"Less Talk, More Rock"
Listen to Benjy Mudie every Thursday night between 8 and 12pm on Radio 2000.
Radio 2000
(97.2 to 100.2FM)
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This website is part of the South African Rock Encyclopedia
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Benjy says...
Dear rock fans,
In listening to the Peter Gabriel edition of Genesis I was struck by just how inventive this band really were, not just for the time but even now they sound so breathtakingly daring and inventive ... and the question needs to be asked ... why are very few bands/artists 'pushing the envelope' these days? Everything seems to sound the same (ok there are exceptions), all grey and dull copies of what has gone before ....
Next week's special will be a band that has a very 'special' place in my heart (and music collection), Falling Mirror. I'm hoping to have vocalist Neilen Mirror and guitarist Alan Faull in the studio as we explore the music of one of the most innovative bands of the early 80's. This is what I wrote about them in 1999 .....
It's hard after all these years to be totally objective about this wonderfully eclectic band, I was, and still am, very passionate about the Mirror. I first heard them as a young twenty-something in early 1979, they were my third signing as an A&R man (after Baxtop and Lesley Rae Dowling) and I was completely blown away by the sheer vision lyrically and musically of Allan and Nielen.
I was often criticised both internally by WEA and by certain media for continuing to release album after album with very little commercial success, but I believed in my heart that this band was, and still remains, special and one day people will recognise that. To me the Mirror were, like the Asylum Kids, pioneers ... trailblazers in a country at war with itself, they were, I suppose, our Pink Floyd complete with a Syd Barrett genius type and a guitarist that, in any other country would have been up there with Knopfler, Clapton (who he idolises by the way), [Jeff] Beck, etc.
-- Benjy Mudie, Falling Mirror Website, September 1999
Rock of Ages's recommendations
Eric Burdon
Highly regarded as one the greatest white British blues/R&B shouters of the 60's Eric Burdon has had a chequered career since bailing out of the Animals in the latter part of that decade: discovering the mind altering properties of LSD he first led the Animals into psychedelic territory with albums like "Winds of change" and "The twain shall meet" before reinventing himself as the Lord of Funk Rock with the band War and hits like "Tobacco Road" and "Spill the wine". By the mid 70's however he seemed to have burnt out as an artist and after a series of patchy albums Burdon faded from the greater rock conciousness and although he has continued to record it's been a long, long time since he made a record worth raving about ..... Thankfully his new album "A soul of a man" is a true return to form. With a red hot ensemble behind him Eric's blues drenched vocals tackle songs by the likes of the legendary Blind Willie Johnson, Mississippi Fred McDowell and Chester Burnett. If you are a bonefide blues fan then its worth investing in.
Strangely strange but oddly normal - an Island anthology
I have had a whole bunch of stuff arrive from overseas this week and none more exciting than "Strangely strange but oddly normal - an Island anthology". Island Records was the first and most successful independent label, signing some of the most important and influential rock, jazz and folk artists including Free, King Crimson, Jethro Tull, Traffic, John Martyn, Spooky Tooth, Nick Drake, Fairport Convention and many more. This amazing 3 CD box set charts the period 1967-1972 when the label was at it's creative peak. With it's wonderfully eclectic music selection and an accompanying 48 page booklet this is a must for any self respecting rock fan!
Competitions
Judas Priest DVD
We tried really hard to give away the Judas Priest dvd again last night, listeners got the first 2 questions right which were:
1. What band did Robert Plant & John Bonham play in together before joining Led Zeppelin? BAND OF JOY
2. What original Fleetwood Mac guitarist went missing on tour in Los Angeles and landed up joining a religious cult? JEREMY SPENCER
But No.3 stumped everyone so this now becomes question 1 next week and I will add another 2 new 'rockspert' questions and hopefully we will have a winner ...
1. Which 3 famous rock guitarists played in John Mayall's Bluesbreakers albeit not at the same time?
BB King Competition
Here are the winners of the BB King competition, congratulations you have won a copy of the "BB King & Friends - 80th Anniversary" album, courtesy of Universal Music: Rory Gillan (Vlaeberg) / Alan Milne (Fishoek) / Victor Lehane (Pinelands) / Maurice van der Velde (Malvern) and Faan Carlse (Sannieshof) - Please allow 4-6 weeks for delivery of the prize.
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Contact Rock of Ages
Email: click here
Snail mail:
PO Box 782022, Sandton 2146
Studio phone: 089-1102003
Richard Filmer @ CDW
Disclaimer:
The views, opinions, rants, raves and ramblings expressed on this website are the author's own and in no way reflect the views of Radio 2000 or the SABC.
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News from the
World of Rock |
Up Yours! The Sex Pistols have told the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame where they can stuff their induction. Steve Jones, Johnny Rotten (John Lydon) and Glen Matlock have each spoken out about the induction of the band next month at a "gala black tie affair". Steven Jones opened his radio show on Los Angeles Indie 103.1 on Friday with these words, "We're not going to the museum. You can shove it. You can have it," according to SexPistols.net. Glen Matlock told The Independent on Sunday, "It's nothing to do with the bands - it's all to do with business.
When I first heard about it I was quite excited... but then I found I was going to have to pay thousands of pounds to take my kids. It's just a big corporate event, a bunch of Herberts in suits... just a money-making opportunity for multi-million shysters." And the most outspoken of the ex-Pistols John Lydon aka Johnny Rotten posted his thoughts in a handwritten note on his official website on Friday. "Next to the Sex Pistols rock and roll and that hall of fame is a piss stain. We are not your monkey and so what? Fame at $25,000 if we paid for a table or $15,000 to squeak up in the gallery?
If you voted for us, I hope you noted your reasons. You are anonymous as judges but you are still music industry people. We are not coming. You are not paying attention.
George Michael Drug Bust Reuters reports: British singer George Michael was arrested on Sunday on suspicion of possessing drugs after he was found slumped in a car in central London, a police source said.
Michael, 42, who has sold more than 80 million records worldwide during a 25-year career, was arrested in the Hyde Park area of the capital early on Sunday, the source said.
Only in America Not only will they make you deaf, but apparently listening to your iPod with earbuds / headphones in / covering both ears is illegal in Orange County, California as this poor Suicide Girl found out, "I was just on the bus, doing typical travel things. You know, listening to my ipod, staring out the window, day dreaming about ice cream and puppy dogs. A few stops before mine, a sheriff's car pulls in front of the bus with its lights on. He gets on, moves to the back and an undercover informs a woman that she's being cited for wearing headphones.
Apparently, having both headphones on while in a bus is a crime. They take her info. They are about to leave when the undercover notices me with my ipod. Do you have your ID, he rudely asked. I asked why. He informs me that what I'm doing is illegal. That I can only have one earphone in at a time...." Gotta love the OC Sheriffs Dept if this is true. She should have asked him how the dept was handling the bribery charges against an assistant sheriff and how the other assistant sheriff's son's sexual assault case was going...
Jovi Vs Darkness The purveyor of stomach churningly bad rock music that is Jon Bon Jovi has decided to blast the equally awful The Darkness. He ranted: "I hate The Darkness. Fucking hate 'em. I don't understand it. I know they are huge, but I never really got it. "It's just Spinal Tap isn't it? It's just a lark. I'm not sure they think so, though. ...[First Axl, now The Darkness. Someone give Jon his Prozac...
Gene Slams Ace Britain's Uncut magazine recently conducted an interview with KISS mainmen Paul Stanley and Gene Simmons. Simmons: "There were problems with drink and drugs, but I was completely oblivious to it then. I've never been drunk or high in my life. If you're talking about Peter and Ace, you're talking about the kind of personalities that are so peculiar you wouldn't know if they were high or not.
Even when he was straight, Ace was unable to walk in a straight line. Also, he naturally talks in a slurred way. He was no different when he was high. He had a strange sense of humor, too. He'd be coming out with stuff like, 'Hey, I fucked an alien last night.' He is, without doubt, the laziest, most self-destructive person I've ever met."
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The Nu Folk featuring Albert Frost, Jim Neversink, Sinister Minister and Josie Field
Sunday 5 March from 15h00 Tanz Café, Bryanston
Stoned Goblin
4/24 March Gandalfs, Observatory
11 March Belgian Beer Pub, Stellenbosch
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| Benjy Mudie |
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Benjy Mudie was inducted into the South African Rock Hall Of Fame on 14th August 2002. Of Scottish origin, Mudie started out in the music industry working in record shops. He later became the A&R man for WEA records, signing such luminaries as Lesley Rae Dowling, Baxtop and Falling Mirror. He has ventured briefly into the realms of songwriting, getting co-writing credit for Little Sister's song 'You Got My Heart', but it is mainly for his running of record labels, notably Tusk and more recently Fresh and Retro Fresh that he is honoured. With these labels he has tirelessly dedicated himself to putting South African music out there, showing an unshaking belief in the quality of SA music.
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