Review: Black Country Communion - Afterglow

A random thought passes as I listen to Black Country Communion's new album Afterglow: with the recent bad blood between bassist Glenn Hughes and guitarist Joe Bonamassa, if Bonamassa was on fire, would Hughes put him out?

Answer, not on Afterglow he doesn't.

Throughout the band's third studio album in as many years, Bonamassa's playing is smoking: Big Train's wah-wah infused rave up; the white hot solos on Midnight Sun and the Giver; the guitar intro to Midnight Sun; or the slow burning slide on Cry Freedom. Bonamassa lights the album up with his best playing to date with this band. Hughes response is to fuel the flames with a collection of songs of great licks and words that twist and turn, offer loud and soft (light and shade?) moments throughout.

If, as has been allowed as possible through various media outlets, this is the end of the line for Black Country Communion, it will prove to be a great pity. On reviewing their first album, I offered a number of times their influences came to the top, on their second album, I noted less of this. On this album, they sound from start to finish uniquely like themselves. Hey are a band that has found an identity. Moments like the dual Hughes/Bonamassa vocals on Cry Freedom or the tight, super-funky groove Hughes and drummer Jason Bonaham get on the Bonham penned piece Common Man sound like Black Country Communion and no one else.

You can't talk about Afterglow without also mentioning Derek Sherinian, who takes a greater role than the first two albums, playing a couple of organ solos that are exceptional. His playing throughout is top notch.

Black Country Communion's Afterglow, which was released yesterday is a great rock and roll album that will improve with time and listenings. It is what these guys do best, flat out rock.

Tracklist:

1. Big Train (Hughes)


2. This is Your Time (Bonham/Bonamassa/Sherinian) (Lyrics Bonham/Hughes)


3. Midnight Sun (Bonham/Bonamassa/Sherinian)(Lyrics: Hughes)


4. Confessor (Hughes)


5. Cry Freedom (Hughes/Bonamassa/Bonham/Sherinian)(Lyrics: Hughes)


6. Afterglow (Hughes)


7. Dandelion (Hughes)


8. The Circle (Hughes)


9. Common Man (Bonham) (Lyrics Bonham/Hughes)


10. The Giver (Hughes/Bonamassa/Shirley) (Lyrics Hughes)


11. Crawl (Bonamassa/Bonham/Hughes/Shirley) (Lyrics Hughes)

Ramble On Radio Episode #22

Led Zeppelin held a press conference and I have all the details, plus: Black Country Communion at war; Jimmy Page out and about; Did Robert Plant do a movie soundtrack? John Paul Jones jams with Alfie Boe and more, on the only Led Zeppelin podcast on this, or any, known internets.

Listen here

or

Subscribe on iTunes

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Links

Shawn Sarazin's Mystery of the Quotient

Dony Wynn's blog post on Modern Drummer

Buy Carol Miller's Autobiography on Amazon.com



Pre-order the Celebration Day LP:



Jason Bonham's son, J-Swagg's Facebook page.

New Country Communion

With 6 weeks to go until Afterglow is released, Black Country Communion has made the first single, Confessor, available. To get a free download of Confessor, go here, and give your email address.

A video of Confessor was also made available:



Here's the artwork for Afterglow



Afterglow Track List:

1. Big Train
2. This Is Your Time
3. Midnight Sun
4. Confessor
5. Cry Freedom
6. Afterglow
7. Dandelion
8. The Circle
9. Common Man
10. The Giver
11. Crawl

Afterglow - The Video and the Preorder

Black Country Communion's third studio album, Afterglow, is now available for pre-order through the Black Country Communion website.

As well, the band released an "in the studio" video yesterday called AFTERGLOW Webisode 1:



Meanwhile, Glenn Hughes seems to be backing away from comments he made last month that this could be Black Country Communion's last album. In an interview, Hughes said that without a deeper level of commitment from guitarist Joe Bonamassa, who also has a successful solo career, perhaps it was time to move on.

Today on twitter, Hughes backed away from that statement:

Peeps~BCC is not splitting up~we have a new album comin'~hey I get a lil sensitive with the media...and controversy makes for good copy..GH

Black Country Communion Artwork

Black Country Communion released the artwork for their third studio album, Afterglow, today.




As well as the artwork, they released a short video on the making of Afterglow. If the musical clip played on the video is any indication, this album will be a treat for fans.




Afterglow is available October 30th and can be pre-ordered beginning September 11th.

Glenn Hughes: The Autobiography - from Deep Purple to Black Country Communion.

Glenn Hughes: The Autobiography, penned with the help of Joel McIver, covers his career, and life from The late 1960's through to the present day. The fact there is a present day Glenn Hughes is nothing short of a small miracle, a point which is not a minor piece of subtext running through the book.

For Led Zeppelin fans, Glenn Hughes: The Autobiography is of interest mostly because Hughes plays with Jason Bonham in Black Country Communion, but also because Hughes has a couple of run ins with Led Zeppelin, and John Bonham in particular.

In 1971, Bonham turned up at a Trapeze show, Hughes first band. He inserted himself into the drummers chair mid-song and a 15-minute version of Medusa ensued, a song Hughes would later record with Bonham's son in Black Country Communion. Post-show Hughes went back to Bonham's house where they listened to an acetate of Led Zeppelin IV "a good four months before it's global release. We must have heard the album five times. By the time the sun came up, 'When The Levee Breaks' was tattooed on my brain."

A few hours later Robert Plant showed up to take Bonham away on a European tour.

In 1975 Bonham showed up side-stage at Deep Purple show to confront Hughes about an alleged affair with Bonham's wife, which Hughes denies (then and now), and subsequently on to a party at Ron Wood's New York apartment. Later Bonham would punch Hughes and have him kicked out of a Song Remains the Same release party for the same offense.

Then there's this:

You may not believe this, but it's true. In September 1980, I was having a nap in the middle of the day, and I remember Karen coming in and saying, "You'll never guess who's dead." And I said this, out of my sleep: "I know who's dead, it's John Bonham." He'd come to me and whispered in my ear that he'd gone to heaven and told God that he was leaving Led Zeppelin and going to form a new band with Glenn Hughes. And then he said to me, "She's a rich girl now," and that's exactly the dream I had. It came to me while I was sleeping.

It may seem strange that Bonham was in heaven and planning to join a band with the still alive Hughes, but Hughes was by that time mired in addiction problems of his own, mostly cocaine. Who knows what message from beyond John Bonham was trying to tell him.

Hughes addiction problem, coming to grips with it, 20-years wasted, unable to keep a gig, unable to do much of anything but find/take cocaine. Glenn Hughes: The Autobiography is a cathartic process for Hughes, who makes no apologies and holds nothing back, pointing out secrets are deadly to addicts.
Black Sabbath guitarist Tony Iommi says of Hughes in the book:

he'd burned so many bridges over the years that he had to rebuild every one.

That's what this book is, another strut in Glenn Hughes bridge, being rebuilt one strut, one truss at a time. The focus throughout is his addiction, and the consequences thereof.

Glenn Hughes: The Autobiography is an enjoyable, if sometimes uncomfortable read. Telling the tale of great success and great waste of talent, sometimes all at once. Glenn Hughes has lived one hell of a life, is probably very lucky to be alive (and as anyone who follows Hughes on Facebook or Twitter can tell you, Hughes is very aware of the fact).

Or, to paraphrase, Hughes is the messenger, and this book is his prophesy.

Black Country Communion Live Over Europe: CD Review

If you have the Black Country Communion DVD Live Over Europe, released four months ago, there's no surprises in the CD. The song list is exactly the same and, as far as I could tell, it is an exact soundtrack of the video performance of BCC's European tour from last summer. From first to last, the 15-song set is identical.

If you haven't seen the DVD, or prefer to listen instead of watch your music, Black Country Communion is a tight, loud and top notch live act, who's songs translate well and, often, improve in the live setting.

The disc consists of songs from BCC's first two albums, plus Guitarist Joe Bonamassa's Ballad of John Henry and bassist/singer Glenn Hughes era Deep Purple classic, Burn. The two CD set is an hour and a half of blue based rock, performed at the highest level.

If your jumping in the car this summer, and taking off for a driving holiday, I can't imagine not having BCC's live over Europe CD in the glovebox: it is the perfect rock and roll accompaniment.




Track Listing

1. Revolutions of the Machine


2. Black Country


3. One Last Soul


4. Crossfire


5. Save Me


6. The Battle for Hadrian's Wall


7. Beggarman


8. Faithless


9. Song of Yesterday


10. I can See Your Spirit


11. Cold


12. The Ballad of John Henry


13. The Outsider


14. The Great Divide


15. Sista Jane


16. Man in the Middle


17. Burn

The CD is in stores Tuesday, or can be ordered through BCCommunion.com or Amazon.com

BCC Live Over Europe CD Release

When Black Country Communion first announced the DVD release for Live Over Europe, it simultaneously announced a CD release (I seem to recall a LP release as well, but can't find that I reported on it). However, when the DVD/bluray was released in the fall, there was no sign of an audio release.

Today, Black Country Communion announced the CD of Live Over Europe will be released on February 28th. It can be pre-ordered now from the BCC website for $19.99 or Amazon.com:

Ramble On Radio Episode #8

Ralph Hulett joined me for an interview on Ramble On Radio Episode #8, which is now available.

On this edition I discuss the Led Zeppelin IV @ 40 Gallery Exhibition, my role in putting Led Zeppelin IV back on the Billboard charts,  Jimmy Page and the age of chivalry, and a Robert Plant back yard charity show.

On the what's for sale topics, a Black Country Communion "note for note" guitar DVD, Frank Reddon's Sonic Boom: The Impact of Led Zeppelin. Volume 1 - Break & Enter on e-book, a biography of Ahmet Ertegun, The Last Sultan: The Life and Times of Ahmet Ertegun and a Jimmy Page Coffin.

Ralph Hulett told stories about seeing Led Zeppelin, and stories from his book, Whole Lotta Led: Our Flight with Led Zeppelin, co-authored with Jerry Prochnicky.

Ramble On Radio Episode #8 is available at Podbean or you can subscribe at iTunes

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Links from Ramble On Radio Episode #8:

Robert Plant with Roger Daltry and Pete Townsend for Teenage Cancer Trust

Get Ramble On Radio Episode #8 at Podbean, or subscribe through iTunes

Ralph Hulett Links:

wholelottaledthebook.com get his blog (plus links to his podcasts) plus see some pictures exclusive to the ebook edition and more.

Podcast #1

Podcast #2

Ralph's photography.

Sunshine Sketches of Jason Bonham’s Led Zeppelin Experience

Jason Bonham rolls into Central Ontario this weekend, playing Casino Rama in Orillia. Orillia’s claim to fame is the home of Canadian author and humourist Stephen Leacock, and the setting of his most famous book, Sunshine Sketches of a Little Townis reputed to be Orillia.

Heading into the show, Toronto Sun’s Darryl Sterdan has a short interview that is full of information. Bonham tells Sterdan that, should there be another Led Zeppelin Reunion, he’ll find out when we all find out:

When I was last with those guys they said, ‘You will always be the last to know of anything from now on because you can’t keep your mouth shut.’

He adds defeatedly, “They said ‘What are you going to do? Say no?’”

There are a few more very interesting tidbits in the interview, including that the band had to learn “the entire catalogue.” These guys are prepared to play any Zeppelin song (note to Bonham: Fool in the Rain on Saturday Nov 5, please).

As well, he Bonham reports that Black Country Communion will be recording ‘3’ sometime next year. This was reported previously, but Glenn Hughes has since announced he’s recording a solo album and doing a world tour in 2012, which seemed to preclude also doing a BCC album.

Hopefully Black Country Communion doesn't have the same "don't tell Jason rule" as Led Zeppelin does.

Black Country Communion: Live Over Europe

Black Country Communion: Live Over Europe hit the shelves in DVD format this week with rather a whimper in my part of the world.

The DVD was available Monday in Europe and Tuesday here in North America. In my little part of Canada the large electronics chain didn't have it, and HMV had three copies squirrelled away in the concert DVD section, not up front in the new release display.

The concert film is almost two hours long (1:49 specifically) and features performances of 16 songs. To put things succinctly, the footage is top notch, the sound quality excellent and the performance as good as it gets. Black Country Communion is an excellent live band, and that tells in this DVD.

The second disk in the 2-disk set features a 25 minute feature video, Forging BCC, The Making of Live Over Europe and two photo collections.


The video will be available in Blu-ray November 15th (14th in Europe).

There was talk of an audio release as well, but that talk seems to have dried up, and I can find no evidence of a CD/MP3 release coming soon.

Free Black Country Communion Download

The new live DVD/BluRay and CD from Black Country Communion can be pre-ordered September 13th from the BCC home page and Amazon. The package will ship October 24th. We have also now gotten a look at the cover.



While you wait, you can download a free MP3 of Song of Yesterday.

Watch here for a pre-release review of Black Country Communion: Live Over Europe.

Black Country Communion - Live Over Europe

Black Country Communion has announced their expected DVD will be called Live Over Europe and have a release date of Monday October 24th (likely the 25th in North America).

Here's an exclusive trailer from BCCommunion.com we



You can also sign up for their newsletter and receive a live MP3 of Song of Yesterday on September 8th.

Derek Sherinian on BCC

Keyboardist Derek Sherinian has been largely the quiet one when it comes to Black Country Communion, and interviews with him seem to be rarer than with the bands other three members, Glenn Hughes, Joe Bonamassa and Jason Bonham. With a new solo album coming out, however, he sat down with Bravewords, and managed to spill the beans on what's next for BCC:

Bravewords.com: Black Country Communion - what’s it like working with the voice of rock, Glenn Hughes.

Sherinian: “Glenn is great with his British wit. He’s the elder statesman of rock and it’s a real pleasure to tour with him. The last nine weeks (touring) have been a very smooth ride. I’d love to do more touring with these guys.”

Bravewords.com: True, but why only Europe? Why no BCC in North America?

Sherinian: “We need to do a proper North American tour. We just need to go out there and grind it out.”

Bravewords.com: It’s strange. The first album was great. The second album was better, but the band remains largely hidden from North America.

Sherinian: “It all comes down to demand. We’re selling a lot more records in Europe and the demand for us to play live is greater there. You have to go where the warm current is.”

Bravewords.com: What’s next for BCC?

Sherinian: “Well, we are putting out a live DVD from this last European tour for Christmas and the plan is to make a third record next spring and then next June (2012) we’re going back on tour, but I’m not sure where. That’s the rough sketch.”

The DVD we knew about, but BCC3, plus another summer tour. As I said in the podcast, it's the to come to parts north.

High Voltage BCC

Black Country Communion hit the stage at London's legendary Victoria Park for the High Voltage Festival yesterday. They played an hour long set, featuring music from both of their albums, plus some material from the band members repertoire.

The band members themselves enjoyed the show, with both Glenn Hughes and Joe Bonamassa commenting on their social network sites that it was a successful show: "HV fest was off da hook... our fans were out flyin' the BCC freak flag," wrote Glenn Hughes after the gig.

Here's the Black Country Communion High Voltage Setlist:

1. Black Country


2. One Last Soul


3. Crossfire


4. Save Me


5. Song of Yesterday


6. The OUtsider


7. Man in the Middle


8. The Ballad of John Henry (Joe Bonamassa Song)


9. Burn (Deep Purple Song)

Happy Birthday Jason Bonham

Has it really been four years since Jason Bonham sat in his fathers stool, and kept the Led Zeppelin clock ticking?

Today is Jason Bonham's 45th birthday, a tribute to how old all of us are who remember him as a kid. And a birthday in Vienna with good bandmates, that can't be so bad.

Happy 45th birthday Jason Bonham, from one Zeppelin fan to another.

Black Country Communion DVD Blu-Ray

[caption id="attachment_1255" align="alignright" width="300" caption="Photo courtesy of Aubrey Stewart"][/caption]

Black Country Communion bassist/singer Glenn Hughes seems to have let some news drop this morning on twitter:

In Milano… Joe and I will give a press conference for 2morrows[sic] show: then we will be in Pre-production for Filming Blu-ray concerts…

Another tweet later said:

Did press conf. alone: Joe is already @ Studio

He later announced Black Country Communion is filming on the tour for October release. What concert they are planning to record, or if they have already taped a show, is unknown at this stage. But, as Hughes put it in a later tweet, "we are building a foundation."

Black Country Communion YouTube Contest

Black Country Communion is running a YouTube contest.

Upload a Black Country Communion video to your YouTube channel. To Enter:

1. Qualified entrants must upload a Black Country Communion video on their YouTube channel. Any video related to Black Country Communion is eligible: live footage, interviews, studio footage, fan covers or song samples; as long as it involves the band as a whole- as opposed to featuring only one member- your video will be eligible. The source of the video will not be judged, whether or not you filmed it, or ripped it.

2. Entrants must put the following announcement on the FIRST LINE of their video description:
FREE Download http://bccommunion.com/outsider/youtube

Additional to this announcement, they must post an annotation on the video at any time, that must display the following words:

FREE Download on Video Description

If you have any questions about how to create a Video Annotation, please visit this link:
http://www.google.com/support/youtube/bin/answer.py?answer=92710

3. Entrants MUST post their video as a “Video Response” to the Contest Video (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SDqRHSycuHk )

If you have any questions about how to create a Video Response, please visit this link:
http://www.google.com/support/youtube/bin/answer.py?answer=57931

More here.

Triple-Play Weekend for Members of Zeppelin

It was a big weekend in the world of Led Zeppelin, with three of the four members of the band that performed at the O2 arena in Dec, 2007 playing this weekend.

On Sunday night, Robert Plant and the Band of Joy took the stage in Tennessee at the annual Bonnaroo festival. Reviews are strong, as they have been for The Band of Joy since they began touring together last year.

On the other side of the ocean, one of Britain's biggest and oldest festivals, the Isle of Wight, featured Plant's old bandmate, John Paul Jones. Jones stepped on stage with at Isle of Wight with a Gibson bass Saturday Night, backing up itinerant bluesman Seasick Steve.

Jones appeared on Seasick Steve's latest album, You Can't Teach an old Dog New Tricks, and has been stepping out at various gigs with Steve. An interactive video of last months Streets of London concert is currently available on at SeasickSteve.com.

Finally, Jason Bonham began the first tour with his band, Black Country Communion last week.

On Friday Night, Black Country Communion played their second show of the tour in Anaheim. The band kicked through a 16 song set, half of which came from their new album, "2."

Aubrey Stewart, a Led Zeppelin fan from Texas, travelled to Anaheim to catch the show. He later commented that,

BCC rocked.  They are excited about what they are doing and it showed... If you get the chance, go see these guys you wont' be disappointed.

Aubrey also took a number of great pictures, which he has graciously allowed me to post here.

Black Country Communion's Setlist, for Friday Night in Anaheim:

1. Black Country


2. One Last Soul


3. Crossfire


4. Save Me


5. The Battle for Hadrian's Wall


6. Beggarman


7. Faithless


8. Song of Yesterday


9. Smokestack Woman


10. Cold


11. John Henry

(Joe Bonamassa song)

12. The Great Divide


13. Sista Jane


14. Outsider

Encore:

15. Man In the Middle


16. Burn
    (Deep Purple cover)

Jimmy Page, it is rumoured, spent the weekend writing HTML code, after showing up at Royal albert Hall with Donovan last weekend.

Man in the Middle

Black Country Communion have just released a new video from their forthcoming album, Black Country Communion 2. Man in the Middle is the second song on the album.

Black Country Communion begin their American tour this week in San Diego Thursday. They will then play Anaheim, Salt Lake City, St. Louis, Indianapolis, New Hampshire, New Jersey and Washington DC, before heading to Europe on June 23rd.