CATEGORIES

RETIREMENT? WHAT RETIREMENT?

In 2012 the Scorpions announced their retirement. A decade later… they’re still with us. Classic Rock caught up with the core members to look back at the life and times of one of hard rock’s great and most enduring bands

SELF-MADE MEN

On their new, independently released album, guitarist Misha Mansoor talks of taking Periphery back to the band they always wanted it to be. No longer bending to the pressures of suits or the public, and more comfortable now in their own skin than ever before, this is the story of how Periphery V: Djent Is Not A Genre finds the US group at their defiant best.

Billy F Gibbons

Playing Top tunes, solo songs and covers, expect “something old, something new and a lot that’s blues”.

CAROL KAYE

If you’ve ever wondered what connects Frank Zappa to Frank Sinatra, Burt Bacharach to The Beach Boys or Ray Charles to The Righteous Brothers, the answer is simple: Carol Kaye. We discover the story behind the legendary bassist’s iconic sound

"We're borrowing amps for every show"

Island Of Love are signed to Jack White’s label, but the band’s two guitarists are still hustling for gear in the pursuit of ear-bleeding volume

"The first note I play, I miss the whole string completely!"

It’s the guitar solo that everyone is talking about – but as Nuno Bettencourt now reveals, it starts with a mistake…

KINGS OF THE WORLD

Fifty years ago, imams of immaculacy and avatars of the acerbic, Steely Dan, were jazz pop's cool rulers. They had under their belts a debut album, Can't Buy A Thrill, that wasn't so much hesitantly promising as fully-realised, supremely accomplished. Clearly, on a roll, the follow-up, issued in July 1973, was, if anything, even better: their second - and, some would say, finest - album of cutting perfection (ism), Countdown To Ecstasy. Max Bell evaluates its razor buoyancy.

WIND OF CHANGE

It is 1974 and the Bee Gees haven't had a hit for a while. Nor are they enjoying the critical respect of the heavenly-harmony \"B\" boys: Beatles, Beach Boys, Byrds. Into this commercial and critical lull enters producer Arif Mardin. In this extract from his book on the brothers Gibb, Bee Gees: Children Of The World, author, RC writer and pop musician Bob Stanley finds them midway through Phase 2 of their transition from late 60s orch-popsters to late 70s disco behemoths.

POP ART

Numerous rock'n'pop artistes have proven dab hands with other artforms over the decades. RC artist Paul Bowler paints a picture of some of those who work on other canvases

BREAKING THE WAVES

A going concern since 1976, first in The Hague and since 2006 in Rotterdam, the annual North Sea Jazz Festival returns this summer with a stellar lineup including Janelle Monáe, Seal, Stormzy, Little Simz, Lizzo, Duckwrth, Snarky Puppy, Tom Jones, Van Morrison, Buddy Guy, Mavis Staples, Jill Scott and more. It showcases the best contemporary jazz-influenced acts while attracting the biggest names. Photographer Paul Bergen has been capturing images from the festival for nearly four decades. He talks us through some of his favourite shots from previous years...

NO LESS THAN HERO

To mark the release of Seven Psalms, an astonishing meditation on spirituality and mortality and his first album of new material in seven years, Paul Simon a giant of postwar American popular song matched only by Dylan - takes to Zoom for an RC exclusive to talk about (his) music with fan, friend and fellow master songwriter, Elvis Costello. Listening in: Terry Staunton.

Oh, Sit Down!

We will if you stop playing those infectious big-venue anthems to alienation and belonging. But James can't help themselves, and they never could, whether in their early indie phase, during Madchester, with Eno, or any time since. Still on their singular path and in pursuit of the new, they're releasing an orchestral retrospective album, Be Opened By The Wonderful. Tim Booth, Saul Davies and Jim Glennie tell Kevin Harley about their choppy journey as perennial outsiders and the value of an open mind.

The days of his life

Freddie Mercury's unseen personal collection set to be exhibited and auctioned, darlings!

NINE-TIME M.V.P.

NINE TIMES NUNO BETTENCOURT PROVED TO BE GUITAR'S M.V.P.

RIK EMMETT

The former Triumph guitarist discusses everything from those pesky Rush comparisons, the advantages of jumpsuits and the uphill battle of cracking the U.S. market

San Diego United States

Jeremy Pound enjoys the great outdoors as the sun sets to Debussy and Mahler at the southern Californian city's eye-catching new venue

Gustav Mahler

Forthright and bold as Mahler's symphonies may appear, they are also works of remarkable subtlety and ambiguity

TRANSFORMER

Sure, he made a massive imprint on David Bowie's classic early Seventies albums. But Mick Ronson also worked with Lou Reed, Bob Dylan, John Mellencamp, Elton John, Roger McGuinn, Morrissey, Ian Hunter and many others. GW profiles the post-Bowie career of rock 'n' roll's most quietly spoken guitar hero. Starring Def Leppard's Joe Elliott, Slaughter and the Dogs' Mick Rossi and the Cult's Billy Duffy

Full Spedding Ahead

BRITISH SESSION ACE CHRIS SPEDDING ON BEING ASKED TO AUDITION FOR THE ROLLING STONES, PRODUCING THE SEX PISTOLS' EARLY DEMOS AND RECORDING HIS FINAL ALBUM WITH ROBERT GORDON

FIVE QUESTIONS: MCKINLEY JAMES

THE SOUL / BLUES / ROCK ’N’ ROLL AFICIONADO ON HOW HE FILLS OUT A DUO — AND WHY YOU’LL PROBABLY NEVER SEE HIM FEATURED IN OUR “MY PEDALBOARD” SECTION

Covet

YVETTE YOUNG MIGHT CALL IT A NEW BEGINNING, BUT HER PLAYING ON CATHARSIS IS AS BLINDING AS EVER

The fight to be heard

Exiled from their homeland by the Taliban, Afghan musicians are striving to promote a rich musical heritage

Hidden treasures

After spending two decades searching the archives for neglected operas, conductor Charles Peebles recalls the risks and challenges of bringing them to the stage

Making Tracks

Composer, and Radio 3 presenter, Hannah Peel is forging a multi-faceted career while also giving crucial breaks to fellow musicians, as she tells Tom Stewart

BETTENCOURT OF PUBLIC ΟΡΙΝΙΟΝ

BRIAN MAY, ZAKK WYLDE, STEVE VAI, TOM MORELLO AND MORE EXPLAIN WHY NUNO AIN'T YOUR TYPICAL GUITAR HERO

RISE AND SHINE

NUNO BETTENCOURT ON THE FINER POINTS OF HIS \"RISE\" GUITAR SOLO - AND THE FIRESTORM IT HAS SPARKED IN GUITAR LAND

THE RISING SON

BACK IN MARCH, EXTREME RELEASED A NEW SONG AND MUSIC VIDEO CALLED \"RISE\" (COMPLETE WITH A FREAKIN' PHENOMENAL NUNO BETTENCOURT GUITAR SOLO). THE GUITAR-PLAYING COMMUNITY HASN'T QUITE BEEN THE SAME SINCE

Two Dog Knights

CATCHING UP WITH WINERY DOGS RICHIE KOTZEN AND BILLY SHEEHAN

DevilDriver

LIKE ITS PREDECESSOR, DEALING WITH DEMONS VOL. II IS AN ALL-OUT WAR OF GUN-TURRET TREMOLO PICKING AND DARKLY ANTHEMIC CHORUSES

A titan without ego

For many, conductor Otto Klemperer will be remembered as the steady and reliable champion of classic repertoire, but in his youth the German was a dashing advocate of the new