Written by: Moti Kupfer Release date - 21.10.1988 She's got the look, and the singer just keeps right on going la-la-la. The look is all she needs, so simple, so easy, but things did not come so easily to Per Gessle and Marie Fredriksson. Both were fairly successful musicians in their native Sweden. Gessle, born in 1959 in the city of Halmstad, founded his first band, "Gyllene Tider", at just 17, and a few years later he met Marie Fredriksson for the first time. She had endured a difficult childhood, overshadowed by the family trauma of her older sister's death in a car accident. Fredriksson had collaborated with several local bands, and in 1981 she sang backing vocals on one of the songs by Gessle's band. Gessle recognized the distinctive quality of Marie's voice and later introduced her to the respected Swedish producer Lasse Lindbom, who produced two solo albums for her. But Fredriksson, who was shy, preferred to be part of a band, and she grew close to Gessle by accompanying him and his group on their tours. But there was a catch. "Gyllene Tider", a well-known and successful band in Sweden in the late Seventies and early Eighties, was fading, and in an attempt to court markets beyond Sweden part of its last album was released as an EP in the US under the name "Roxette", taken from a song by the British pub-rock band "Dr. Feelgood", after EMI demanded a change of name. The move failed, but EMI executive Rolf Nygren suggested that Gessle and Fredriksson sing together, and Gessle, who was thrilled by the idea, argued that with his songwriting and her voice they stood a chance of bringing something new and fresh. The duo released a debut album that put Gessle and Fredriksson back on the Swedish public's radar, but in those days, to be a Swedish duo recognized beyond your borders you needed either a strong showing at Eurovision or an extraordinary coincidence, and luck was about to come knocking. Even before that, ahead of Christmas 1987, the duo released a special holiday song called "It Must Have Been Love (Christmas for the Broken Hearted)". Three years later the song would become a huge international hit thanks to its inclusion on the soundtrack of the film "Pretty Woman", after its lyrics were lightly altered to turn it into a love song. After releasing their second album, "Look Sharp!" (named in homage to the 1979 debut album by Joe Jackson, "Look Sharp!"), in Sweden on October 21, 1988, and enjoying local success, the turning point came thanks to Dean Cushman, an American student from Minneapolis who was studying in Sweden on an exchange program. He fell so in love with the song "The Look" that he took it home with him for his Christmas vacation (1988) in the US, where he handed it to the local radio station, KDWB 101.3 FM. Before long the station was playing the song again and again at listeners' request, and it became popular on other stations until it reached number one in early April 1989, about four months after it first hit the airwaves. Gessle wrote "The Look" while practicing on the new synthesizer he had bought, an Ensoniq ESQ-1. Gessle said he wrote the first lyrics just to have something to work on alongside the steady beat, and the throwaway words eventually became permanent. In the song's original lyrics the title read "He's Got the Look", because Gessle had originally planned for Marie Fredriksson to sing it. When he realized the song didn't suit her style, one word was changed to "She's", and Gessle sang it himself, with Fredriksson joining him on the chorus. Sometimes you need a little help from the goddess of luck. "The Look" was the fourth single from the album, preceded by "Dressed for Success", a phrase for success that comes from the books of John T. Molloy, written in the Seventies. Molloy was America's leading "scientific image consultant", and his books launched the image-consulting industry and encouraged women working in corporations to wear suits to the office. Marie Fredriksson recalls: "Before I started the vocal session everything went wrong, Per and I were arguing about the arrangement, and I came in very wound up." There is no doubt that you can hear it in Marie's voice. The music of "Roxette" was built on pop full of catchy Sixties-style melodies that weren't too sticky, as in the ballad that became the second single, "Listen to Your Heart", whose sound strongly recalled American bands such as "Starship" and "Heart". The video was shot in the ruins of Borgholm Castle on the island of Öland in the Swedish Baltic Sea. The fifth and final single from the album, "Dangerous", is about a guy drawn to a dangerous girl, inspired by an early-1970s action film. "A nice piece of bubblegum." The duo's second album, "Look Sharp!", became a bestseller, with some nine million copies sold worldwide. For Listening: Spotify, Apple Music "Face/Off" - Israel's Rock Blog Follow us on Facebook / Instagram and/or subscribe to our website

Written by: Moti Kupfer Release date - 21.10.1985 The Scottish band "Simple Minds" had been on an upward trajectory ever since it formed in Glasgow in 1977, yet few bands before or after them reached their commercial peak after such a relatively long stretch: seven albums and eight years from the start of their career. Zoom in on the beloved band founded by two childhood friends, Jim Kerr and Charlie Burchill, and inspired by David Bowie (the name "Simple Minds" comes from his song "The Jean Genie"), and you can see that their evolution from a dark-sounding new wave act, through a blend with pop music, brought a steady growth in exposure to audiences. Yet at the end of 1984, after wrapping up a successful tour of Australia, Europe, North America and Japan, the United States remained the last barrier the band had failed to overcome on its way to becoming the "U2" of Scotland. The band regrouped to write new material for its next album and to prepare for a run of New Year's shows at Barrowland, where an impressive reception had been promised. While digging through old demos and building new arrangements and melodies, the band was contacted by the musician Keith Forsey, a big Simple Minds fan, who wanted them to record a song for the soundtrack of "The Breakfast Club" called "Don't You (Forget About Me)". He sent them a demo of the song. But "Simple Minds" frontman Jim Kerr didn't think the song suited them when he heard the demo. "No, we don't do other people's songs," Kerr explained. The turning point came from an unexpected source. His then-wife, the musician and rocker at heart Chrissie Hynde, who had a phenomenal instinct for songs with potential, finally persuaded Kerr and his band to record it. Once they had finished recording the song for the soundtrack, the members of "Simple Minds" quickly forgot about it, focusing on recording their next album, "Once Upon a Time", which was released on October 21, 1985. But things have a way of connecting in surprising ways. "Don't You", which was never meant to come out as a single, not only ended up being released but also took the top of the American chart and opened the doors of the American market to Kerr and his bandmates. After the huge success of their Barrowland shows and the excellent reception they received there, the band set itself the goal of bringing Jimmy Iovine and Bob Clearmountain, who had been out of reach at the time, into the producer's chair for the new album. The success of "Don't You (Forget About Me)" helped their cause and gave the band a welcome push and further exposure in the US. Iovine and Clearmountain listened to the early demos, and Iovine even offered to back the final composition of "Alive and Kicking". The material sounded good, and the band built on songs like "Alive and Kicking" and "All the Things She Said", among others. "Simple Minds" then moved to the United States, to Bearsville Studios in New York, but before continuing the sessions they managed to play one of the live sets at the Live Aid event. The day after Live Aid, the band traveled to Bearsville Studios to finish recording and begin mixing, now under the full guidance of Iovine and Clearmountain. Iovine's experience in the American music business and his sensitive ear for an American hit shaped the sound of the album as well. Working with Iovine and his New York connections brought many further advantages. The blue-eyed soul sound, as on Bowie's album "Young Americans", was hugely influential, and Iovine suggested hiring the same artists who had played on Bowie's record to guest on "Once Upon a Time" as well. Iovine pushed vocalist Jim Kerr to deliver a more energetic performance in the studio, which fit well with Charlie Burchill's dominant guitar and the huge drum sound of Mel Gaynor. Before long, Robin Clark, one of the backing singers on "Young Americans" and the wife of guitarist Carlos Alomar, arrived at the studio to record her distinctive backing vocals for "Alive and Kicking", "All the Things She Said" and "Once Upon a Time". Other backing vocalists brought in during the sessions included the Simms Brothers and Michael Been of "The Call". "Alive and Kicking", a song written by the band, was chosen as the first single, and Jim Kerr had reason to celebrate on a personal level, too. He had married Chrissie Hynde in 1984, and the following year the couple had a daughter, Yasmin. The song is entirely about holding on to hope through life's hardships. The cheerful melody inspired the optimistic lyrics, and Jim Kerr recalled: "We were in New York, it was summer, Manhattan. We could feel the band was really on the verge of a huge breakthrough, and I think the positivity and that idea of hope shaped the words." The video was directed by the Polish director Zbigniew Rybczyński, who also worked on the video for the third single, "All the Things She Said", as well as on videos for Yoko Ono, the project of Alan Parsons and Lou Reed. It was shot in the northern Catskill Mountains with a crane camera that captured impressive panoramic shots of the area. The title track "Once Upon a Time", which opens the album, begins with a glittering musical intro and the wonderful voice of Robin Clark, and drummer Mel Gaynor answers with powerful drumming that sets the tone for a joyful, energetic album. The song takes up the theme of the changes that time brings as it races toward the future, with time itself imagined looking around at the world. It is also a reflection on God's justice and on why good people sometimes suffer while the wicked prosper. "All the Things She Said", also the third single and a wonderful one, opens with repeating keyboards that correspond well with a video that repeats itself again and again, passing from one person to the next. There is a call and response between the vocals of Kerr and Clark. One side testifies to how the world looks and the other describes how we would like it to be. One side says that everything and everyone is going straight to hell; the other says the opposite, that heaven is right around the corner. Jim Kerr wrote the song after reading a story about Polish political prisoners who had been held in Russia since the end of the Second World War. "There was an interview with the wives of men who had been away from them for a long time, and some of the beautiful phrases the women used became a kind of backdrop for this song," Kerr said. Sue Hadjopoulos was brought in to play percussion on the song (she has played on albums by Joe Jackson and Cyndi Lauper). The album's third track, "Ghost Dancing", draws part of its inspiration from the concept of the Ghost Dance, which experienced a revival in 1889 with the Paiute prophet and dreamer Wovoka. He proclaimed that the return of the dead and the removal of the white man would be hastened by dances and songs revealed to Wovoka in spiritual visions. Kerr took this concept and combined it with reflections on the injustices of Western civilization. The song hints that there may be a better day if wrongs are righted in places such as South Africa, Ethiopia and elsewhere. Kerr also raises the unsettling point that reality and happy endings are not a foregone conclusion. A song that many critics at the time described as inspired by Bruce Springsteen was "Oh Jungleland", which actually deals with poverty in the Third World and the universal desire to escape. Its central image is a child named Hope who reaches out his hand and sees the northern lights above a district of tower blocks. Once again Kerr manages to balance the song's political message with the hope for a better day. In "Sanctify Yourself", Kerr repeats a chant about self-control, love being all you need, sanctifying yourself and setting yourself free. A song about the process of sanctification, it surprisingly became a Top 10 hit in the UK and a Top 20 hit in the US. Kerr said the gospel feel of the song was inspired by the music of "Sly & the Family Stone", which he called "no small influence on this song." The album "Once Upon a Time" reached number one on the UK chart, and "Simple Minds" went on to sell more than two million copies of it worldwide. The band embarked on a major world tour that would go on to see them playing stadiums in many countries and last well beyond a year. On October 17, 2025, the album returned in a 40th-anniversary edition, with a five-CD box and red vinyl. The box collects the album, B-sides, mixes and "Live in the City of Light". For the first time, the vinyl edition adds "Don't You (Forget About Me)", absent from the original album. This is a reissue of the 1985 album, not a new studio release. For Listening: Spotify, Apple Music "Face/Off" - Israel's Rock Blog Follow us on Facebook / Instagram and/or subscribe to our website

On October 21, 1999, "Rajaz", the thirteenth studio album by the band "Camel", was released. In the late 1990s, after nearly three decades of musical activity, which included tremendous artistic peaks alongside difficult personal and legal upheavals, guitarist, flutist, singer and composer Andrew Latimer found himself at a creative crossroads. During that decade, Latimer, along with his life and writing partner Susan Hoover, ran the independent label "Camel" Productions" from their home in California, and released two ambitious, dramatic and emotionally charged concept albums, "Dust and Dreams" from 1991 and "Harbour of Tears" from 1996. However, after the end of the long and grueling world tour that accompanied the release of the live album "Coming of Age" from 1998, Latimer felt a deep exhaustion and a strong need to move away from rigid narrative structures in favor of free, organic and exposed work that would be based on the pure playing and refined emotion of the guitar. The main inspiration for the new album fell on Andrew Latimer unexpectedly when he was exposed to the ancient Arabic literary term "Rajaz", a classic poetic meter that was born among poets and nomads who crossed the great deserts of the Middle East and North Africa. This special meter of poetry is built exactly according to the monotonous, steady and hypnotic pace of the camels marching in endless caravans along the hot dunes, a rhythm designed to put the exhausted riders into a meditative state of mind and focus their minds on one goal only, safe arrival at the end of the journey and the long-awaited oasis. For Latimer, this metaphor perfectly described not only the name of the band he founded in the early seventies with Peter Bardens, Doug Ferguson and Andy Ward, but also his personal survival journey as an independent musician stubbornly walking in the desert of the modern music industry. The recordings were made during 1999 at the intimate Little Barn Studios in California, with Andrew Latimer himself producing the music, with Latimer and Joe Sigretto responsible for the mixing and Ken Lee for the mastering. Around Latimer, a precise and sensitive ensemble of musicians formed that served the acoustic and symphonic vision of the work, the veteran and faithful bassist Colin Bass who accompanied the band since the late 1970s, the gifted Dutch keyboardist Ton Scherpenzeel who added rich layers of atmosphere, the drummer Dave Stewart who gave the album a lively and precise beat, and the guest cellist Barry Phillips who colored the arrangements with a chamber, warm and melancholic tone. In contrast to the busy digital productions of the 1980s, Latimer chose a warm and natural approach here that returned "Camel" to the classic spirit of the masterpiece albums "Camel" from 1973, "Mirage" from 1974, "The Snow Goose" from 1975, and "Moonmadness" from 1976. The album opens with the enchanting instrumental piece "Three Wishes", which begins with Dave Stewart's fast and precise drumming and dreamy keyboard chords, before Andrew Latimer's electric guitar enters and pierces the air with a deep, weeping and moving sound that is reminiscent of David Gilmour from "Pink Floyd" at its peak. The piece slowly develops through elegant rhythm changes and asymmetrical scales, a combination of airy side flute and melodic guitar solo that defines the desert and mysterious atmosphere of the entire album from the first minutes. Immediately following comes "Lost and Found", a song co-written by Andrew Latimer and Susan Hoover, in which Latimer's quiet, warm and sober voice leads a contemplative melody dealing with self-searching, loss and renewal, with Colin Bass' soft bass lines and Barry Phillips' cello in the background enveloping the vocals until a lyrical guitar solo that slowly climbs towards the climax. The third track, "The Final Encore", is one of the most moving and personal pieces on the album, a touching tribute to the world of the stage and to longtime bandmate Peter Bardens, who passed away about two and a half years after the album's release, in January 2002. The song is built on a slow and dramatic march rhythm and presents a chilling dialogue between Latimer's flute and guitar and Ton Scherpenzeel's keyboards, while describing the moment of leaving the stage after the lights go out and the audience disperses. At the heart of the album is the title track "Rajaz", an eight-and-a-quarter minute masterpiece that perfectly combines East and West. The song opens with Barry Phillips' deep, mournful cello and a gentle acoustic guitar riff that simulates the movement of a caravan across endless sands under a scorching sun. Andrew Latimer's almost sensual vocals are combined with a magical flute and a long, mesmerizing electric guitar solo that manages to convey without words the sense of loneliness, longing and spiritual peace of the desert nomads. The second half of the album opens with the refreshing acoustic interlude "Shout", a light, upbeat, and melodic ballad co-written with Susan Hoover featuring pleasant vocal harmonies alongside rich acoustic guitar work that recalls the pastoral moments of albums like "Rain Dances" and "Breathless." It is followed by "Straight to My Heart", an autobiographical and painful song born from the feeling of burnout and disappointment Latimer experienced during the 1997 tour, and ends with one of the longest and most moving bluesy guitar solos of his career, a solo in which every note sounds as if it were carved directly from the heart. The musical journey delves back into the dunes with the breathtaking instrumental piece "Sahara", which opens with a quiet, mystical and almost weightless atmosphere, before gradually erupting into a virtuoso display of symphonic progressive rock, where Latimer's guitar soars above dynamic and shifting rhythms. The album reaches its monumental climax in the epic closing piece "Lawrence", a nearly eleven-minute progressive rock oratorio inspired by the historical and tragic figure of Thomas Edward Lawrence, better known as Lawrence of Arabia. The song depicts with cinematic precision the image of the British stranger swallowed up in the sands and the legend he created around him, and develops from an intimate and melancholic song into a massive instrumental ending, in which Latimer's heavenly guitar solo continues to echo for long minutes, recalling the emotional peaks of the 1979 classic "Ice." The visual design of the cover, created by designer Greg Welsh, also brilliantly complemented the album's concept, with a minimalist and spectacular illustration in which the contours of a classical guitar blend naturally into the curves of the golden dunes of the desert under a starry night sky. Upon its release, "Rajaz" received widespread praise from music critics and the global prog community, who immediately crowned it a magnificent comeback and one of the best and most complete albums by "Camel" since the golden age of the seventies. In the test of time, "Rajaz" remains a rare musical diamond in its beauty, a mature, noble and paperless work that proves that one honest and true guitar sound has the power to cross entire deserts of time and reach straight to the soul. For Listening: Spotify, Apple Music "Face/Off" - Israel's Rock Blog Follow us on Facebook / Instagram or Subscribe to our website

Guitarist, singer, composer and producer Steve Lukather celebrates his birthday today! (Photo: Mark Regemann) He is considered one of the most sought-after and recorded session players in the history of world music, having appeared on more than 1,500 albums, the only founding member of the band "Toto" who never left its ranks, and a virtuoso guitarist who left an indelible mark on the world of rock and pop for five decades. Here are 37 interesting facts about Steve Lukather... 1. He was born on October 21, 1957, in the San Fernando Valley of Los Angeles, California, with the full name Steven Lee Lukather. 2. His father, William Lukather, worked as an assistant director and production manager at Paramount Studios and was involved in producing classic American television series in the 1950s and 1960s, which exposed his son to the entertainment industry from a young age. 3. The first instruments he played as a child were keyboards and drums, before moving on to the guitar, which became the central instrument of his life. 4. The turning point in his life occurred at the age of six, when he watched the historic performance of "The Beatles" on the Ed Sullivan TV show in February 1964, and his father purchased a Kay acoustic guitar for him along with a copy of the album "Meet the Beatles!". 5. He has testified over the years that George Harrison's solo on the song "I Saw Her Standing There" from that album was the moment that changed his life and made him decide to become a professional guitarist. 6. Although he taught himself to play by ear in his early years, at age 14 he began taking regular lessons from the esteemed jazz guitarist Jimmy Wyble, who taught him note reading, harmony, and orchestration, skills that paved his way into the world of Los Angeles studio musicians. 7. While studying at Grant High School in North Hollywood, he met his classmates who became his lifelong musical partners, keyboardist David Paich and the Porcaro brothers, drummer Jeff Porcaro, keyboardist Steve Porcaro, and bassist Mike Porcaro. 8. In high school, he formed the youth band "Still Life," in which he played alongside his friend guitarist Michael Landau, bassist John Pierce, keyboardist Steve Porcaro, and drummer Carlos Vega, a group whose members all later became sought-after top musicians. 9. Drummer Jeff Porcaro, who was three years older than him and had already played as a teenager with the band "Steely Dan" and with the duo "Sonny & Cher", became Steve Lukather's musical mentor and opened the first doors to professional recording studios for him. 10. His first major professional studio and stage work came in his late teens with singer Boz Scaggs, when he played on the successful albums "Down Two Then Left" from 1977 and "Middle Man" from 1980. 11. In 1976, while still in his late teens, he was invited by David Paich and Jeff Porcaro to form the band "Toto" with Steve Porcaro, bassist David Hungate, and vocalist Bobby Kimball. 12. In October 1978, the band's debut album, "Toto," was released, which achieved enormous commercial success thanks to the breakthrough single "Hold the Line," in which the heavy riff and Steve Lukather's solo defined the unique sound that connected hard rock with pop and jazz-fusion. 13. Already on "Toto's" debut album, he contributed his voice as lead singer on the songs "Georgy Porgy" and "Angela", and since then he has continued to sing a significant part of the band's repertoire alongside its dedicated vocalists. 14. In the late 1970s and throughout the 1980s, he became one of the busiest session musicians in the world, sometimes recording over twenty sessions a week for artists such as Elton John, Paul McCartney, Aretha Franklin, Cher, Don Henley, Lionel Richie and Olivia Newton-John. 15. In 1981, he also gained fame as a songwriter for other artists, after co-writing with Jay Graydon and Bill Champlin the hit "Turn Your Love Around" for jazz guitarist and singer George Benson, a song that earned him his first Grammy Award in the Best R&B Song category. 16. In 1982, he experienced the greatest year of his career, both with the release of his band's fourth masterpiece album, "Toto IV," and thanks to his central participation in the recordings of the best-selling album in history, Michael Jackson's "Thriller," produced by Quincy Jones. 17. On the album "Toto IV" he demonstrated extraordinary virtuosity in songs that became global anthems such as "Rosanna" and "Africa", and at the 1983 Grammy Awards ceremony the band won six statuettes in one evening, including Album of the Year and Record of the Year. 18. In the recordings of Michael Jackson's album "Thriller" he played on three key songs, the duet "The Girl Is Mine" with Paul McCartney, the gentle ballad "Human Nature" written by his bandmate Steve Porcaro, and the huge rock hit "Beat It". 19. Contrary to the common myth that Eddie Van Halen played all the guitars on the song "Beat It", the iconic guitar riff and all the rhythm guitars and bass guitar in the song were actually played by Steve Lukather, while Eddie Van Halen was only invited to record the middle solo. 20. When Eddie Van Halen recorded his solo in the studio, the recording engineers accidentally cut the original tape without a guide channel, and Steve Lukather along with drummer Jeff Porcaro had to rebuild and re-record the entire drum, bass, and guitar envelope around Eddie Van Halen's solo to save the song. 21. Even earlier, in 1978, he had formed a close relationship with the band "Van Halen", and he was even invited to sing background vocals on the band's albums, such as the song "Top Jimmy" from the album "1984" and on the band's later albums. 22. On the band's sixth album, "Fahrenheit" (1986), he co-wrote the ballad "I'll Be Over You" with Randy Goodrum and sang lead vocals. Michael McDonald supplied backing vocals on that song, while trumpeter Miles Davis appeared on the instrumental "Don't Stop Me Now". 23. In 1989, he released his first solo album, "Lukather," in which he collaborated with his close friends Eddie Van Halen, Steve Stevens, Richard Marx, and Jan Hammer, and began an extensive solo career in parallel with his activities in the band. 24. In August 1992, on the eve of the release of the heavy and dark album "Kingdom of Desire", he suffered a severe personal and professional blow with the sudden death of his good friend and drummer Jeff Porcaro at the age of only 38. 25. Lukather had already taken the lead-vocal role on "Kingdom of Desire" before Jeff Porcaro died; Porcaro played drums on the album. British drummer Simon Phillips joined for the subsequent tour and later recorded "Tambu" (1995). 26. During the 1990s, he also led the fusion and blues-rock band "Los Lobotomys" alongside drummer Simon Phillips and keyboardist David Garfield, the band with which he released an album and performed in clubs around the world. 27. In 1993, he began a long-term collaboration with the Ernie Ball Music Man guitar company, which launched for him the famous signature guitar series bearing his nickname, the Luke model, which in its third and fourth generation reached the status of one of the most popular guitars in the industry. 28. In 2001, he and guitar legend Larry Carlton released the live album "No Substitutions: Live in Osaka," produced by Steve Vai, an album that earned the duo the Grammy Award for Best Pop Instrumental Album at the 2002 ceremony. 29. In 2003, he released the special holiday album "Santamental," which featured a host of legendary guitarists including Eddie Van Halen, Slash, Steve Vai, and Mike Landau for rock-inspired renditions of Christmas songs. 30. In October 2009, he and his bandmates from the band "Toto" were inducted into the Nashville Musicians Hall of Fame, in recognition of their tremendous contributions to the world of recording and performing. 31. In 2012, he joined the prestigious G3 world tour alongside Joe Satriani and Steve Vai, and in the same year, he was invited by legendary "The Beatles" drummer Ringo Starr to join as lead guitarist and vocalist for his touring band, "Ringo Starr & His All-Starr Band," of which he has been a permanent member ever since. 32. In June 2018, he arrived in Israel and performed two consecutive concerts at the Menorah Mivtachim Hall in Tel Aviv as part of the "Ringo Starr & His All-Starr Band", where he also performed his band's classics "Rosanna", "Africa" and "Hold the Line" for the Israeli audience. 33. In September 2018, he published his successful autobiography, "The Gospel According to Luke," in which he recounts with humor and extraordinary honesty the behind-the-scenes stories of the Los Angeles music industry, the personal tragedies of brothers Mike Porcaro and Jeff Porcaro, and life on the road. 34. In February 2021, he released his eighth solo album, "I Found the Sun Again," which was recorded with a live analog approach in the studio and included an exciting collaboration with Ringo Starr on the song and video "Run to Me". 35. In June 2023, he released his ninth solo album, "Bridges", in which he collaborated in writing and performing with his Toto bandmates, vocalist Joseph Williams and keyboardist David Paich, alongside drummer Simon Phillips and his son, bassist Trev Lukather. 36. Even as he approaches his 69th birthday, and despite years of dealing with tinnitus in his ears from decades of working in studios and on huge stages, he continues to lead the band "Toto" on successful world tours and perform alongside Ringo Starr as the oldest and most loyal member who has kept the flame of his band burning from its founding in 1976 to the present day. 37. In October 2026 he announced a reissue of "Santamental", originally released in 2003. CD and digital editions are scheduled for November 7, 2026, with vinyl shipments to follow. The album combines holiday interpretations with original songs; it is not a new studio album. All artist proceeds from this edition will go to the Ed Asner Family Center, which supports people with special needs and their families. "Face/Off" - Israel's Rock Blog Follow us on Facebook / Instagram or Subscribe to our website For Listening: Spotify, Apple Music

Written by: Moti Kupfer Release date - 21.10.1985 In February 1984, following the end of their North American tour, "Genesis" took a break from making music together so that the members could focus on their solo careers. Phil Collins released "No Jacket Required" in 1985, establishing himself as a successful solo artist in his own right, apart from his band. It would later become clear that Collins's success went hand in hand with a slowdown in "Genesis" activity, but that is a story for another time. Mike Rutherford, who served as the bassist of "Genesis", released two solo albums in the early 1980s that left him feeling insecure. He struggled to write songs and, beyond that, felt that the singer's chair was so far removed from who he was. Left to find his own way out, during that break in early 1984 Rutherford set out to record new melodies of his own while, at the same time, finding a range of singers to suit them, along with a lyricist who would translate the music into words. That path led Rutherford to the musicians and songwriters Christopher Neil and BA Robertson, who joined him in a lineup that took shape on the fly under the name "Mike + The Mechanics", whose debut album was released on October 21, 1985. Rutherford recalls: "We enjoyed doing the individual projects, me, Phil and Tony. And it worked well. We'd make a Genesis album, then tour, and then do a solo album. "But then I thought to myself, I really like writing together with other musicians around me. I'm not necessarily a solo artist, and I'm not a singer, so I thought, I'll write a few songs and see where that takes me." Rutherford, who was not tied to any one vocalist, approached several of his favorite singers and tried to match a singer to each melody as he saw fit. Among them were Gene Stashuk of "Red 7", whose debut album Rutherford produced; a singer named John Kirby; and two musicians who had already put some miles behind them: Paul Young (not the solo singer), who had found success with the British soft-rock band "Sad Café", and Paul Carrack, a keyboardist and vocalist whose distinctive playing style made him a sought-after sideman for a long list of artists, among them "Roxy Music", "Squeeze", John Hiatt, "The Smiths" and "The Pretenders". Carrack also enjoyed transatlantic success as the singer of "Ace", with the hit "How Long" in the 1970s. "Up to then, musically, I'd been involved with material that was rough and ready," Carrack said in an interview. "I went in to sing the song, put the headphones on, and there was this rich, modern synthesizer sound, and I was really excited by it." The song Carrack was referring to is "Silent Running", which became the debut single of "Mike + The Mechanics" and, surprisingly, climbed into the Top 10 on the American chart. It was one of the first songs to emerge from the songwriting partnership of Rutherford and Robertson, written to test the results of their collaboration. When producer Christopher Neil heard the song on a demo tape that Rutherford played for him, he recommended using it on the album. According to Rutherford, the song is about a man who has traveled light-years from here, somewhere out in space, and has gotten ahead of time. As a result, he knows what will happen in the future to his wife and children back home on Earth, and he tries to warn them so that they will be ready. That same year, the film "Back to the Future", starring Michael J. Fox, was released. One wonders whether it had any influence on the idea behind the song. Right after it comes the band's second single, "All I Need Is a Miracle", sung by Paul Young (not the "No Parlez" singer), who sings lead on five of the album's nine songs, while Paul Carrack sings three, one of which is a duet between the two. The song tells of a man who treats his girlfriend terribly and now wishes she would come back to him. It is a study in dissonance, since its cheerful beat conceals the dark story. In the video, directed by Jim Yukich, who made many of the videos for "Genesis", the band's manager needs a miracle to raise a little money so that he can pay the club owner. In 1987, the song was nominated for "Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal" at the 29th Annual Grammy Awards. On "Par Avion", a ballad built on a drum machine, we hear the soothing, velvety voice of the third singer in the emerging lineup, John Kirby, whose voice can also be heard on another mournful and wonderful ballad, "You Are the One". "A Call to Arms" began as an unfinished fragment from one of the sessions for a "Genesis" album. Since none of the other members liked it except Rutherford, he received approval from Phil Collins and Tony Banks to use it. Rutherford developed it into a full song with the help of Christopher Neil and BA Robertson. The song features a kind of dialogue between Paul Young and Paul Carrack, who both act as lead singers, yet each delivers a restrained vocal, as though they were sharing classified information. They sing of chaos reigning all around and of crumbling buildings, and of the need to tell everyone the truth, young and old, speakers of the foreign tongue, asking whether they are ready to fight, delivering it all like someone sweetening a secret. "Par Avion" was used as background music in the episode "Yankee Dollar" of the crime thriller series "Miami Vice", starring Don Johnson. "We were never really a band until the first album was finished," Rutherford recalled. "Then I realized we had to go on tour, and we had to put the puzzle together," Rutherford says, adding, "I think our luck was in releasing 'Silent Running' as the first single and not revealing who the musicians behind the song were. I had a great opportunity, midway through my career, to be perceived as something unknown, which in those days was particularly hard when I was so completely identified with 'Genesis'." In the end, the debut album by "Mike + The Mechanics" reached the Top 30 on the American album chart, on its way to gold-album status. Rutherford did the obvious thing and cemented the group as a quintet with Carrack, Young, Adrian Lee and Peter Van Hooke. For Listening: Spotify, Apple Music "Face/Off" - Israel's Rock Blog Follow us on Facebook / Instagram and/or subscribe to our website

On October 21, 1977, "Bat Out of Hell", the studio album by singer Meat Loaf, was released. Few works in the history of popular music were born from a complete refusal to conform to the spirit of the times and yet became an unprecedented cultural phenomenon. In 1977, when the music world was dominated by the minimalist punk revolution on the one hand and the glittering expanses of disco on the other, an album emerged that sounded like a head-on collision between a Richard Wagner opera, a Broadway musical, Phil Spector's symphonic wall of sound and Bruce Springsteen's urban romance. Behind this megalomaniacal vision stood two unbridled men of theater and music, the singer with the mighty voice Marvin Lee Aday, known by the stage name Meat Loaf, and the brilliant composer and songwriter Jim Steinman. The fateful meeting between the two occurred in 1973 at auditions for the musical "More Than You Deserve" written by Jim Steinman at the Public Theater in New York. By that time, Meat Loaf had already established an impressive reputation on the stage thanks to his performances in the musical "Hair" and as Eddie in the cult musical and film "The Rocky Horror Picture Show." The immediate chemistry between Meat Loaf's operatic voice and explosive physical presence and Jim Steinman's dramatic and cinematic writing led them to develop a futuristic rock musical called "Neverland" in the mid-1970s, a dystopian adaptation of the Peter Pan story about a gang of lost boys who ride motorcycles. From that musical workshop were born three songs that became the backbone of the album, the title song "Bat Out of Hell", the heavenly ballad "Heaven Can Wait" and the early version of "All Revved Up with No Place to Go". But the journey from the stage to the recording studio became a continuous agony. For two and a half years, Meat Loaf and Jim Steinman shuffled between the offices of every major record company in the United States and Britain, held live auditions with only a piano, and suffered rejection after rejection. Industry insiders claimed that the songs were too long, too theatrical, and not suitable for any radio slot. The most famous low point was recorded during an audition with the legendary CBS president Clive Davis, who slammed the duo for saying that actors don't make records, and chided Jim Steinman with the disparaging question of whether he even knew how a rock song was structured. The turning point came from musician, guitarist and super producer Todd Rundgren. When Todd Rundgren first heard the material, he laughed out loud and was convinced that it was a brilliant and extreme parody of Bruce Springsteen's "Born to Run" album. The theatrical extremity of the songs captivated him, and he decided to gamble on the project from his own pocket, producing the album at Bearsville Studios near Woodstock, New York, and even playing lead guitar himself. To give Jim Steinman's songs the authentic Bruce Springsteen sound, the two recruited two mainstays from the "E Street Band", pianist Roy Bittan and drummer Max Weinberg, along with members of Todd Rundgren's prog rock band, "Utopia", led by bassist and singer Kasim Sulton. The album opens with a nearly ten-minute storm with the epic title track "Bat Out of Hell", a masterpiece that defines what symphonic and theatrical rock is. Roy Bittan's rhythmic opening on piano and Todd Rundgren's fast guitars lead into a romantic horror story about a motorcyclist racing to his death on a dark night. The iconic guitar solo, simulating the roar of a motorcycle engine and his fatal crash, was played by Todd Rundgren in a single improvised take without prior rehearsals, a technical feat that has become one of the most famous moments in the history of the electric guitar. It's followed by "You Took the Words Right Out of My Mouth," which opens with an unforgettable theatrical dialogue on a hot summer night performed by Jim Steinman and actress Marcia McClain, before exploding into a sweeping pop-rock celebration in the spirit of 1960s rhythm bands. The third track, "Heaven Can Wait," reveals Meat Loaf's vulnerable, delicate, and lyrical side, displaying stunning vocal mastery over Roy Bittan's refined piano playing and Ken Ascher's soaring string arrangement. The record's first side closes with "All Revved Up with No Place to Go," a raucous youth anthem that describes the frustration and passion of adolescence, and is driven by a fiery saxophone solo by guest musician Edgar Winter. The album's second side opens with one of the greatest and most beloved rock ballads of all time, "Two Out of Three Ain't Bad". The song was born after actress and singer Mimi Kennedy told Jim Steinman that his songs were too complicated, and asked why he couldn't write a simple and direct love song like Elvis Presley's "I Want You, I Need You, I Love You". Jim Steinman's answer was an honest, melodic and sober heartbreak ballad that climbed into the top twenty on the US Billboard charts and became the album's big breakthrough single in the United States. The peak of the album's theatricality comes in the sixth track, "Paradise by the Dashboard Light", an eight-and-a-half-minute mini-musical divided into three acts. The song describes a stormy youthful encounter in the backseat of a parked car, and is presented as a tremendous vocal duel between Meat Loaf and singer and actress Ellen Foley, who provided a powerful and unforgettable performance on the album, while singer Karla DeVito is the one who appeared in the famous music video and on the tour that accompanied the album. In the middle of the song, the creators incorporated a brilliant flash in the form of a simulated baseball commentary specially recorded by former star and legendary New York Yankees broadcaster Phil Rizzuto, which serves as a humorous metaphor for the boy's attempts to conquer the car seat. The album closes with the moving and dramatic "For Crying Out Loud", a monumental ballad lasting nearly nine minutes, with philharmonic orchestration. Meat Loaf moves from an intimate, broken whisper to a desperate cry of love, sealing the album with utter catharsis. Even after the album was completed, record companies refused to release it until producer and record label executive Steve Popovich, who at the time had founded the independent label Cleveland International Records under the auspices of Epic Records, listened to the recordings, believed in the vision without reservation, and released the album. Also making a crucial contribution to the record's mythology was the iconic album cover, conceived by Jim Steinman and drawn by legendary comic artist Richard Corben, depicting a long-haired motorcycle rider emerging from the dirt of a cemetery under the wings of a giant bat. Despite a slow commercial opening and mixed reviews from the music press, Meat Loaf's electrifying television appearances on the British show "The Old Grey Whistle Test" and the American show "Saturday Night Live" in the spring of 1978 ignited a firestorm. "Bat Out of Hell" became one of the five best-selling albums in world music history with sales of over 43 million copies, fourteen platinum albums in the United States and a historic stay of over 522 weeks in the UK album charts. The success later spawned two follow-ups, "Bat Out of Hell II" in 1993 and "Bat Out of Hell III" in 2006, proving that sometimes the surest way to eternity is to break all the rules. For Listening: Spotify, Apple Music "Face/Off" - Israel's Rock Blog Follow us on Facebook / Instagram or Subscribe to our website

On October 21, 2003, "Rush" released their live album "Rush In Rio". About a year earlier, on November 23, 2002, Rush appeared in front of 40,000 spectators at the famous Maracana Stadium in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, to give their 66th show on the tour, designed to promote the album "Vapor Trails". This is the band's first tour in over five years of hiatus. Heavy rain struck the São Paulo show the previous night. According to Neil Peart, intermittent rain and late-arriving trucks delayed setup in Rio, leaving the band to perform without a soundcheck or a trial run for the recording and camera crews. It's not clear if the band members were motivated by the tension and madness of the day's events, or if they just came with a clear intention to give it their all, explode, knowing it's their last show on tour, but "Rush" has never sounded so great on an officially released live show. Geddy Lee's bass playing is crueler, more powerful, and aggressive than ever, Alex Lifeson's guitar work is virtuoso, moving, brilliant, and sweeping throughout the entire setlist, and what about Neil Peart? His drumming continues to inspire awe and admiration. He pushes the whole band in an unprecedented rhythm attack and just gave his all in every note and song. This show brings us together with a band that goes to the end, a band that manages to surpass itself in perfect playing and precise and tight performance. And the sound, what a sound ... real, authentic, very alive, dynamic. And not only does the band make it through despite all the difficulties, but it also gives its best live performance ever. But it does not end there. Because in this show "Rush" has 4 members for the first time. Geddy, Alex, Neil, and "The Audience." They sweep the band after them in their madness and with the endless energies they have. 40,000 voices singing as one and pushing the band forward, to give one of their best performances. Never was an audience who "sang" an instrumental piece like the Brazilian audience sang "YYZ". From the first note in the opening song "Tom Sawyer" this audience does not rest for a second and accompanies the band as an additional musical instrument, singing the riffs and Melodies with the band. For example, listen to their singing accompanying the riffs and their roars at every break in "2112". After this piece went under the throat of this psychic audience, it no longer sounded the same, and any audience that came after it was already obligated to emulate the vocal accompaniment of the mighty Brazilian audience. But beyond the fact that this album is so musically special, it is also very statistically unique. So here are 17 interesting facts about it: 1. This is the band's first live album after the long hiatus imposed on it, following the tragic events that befell drummer Neil Peart. This forced Peart to go into an extreme training regime to get back to the fitness before the tragedies and it seems to us that he is back even more strong, accurate, and amazing. 2. It is also the band's first live album which has broken the regular pattern of releasing a live album after every four studio albums. 3. It is also the first live album featuring an entire setlist from start to finish. In addition to the setlist that included 29 songs, two bonus tracks were included on the album, "Between Sun & Moon" recorded in Phoenix, and "Vital Signs" in Quebec, both on the same tour. 4. Unlike the live albums that preceded it, the main album documents one complete concert, apart from the two bonus recordings from other shows. 5. The album was issued on three CDs. It was not the band’s first triple live release: "Different Stages" already comprised three discs in 1998. 6. The album features nearly three hours of uninterrupted music in which the band plays songs from 15 albums out of the 17 albums it has released to date, with the only albums not receiving representation here being: "Caress Of Steel" and "Hold Your Fire". 7. "Vapor Trails" is the most represented album in the Rio concert, with four songs. Three songs from "Moving Pictures" were performed there, while "Vital Signs" appears as a bonus from another show. 8. The concert was recorded during the band’s first visit to Brazil, which comprised three shows. 9. This is the second largest audience in which the band has ever performed (and we do not refer to festivals). 10. The performance with the largest audience in front of which the band performed, was held one night earlier in Sao Paulo, where the band played in front of 60,000 people. 11. The album includes an acoustic performance of "Resist", played by Geddy Lee and Alex Lifeson after Neil Peart’s drum solo, while the drummer takes a break offstage. 12. Neil Peart's "O Baterista" drum solo means "The Drummer" in Portuguese. It lasts 8 minutes and it alternates between different music styles, rock, jazz, big band, Latin, and even African. 13. The album includes three principal instrumental pieces, or five when "Cygnus X-1" and the drum solo "O Baterista" are counted. 14. During the instrumental track "La Villa Strangiato" the band goes into a jazz improvisation that includes vocal accompaniment by Alex Lifeson with amusing sentences like: "This is jazz ... jazz is WEIRD!!" also playing an excerpt from the song "The Girl From Ipanema". 15. According to Neil Peart’s liner notes, the material captured by the Brazilian recording truck required extensive work by Alex Lifeson and engineers James "Jimbo" Barton and Patrick Thrasher. 16. The album first appeared on vinyl on January 18, 2019, as a four-LP set. This was a later edition of the 2002 recordings, rather than a new performance. 17. "O Baterista" received a Grammy nomination for Best Rock Instrumental Performance at the 2005 awards. And now we just hope you can find yourself 3 free hours to listen to this amazing show: Spotify, Apple Music "Face/Off" - Israel's Rock Blog Follow us on Facebook / Instagram or Subscribe to our website

He is best known as the singer of "Blind Melon" and he had a very short career but he influenced many artists... (Photo: Ebet Roberts) 1. His full name is Richard Shannon Hoon and he was born on September 26, 1967. 2. He grew up in Indiana with his brother and sister and at a young age decided to use his middle name in order to be different from his father Richard. 3. He was an athlete in high school and was part of the football and wrestling teams, as well as pole vaulting. 4. Before "Blind Melon", Hoon played in two local Lafayette bands, "Mank Rage" and "Styff Kytten", serving as lead singer in the latter. 5. After his time in the local bands, Hoon left Indiana and moved to Los Angeles to pursue a musical career. 6. There he met Brad Smith and Rogers Stevens, the two saw Hoon perform on stage with an acoustic guitar and quickly fell in love with the guy. 7. In 1990 the three members joined by Christopher Thorn and Glen Graham formed the band "Blind Melon". (Photo: bravewords.com) 8. The name was taken from a nickname given by bassist Brad Smith's father to some neighbors back home in Mississippi 9. The five young members recorded a demo consisting of four songs and managed to get a contract with the label Capitol Records 10. At that time Hoon acquired a new friend named Axl Rose who was a friend of his sister 11. The two also became friends in music when Axl invited Hoon to participate in the double and huge album "Use Your Illusion I & II" 12. Hoon performed background vocals on the songs “The Garden”, and “Don’t Cry” and also participated in the video clip of the song “Don’t Cry”. 13. The sharp-eyed will notice the image of Hoon on the sleeve of the "Use Your Illusion I" vinyl 14. In 1992, Blind Melon released their debut album bearing the band's name 15. In order to promote the album, the band went on tour with "Guns N 'Roses", "Soundgarden" and Ozzy Osbourne as an opening act. 16. The breakthrough came in 1993, when the video for "No Rain", featuring the "Bee Girl", received heavy MTV rotation. The video and the band's touring brought them widespread success. 17. With the success also came the drugs and Hoon became their very heavy consumer. In 1994, the band participated in the infamous Woodstock 94 festival, where Hoon took the stage while drugged and dressed in his girlfriend's dress. (Photo: straight.com) 18. In 1995 the band's second album “Soup” was released 19. During the tour to promote the album, Hoon added a drug rehab therapist to support him 20. But on October 21, 1995, Hoon died from a cocaine overdose during a tour stop in New Orleans. The band's sound technician found him dead on the band's bus. (Photo: Henry Diltz) 21. In 1996, the band released a compilation album called "Nico" named after Hoon's daughter Nico Blue. A tribute album to Hoon whose proceeds supported his daughter and programs helping musicians with substance-abuse problems and included special versions, songs recorded by Hoon and completed by the band, and covers 22. After his death, the band searched for a new singer but did not find a permanent replacement, and stopped working together in 1999. They reunited with singer Travis Warren in 2006 and released their third studio album, "For My Friends", in 2008. 23. In 2008 a book was published called "A Devil on One Shoulder and an Angel on the Other: The Story of Shannon Hoon and Blind Melon" by Greg Prato on Hoon and the Band 24. "All I Can Say", a documentary built from Hoon's home-video footage, premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival in 2019 and received its commercial release in 2020. 25. Hoon's influence endured after his death. "Dream Theater" mentioned him in "Just Let Me Breathe", while Zakk Wylde dedicated "Throwin' It All Away" to his memory. "Face/Off" - Israel's Rock Blog Follow us on Facebook / Instagram or Subscribe to our website

On October 21, 2022, "The Classic Symptoms of a Broken Spirit", the tenth studio album by the band "Architects", was released. Few bands in the modern metal scene have endured a journey as harrowing, courageous and artistically turbulent as the Brighton-based British quintet "Architects". Since the tragic loss of their founding guitarist and songwriter Tom Searle in August 2016 after a long battle with cancer, the band's music has become a compass for dealing with pain, grief, and the search for meaning. The masterful "All Our Gods Have Abandoned Us" (2016) was recorded with Tom and released during his lifetime. On "Holy Hell" (2018), his twin brother and drummer Dan Searle, vocalist Sam Carter, bassist Alex Dean, and guitarists Adam Christianson and Josh Middleton channeled deep grief into progressive, symphonic, and monumental metalcore. The ringing turning point came in February 2021 with the ambitious ninth album "For Those That Wish to Exist", which for the first time in the band's history took first place in the British album chart and presented a stylistic openness wider than ever, which achieved a cinematic peak in the live recording with a full orchestra on the album "For Those That Wish to Exist at Abbey Road" in March 2022. From that elegant orchestral summit, the band felt an urge to make a sharp and immediate U-turn. When the members of "Architects" could meet face to face in one room again, they wanted to create something alive, immediate and unburdened. Dan Searle and Josh Middleton produced the album, recorded at Middle Farm Studios in Devon and Brighton Electric Studios. Engineer Peter Miles and Sam Carter contributed additional production. The band traded expansive symphonic arrangements for an industrial, polished and hard-hitting sound. Zakk Cervini handled the mix, giving the album a sharp, dense sound in which analog synthesizers, electronic rhythms and heavy riffs collide head-on. Thematically, "The Classic Symptoms of a Broken Spirit" is no longer just about the global climate crisis that was at the center of its predecessor, but turns the spotlight inward to the mental and spiritual erosion of modern man. Dan Searle and Sam Carter paint a sharp and disillusioned portrait of a society addicted to screens, flooded with false information, politically divided and plagued by constant existential anxiety, a situation in which a broken spirit becomes a permanent symptom of life in the twenty-first century. It is also the band's last album with virtuoso guitarist Josh Middleton, leader of the band "Sylosis", who parted ways with the band on good terms in May 2023 after making a decisive contribution to shaping its sound in the post-Tom Searle era. The album opens with a mesmerizing storm with "Deep Fake", a track that begins with a dark and gloomy electronic loop before exploding into a heavy groovy riff and an incomparably infectious stadium chorus, where Sam Carter's voice moves freely between piercing melodic vocals and crushed screams at the climaxes. It is immediately followed by "Tear Gas", one of the most industrial and surprising tracks in the band's catalog, driven by a heavy glam-industrial-style sawing guitar riff, distorted bass and an anthemic chorus that demonstrates how much the band enjoyed breaking their own rules in the studio. The pace picks up on "Spit the Bone", a song that combines a futuristic electronic beat with tight drumming by Dan Searle and leads into "Burn Down My House", a somber, atmospheric, and emotionally charged piece that patiently builds from quiet, exposed verses to a massive cathartic outburst. On the fifth track, "Living Is Killing Us", the band returns to the addictive combination of contemporary alternative rock energy and heavy breakdown that reminds longtime listeners of their aggressive roots. At the heart of the album is the first single that revealed the new direction back in April 2022, "When We Were Young". It's a pure adrenaline track written as a live anthem, with a dizzying beat, bouncy riffs, and an aggressive vocal bridge where Sam Carter grapples with deceptive nostalgia and the loss of youthful innocence. The second half of the album continues to deepen the tension between melody and aggression. "Doomscrolling" perfectly captures the paralyzing feeling of endlessly scrolling through horror news on social media, opening with a brooding electronic vibe and developing into a heavy, emotional rock anthem. It is followed by "Born Again Pessimist", which brings Josh Middleton and Adam Christianson's sharp guitars back to the forefront with explosive energy, and is immediately followed by the ninth track "A New Moral Low Ground", a brilliant song that combines industrial and dark synth-rock influences with one of the album's most gripping and effective choruses. Towards the end, "All the Love in the World" delivers a fast, rough rhythmic attack that never lets up on the listener for a moment, setting the stage for the dramatic closing track "Be Very Afraid". The closing song is a spectacular show of power that begins with Dan Searle's tense tribal drum rhythm, develops into a massive wall of sound, and in its final minute unleashes a cascade of guttural screams, blast beats, and crushing riffs that leave the listener breathless. Carter explained that the beat in "All the Love in the World" incorporates recordings of a dishwasher being slammed, a fire extinguisher being struck and feet stamping on the floor; Choir Noir added choir vocals to the track. Released on October 21, 2022, via Epitaph Records, "The Classic Symptoms of a Broken Spirit" received generally positive reviews. It reached number one on the UK Rock & Metal Albums Chart and number 18 on the main UK Albums Chart, as well as number eight in Australia, 12 in Germany, 17 in Switzerland and 11 in Scotland. Above all, it showed a band unwilling to stagnate or become a prisoner of a fixed formula, distilling powerful, bold and vibrant music from a chaotic time. For Listening: Spotify, Apple Music "Face/Off" - Israel's Rock Blog Follow us on Facebook / Instagram or Subscribe to our website

Written by: Moti Kupfer Release date - 20.10.1998 In one episode of the Israeli comedy series "My Nephew from Hell" ("HaAchiyan Sheli Bentz"), a girl shows up who upends the world of the undisputed ruler of "Bagirionit" high school, Yuli Dahan. Yuli's new nemesis is named Gaya, and she comes equipped with a winning smile, a zest for life steeped in Zen, and... a bucket hat, which is what sets her apart. People in bucket hats are people we remember for many years after they have vanished from our lives, and it is no accident that the Californian rock band "New Radicals" is remembered for two things: 1. The joyously youthful hit, and the video with the unruly teenagers running wild in a mall, for the song "You Get What You Give". 2. The singer with the bucket hat on his head. Gregg Alexander is his name, in case you didn't know. The debut album by "New Radicals", "Maybe You've Been Brainwashed Too", was released on October 20, 1998. "New Radicals" is, first and foremost, the project of Gregg Alexander, together with the actress and singer Danielle Brisebois. He was born in May 1970 in Grosse Pointe, Michigan, into a conservative family that belonged to the Jehovah's Witnesses. At 12 he received his first guitar and taught himself to play several instruments at once. Together with his sister Caroline he played piano and composed songs. At 14 he joined his first band, "The Circus", with his older brother and classmates. Two years later Alexander signed his first recording contract, with A&M Records. At 19 (1989) Alexander released his debut album, which drew no response from radio stations or the public. In 1992 he signed with Epic Records and released a second solo album, made up in part of material from the first. That one, too, got Alexander nowhere. Among the musicians who took part in the recordings was a fairly new backing singer named Danielle Brisebois. Born in June 1969 in Brooklyn, New York, Brisebois began performing as a child actress at the age of seven. In 1977 she appeared in an episode of the detective series "Kojak", and went on to appear regularly in the Broadway musical "Annie". During the 1980s she took roles in the television series "Knots Landing", "Mr. Belvedere" and "Murder, She Wrote". In the early 1990s she retired from acting and moved into music, where two years later she met Gregg Alexander, her future partner in "New Radicals" and in songwriting. Alexander contributed to the writing and singing on Brisebois's 1994 solo album. Three years later Alexander founded "New Radicals", a one-man band with hired players, and in early 1998 his musical partner joined the group as it began work on the debut album. The album is packed with songs carrying stinging, cutting messages, and its style ranges from piano numbers to acoustic songs to kicking, distortion-driven tracks. Throughout the album Alexander takes aim at American corporations, the health insurance companies, the FDA and the big bankers, at the Christian religion (which he was steeped in at home) and at politics. He flips a metaphorical middle finger at musical artists such as Beck, Courtney Love and Marilyn Manson, who gets a decent kick in the rear from him. I'm sure there are quite a few women today who would join him in that, no doubt about it. "New Radicals" will forever be remembered for the one-hit wonder with its positive message, "You Get What You Give", but there is no question that this album holds far more than one great song, from the opener "Mother We Just Can't Get Enough", which here and there recalls "Sympathy for the Devil" by "The Rolling Stones", to "Jehovah Made This Whole Joint for You", which tells people to be who they are and not to go looking for extreme things that don't suit their personality. The beautiful ballad "Someday We'll Know", released as the album's second single, features Alexander singing in a hushed and at times broken voice as he asks why the relationship ended. On "In Need of a Miracle", Alexander sings about a man who finds himself at a crossroads and desperately seeks a miracle to overcome his troubles. Alexander, who was looking for a way to cope with his troubles and with the media's pursuit of him, decided on the eve of the release of the second single that enough was enough. He disbanded the group after a single album and has focused ever since on writing songs for other musicians. For Listening: Spotify, Apple Music "Face/Off" - Israel's Rock Blog Follow us on Facebook / Instagram and/or subscribe to our website

On October 20, 1986, "Get Close", the fourth studio album by the band "The Pretenders", was released. The mid-1980s found Chrissie Hynde and "The Pretenders" at a particularly turbulent artistic and personal crossroads. Just two years after the exciting and successful comeback of 1984's "Learning to Crawl", born out of the tragic loss of guitarist James Honeyman-Scott and bassist Pete Farndon, Chrissie Hynde's life changed forever. She married Jim Kerr, lead singer of Simple Minds, and in 1985 gave birth to their daughter Yasmin, while trying to balance a new family life with leading one of the world's most respected rock bands. When the band entered the studio in 1985 with producer Steve Lillywhite to begin work on their fourth album, professional tensions quickly emerged within the band. During the recording of "Room Full of Mirrors," an energetic cover of a Jimi Hendrix song, Chrissie Hynde felt that the rhythm section chemistry was not providing the new drive and groove she was looking for. In a dramatic move, she decided to part ways with founding drummer Martin Chambers and bassist Malcolm Foster, leaving her as the only original member of the historic 1978 lineup, alongside the brilliant guitarist Robbie McIntosh who had become a musical pillar by her side. To realize her new musical vision, a fusion of the band's sharp rock and jangling guitars with the dark grooves of funk, soul and R&B, Chrissie Hynde recruited two of the super producers who defined the sound of the 1980s, Bob Clearmountain and Jimmy Iovine. The two, who were also working on the Simple Minds album "Once Upon a Time" at the time, opened the door for the band to a series of leading recording studios in New York, London and Stockholm, including Power Station and Right Track Studios in New York, Bearsville Studios in Woodstock and AIR Studios in London. Into this creative cauldron was invited a dream team of musicians who gave the album an extraordinary rhythmic richness. American bassist virtuoso T.M. Stevens and drummer Blair Cunningham were recruited as the new official rhythm section of "The Pretenders", and alongside them in the studio were keyboard legend Bernie Worrell of the band "Parliament-Funkadelic", guitarist Carlos Alomar, known for his close work with David Bowie, super drummers Simon Phillips, Steve Jordan and Mel Gaynor of the band "Simple Minds", Indian violinist Shankar and funk and soul diva Chaka Khan. The album opens with a bang with "My Baby," a polished and sweeping pop-rock anthem that immediately showcases Robbie McIntosh's brilliant guitar work alongside Bernie Worrell's warm synths and Mel Gaynor's powerful drumming. The song, in which Chrissie Hynde sings with raw honesty about love, vulnerability and adoration for her musician partner, became a huge hit, reaching number one on the US Billboard Mainstream Rock chart. It's followed by "When I Change My Life", a melodic, bare-bones song in which Chrissie Hynde reflects on past regrets and a yearning for a new beginning, her strummed guitars and harmonica creating an intimate and touching atmosphere. The third track, "Light of the Moon", takes the album in a rhythmic and mysterious direction, with a song written by guitarist Carlos Alomar with Genevieve Gazon and Wayne Ragland, which showcases the new rhythm section of T.M. Stevens and Blair Cunningham in all their glory. The album's funky, dark turn reaches its peak on the next two songs. "Dance!", which runs nearly seven minutes on the album version and also served as the B-side for the first single, features a warm groove, tribal percussion, and a rich brass section, with Chrissie Hynde's vocals delivering a scathing social and political critique. It's followed by "Tradition of Love," a groovy, sophisticated piece driven by T.M. Stevens' dominant bass and Bernie Worrell's keyboard work. The second side of the record opens with the album's crown jewel and one of the band's most recognizable songs, "Don't Get Me Wrong." The catchy, bouncy song was written by Chrissie Hynde during a British Airways flight and inspired by her close friend, tennis legend John McEnroe, who was known for his fiery temper on the court as well as his charming personality off it. The combination of a light jangle-pop rhythm, a catchy melody and Robbie McIntosh's perfectly concise guitar solo catapulted the song to number ten on the US pop chart and number ten on the UK chart, along with three consecutive weeks at the top of the Billboard Rock Chart. The song was accompanied by an unforgettable music video that paid homage to the classic 1960s British television series "The Avengers," in which Chrissie Hynde played the character of Emma Peel and was digitally integrated alongside original actor Patrick Macnee. The rest of the album sees the band move between styles and moods with impressive freedom. The song "I Remember You" is a short, intimate, warm reggae-based piece with piano and keyboard touches by Bernie Worrell, followed by "How Much Did You Get for Your Soul?", a sharp and punchy rock-funk song featuring legendary singer Chaka Khan on powerful backing vocals that elevate the song to new heights, while Chrissie Hynde attacks with sharp lyrics the commercialization and selling of values for greed. It is followed by the dark and atmospheric "Chill Factor", which combines acoustic and electric guitars in a continuous dramatic tension. The album's most emotional and moving climax comes in the form of the powerful ballad "Hymn to Her." The song, written by Chrissie Hynde's childhood friend from Akron, Ohio, Meg Keene, is a moving hymn to womanhood, motherhood, and the eternal feminine power that passes from generation to generation. Chrissie Hynde's vocal performance here is one of the great peaks of her life, starting with an intimate whisper and gradually building to a huge emotional outburst, accompanied by Shankar's mesmerizing double violin playing and Simon Phillips' precise drumming. The song became a huge success in the UK, reaching number eight on the UK Singles Chart. The album closes with an explosion of raw rock energy with "Room Full of Mirrors", the sweeping cover of the Jimi Hendrix song produced by Steve Lillywhite, the only remnant on the album in which the band members from the "Learning to Crawl" era play together with Martin Chambers on drums and Malcolm Foster on bass, who close the piece with explosive guitars and a lively, kicking sound. The iconic album cover, shot by photographer Richard Haughton and designed by Helen Backhouse, features a dramatic, colorful close-up portrait of Chrissie Hynde with made-up eyes and a piercing gaze, a clear visual statement that "The Pretenders" is now first and foremost her own distinct artistic vision. Upon its release, "Get Close" was a commercial and critical success worldwide, reaching number six on the UK Albums Chart and number twenty-five on the US Billboard Chart, and was certified gold in the US and UK. Four decades after its release, the album stands as a spectacular memento of a time when Chrissie Hynde was not afraid to reinvent herself, break conventions and prove that true rock 'n' roll could conquer the pop charts without losing an ounce of soul and character. For Listening: YouTube Music, Deezer, Spotify, Apple Music "Face/Off" - Israel's Rock Blog Follow us on Facebook / Instagram or Subscribe to our website

Here are 35 facts about Tom Petty, the singer, guitarist, songwriter and producer: (Source: NME) 1. He was born Thomas Earl Petty on October 20, 1950, in Gainesville, Florida. 2. His love for rock 'n' roll officially began in the summer of 1961, when he was only 10, then he met none other than Elvis Presley, on the set of a film. He was simply fascinated by him and has since begun to obsessively listen to his songs. 3. He received music lessons from fellow Gainesville musician Don Felder, later of the "Eagles". Felder recalled teaching him guitar, although Petty remembered Felder showing him how to work out songs on piano. 4. As a teenager he played with "The Epics", before becoming the bassist and singer in Gainesville's "Mudcrutch". The band lasted until 1975 and included Mike Campbell and Benmont Tench, who would later accompany him in "The Heartbreakers". 5. His first marriage to his high school sweetheart, Jane Benyo, lasted 22 years. They have two daughters from this marriage. In 2001 he married Dana York. 6. After moving to Los Angeles in the early 1970s, "Mudcrutch" disbanded before even releasing an album - but guitarist Mike Campbell and keyboardist Benmont Tench who played with Tom in the band would become members of "The Heartbreakers" and accompanied Petty for four decades. 7. His band shared its name with New York punk group "The Heartbreakers", formed in 1975 by Johnny Thunders and Jerry Nolan with Richard Hell. The New Yorkers played CBGB and joined the "Sex Pistols" on the 1976 Anarchy tour. Despite the potential confusion, both bands kept the name. (Photo: ABC/Shelter Records) 8. Petty appeared eight times as a musical guest on "Saturday Night Live". 9. His 2002 album "The Last DJ" criticises the music business. His battles with record companies began much earlier: on May 23, 1979, he filed for bankruptcy to escape his Shelter Records contract after the label changed hands to MCA. 10. In early 1981 he refused to release his album "Hard Promises" at MCA after the company asked to price it at $ 9.98, $ 1.00 more than the regular list price of $ 8.98. Petty even considered renaming the album to "Eight Ninety-Eight", but eventually MCA decided to back down. 11. Stevie Nicks found the title "Edge of Seventeen" in a conversation with Jane Benyo, mishearing "at the age of seventeen" as "edge of seventeen". The song itself was shaped by the death of her uncle and the murder of John Lennon. (Photo: George Rose) 12. In 1984, Mike Campbell offered him an instrumental demo built with a synthesizer and drum machine. Petty passed on it for the band's album. Don Henley added lyrics and a vocal melody, turning it into "The Boys of Summer". 13. On the morning of May 17, 1987, just as Petty and his family were having breakfast, his California home caught fire. Authorities determined it was an arson. Petty was deeply shaken by the incident. 14. Tom Petty and George Harrison were really good friends. In 1988 they even co-founded the supergroup "Traveling Wilburys" with Jeff Lynne, Roy Orbison, and Bob Dylan. 15. MCA initially rejected his 1989 solo debut, "Full Moon Fever", because its executives did not hear any hits. It was released after a management change and earned five-times-platinum certification in the United States. Although it is a solo album, several Heartbreakers contributed, most prominently Mike Campbell. 16. When he recorded the hit "I Won't Back Down" with George Harrison, he had a terrible cold. George Harrison ran quickly to the store, bought ginger, boiled it, and let Petty breathe the steam. This opened his sinuses long enough for him to record the take that went into the album. 17. A significant number of films included his songs in their soundtrack. In two of them, the characters even sang them. The first, Catherine Baker Martin, the senator's daughter in the movie "The Silence of the Lambs," sang "American Girl", and the second, Jerry Maguire sang "Free Fallin'" while driving. 18. In 1994, after Stan Lynch's departure, Dave Grohl played drums with "The Heartbreakers" on "Saturday Night Live", performing "You Don't Know How It Feels" and "Honey Bee". Petty offered him a permanent place, but Grohl declined. He had already recorded the material that became the debut album by "Foo Fighters". 19. In 1996, "Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers" released the soundtrack album "Songs and Music from the Motion Picture She's the One", for Edward Burns' film starring Jennifer Aniston. Alongside Petty's material, it included covers of songs by Beck and Lucinda Williams. 20. Petty has also appeared in several films, including Kevin Costner's "The Postman." 21. In 2002 he entered the "Rock and Roll Hall of Fame" with his band "The Heartbreakers". 22. He also voiced the character of Elroy "Lucky" Kleinschmidt in the hit series "King of the Hill." 23. The song "Runnin' Down a Dream" from the album "Full Moon Fever" was the official theme song of both the NBA Finals in 2006 and 2008. Petty also performed the song with the "Heartbreakers" at the halftime of Super Bowl XLII in 2008. 24. In 2007, Petty reunited "Mudcrutch" with Tom Leadon and Randall Marsh, alongside Campbell and Tench. Their first studio album arrived in 2008 and was followed by live shows; a second album and another tour followed in 2016. 25. In 2014, "Hypnotic Eye", the 13th and final studio album by "Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers", became his first No. 1 on the US Billboard 200. It sold 131,000 copies in its first week in the United States. 26. In 2015 it became public that Petty and Jeff Lynne had received co-writing credits on Sam Smith's "Stay With Me", following an amicable agreement over the similarity between its chorus and "I Won't Back Down". Petty described it as a musical accident. 27. On February 10, 2017, he was honored as the MusiCares Person of the Year, recognizing his music, defense of artists’ rights and charitable work. 28. His last performance was part of the tour to mark the 40th anniversary of "Heartbreakers". It was held on September 25, 2017 - about a week before his death. 29. Petty passed away on October 2, 2017, about two weeks before his 67th birthday. 30. During his glorious career, Tom Petty has released no less than 20 studio albums. 13 with "The Heartbreakers", two with "Traveling Wilburys", two with "Mudcrutch" and three more as part of his solo career. 31. According to Universal Music's 2016 announcement, Petty and "The Heartbreakers" had sold more than 80 million records worldwide since their 1976 debut. 32. His archive continued to open after his death. "Wildflowers & All the Rest" arrived in 2020, including ten songs from the "Wildflowers" sessions left off the original album. The live set "Live at the Fillmore 1997" followed in 2022, and an expanded "Long After Dark" in 2024. These are archival releases, not newly recorded studio albums. Separately, "Petty Country: A Country Music Celebration of Tom Petty" appeared in 2024. It is a tribute album featuring other artists covering his songs, rather than a newly recorded Petty studio album. 33. In 2025, guitarist Mike Campbell published "Heartbreaker: A Memoir", written with Ari Surdoval, recounting their decades together. That March, the restored and expanded version of Cameron Crowe's 1983 film "Heartbreakers Beach Party" reached Paramount+, bringing another piece of the band's archive back into view. 34. On September 16, 2026, "Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers" received a Lifetime Achievement Award at the Americana Honors & Awards. Surviving members reunited at Nashville’s Ryman Auditorium with Chris Stapleton on lead vocals, honoring the music nine years after Petty’s death. 35. In 2026, the "Origins 1971-1978" box set was announced to mark the 50th anniversary of "The Heartbreakers", with release scheduled for November 6, 2026. It traces the journey from "Mudcrutch" to the band's early years and includes previously unreleased archival material. At the time of this update, it remains a forthcoming release. "Face/Off" - Israel's Rock Blog Follow us on Facebook / Instagram or Subscribe to our website