 4th album. Essentially an English band based in the US, Foghat members Lonesome Dave Peverett, drummer Roger Earl and bass player Tony Stevens left Savoy Brown in the early 70's and they formed Foghat, together with guitarist Rod Price. They relocated to the US, where they became huge. They released their eponymous album in 1972 on the Bearsville Record label and were an immediate hit, with their version of Willie Dixon's "I Just Want To Make Love To You" hitting the charts in a big way, as was the case with the album itself.

They went on to release excellent albums such as "Foghat 2" (aka "Rock and Roll"), in 1973, ''Energized", in 1974 and the featured album. Other releases worthwhile mentioning are "Fool For The City" (1975, with new bass player Nick Jameson), "Night Shift" (1976, with Jameson's replacement, Craig MacGregor, who remained with the band until 1981), and their awesome "Foghat Live album", released in 1977.

The band became increasingly more commercial and radio friendly, and albums such as "In The Mood For Something Rude" and ''Zig Zag Walk" were slightly disappointing. Foghat disbanded in the mid 80's and returned with an awesome album appropriately titled "Return Of The Boogie Men" in 1994. The original line-up of Lonesome Dave Peverett, Roger Earl, Tony Stevens and Rod Price were indeed back, and the band was sounding great! Since then, a number of live albums have surfaced, namely "King Biscuit Flower Hour" in 1999 and the excellent double "Road Cases", released in 2001.

Lonesome Dave sadly passed away a few years ago. The band elected to continue, though, with new members Bryan Bassett (ex-Wild Cherry and Molly Hatchet, on guitar & vocals) and Charlie Huhn (of Deadringer and German metal outfit Victory fame, on lead vocals and guitar). A track from their 2003 album, "Family Joules", was featured on The RockIt Scientist about four months ago.

11). Nightwish - Creek Mary's Blood

One of the best Gothic Metal bands to emerge from Finland in many years, Nightwish have become extremely popular world wide, having released around seven albums to date. Fronted by the striking Tarja Turunen on vocals, the band were formed in the mid to late 90's by Tuomas Holopainen on synthesizers, Emppu Vuorinen on bass & guitars and Jukka Nevalainen on drums, with Sami Vanska joining on bass a while later. They released their debut album, ''Angels Fall First" on the Finnish Spinefarm Record label and were almost an immediate hit,

Subsequent albums such as "Oceanborn" (1998), "Wishmaster" (2000), "Century Child" (2002), "Over The Hills and Far Away" (2004) and the featured album, "Once", also released in 2004, which has sold over a million copies worldwide, have ensured that this talented band remain at the top of the pile. A very hard working band, they've toured prolifically and are extremely popular. Unfortunately, though, Turunen was sacked about five months ago, and it's not yet apparent who her replacement will be.

12). Jim Capaldi - Let The Thunder Cry

The title track of his 8th album in 1981. Drummer/vocalist Jim Capaldi (ex-Deep Feeling), was one of the founding members of UK group, Traffic, whom he founded together with Stevie Winwood in April 1967. Capaldi released his first solo album, ''Oh How We Danced" in 1972 and went on to release a total of around 15 albums. Musicians on this album included Simon Kirke on drums, Pete Bonas on guitar, Chris Parren on keyboards, Brent Forbes on bass, with Capaldi handling vocals and percussion. Capaldi and Winwood revived Traffic in the mid 90's and they released a fantastic new album called ''Far From Home" and they played to sold out concerts wherever they went. A Traffic dvd, "The Last Great Traffic Jam" (reviewed in the latest RockIt Scientist newsletter), was released in 2005, the year Jim Capaldi sadly died.

13). The Doors - Awake

From "An American Prayer", recorded prior to 1971, but only originally released in 1978. Morrison was a fantastic poet and singer - this album was arguably his best (almost classified as a solo album rather than a Doors album). Morrison, together with schoolmate and friend, keyboard player Ray Manzarek, formed The Doors in 1966, together with drummer John Densmore and guitarist Robby Krieger. They released their debut album in 1967 and were an immediate success, topping the charts with "Light My Fire". Morrison's outlandish and controversial behavior and good looks played a large part in The Door's success, as did his fantastic songwriting.

Born on December 8, 1943, Morrison died on July 3rd 1971, apparently of a heroin overdose. Krieger, Densmore and Manzarek attempted to carry on, but after two poorly received albums (one of the being the excellent "Other Voices"), the band folded. Densmore and Krieger would later team up with vocalist Jess Roden in The Butts Band in the mid 70's. Krieger also embarked on a solo career in 1977, as did Ray Manzarek (in 1975), who also formed Nite City in 1977.

14). Xit - Reservation of Education

A very famous track by this Native American Sioux Indian band who were formed in Albuquerque, New Mexico in the early 70's, evolving out of a mid 60's blues rock outfit called Lincoln Street Exit. The members were R.C Gariss on guitar, Jomac Suazo on bass, Leeja Herrera on drums and Michael Martin on guitar and vocals, with lyrics by Tom Bee. The number was taken from their second album, "Silent Warrior", released in 1973. The band went on to release about five albums in total before folding in the late 70's. They were quite big in Europe, where they recorded a live album. A dvd of their material also exists.

TRIBUTE

The next two numbers were dedicated to Dutch keyboard player and composer, Rick van der Linden, who passed away recently from a hemorrhage. He'd apparently been ill for quite some time.

A classically trained keyboard player, he co-founded Ekseption in the late 60's and they released a number of charting albums between 1969 and 1975. He released a few solo albums and had also appeared with guitarist Jan Akkerman (Focus), woodwind player Jack Lancaster (on his ''Wild Connections'' album in 1976) and on Wizard's Convention (with Roger Glover, Ray Fenwick and others) the same year.

He was one of the best and most respected keyboard players in the world and he'll be sorely missed.

15). Trace - Opus 1065

From "Birds", in 1975, the second album from this great Dutch trio, which featured van der Linden, together with Pierre van der Linden on drums and Jaap Van Eik on bass (Pierre van der Linden, who had come from fellow Dutch rockers, Focus, was later replaced by Ian Mosley, previously with Darryl Way's Wolf, and who would later find fame with Marillion). Trace released their debut album in 1974, and a third album, "White Ladies", emerged in 1976. Darryl Way is featured on electric violin on this fantastic track.

16). Ekseption - Improvisation

From "Trinity", in 1973. Featuring a stunning bass solo by Cor Dekker, one of the founding members of this famous Dutch band who were formed in the late 60's, together with drummer Peter De Leeuwe (later replaced by Peter Voogt), sax player Rob Kruisman (later replaced by Dick Remelinck, who was, in turn, replaced by Jan Vennik) and trumpet/flugelhorn player Rein van den Broek. Ekseption signed to Philips Records and released their eponymous album in 1969. Often incorporating well known classical compositions by the likes of Bach and Beethoven in their music, they became quite popular with both classical and jazz audiences.

When Rick van der Linden left Ekseption in the mid 70's to form Trace, he was replaced by Hans Jansen and Ekseption took on a decidedly more jazz/funk direction on the albums "New Formula" and ''Mind Mirror" (they even did a great cover of Average White Band's "Pick Up The Pieces" on the latter album!).

Van der Linden returned to Ekseption in 1978 and they released a few more albums but these were poorly received and the band folded for good.

17). RPM - A Legend Never Dies

A legend never dies, indeed. You are, by now, hopefully aware that three legends of South African radio, Chris Prior, Phil Wright, Rafe Lavine will be joining 1485am Radio Today in February 2006.

RPM were a fantastic US AOR melodic rock outfit who released two albums. The line-up included Jimmie Lee Sloas on bass and keyboards, Mark Gendel on guitars and background vocals, Tommy Wells on drums and Bob Johnson on vocals. The self-titled debut, from which the featured track was taken, was released in 1982. The second and final album, "Phonogenic", was released in 1984, but the band split shortly after it was released. The debut album was released on CD about two years ago. The debut album is, next to Cobra's "First Strike" album, one of the finest melodic hard rock albums to come out of the 80's.