Magical Moment Photos

Tony Iommi and Ozzy Osbourne of Black Sabbath. Photo by Ben Upham.

“Black Sabbath Scores”
by Deniese Kusel
The Press Telegram
Long Beach, Ca.
September 10, 1975

Black Sabbath’s claim to fame was that they were louder than any other rock band around. That was in 1970 when they first got together.
Sunday night at the Long Beach Arena they proved, once again, that if you pump out the decibels with enough force, people will cheer for anything.
In their first concert in two years, Black Sabbath kept the audience on their feet well after the second selection, “Hole in the Sky.”
It was obvious that the fans had missed the flamboyant group and were excited to have them back.
With the exception of a good lick sprinkled here and there and some rapid rhythmic changes on the lead guitar, Black Sabbath is just “another loud rock
band.” They were colorful, but prerdictable. The audience response was tremendous and the band worked. Their driving, hard rock sound was reminiscent of early Led Zeppelin.
Tony lommi, lead guitar, is one of few really good left-handed leads around on his customized Gibson. Vocalist Ozzy Osbourne, hot after a successful
European tour, spiked his lyrics with shouts and screams. The audience ate up the fleecy costumes and theatrics.
“Snow Blind” and “Symptom of the Universe” — the latter featuring lommi — were highlights of the concert. Bass player Geezer Butler’s fluid movements and showy stage style was a dynamic force in creating the visual imagery for Black Sabbath. Drummer Bill Ward falls into the same league as the hard-hitting Ginger Baker during his days with Cream. Hanging above his drum kit, an acoustical shell captured the sound and held it together.
Clearly, a lot of effort was put into putting the group back into action.
They drew heavily from their new album “Sabotage” for their concert material. Black Sabbath is a working band and seems destined to continue their present success. If hard rock is your bag, then dig them. They go deep.

BLACK SABBATH DISCOGRAPHY:
1970 Black Sabbath
1970 Paranoid
1971 Master of Reality
1972 Black Sabbath Vol. 4
1973 Sabbath Bloody Sabbath
1975 Sabotage
1976 Technical Ecstasy
1977 We Sold our Souls for Rock ‘N’ Roll
1978 Never Say Die
1980 Live At Last
1980 Heaven and Hell
1981 Mob Rules
1982 Live Evil
1983 Born Again
1986 Seventh Star
1987 The Eternal Idol
1989 Headless Cross
1990 Tyr
1992 Dehumanizer
1994 Cross Purposes
1995 Forbidden
1995 Cross Purposes Live
1998 Reunion
2002 Past Lives
2007 Live at Hammersmith Odeon

Click the links below to see Rare Black Sabbath Photos:
BLACK SABBATH FINE ART AMERICA IMAGES BY BEN UPHAM
and
BLACK SABBATH CONCERT PHOTOS BY BEN UPHAM

Angus Young of AC/DC Live in Spokane, Wa. on 7-26-78. Photo/Art by Ben Upham

AC/DC-
“Powerage” (1978)
Reviews and Thoughts…

Released in May of 1978 “Powerage” had quite an act to follow! That being the release of “Let There be Rock” 11 months earlier.
Let there be Rock was a huge blast of powerful Rock that was one of the best Rock releases of 1977.
1978 was a tough time for the Classic rock sound as it was being challenged by the sounds of Disco, Punk and New Wave.
AC/DC were true to their roots and kept pounding out crucial and quality hard rock during this time period. Bon Scott seemed to have more and more cnfidence with each release and the band relentlessly continued to create fresh material that was worthy of cranking up as loud as you could!
I saw the band on the “Powerage” Tour and the were opening the show for Aerosmith. They played a Loud and energetic set that really knocked me out. So much that I had to retreat to the balcony seats for Aerosmith (who sounded like they were playing in another room altogether).
Here are some selected reviews of this great record:

#1-
“Not Just AC/DC’s Best Album”….
By Bill M. (Salt Lake City, UT)
August 8, 2005

Ah, how far to go here? Well, I’m older now, and I’m as ‘Zen’ on this subject as any other. Sooo…
Powerage is the best rock ‘n roll of album of all time. Not the most important or most influential; not with the widest variety nor highest reach(although this IS AC/DC’s widest & highest album); not the most seductive or inspiring; but the best.
Sgt Pepper, Exile On Main Street, and Physical Grafitti are all timeless masterpieces too, but whatever Elvis, Chuck Berry, Buddy Holly, Little Richard & Jerry Lee Lewis were aiming at all those years ago, Powerage hit dead center.

An amazingly raw, blistering sound, but at the same time incredibly tight grooves. Hard rock you can headbang AND dance to, indeed. Like someone once said, AC/DC does what no one else can do, better than anyone else.
This was the first album w/Cliff Williams and he kicked the band up to a whole new level. Fantastic production by Vanda/Young, the last one they did before Mutt Lange took over. The remastering is indescribably brilliant, showcasing the equally brilliant interplay between Angus & Malcolm. The lead & rhythm guitars are distinct, loud, and powerful. No way you’d believe this album was released in 1978 if you didn’t already know.
And what rhythms and leads they are. Nine incredible riffs, instantly memorable. Easy to play(the riffs NOT the solos, of course), perhaps, but almost impossible to write. And the seven solos are among Angus’ best, especially on Gone Shootin’. Fast solos, medium solos, slow solos, and on Damnation & Bullet no solo at all.
There is simply not a wasted or extraneous second here. Yngwie, Satriani, Vai, and all the rest of the shredders never wrote anything close to Sin City or Riff Raff. This album is the one that clearly places Angus alongside Hendrix, Page, & Gibbons.
Bon’s best lyrics, devastating beats from Cliff & Phil. Highway To Hell’s production sounds thin & poppy(despite the great songs), and Back In Black’s writing seems somewhat uninspired and derivative in comparison. Imagine the best qualities of Overdose, Touch Too Much, and Shoot To Thrill wrapped together and you have Powerage.
Back In Black has a great sound and all the legendary anthems, no question, but this is the real apex of the “cooler than a body on ice, hotter than the rolling dice, wilder than a drunken fight” ideal. And all topped off by Bon giving you a wink/nudge and offering you another beer after each track.
I have friends that aren’t into heavy music at all, but I always tell them that like Miles Davis’ Kind Of Blue is to jazz, Powerage is the hard rock album for people that don’t like hard rock.
Buy this album and you WILL burn tonight.

#2-
“Power…Full”!!!
By Erick Bertin (Santo Domingo, Heredia Costa Rica)
August 23, 2007

Before going any further, I must say for the record, that this is my favorite Bon Scott-era AC/DC album. And I’ll tell you why right now: it was the first one I got, and therefore, it was my introduction to Bon. From that perspective, no other record could ever have that impact on me. See, I was born into the Brian Johnson-era AC/DC (being born in ’78), and therefore, as far as I was concerned, Brian Johnson was THE voice of AC/DC. Hearing “You Shook Me All Night Long” on the radio is one of my earliest memories.
For years, I didn’t know that AC/DC had ever had ANOTHER singer, and for me it was difficult to imagine someone other than Brian fronting the band and singing those songs. That changed with the release of “Live” in ’92, where I finally got my chance to hear some of the Bon-era songs. “Dirty Deeds…” soon became one of my favorites. And so my interest was peaked.

It might seem odd, then, that I’d choose to start my exploring of that era with the one record that yields the least songs to the band’s set list, seldom performed and rarely mentioned, even by devoted fans. But the truth is that it was pure luck: that was the only Bon-era CD that was available at the store that day (believe it or not, “Highway to Hell” wasn’t there…Heretics!!!).
So I picked it up, not knowing what to expect. What I got was a 40 minute roller coaster ride that changed my life…Really! Say what you will about the songs not being as strong as in other releases (more on that later…), the production, blah, blah, blah. But once Bon starts singing…boy, he could really make you feel those lyrics! I had never heard anyone sing with such conviction before in my life, and I never have since. “R n’ R Damnation” opens the album in a slower pace than I’d have expected, but nevertheless, its rollicking groove really gets you going, I tell ya. “Down Payment Blues” is just pure genius: the lyrics are simply hilarious, and yet they pack a huge punch; it is one thing to write and sing about life on the streets and what not (any geezer with a lyric sheet in front of him can do it…), but it is a WHOLE `nother thing to sing convincingly about it, to make you feel that those lyrics come from somebody who’s “been there”. And just when you might start wondering why they called this a blues, comes the ending… it is an awesome track!
Next is “Gimme a Bullet”, which again, sounds so honest, so real, that it gives me goose bumps to this day! Listen to it, and then tell me if you can’t relate…if you can’t…oh well…”Riff Raff” is more the kind of song I was expecting: fast, furious, aggressive and downright nasty; “Sin City” is another one of those “truer than truth” tales from Bon, and you can really hear that he means every word that he sings…the track is powerful too from the musical point of view, with a sophisticated arrangement, different from the expected.
Then comes the crown jewel of the album, the hidden treasure: “What’s next to the Moon”, a story about a relationship gone sour told the way that only Bon could; again, while profoundly sarcastic, the song really rings true `cause we’ve all been there. This is not only my favorite track of the album, but also one of my favorite AC/DC songs altogether, and I’d give anything in this world to hear it live someday, somehow.
Many critics (including the one who reviewed this on All Music Guide) consider the last 3 tracks to be “filler”. I beg to differ: are they as strong as the previous tracks? Maybe not, but that doesn’t mean that they are “filler”. Filler for me means songs that are not as good as they could be IN and BY themselves, not in comparison to other songs. That is why I don’t think that the slower, groovy, change of pace of “Gone Shooting” falls in that category: I think that it is a great track that is exactly where it should be within the record, changing the pace after a succession of faster songs.
“Up to my neck in you” picks up the pace again, and it has a simple, catchy melody that is a joy to sing along to; and last but certainly not least, closing “Kicked in the Teeth” is a blast, fast and pounding rocker to close the album with a high octane note, perfectly exploiting Bon’s flair for story telling, and a little reminiscent of “Whole Lotta Rosie”.
All in all, this is an awesome record that follows the standard AC/DC formula (up to that point) of mostly great songs + a few lesser known tracks = Great Album. (By the way, my actual rating would be 4 ½ stars, but since I can’t put that…) Sure, it is not regarded in the same light as “Let There Be Rock”, let alone “Highway to Hell”, but I truly believe that “Powerage” is a hidden treasure for any and all rock fans wishing to enjoy good, rocking music. Of course, if you’re an AC/DC diehard, you already know this, but if you’re a newcomer, just let me finish by saying this much: this is the album that got me hooked on Bon Scott’s era.
Try it, you won’t be disappointed.

#3-
“AC/DC’s greatest album”
By Scott Hedegard (Fayetteville, AR USA)
April 25, 2005

The gazillion-seller “Back In Black” broke one of rock’s greatest bands into the big time for good, but on sheer power and songwriting, nothing compares to “Powerage”, the best album ever recorded by AC/DC.
Unlike the other Bon Scott-era albums that followed the predictable goofy AC/DC mold (reminding us that rock n’ roll was originally intended to be fun), some serious thought to hooks and a tad bit of experimenting with the tried and true formula went into “Powerage”.
The opener “Rock N’ Roll Damnation” is a typical rocker that gets the album off to a good start, but as soon as “Down Payment Blues” begins, we see a sense of dynamics and a build-up to a furious climax that, prior to this song, was not a typical Young brothers element. Other cuts like “Gimme A Bullet” and “What’s Next To The Moon” show off hooks that are more melody oriented than we’re used to, but still have the vintage AC/DC power-chording and tempo that keep them from being wimpy. The standout cut is “Riff Raff”, a complicated lick and hook that is reminiscent of the heaviest Rick Derringer. Bon screams for all it’s worth over titanic guitars at a breakneck pace. For those who are just now exploring earlier AC/DC work, it simply must be heard to be believed.
“Sin City” offers a riff that is a sign of things to come, primarily “What Do You Do For Money Honey” and “Touch Too Much”, and the closers, “Up To My Neck In You” and “Kicked In The Teeth” are in the “Whole Lotta Rosie” vein.
What makes this band great is a tenacious clinging to a winning and consistent formula, and most important, obviously loving every minute of it. Poseurs will always burn out quickly, but those bands who truly believe in their music have the lasting power that enables them to reach across multiple generations, ala AC/DC, ZZTop, Iron Maiden and Judas Priest, to name a few. “Powerage” is the premier Bon Scott-era album.

#4-
“Genius comes in different forms”………
By Rob (Ridgeland, MS. United States)
September 7, 2007

…..And this is one of them. It’s simply astonishing what this band can do with anywhere from 2 to, at absolute most, 4 power chords. I mean, they take a couple of chords……literally two or so notes…..and create unforgettable, compulsively listenable, great music.
Powerage is one of those albums whose music is almost an ‘ah ha’ experience. What I mean is, it’s as if these riffs, their rhythm and sound, just deserve to exist. To me, great music is something that is there waiting to be uncovered and exposed to the world. Obviously the Young Brothers and Bon Scott created this music….but it’s as if these are tunes that were meant to be….and through their creation…..they were brought into the world.
I grew up on AC/DC…..my teenage years totally encompassed within the decade of the 80′s. My first of their albums was purchased with a $ 10 bill I found in a K&B Drugs parking lot while going back to the car with my mom. I was 12. I used that $ 10 to buy Back in Black ( record of course )
A short time later, my aunt asked me what I wanted for Christmas and I said ” an AC/DC album” still not knowing enough about the band to be specific. Well, on Christmas morning at my relative’s, I opened up the record for Powerage. I’d never heard of it and only knew the band with Brian Johnson. I was a bit confused because the letters ‘AC DC’ were written in a different way on the album’s cover than the ‘new’ way, which is that angular, geometric presentation with the lightining bolt in the middle that everyone is familiar with. Anyway, once I got home and listened to it, I was blown away.
Only recently, did I start listening to them again. I lost interest for the last 15 or more years. Now, I realize why I’m so picky about music. I now realize why I don’t really care for 80 percent or so of the junk that passes for music these days. The reason: I was brought up on real music. I listened to actual talented musicians who created serious meaningful riffs as a young person. Being exposed to AC/DC basically spoiled me and , as a result, music has to really be good for me to like it. Don’t get me wrong – I’m not some kind of snob, I have everything in my CD collection now from Hank Williams, The Beatles, some choice modern pop-rock, 70s and 80s classics, all the way to Mozart. That being said, I also have AC/DC and they have the most of any to do with the way I look at and enjoy music these days.
Enough for my history, as for the album….it’s an incredible virtuoso of hard rock with tinges of blues intermingled. From the steady rhythmic cadence of “Gone Shootin’” to the almost Westernish, yet also hard rock- wailing guitar of “What’s Next to the Moon”, this collection of songs represents an iconic band at the peak of their talent.
I’d forgotten how much Bon Scott puts himself into the songs. I mean, he gives everything he’s got into the vocals. I’m not talking about being loud and screaming. What I mean, is the emotion and the “I’ve lived what I’m singing about here” presentation. His lyrics are sometimes sarcastic, sometimes humorous, but always the perfect compliment to the hard-edged music that thrums along. Speaking of humorous, and there are frequent examples on Powerage, Here’s one : ” Riff Raff….it’s good for a laugh….(then he adds ) “haw haw haw” in a kind of sarcastic manner. I was driving around the other day listening to this line, not having heard the song in over a decade, just laughing out loud in my truck. I’m sure other songs had me smiling stupidly as I made my way to my destination, but that’s what quality music does. It engrosses you and makes you feel good.

I know it’s a bit of nostalgia…..but more than that, it’s true talent and a special form of musical genius on display. That’s what Powerage is. It’s Hard Rock par excellence…

AC/DC DISCOGRAPHY:
High Voltage (Australia) (1975)
T.N.T. (1975)
High Voltage (International) (1976)
Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap (1976)
Let There Be Rock (1977)
Powerage (1978)
If You Want Blood You’ve Got It (1978) (live album)
Highway to Hell (1979)
Back in Black (1980)
For Those About to Rock We Salute You (1981)
Flick of the Switch (1983)
74 Jailbreak (1984 USA) (compilation album)
Fly on the Wall (1985)
Who Made Who (1986) (soundtrack album)
Blow Up Your Video (1988)
The Razors Edge (1990)
AC/DC Live (1992) (double live album)
Ballbreaker (1995)
Stiff Upper Lip (2000)
Black Ice (2008)

CLICK THE LINKS BELOW TO SEE MORE AC/DC PHOTOS:
AC/DC FINE ART AMERICA IMAGES BY BEN UPHAM
AND
AC/DC PHOTOS BY BEN UPHAM

ERIC BLOOM OF THE AMAZING BLUE OYSTER CULT IN OAKLAND, CA. ON 6-6-76. PHOTO/ART BY BEN UPHAM.

BLUE OYSTER CULT-
“ON YOUR FEET OR ON YOUR KNEES”
(LIVE ALBUM FROM 1975) REVIEWS

#1-
“No One Envied the Bands That Had To Follow Up This One”
By Bud (Seminole, Texas, USA)
June 4, 2004

When surveying Blue Oyster Cult’s catalog of live albums, it’s apparent that each of these in-concert releases was carefully placed at a specific point in the band’s career, to sum up or end a particular epoch. Such albums include “Some Enchanted Evening” (1978), “Extraterrestrial Live” (1982), and the recent triumph “A Long Day’s Night.” Each live album balanced old and new material, describing the advances and new territories discovered, while making sure to note the material from previous eras that made the progression possible. 1975′s “On Your Feet Or On Your Knees” was the first of these releases, an homage to BOC’s first three albums (all of which were landmark recordings for the heavy metal genre), and a reliable testament to what kept this great band alive-loyal touring and performing.
The blazing fury on this album completely blows away many, if not most, live albums that came before it; in 1975, Peter Frampton’s “Frampton Comes Alive” was still a year away, and artists were not yet mistaking his example and disguising greatest hits albums under the live album mask (though some bands did manage to make live albums a meaningful event). Some of the only concert recordings released before “On Your Feet Or On Your Knees” that had as much fire and energy were The Who’s “Live at Leeds,” Deep Purple’s “Made in Japan,” and Bob Dylan & The Band’s “Before the Flood.”
The focus on these songs should not be so much on melody as on the fact that each of these five men are playing their guts out. The extended guitar readings that dominate the album are pure heavy metal passion and a musical bond that few bands can perfect. A perfect example is `Seven Screaming Diz-Busters,’ which features a searing guitar exercise in which drummer Albert Bouchard’s driving drum beats are kept perfectly in time with the soaring guitar work, one musician in heavy metal harmony with another. And when BOC does show a hint of restraint, it is just as hypnotic; Donald “Buck Dharma” Roeser’s `Then Came the Last Days of May’ is one of the best songs written during their early era, a haunting but deceptively melodic tune about the futility and violence of the drug business. The collection closes on an appropriate note, a cover of `Born To Be Wild,’ one of the songs that coined the phrase “heavy metal.”
Perhaps it’s best that “On Your Feet Or On Your Knees” has not yet been fully remastered. The studio polishing would only take away from the raw sound that places the listener amidst the battalion of appreciative fans cheering for a band that were among the most unrelenting pioneers in heavy metal. As non-mainstream (for the 70s) as this music was, “On Your Feet Or On Your Knees” was Blue Oyster Cult’s first album to break into the Top 30, a stunning document of the innovations to come; it is both the end and the beginning of an era.

#2-
“A hearty slice of the Rabid 1970s”
By S. R.
February 16, 2005

Blue Oyster Cult recorded “On Your Feet…” at a time when they were selling out venues all over the world without the benefit of a hit single anywhere. A raw sounding record with NO OVERDUBS shows the rabidness of the band and gives a wicked slice of their first few releases with a couple cover songs thrown in, to boot. Speaking about sonics, this album will not impress you at first especially if your under the age 25, but give it a further listen a realize the time it was (I’m not saying its a badly recorded album, it just sounds like a mid 70s live album). “Then came the Last Days of May” features killer Buck Dharma solos, and is one of the coolest songs of the era, and the band’s re-working of the Yardbirds “I aint got You” is also very good rock. This is the band before “Don’t fear The Reaper” was released and before their style began to progress to a more adult-oriented rock and roll. But it’s all good, and it’s all cranked to high volume. A good lost classic for any collectors of landmark musical recordings. An interesting piece of history from an American metal band amongst a sea of British metal gods. An album worthy of the landmark title and should be on the tip of tongues of metal-heads everywhere like Led Zeppelin, and Black Sabbath is today. Blue Oyster Cult took a back seat to NO metal band of ANY era they just progressed beyond the (for lack of a better phrase) the teenage genre. Check it out.

#3-
“Let me take you back”
By Dr. Music
July 28, 2004

In a darkened room, set up your speakers on the floor about four feet apart. Now, lay down with your head on a pillow positioned midway between your speakers. I’m serious! Crank up Last Days of May (without making your ears bleed) and close your eyes.
Now, picture white clad Buck Dharma, bathed in blue light, standing alone in a smoky spotlight beam. A heady brew of pot and perfume permeates the air. Buck looks down as you strain against the crowd that yearns for your spot on the barrier, longing to worship at his feet. He smiles at you with his infectious grin and nods knowingly as he effortlessly produces the most unearthly, mournful wails ever to emanate from a guitar. You stare in disbelief and a shiver comes over you as if it was you in that ill-fated back seat, with your life-blood flowing and your mis-spent life slipping away before your eyes. The crush fades as the crowd becomes mesmerized. Lighters begin to pierce the darkness like stars on a moonless night. Someone nearby lets out a shrill whistle. Buck turns and your ears buzz with a harmonic ringing, like a pickup on Buck’s guitar. The solo ends with a flourish, the lights come up and he joins Eric Bloom, clad in sunglasses and a theatrical black cape, as they bring the song to a finish. The spell is broken and the air is forced from your lungs as the crowd surges forward, pinning you against the barrier. You could die a happy man now. You have witnessed one of the greatest live songs ever recorded.
This album captures Blue Oyster Cult’s musical genius and raw power like lightning in a bottle. At the time this was recorded, the sound level at a BOC concert could probably be measured on a seismograph!
Unlike most live albums, many of the songs here are actually better than the studio versions. Last Days of May compared to the studio version is like The Red and the Black compared to I’m on the Lamb: not even close. Subhuman is unbelievable! Buck flat out wails and Allen plays the Hammond like a six-string axe. Seven Screaming Dizbusters just keeps building and building to a diz-busting climax. Harvester of Eyes is transformed into a crunchy boogie that is far more enjoyable than the already good studio version.
The CD is not without its faults such as bad production, that annoying screech between two tracks, the repeat of a portion of Buck’s Boogie as a jam at the end of Maserati GT and of course, several conspicuously absent classics. Despite this, it still ranks as one of, if not THE greatest live album in rock history.
I for one would not mind if this album was remastered, if for no other reason than to get rid of that awful screech. As an owner of a vinyl copy as well, I am annoyed by the crossover added to the CD to meld four album sides into one.

#4-
“ALBERT, ALLEN, JOE, BUCK & ERIC’S EXCELLENT ADVENTURE” March 29, 2006
By stevenb
March 29, 2006

Of all the live albums this band has ever done, this has got to be a personal best. Albert Bouchard, the band’s drummer, stated in an interview that this was his favorite. This may not be BOC’s best recorded album of all time, but it excells in surprises and unpredictability. It was listening to OYFOOYN that I was first introduced to this amazing band…they had an aura and a mystyic about them. Looking at the earlier albums later, I thought…just who are these guys, and better yet…which one was which?
THE SONGS:

SUBHUMAN: This band started off with a song that deserved a live recording. It has a certain Santana quality to it. Good starting song.

HARVESTER OF EYES: Where did that oooweeoo sound come from? Synthesizer? Guitar? And by the way, who will take responsibility for that? Eric? Buck? Allen? It’s perfect! This is the song that really introduces the album. It’s way better than the SECRET TREATIES version and is unrelenting from beginning to end.

HOT RAILS TO HELL: Joe Bouchard’s hellhole trash metal. Once again, a much different and better turn than in the studio.

RED & THE BLACK: A great song that is an all-time BOC classic, worth it all even just to hear Joe’s bass solo.

SEVEN SCREAMING DIZ-BUSTERS: The song your Baptist parents warned you about. Probably about as controversial a tune as ME-262, this entry has got some assorted treats in it.

BUCK’S BOOGIE: Penned instrumental by Buck and Albert, this jawbreaker has some of the best guitar and keyboard give-and-take ever heard.

THEN CAME THE LAST DAYS OF MAY: Blue Oyster Cult’s mellower side. Yes, this version is much better than their first album’s account. Buck’s lead guitar literally sings on this one.

CITIES ON FLAME: BOC comes roaring back with a song I’m sure all devoted BOC fans appreciate. Albert does the vocals, and this has got to be their best version…oh, to see all of this on DVD. Allen Lanier is especially impressive-to start off with keyboards (on the whole through their career Allen does not sing), and end the song with second guitar.

ME-262: As The Band’s The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down is an account of the Civil War from a Southern man’ perspective, this song is an account of WW2 from a German bomber pilot’s angle of vision…about as controversial a song as Walker Blues by Steve Earle. This take on the song is a little inferior to the one on SECRET TREATIES but worth it to hear all of them on guitar. This is the live part to watch the early charter members do their five-man guitar frontal assault before the audience.

BEFORE THE KISS, A REDCAP: My top-ten personal favorite from BOC. Actually, I love both takes on this one.

MASERATI GT: A song by MC5 that I’m sure BOC loved to cover. This song has a certain roadhouse quality to it and it is enhanced by Eric’s vocals and Buck’s solo guitar in it.

BORN TO BE WILD: The classic BOC live song they never wrote. Poorly recorded, it’s sometimes hard to find out exactly what they are all doing during the song. I guess it might have been better to insert a live take of ODed ON LIFE ITSELF or DOMINANCE & SUBMISSION. Or even a DVD of OYFOOYN to see what is exactly going on.

On the whole, this album closes a chapter of BOC’s first wild and crazy era. It is called the black and white period, where Blue Oyster Cult were the original bad boys your parents didn’t want to even know about, much less listen to. Nowadays, the Oyster Boys keep on rocking the house with fans ranging from teenaged kids to 40-somethings such as me and older. I guess BOC’s future may something on the order of selling out assisted living homes. One thing is for sure…they don’t look like they will ever retire from this.

#5-
“The Best Live Heavy-Metal Album of Its Time”
By BluesDuke (Las Vegas, Nevada)
August 4, 2003

After a magnificent debut album, Blue Oyster Cult’s two succeeding studio albums suffered from excellent material sounding as though it been cut in a huge hurry between concert gigs, minus the stage ambience that enhanced and amplified the band’s hyperkinetic, craftsmanlike playing style (the knitting of their guitars and keyboards had always set them apart from the usual pound-sound heavy metal) and strikingly arrayed songs. This was one heavy metal band that concentrated as much on music structure as they did on blast and flash and weren’t afraid to let a little lyricism or melodism run around loose. What a surprise, then, that the most full-sounding Blue Oyster Cult album in their pre-”Agents of Fortune” period would be a live album. With a few slight re-arrangements – the added intro/bridge of “Subhuman,” the cheeky finale bridge for “Seven Screaming Dizbusters” (with singer Eric Bloom’s smartass parody of Mickey and Sylvia’s “Love Is Strange” repartee), the thundercrack, soaring four-guitar-and-bass midsection of “ME 262,” the eerie synthesiser support for an extended guitar solo (and a pretty one) on Donald (Buck Dharma) Roeser’s early master ballad, “Then Came The Last Days of May” – and a couple of clever covers (especially the oddly atmospheric “I Ain’t Got You”), the Cult delivered a setfull of the exuberant, insouciant slash that made them such an in-person favorite even when their recordings weren’t selling accordingly.

Interestingly, the band divided the selections almost evenly from their first three albums: three from “Blue Oyster Cult” (including a speedball-accelerated “Before The Kiss, A Redcap” and “Cities on Flame with Rock and Roll”), three from “Tyranny and Mutation,” and three from “Secret Treaties,” the aforesaid pair of covers, and the concert favourite “Buck’s Boogie.” For the latter, Roeser and keyboardsman Allen Lanier trade off on some whip-it solos before Lanier eases back to play support-and-push for the guitarist’s galloping flights. It could have been a washout of self-indulgence but wasn’t; Roeser was always too sensible and tasteful a player for that (he was nothing if not the most underrated guitarist of his breed), and it didn’t hurt that the band could and did keep up with him and keep him anchored as well as they did.

As a kind of wrap-up to their early era (they were already at work on the music that would become “Agents of Fortune,” determined to take the kind of care with it that they took with their first album, avoiding the rush job of the second two), “On Your Feet or On Your Knees” was as good as it got and then some. For a band whose strength was as much their concert style as their recordings, Blue Oyster Cult would never again put forth a live album (there were two yet to come, the disappointing “Some Enchanted Evening” and the inconsistent “Extraterrestrial Live”) equal to this one’s elemental sophistication of power and sensibility.

BLUE OYSTER CULT DISCOGRAPHY:
1972 Blue Öyster Cult
1973 Tyranny and Mutation
1974 Secret Treaties
1975 On Your Feet or On Your Knees
1976 Agents of Fortune
1977 Spectres
1978 Some Enchanted Evening
1979 Mirrors
1980 Cultösaurus Erectus
1981 Fire of Unknown Origin
1982 Extraterrestrial Live
1983 The Revölution by Night
1986 Club Ninja
1988 Imaginos
1994 Cult Classic
1994 Live 1976
1998 Heaven Forbid
2001 Curse of the Hidden Mirror
2001 St. Cecilia: The Elektra Recordings
2002 A Long Day’s Night

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YESTERDAY & TODAY PERFORMING AT GOLDEN GATE PARK IN SAN FRANCISCO, CA. ON 4-18-75. PHOTO BY BEN UPHAM.

YESTERDAY & TODAY-
“1977 INTERVIEW”
BY MIKE DEL REY
THE MONTCLAIR TRIBUNE
MONTCLAIR, CALIFORNIA
APRIL 14, 1977

A few weeks ago I was in the dressing room at the Starwood, a somewhat showcase arena for new talent arriving in Hollywood. However, the group I talked to Saturday has, according to their publicity release, “arrived.”
The group is “Yesterday and Today.” They have just recently signed with London Records and their debut album “Yesterday and Today” is somewhat promising.
Yesterday and Today is composed of Dave Meniketti, lead guitar, lead vocals, background vocals; Joey Alves, rhythm guitar and background vocals; Phil Kennemore, bass, lead and background vocals; and Leonard Haze, drums, percussion, lead and background vocals.
In an “off-the-wall” manner where questions bounced from one subject to another, I interviewed Yesterday and Today in their dressing room before they took the stage.
MD: How did Yesterday and Today get started?
Dave M: Well, we wanted people to hear us and the only real way was to produce and promote our own concerts. We tried Oakland but Oakland is too funky.
MD: Funky?
Dave: Yes, too “Tower Of Power” and Graham Central Station”.
MD How did you go about promoting your own concerts?
Dave: We had money to put up. Then we just printed about 500 pamphlets and had some of our friends hand them out to the high schools in the area.
MD: Where was the first place Yesterday and Today played?
Dave: Well I believe it was “Ides Lodge Hall in Hayward.
MD: What does the Ides stand for?
Dave: If it stood for anything it’s beyond me.
MD: About how many people attended these self-promoted concerts.
Dave: Between 800 and 1,000.
MD: Were the concerts as “successful” as you thought they may have been?
Dave: Well, we played because we liked playing. As far as being successful we did get our music heard.
MD: How did the group come up with the name Yesterday and Today?
— Henry Bentley (loyal supporter and personal friend also in dressing
room): When the band was doing a concert at Treasure Island Naval Base for the enlisted men one thing lead to another and they were thrown but due to security. Later on that day the band called the promoter and during their conversation the promoter asked one of the members what the name of the group was. Not having a name, they used the first thing that came to mind and that was the title of an early Beatles album resting next to the phone, “Yesterday and Today.”
MD: Interesting. Well here is another toughie for the band. Do you feel that you’re a commercial band?
Leonard: Yes I think we’re commercial hard rock.
Joey: I think we’re commercial also. That is if commercial means selling a lot of albums.
MD: You guys were just on tour for the first time outside the West Coast. I heard that in San Antonio, Texas you got your best welcome yet.
Leonard: Well I don’t know if you can call it our best welcome but it was a welcome we won’t forget.
MD: What happened?
Leonard: San Antonio has one of the finest radio stations in the country; radio station KISS. Not any relation to our “Kiss” Station here at home. Anyway this station played our album “Y & T” before we got there. So consequently people in the S. A. area were familiar with our music.
MD: I heard the crowd would not let you off the stage.
Leonard: Well that’s true. We had already given three encores and if the house lights did not go on we would have given a fourth.
MD: Being a new band, did you have enough material to cover a fourth
encore?
Len: Oh yes. We have 30 written tunes.
MD: I also heard that when you were walking down the street in S. A. a car full of girls drove by and screamed “There goes Y&T”.
Len: Yes. That did happen.
MD: Dave. How did the title cut from your first album come about?
Dave: Well, if you mean “Alcohol,” it’s a true story about a friend of mine who got arrested by being under the influence of alcohol, and the song is his story.
MD: A couple more questions before you go on. Joey what did the band expect from this debut album?
Joey: Well it was like a test album. It would tell us where we went wrong or what we did right. We made the album so as to not overpower our live performance. We want to be better on stage than on an album.
Yesterday and Today are described by Henry Bentley as “steal on stear”. And for being the first such band out of the Oakland area Y & T will be here tomorrow.

YESTERDAY & TODAY (Y&T) DISCOGRAPHY:
1976 Yesterday & Today
1978 Struck Down
1981 Earthshaker
1982 Black Tiger
1983 Mean Streak
1984 In Rock We Trust
1985 Open Fire (Live)
1985 Down for the Count
1987 Contageous
1990 Ten
1991 Yesterday & Today Live
1995 Musically Incorrect
1997 Endangered Species
2000 BBC In Concert
2003 Unearthed Volume 1
2004 Unearthed Volume 2
2009 OneTwo (1st two albums Remastered)
2010 Facemelter

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Y&T FINE ART AMERICA IMAGES BY BEN UPHAM
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YESTERDAY & TODAY PHOTOS FROM SF 4-18-75 BY BEN UPHAM
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Y&T PHOTOS FROM SPOKANE, WA. ON 7-18-10 BY BEN UPHAM

STEVEN TYLER AND JOE PERRY OF AEROSMITH ROCK THE CROWD IN SPOKANE, WA. ON JULY 26, 1978. PHOTO BY BEN UPHAM.

AEROSMITH- “SHAKES EAR DRUMS”
BY DENISE TESSIER
THE ALBUQUERQUE JOURNAL
ALBUQUERQUE, NEW MEXICO
JUNE 30, 1977

I had wondered if there existed another man walking around somewhere who is somewhat like Mick Jagger, but unknown. He does exist, but is already so famous he’s protected even from the press. He is Steven Tyler, lead vocalist and prancer in the very hard rock group Aerosmith.
Aerosmith and second-billed group Nazareth filled Tingley Coliseum Tuesday night to near 13,000 capacity and literally shook ear drums. It’s hard to keep from comparing Aerosmith with the Rolling Stones. They have the drive and strength of a great group; every member is incredibly strong on his instrument. And then there’s Tyler, prancing about in a tight leopard-skin outfit with matching coat and long tails, swinging flowing ribbons of scarf and tautly running his hands through a cat-like mane. He even has the Jagger mouth, a gorgeous creature.
The only problem Tuesday night was the PA system, cranked up quite a bit too loud, which is unnecessary with Aerosmith; they don’t need to cover anything up. But aside from eardrum pain, the show was extraordinary. Aerosmith opened their set with an original “Back in the Saddle” that would have curdled cowboy Gene Autry’s blood. Tyler’s voice consistently approaches a scream, but is incredibly powerful and contained. Nazareth’s lead singer Dan McCafferty,on the other hand, had screamed so harshly it pained the listener’s vocal chords.
Unlike most concerts, the Aerosmith song lineup was unpredictable and shot off unceasingly — clever, raunchy, but clear — the ultimate rock and roll. After they had done the hits — “Dream On,” “Sweet Emotion,” “Sick as a Dog” — it seemed the one hit left would be saved for last. But after “Walk This Way” they remained on stage for a version of “Rattlesnake Shake,” reminiscent of but surpassing Spooky Tooth’s version. (Strange, but they warned that this was a song we’d probably never hear from them again, though it was the climax of the set.)
What could be left for an encore? “Train Kept A-Rollin’,” with piercing freight engines from Joe Perry’s electric guitar, and a fabulous,
screeching “Helter Skelter” that was as good as the Beatles could ever do. Would you believe Perry even resembles Bill Wyman of the Stones?

AEROSMITH DISCOGRAPHY:

January 13, 1973 Aerosmith
March 1, 1974 Get Your Wings
April 8, 1975 Toys in the Attic
May 3, 1976 Rocks
December 1, 1977 Draw the Line
October 1978 Live Bootleg
November 1, 1979 Night in the Ruts
August 1, 1982 Rock in a Hard Place
November 9, 1985 Done with Mirrors
April 1986 Classics Live
June 1987 Classics Live Vol. 2
September 5, 1987 Permanent Vacation
September 8, 1989 Pump
April 20, 1993 Get a Grip
March 18, 1997 Nine Lives
October 20, 1998 A Little South of Sanity
March 6, 2001 Just Push Play
March 30, 2004 Honkin’ on Bobo
October 25, 2005 Rockin’ the Joint

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AEROSMITH FINE ART AMERICA IMAGES BY BEN UPHAM
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AEROSMITH PHOTOS BY BEN UPHAM

ANGUS YOUNG OF AC/DC PLAYING "BLUES METAL" IN SPOKANE, WA. ON 7-26-78. PHOTO BY BEN UPHAM

AC/DC-
“DON’T SING… SCREAM”
BY SYLVIE SIMMONS
THE CHRONICLE TELEGRAM
ELYRIA, OHIO
OCTOBER 12, 1979

AC-DC will not be making a movie. They’d like that made perfectly clear. They were offered the starring role in an upcoming movie called “Dracula Rock,” which will now feature the Boomtown Rats. One look at the Australian rockers’ ‘If You Want Blood” album cover and you’ll know why AC-DC was the initial choice.
“So the Rats got that one?” asks diminutive lead guitarist Angus Young, who looks like a demented schoolboy on stage but is a perfect gentleman once the show is over. “It’s obviously done the rounds. We got it first and then after us they offered it to Queen. They didn’t like that.”
AC-DC is midway through its fourth American tour in a bus that keeps breaking down in towns whose concert-goers seem to have a habit of making off with souvenirs belonging to the band. On one of the first dates on this tour, “all the kids pulled my pants off — a bit embarrassing, but it does make you very popular,” says the guitarist. A couple of stops down the line, “someone ripped off my sneakers. “I was rolling around on the floor onstage and some kid in the front row dived over and pinched them. I put up a good fight trying to get them back, but between him and his friends there wasn’t much left except one inch pieces!”
The group’s other energetic member, singer Bon Scott, still has ins clothes, but lost the cassette recorder that he carried with him everywhere to jot down notes for new songs. His method of songwriting is to sing ideas into the microphone when other than sober, play them back, to his mother, and if she says they are “not nice,” keep them in the act. “The tape got ripped off too,” says Young. “One night Bon got drunk. Three months later he sobered up and it was gone.”
This is the group who did not honor the calls for an encore at the Whiskey A Go-Go on their first U.S. tour because they fell into a deaf stupor as soon as they left for the dressing room.
Surprisingly, it is Angus, the group’s craziest member on stage, who is the quietest off. Backstage after a recent concert, he painstakingly orders a cup of tea while his colleagues go searching for bottle openers.
Presently of no fixed abode — the house they shared in Australia “got wrecked,’ said Angus philosophically, and this current tour is booked solid until January — AC-DC members are busy following the advice of their new producer, who told them: “Don’t sing — scream. People don’t want to see Liberace. “They want to see a bunch of guys out there who look like they’ve got rabies.” “It’s not a bad life,” concluded Angus, who spent more than 10 months of last year doing just that. “But it’s hard to get a decent cup of tea in this country.”
AC-DC will be appearing in concert
Thursday at Cleveland Public Hall at 8
p.m. Tickets, $7.50 in advance and $8.50
the day of the show, are available at all
Ticketron outlets.

AC/DC DISCOGRAPHY:

High Voltage (Australia) (1975)
T.N.T. (1975)
High Voltage (International) (1976)
Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap (1976)
Let There Be Rock (1977)
Powerage (1978)
If You Want Blood You’ve Got It (1978) (live album)
Highway to Hell (1979)
Back in Black (1980)
For Those About to Rock We Salute You (1981)
Flick of the Switch (1983)
74 Jailbreak (1984 USA) (compilation album)
Fly on the Wall (1985)
Who Made Who (1986) (soundtrack album)
Blow Up Your Video (1988)
The Razors Edge (1990)
AC/DC Live (1992) (double live album)
Ballbreaker (1995)
Stiff Upper Lip (2000)
Black Ice (2008)

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AC/DC FINE ART AMERICA IMAGES BY BEN UPHAM
also
ac dc art