On September 10, 2021 Steve Hackett released the album "Surrender of Silence". Steve Hackett's burst of creativity is simply amazing and inspiring. It is his 27th solo album and his second studio album of 2021 after the acoustic/instrumental "Under A Mediterranean Sky" released on January 22, 2021. Similar to "Under A Mediterranean Sky", "Surrender Of Silence" was recorded during the Covid-19 lockdowns and this time Hackett enlisted the help of friends from around the world to contribute to the album. Hackett is accompanied by his regular touring band that includes Roger King (keyboards, programming and orchestral arrangements), Rob Townsend (sax, clarinet), Jonas Reingold (bass), Nad Sylvan (vocals) and Craig Blundell (drums) In addition to the regular lineup Hackett is accompanied this time with Phil Ehart and Nick D'Virgilio (drums), the vocal talents of Amanda Lehmann, Durga and Lorelei McBroom, Christine Townsend (violin, viola), Malik Mansurov (tar) and Sodirkhon Ubaidulloev (dutar). "Surrender Of Silence" dives deep into intricate instrumentals, complex arrangements, and emotionally charged themes, blending rock with classical, world music, and symphonic elements. Opening with "The Obliterati," a heavy, energetic track driven by Hackett’s fiery guitar, the album sets an intense tone. The use of orchestral textures throughout creates a grand cinematic feel, adding layers of depth to the music. Songs like "Natalia" blend rock with Russian folk influences, while "Wingbeats" incorporates African rhythms, showcasing Hackett's ability to seamlessly weave diverse global sounds into his compositions. Hackett's guitar work is, as always, impeccable, with soaring solos and delicate acoustic moments that display his technical mastery and emotional expressiveness. "Scorched Earth" stands out for its atmospheric mood, while "Fox's Tango" with the heavy riff and the short and erupting solos delivers biting commentary on modern politics. The album balances heavy, guitar-driven moments with more reflective pieces like "Esperanza," creating a dynamic and engaging listening experience. There are quite a few gems here, like "Relaxation Music For Sharks (Featuring Feeding Frenzy)" which evolves from a progressive rock segment to a hard rock track, led by the aggressive drumming of Nick D'Virgilio, "Devil's Cathedral" whose opening reminded us of "ELP", the beautiful "Shanghai to Samarkand" which contains Chinese and Middle Eastern influences and more. Vocally, Hackett is supported by a variety of singers, including his long-time collaborators Nad Sylvan and Amanda Lehmann, adding richness and diversity to the album’s sonic palette. Thematically, "Surrender of Silence" addresses issues of chaos, conflict, and resolution, reflecting on both personal and global challenges, with lyrics that are often introspective and thought-provoking. Overall, "Surrender of Silence" is a testament to Steve Hackett's continued creativity and relevance in the world of progressive rock. It’s an album that both longtime fans and newcomers will appreciate, full of complex compositions, virtuosic playing, and a wide range of emotional and musical textures. Hackett proves once again that he is not content to rest on his laurels, continuing to explore new musical territories with passion and precision. For Listening: Spotify, Apple Music Song List: “Surrender of Silence” track listing: 1. The Obliterati (02:17) 2. Natalia (06:17) 3. Relaxation Music For Sharks (Featuring Feeding Frenzy) (04:36) 4. Wingbeats (05:20) 5. The Devil’s Cathedral (06:31) 6. Held In The Shadows (06:20) 7. Shanghai To Samarkand (08:27) 8. Fox’s Tango (04:21) 9. Day Of The Dead (06:25) 10. Scorched Earth (06:03) 11. Esperanza (01:04) "Face/Off" - Israel's Rock Blog Follow us on Facebook / Instagram or Subscribe to our website

On September 10, 1975 "Kiss" released its first live album "Alive!". This double live album is often regarded as one of the greatest live albums in rock history, capturing the raw energy and charisma that the band was known for in their live performances. The album marked a turning point in "Kiss"' career, solidifying their status as rock icons and igniting their rise to mainstream success. One of the standout aspects of "Alive!" is its ability to convey the electric atmosphere of a "Kiss" concert. The band's stage presence and larger-than-life personas are brought to life on this record that was recorded across four different shows during their "Dressed to Kill" tour in Detroit, Cleveland, Wildwood, and Davenport. The double album features live versions of songs from their first three studio albums — "Kiss" (1974), "Hotter Than Hell" (1974), and "Dressed to Kill" (1975)—capturing the explosive energy that had not been fully realized in their earlier studio recordings. The album’s title itself pays homage to "Slade Alive!", a 1972 live album by the British glam rockers "Slade", a band that heavily influenced "Kiss". The influence is clear, as "Alive!" delivers a similarly visceral experience, merging hard rock with theatrical flair, during performances like "100,000 Years," where pyrotechnics engulfed the stage in a ring of fire, and Peter Criss’ drum kit rose above the stage during his drum solo, adding to the spectacle. The album opens with "Deuce," a fast, gritty rocker that sets the tone for what's to come: a relentless barrage of high-energy performances. Gene Simmons' growling bass lines, Paul Stanley's powerful vocals, Ace Frehley's explosive guitar work, and Peter Criss' thunderous drumming are in top form throughout the album. "Strutter" and "Got to Choose" showcase the band's knack for catchy, bluesy rock riffs, while the fan favorite "Cold Gin" amps up the intensity. However, the heart of the album lies in its anthemic tracks—songs like "Black Diamond" and "Rock and Roll All Nite," which became iconic live staples. The infectious energy of "Rock and Roll All Nite" is a perfect example of how "Alive!" captures "Kiss'" ability to get the crowd going. While the album is lauded for its live authenticity, there’s been a long-standing debate over the number of studio overdubs used to clean up the performances. However, this does little to detract from the album’s overall impact, as "Alive!" still delivers a visceral and exhilarating listening experience. "Alive!" isn't just a live album—it's a snapshot of a band on the verge of stardom, capturing the raw, unfiltered essence of "Kiss" at a pivotal moment in their career. The album encapsulates their larger-than-life showmanship, and the electric atmosphere of a live rock show, earning its place as a cornerstone of rock history. Not for nothing this album was ranked No. 159 on "Rolling Stone magazine's" list of the "500 greatest albums of all time". More than that, in 2006 the album was placed at No. 26 on "Guitar World" magazine's list of the "100 Greatest Guitar Albums of All Time", while in 2009 the same magazine placed it at No. 3 on their list of "Top 10 Live Albums". "Kiss" would go on and ride this album success and release 3 more albums in the series "Alive II" in 1977, "Alive III" in 1993 and "Kiss Symphony: Alive IV" in 2003. For Listening: Spotify, Apple Music "Face/Off" - Israel's Rock Blog Follow us on Facebook / Instagram or Subscribe to our website

On September 10, 1991, "Camel" released "Dust and Dreams", their eleventh studio album. Seven years had passed since "Stationary Traveller", and in rock terms that already felt almost like a disappearance. But the silence was not caused by a lack of ideas. Behind the scenes, "Camel" had become entangled in a difficult period of legal battles, contracts, royalties and the search for a new home for their music. In the spring of 1985, the relationship with "Decca" came to an end, but instead of the freedom the band hoped to find came years in which Andrew Latimer struggled to find a record company willing to release the new material without trying to reshape it. The material that would eventually become "Dust and Dreams" had already started taking shape in the mid-1980s, but the road to the album was a long one. Talks with "EG Records" went nowhere, other attempts to secure a deal followed, and at the same time there was a growing sense that the system surrounding the band had become an obstacle. In 1988, Andrew Latimer and Susan Hoover moved to the United States. They sold their home in London, relocated to California and invested part of the money in building a small studio where Latimer could work without a record-company clock hanging over his head. In 1990, Latimer returned to the material and rewrote much of the album's second half. When the work was finished and there was still no label willing to take it, he and Hoover made the decision that would redefine the future of "Camel": they founded "Camel Productions" and chose to release the album themselves. After years in which record companies had pushed the band to shorten songs, simplify the music or chase singles, as happened so noticeably around "The Single Factor", this time there was nobody telling them what they could or could not do. "Dust and Dreams" is therefore more than a comeback album. It is also a declaration of independence. The inspiration came from John Steinbeck's novel "The Grapes of Wrath", which follows the Joad family as they are forced to leave Oklahoma during the Great Depression and head west toward California. Their hope of finding land, work and a new life gradually erodes in the face of poverty, exploitation and disappointment. Latimer was not trying to set a novel to music. Instead, he drew on the emotions inside it: dust, roads, hunger, hope, loss and a promise that always seems to move a little farther away. It is also hard to ignore the parallel with his own life. Andrew Latimer and Susan Hoover had also left England and headed west to California in search of a new beginning. That does not make "Dust and Dreams" autobiographical, but it helps explain why Steinbeck's story feels so personal here. Behind the Joad family's journey is also the journey of a musician forced to leave a system that no longer allowed him to move forward and begin again almost from scratch. Musically, the album is built as one long work divided into 16 pieces. Some are complete songs, others are instrumental miniatures lasting less than three minutes, and a few are under a minute long. The connections between them matter more than the boundaries. Instead of a sequence of songs designed to stand on their own, "Camel" builds a soundtrack. The synthesizers paint the landscape, the flute adds a fragile human color, and Andrew Latimer's guitar enters at exactly the right moments, like the voice of a character who needs no words to explain what he feels. The core lineup featured Andrew Latimer on guitar, flute, keyboards and vocals, Colin Bass on bass, Ton Scherpenzeel on keyboards and Paul Burgess on drums. They were joined by Don Harriss on keyboards, Christopher Bock on drums, Kim Venaas on harmonica and timpani, David Paton and Mae McKenna on vocals, John Burton on French horn and Neil Panton on oboe. Latimer produced and engineered the album, Bruce Lampcov handled the mix at "AIR Studios" in London, and Doug Sax mastered it. Some of the recording also took place at "Abbey Road", but the heart of the project remained the studio and independent system that Latimer and Hoover had built for themselves. The piece "Dust Bowl" opens the album without a grand introduction. It is short, drifting and almost as dusty as its title, pulling us straight into the landscape. Out of it grows "Go West", where the road west still sounds like a promise. There is movement, a relatively simple melody and the feeling of a family leaving behind a world that can no longer sustain them. The music is not heavy yet, but you can already hear that this optimism will not last. The piece "Dusted Out" is a brief transition, almost a passing roadside image, before "Mother Road" gives the journey more weight and momentum. This is one of those moments in which "Camel" manages to make the music feel physically in motion. The bass and drums push forward, the keyboards open up the space, and Latimer's guitar sounds as if it is watching the landscape through a car window. The name "Mother Road" recalls the nickname for "Route 66", the highway that carried generations of migrants westward. Next comes "Needles", a tenser piece in which Kim Venaas' harmonica gives the music a dry, rough American color. By this point there is no romance left in the journey. The road begins to sting, and the album starts replacing the dream with a growing sense of unease. The song "Rose of Sharon" is one of the most human moments on the album. It was written by Andrew Latimer and Susan Hoover, and its title refers to Rose of Sharon, the pregnant member of the Joad family who carries both hope and fear within her. David Paton and Mae McKenna add voices that soften the arrangement, but beneath the beauty remains the question of what happens when the future that was supposed to save you begins to fall apart. The piece "Milk N' Honey" takes an expression associated with abundance and turns it almost into irony. California is supposed to be the "land of milk and honey", but the closer the family gets, the wider the gap between promise and reality becomes. The harmonica returns and reconnects the music to the earth, while the keyboards leave a fading layer of dream above it. At nearly seven minutes, "End of the Line" is one of the highlights of the album's first half. It was also written with Susan Hoover, and it gathers everything the album has built so far: exhaustion, anger, disappointment and the feeling that the road meant to lead somewhere new has instead reached its end. Latimer does not need to overplay it. He lets the melody develop patiently, and when the guitar finally moves forward it sounds less like a solo and more like a confession. From "Storm Clouds" onward, the album moves deeper into its instrumental side. "Cotton Camp", "Broken Banks" and "Sheet Rain" almost flow into one another. The titles alone tell the story: a labor camp, economic collapse, rain replacing the dust. Here "Camel" returns to the ability that made albums such as "Mirage" and "Moonmadness" so beloved, telling an entire story through color, dynamics and melody without having to explain every moment in words. The pieces "Whispers" and "Little Rivers and Little Rose" lower the pulse again. Neil Panton's oboe and the delicate textures create a moment of calm inside a journey that has grown steadily darker. It is not real rest, more a brief pause in which both the characters and the listener are given time to look around and understand just how far they have already traveled. Then comes "Hopeless Anger", the moment when all restraint finally breaks. It is one of the album's strongest pieces and one of those moments when Andrew Latimer's guitar reminds us how few players can draw so much emotion from a relatively small number of notes. The track moves between tension and eruption, between dark synthesizers and a guitar that refuses to stay in the background. If large parts of the album observe the pain from the outside, here it finally speaks out loud. The closing piece "Whispers in the Rain" does not try to resolve everything. The timpani, keyboards and guitar leave us with the feeling of a road that continues even after the music ends. There is no great victory and no Hollywood ending. There is survival, and there is the possibility of moving forward. It is an ending that suits both the Joad family and the "Camel" of 1991. The cover completes the story almost perfectly. The small child standing alone in a dusty landscape looks as if he has been lifted directly from Depression-era America. The album's visual material drew on photographs from the Library of Congress archive, and the cover credit names photographer Arthur Rothstein, one of the important documentarians of the Dust Bowl era. Before a single note is heard, the image has already pulled us into the album's world. Anyone coming to "Dust and Dreams" through "Mirage" or "Moonmadness" will hear a different band here. There are fewer eruptions from a young group and more of the patience of a storyteller. The synthesizers and production remind us that there are moments when atmosphere matters more than the song itself, but that is precisely why the album works so well as a whole. It does not pretend the years have not passed. Anyone who loves the narrative side of "Nude" will feel at home here. On both albums "Camel" uses a concept to build an emotional journey, but "Dust and Dreams" is more personal and mature. It was written about characters from a book, yet it sounds like the work of someone who had spent years losing control of his own path and had learned just how valuable the freedom to create on your own terms can be. Commercially, "Dust and Dreams" was not a major album, but it was warmly received and sold well enough to prove that the independent model could work. Its success allowed "Camel" to return to the stage in 1992 for a world tour, with Colin Bass and Paul Burgess alongside Latimer and Mickey Simmonds on keyboards. Part of that period was later documented on the live album "Never Let Go", and the message was clear: the band had not simply returned, it had found a way to continue without asking permission. With the benefit of time, "Dust and Dreams" stands as one of the most important albums in the later story of "Camel". Not because it sold more than the classics of the 1970s, and not because it tried to compete with them, but because it returned control of the music to Andrew Latimer. Out of years of "dust" came an album about people who keep walking even as the dream moves farther away. And from that album came the road that allowed "Camel" to keep creating in the decades that followed. It has stronger and weaker moments, and at times the story moves forward through atmosphere rather than an unforgettable song, but when the album reaches its peaks, especially on "Rose of Sharon", "End of the Line" and "Hopeless Anger", its depth is impossible to miss. "Dust and Dreams" is an album about a road, but more than anything it is an album about the right to choose that road for yourself. For Listening: YouTube, Apple Music "Face/Off" - Israel's Rock Blog Follow us on Facebook / Instagram or Subscribe to our website

On September 10, 1991, the song "Smells Like Teen Spirit" was released and in just four chords redefined the world of music and became the anthem of an entire generation, which would later be called Generation X. The song was written by Kurt Cobain in one moment of anger, after his girlfriend Tobi Vail, from the band "Bikini Kill" dumped him. The title of the song came from graffiti spray-painted by Kathleen Hanna - singer of the band "Bikini Kill", on the wall of Cobain's apartment. She intended to point out the fact that Kurt was "marked now" with the fragrance of his girlfriend's Tobi Vail favorite deodorant. The four chords that Kurt chose to wrap the lyrics of "Smells Like Teen Spirit" were not innovative, on the contrary, they were chewy chords used in countless rock songs. Cobain noted that he was trying to write a song that would sound like "The Pixies". Even in the rhythm and way of playing this immortal riff, Cobain tried to sound like "More Than A Feeling" by "Boston," which according to his admission was simply clichéd. The song did not even have a bridge. But the combination of simplicity, with the roughness, and the catchy melody created the "big bang" that changed the face of music forever. To accompany the song, the band filmed a clip whose idea is based on punk rock kids wreaking havoc in high school, a symbol of everything Cobain has despised since his high school days in Aberdeen. Constant broadcasts of the clip on MTV and repeated playbacks on various radio stations will launch "Nirvana," screaming and kicking, straight to the top of the Billboard 200 and into the heart of the mainstream. But it did not end there, this song would put an entire city on the world map, as from that day Seattle became synonymous with the Grunge revolution that took place there. Although this song made the band immortal overnight, most of all it was the trigger for a much bigger revolution than a musical one, a cultural revolution of the X generation. Needless to say, "Smells Like Teen Spirit" was ranked No. 9 on "Rolling Stone" magazine's "500 Greatest Songs of All Time" list, it was on the list of the 500 Greatest Songs That Shaped Rock by "Rock and Roll Hall of Fame" and was also inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 2017. In 2000, the song entered the Guinness Book of Records as the most played song on MTV Europe. "Face/Off" - Israel's Rock Blog Follow us on Facebook / Instagram or Subscribe to our website

On September 10, 1990, Neil Young and "Crazy Horse" released "Ragged Glory", his 20th studio album and the sixth he recorded with the band. A year earlier, Neil Young completed one of the biggest comebacks of his career with "Freedom". After a decade of rapidly shifting styles that sometimes left parts of his audience behind, he returned to the electric guitar, the anger and the sense of danger that had always made him so distinctive. Instead of trying to recreate that success, he simply went back to "Crazy Horse", turned up the amplifiers and once again made noise an inseparable part of the songs. In hindsight, "Ragged Glory" sounds as if it arrived ahead of its time. It was released a year before grunge broke into the mainstream, yet it already carried many of the ingredients the next generation would embrace: thick, dirty guitars, feedback left fully exposed and solos that stretch until the song nearly comes apart. Neil Young was not inventing a new language here. He was returning to a sound that had already been part of him in the late 1960s and throughout the 1970s. In 1990, however, that sound suddenly felt more current than ever. The album was recorded in April 1990 at Neil Young's Broken Arrow ranch in Northern California, with Young and David Briggs sharing production duties. The classic "Crazy Horse" lineup of that period joined him: Frank Sampedro on guitar and vocals, Billy Talbot on bass and vocals, and Ralph Molina on drums and vocals. The working method suited the music perfectly. The band played the songs repeatedly in full, without stopping after every take or obsessing over small details. Briggs listened from the side, pushed them forward and, above all, tried not to interfere when the band found the right moment. "Country Home" opens the album with seven minutes that immediately make its direction clear. The song itself dates back to the 1970s, but here it carries a weight and power it never had before. Talbot and Molina hold down a simple, steady pulse while the guitars of Young and Sampedro push against each other. The lyrics describe a country home as a place of refuge, but the music is rough and loud. That tension between the calm in the words and the force of the band is one of the things that defines "Ragged Glory". "White Line" follows immediately and also brings older material back to life. Neil Young had already worked on it in the mid-1970s, but this version is shorter, sharper and far more immediate. After the album's long opening track, these three minutes feel like suddenly hitting an open road, a song about movement, escape and searching for direction even when the destination is still unclear. "F*!#in' Up" captures much of the album's spirit in a single phrase. The riff is heavy, deliberately clumsy and almost primitive, while the chorus keeps returning to the same bitter self-directed question. There is guilt, black humor and self-reproach, but no attempt to soften or resolve any of it. That is exactly why the song became one of the tracks most closely associated with the electric side of Neil Young. It sounds like a confession thrown out in the middle of a rehearsal, and with "Crazy Horse" behind him it also carries the force of an anthem. "Over and Over" slows the pace a little without losing any of the power. Beneath the distortion sits an almost dreamlike melody, while the repeated lines and chords pull the song into a hypnotic loop. Its eight and a half minutes never feel excessive because every return of the riff adds another layer of tension and another wash of guitar. "Love to Burn" takes that approach even further. Ten minutes of heavy psychedelia, a relatively slow pace and guitars that are in no hurry to arrive anywhere. The message is actually simple: to love, you have to be willing to get hurt and take risks. Instead of turning that idea into a ballad, Neil Young and "Crazy Horse" let the guitars do the talking until the solo feels like a natural continuation of the lyrics. "Farmer John" is one of the album's biggest surprises. It is a cover of the Don and Dewey song that originated in the late 1950s and later became a garage-rock favorite. In the hands of "Crazy Horse", it sounds almost like something tossed into a rehearsal for fun, which is not far from what actually happened. Sampedro suggested playing an old song Neil Young had known since the beginning of his career, and the spontaneous take stayed on the album. There is no attempt to sound clean or precise, only joy, dirt and rock and roll. "Mansion on the Hill" is the album's most accessible track and its main single. Amid all the noise comes an almost classic chorus, looking back nostalgically at a world where psychedelic music, peace and love could still live side by side. Even here, though, the guitars keep the nostalgia from becoming too sweet. They remind us that those days are gone and that what remains is largely their memory. The song reached No. 3 on Billboard's Mainstream Rock chart. "Days That Used to Be" continues that backward glance, but in a more clear-eyed way. Its melody is clearly indebted to "My Back Pages" by Bob Dylan, especially in the spirit of "The Byrds" version, while the lyrics examine what remains of youthful ideals after life, responsibility and compromise begin to pile up. For Neil Young, this is not simply a lament that the past was better, but a more painful question: how much of ourselves do we leave behind along the way? "Love and Only Love" is one of the album's instrumental high points. For more than ten minutes, a simple riff becomes a foundation on which the guitars can move closer, pull apart and collide. This is where it becomes clear why "Crazy Horse" has always been far more than just a backing band for Neil Young. The group does not try to follow him perfectly. It gives him resistance and space, and much of the album's sound is born from that friction. "Mother Earth (Natural Anthem)" closes the album in a completely different way from everything that came before it. After more than an hour of electricity comes an environmental prayer based on the traditional melody of "The Water Is Wide". The guitar part was recorded at Farm Aid in April 1990, and the vast space of the stadium remains audible in the recording. Instead of ending with another eruption of guitars, Neil Young is left almost alone with a voice, a guitar and a question about our relationship with the earth. After all the feedback, only the echo remains. Commercially, "Ragged Glory" was not a huge album, but it performed well and quickly became one of the defining records of this period in Neil Young's career. It reached No. 31 in the United States and No. 15 in the United Kingdom, where it was later certified Silver. Its importance, however, went beyond the numbers. As younger bands were turning dirty guitars and feedback into the language of a new generation, Neil Young and "Crazy Horse" reminded everyone that they had been doing it for years, without chasing fashion or trying to fit in. A Reprise advertisement from the period summed it up perfectly: "FEEDBACK IS BACK". The album's story continued long after 1990. The tour that followed produced "Weld", while the band's November 1990 performance at the Catalyst in Santa Cruz was released years later as "Way Down in the Rust Bucket", showing just how naturally these songs belonged onstage. In 2023 the album was expanded as "Smell the Horse" with four additional recordings from the period, and in 2024 Neil Young revisited nine of its ten songs on "Fu##in' Up", proof that more than three decades later he could still find new life in them. With time, "Ragged Glory" has remained rough, loud and fearless. There is no sterile precision, no attempt to smooth the edges and no fear of letting a solo run a little longer if that is what the song needs. After "Freedom" brought Neil Young back to center stage, "Ragged Glory" reminded us why he never truly belonged in the center. It sounds like four musicians in a room playing until they feel they have found the right moment, not like a band trying to capture a perfect take. You can draw a direct line backward from it to "Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere" and "Rust Never Sleeps", and forward to an entire generation that discovered in the 1990s that feedback and dirt could be beautiful too. "Ragged Glory" never tried to speak for that new generation, but when the generation arrived, it immediately understood the album. For Listening: Spotify, Apple Music "Face/Off" - Israel's Rock Blog Follow us on Facebook / Instagram or Subscribe to our website

Editor's Choice... And this time... the album "Starkers in Tokyo" by "Whitesnake", which was released on 9/9/1997 in Japan only. Technically, it's not really a "Whitesnake" album. This is a sort of an "Unplugged" album, in which singer David Coverdale and guitarist Adrian Vandenberg are performing as a duo. Vandenberg joined Whitesnake in late 1986, and later co-wrote all but one of the songs on the band's 1989 album "Slip of the Tongue" with Coverdale. The intention was to promote the album "Restless Heart" which the band released in March of that year. During the band's tour, Coverdale and Vandenberg also held several unplugged concerts, including the one in question that was held in Japan. The two gathered at the EMI studios in Japan for a show, in front of a very limited local audience, and although the show was acoustic, the result was nothing less than "electrifying", especially because this is a minimalist show of guitar and singer only. Coverdale and Vandenberg perform some classics from the band's blues-rock era, such as "Here I Go Again", "Love Ain't No Stranger", alongside songs from the glam era such as "Sailing Ships", "Give Me All Your Love", "Is This Love" and two new songs from the album "Restless Heart" as well as a version of the timeless song of "Deep Purple" - "Soldier of Fortune", that Coverdale had resisted performing for years. Think how lucky were those few who got to see this show, a true "living room" show by one of the greatest singers in rock, accompanied by Vandenberg's moving guitar playing. You have probably heard most of the songs on this album many times, but never in the way they are performed here, naked as on the day they were born, stripped down to the bone. You have also listened to unplugged shows many times, but few of them have been recorded in such a brave way with only guitar accompaniment. Such shows are reserved exclusively for huge singers like Coverdale who are not afraid to give free rein to their voice with minimalistic accompaniment. We tried to find the album on various streaming platforms, but unfortunately, it is not available. So, we have prepared for you a "YouTube" playlist of all the album's songs and another bonus piece that was not included in the album, but was performed at that same special performance. See here: YouTube It is interesting to note, that the songs on this album can also be found on the "Unzipped" album that the band released in 2018, and it also includes excerpts from another unplugged show held in 2008. We have also put together a playlist of songs from the "Unzipped" album, here: Spotify "Face/Off" - Israel's Rock Blog Follow us on Facebook / Instagram or Subscribe to our website

On September 9, 2022, Ozzy Osbourne released his 13th studio album "Patient Number 9". The album marks a triumphant return for the "Prince of Darkness", blending the iconic elements of his well-known sound, with fresh collaborations and modern production. This album is a testament to Osbourne’s enduring legacy, proving that even after decades in the industry and many health issues, he still has much to offer. It's so sad and unfortunate that this excellent album turned out to be the last album of his career... The list of artist collaborating with Ozzy on this album is just insane. Andrew Watt, Zakk Wylde, Jeff Beck, Tony Iommi, Mike McCready, Eric Clapton and Josh Homme on guitars, Robert Trujillo, Duff McKagan and Chris Chaney on bass, and Chad Smith and Taylor Hawkins on drums. The album kicks off with the title track, "Patient Number 9," a haunting yet melodic journey featuring guitar legend Jeff Beck. Ozzy, Watt, Trujillo, and Chad Smith wrote the song with Ali Tamposi - a Florida songwriter who also co-penned eight tracks on Ozzy's last album "Ordinary Man". The song immediately sets the tone for the album with a dark vibe, with lyrics about Ozzy Osbourne being held against his will in a mental institution, with no hope of getting out alive. Beck’s searing 2 guitar solos add depth and drama to one of the album's catchiest songs which was released as the first single. The clip for the song incorporates Osbourne's hand-drawn artwork which can be seen during beck's solo. Right after comes "Immortal" - another striking addition to the album that features the blistering guitar work of "Pearl Jam’s" Mike McCready. The track is a fast-paced, high-energy rocker that harks back to Osbourne’s early solo work. The song's fierce energy, combines classic metal intensity with a fresh, contemporary edge. McCready’s sharp, electrifying solos add a sense of urgency to the song, while Osbourne’s lyrics explore themes of legacy and the desire for eternal recognition. Osbourne enlists the help of heavy-hitting Zakk Wylde, his long-time musical partner to bring his signature blistering riffs and solos, notably on tracks like "Parasite", "Nothing Feels Right" and "Mr. Darkness." Wylde's guitar work provides the familiar, heavy foundation that fans of Osbourne's solo work will recognize and love. the fifth track - "One of Those Days" is a standout moment on the album, which features guitar legend Eric Clapton. The track blends bluesy guitar licks with a melancholic, mid-tempo rock ballad, where Osbourne contemplates existential frustration and resignation and reflects on the weariness of life, while Clapton’s emotive guitar lines add a perfect touch of depth and emotion to the track and his guitar solo will remind you his glorious days in "Cream". Guitarist Jeff Beck returns on the 6th song on the album - "A Thousand Shades". A beautiful ballad with a soulful and melodic guitar work. The song is a deeply emotional and introspective piece, with Beck’s fluid, bluesy playing perfectly complementing Osbourne’s vulnerable vocal delivery. One of the album's highlights is "Degradation Rules," which reunites Osbourne with Tony Iommi, his former "Black Sabbath" bandmate. Although not credited for writing the song, Iommi told "Rolling Stone" that he wrote the track, which he sent to Osbourne, who added the vocals. Osbourne told Kerrang! that "Foo Fighters" drummer Taylor Hawkins gave him the idea for the lyrics (who also co-wrote three of the album songs). The track is a riff-heavy, doom-laden anthem that hearkens back to the "Sabbath" days while maintaining a modern edge. Osbourne’s voice, and harmonica (who immediately reminded us of "The Wizard" from "Black Sabbath"), still retain the haunting quality that made him a metal icon. Another highlight and collaboration with Tony Iommi is "No Escape from Now". This track perfectly captures the dark, atmospheric intensity that made "Black Sabbath" legendary. Iommi's iconic, heavy guitar riffing is at the forefront, setting a brooding tone as the song slowly builds into an ominous, doom-laden journey. Osbourne’s vocals are drenched in eerie melancholy, as he sings about inescapable fate, despair, and being trapped in one’s own mind. The mid-song shift into a powerful, almost cathartic riff, showcases both Osbourne and Iommi in top form, making this one of the album’s most epic and Sabbath-esque tracks. The production, helmed by Andrew Watt (who also co-produced "Ordinary Man" and plays guitars, bass, keyboards, drums and sings backing vocals on the album), is polished and balanced, giving each instrument space to breathe while keeping Osbourne's vocals front and center. Watt’s modern touch adds a slick sheen to the album without diluting its raw, heavy essence. Overall, "Patient Number 9" is an impressive work. The (black) "Swan Song" that showcased Osbourne's ability to evolve while staying true to his roots. It was a celebration of his storied career, with a nod to the past but an eye on the future, and that's why it's so painful that this became the last work he released in his lifetime. Fans of classic Ozzy will find plenty to love, while new listeners will appreciate the diverse collaborations. Osbourne was reflecting on his own mortality on this album, but with "Patient Number 9", he showed that his musical legacy will last forever. For Listening: Spotify, Apple Music "Face/Off" - Israel's Rock Blog Follow us on Facebook / Instagram or Subscribe to our website

On September 9, 1971, "Imagine", John Lennon's second studio album, was released. This is not just another randomly selected date for the album release. The number "9" has a very big meaning for John Lennon, it can be said that it is even his lucky number so he chose 9.9 as the release date of the album. To illustrate how significant and repetitive the number "9" in John's life is, we note that he was born on October 9, his son Sean was born that day, the first house he lived in was at 9 Newcastle Street, the Beatles' first appearance at The Cavern club was held on February 9, 1961, and the day Brian Epstein discovered them was on November 9, 1961. Even a few songs he wrote included the number "9", such as: "Revolution 9", "One After 909", "Dream # 9" And there are more and more examples. On one hand, this album is a direct continuation of the roughness of the debut album "John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band", which was released a year earlier. Quite a few songs, especially on the second side of the vinyl, bring up the bitterness, anger, and criticism that dominated the previous album. On the other hand, this album features some more optimistic songs that feature the soft and serene Lennon. Unlike the previous album, in which Lennon chose a handful of musicians who accompanied him on recordings, including Ringo Starr and Klaus Voormann, the range of artists featured on this album, as well as the range of instruments they play is particularly wider, including George Harrison, Nicky Hopkins, Klaus Foreman, Alan White, Ted Turner, Mike Pinder and more. However, similar to the previous album "Imagine" was produced by John Yoko and Phil Spector. The album opens with the utopian manifesto and theme song "Imagine". It is Lennon's greatest song, and also the most successful single of his entire career, which over the years has become an international anthem for brotherhood and peace, depicting a utopian world without borders, without religion, without property, and without wars. The list of crowns and titles awarded to the song is very long and among them, third place in the list of the 500 greatest songs of all time by "Rolling Stone" magazine, second place in the "Guinness Book of Records" survey, being part of the prestigious list of "Hall of Fame" list of "500 songs that shaped rock and roll" and more. The foundations for the song were first laid during the sessions for the Beatles' "Let It Be" album but Lennon completed his writing only in 1971 on the Steinway piano which was located in his and Yoko Ono's bedroom at their estate in Ascot, England. Lennon was influenced in writing the song by Several poems from Yoko Ono's book "Grapefruit" from 1963, which includes several sentences beginning with the word "Imagine". Years later Lennon will admit he was a bit selfish when he did not give Yoko Ono the credit she deserves for her influence and concept, but this was corrected in 2017 when Yoko's name was added to the credits list. The second track "Crippled Inside" is a "cheerful" country track featuring George Harrison playing slide and guitarist Ted Turner from "Wishbone Ash" on acoustic guitar. In an interview with Ted from December 2012, Ted noted that his band was just during the recording of the album "Pilgrimage" when he received a phone call inviting him to be a guest on John Lennon's album. Ted immediately agreed, but bandmate guitarist Andy Powell who received a similar call, refused. Ted said he was put in a Rolls-Royce car sitting beside keyboardist Nicky Hopkins. When he arrived at the studio he saw George Harrison and Ringo Starr who did not play on the album. It was the last song recorded and right after that Ted got to hear the whole album for the first time in the studio. The third song "Jealous Guy" is one of Lennon's most beautiful. He began writing the song in 1968, during his stay with the other members of the Beatles in Rishikesh, India. The song, originally called "Child of Nature", was performed during the sessions for the band's "White Album", but was eventually abandoned and rewritten for the current album. Yoko said during an interview with her that it was a spiritual not sexual jealousy. The fact that she knows another language (Japanese) and John can not share her thoughts in a language he does not understand, made him write this song. It is interesting to note that Yoko helped John write the lyrics, but this time too she did not receive credit for it, because of the public's negative attitude towards her. Joey Molland and Tom Evans from the band "Badfinger" play acoustic guitar here. The track "It's So Hard" is a classic blues piece released as a b-side for the theme song "Imagine". Lennon describes in the song the difficulties in life, which all have one solution - "love". The song features saxophonist King Curtis whom Lennon admired, in his latest recording. Curtis was murdered just one month before the album was released in America. The first side of the vinyl ends with "I Don't Want to Be a Soldier Mama" which brings us to the protest of John Lennon. A monotonous and mesmerizing blues-rock piece that features George Harrison's slide work. The song was recorded during the same sessions as the previous song "It's So Hard" so here too the saxophonist King Curtis is hosted. During those February 1971 sessions, the song "Power to the People" was also recorded and released as a single. Another interesting artist featured here is Mike Pinder from the band Moody Blues. The song won an interesting cover version of the supergroup "Mad Season", which appears among other things on their live album Live at The Moore. The second side of the vinyl opens with another protest song - "Gimme Some Truth", which similar to the song "Jealous Guy" was also written during Lennon's and the Beatle's stay in Rishikesh, India in 1968. What influenced Lennon to write the song is, among others, "The Mỹ Lai massacre" In the Vietnam War and the cover-up attempts by the U.S. government, led by President Richard Nixon. Lennon explicitly refers to Nixon as 'trick-dicky,' a nickname for Nixon that became popular during the Watergate affair. (Photo: Johnlennon.com) Immediately after that comes one of Lennon's beautiful and melting songs "Oh My Love". The first demo for the song was released in 1968, after the sessions for the Beatles' White Album. The lyrics were written by Yoko Ono, who this time received credit for writing together with Lennon, after a miscarriage in the sixth month of her pregnancy. Also in this song, George Harrison participates in playing the electric guitar. We get to one of the powerful songs from the album "How Do You Sleep?", In which Lennon spares no words against his Beatles bandmate Paul McCartney. Contrary to McCartney's hidden messages against Lennon on the cover of the album "Ram", Lennon goes head-on for the attack and does not spare the arrows of criticism against McCartney, in words like: "The only thing you done was yesterday And since you've gone you're just another day How do you sleep? How do you sleep at night?" It is interesting to note that the person who helped Lennon write the lyrics to the song was Lennon's director Allen Klein, who at the time did one hand with the other three "Beatles" members in a lawsuit against Paul McCartney. Also in terms of music, the opening of the song with the instrument tuning was meant to be a sting aimed at McCartney who opened the "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" album similarly. The stings towards McCartney also emerge from the album cover, which includes a picture of Lennon holding a pig's ears, in response to a picture of McCartney on the album "Ram". Lennon receives reinforcement from his Beatles friend George Harrison, who is simply amazing here at playing slide. We're nearing the end with "How?" A magical and beautiful song that contrasts with the previous song and presents the insecure side of John Lennon with words like: "How can I go forward when I do not know which way I'm facing?". Lennon's touching lyrics and his fragile singing ride perfectly over the orchestral arrangements and minimalist drumming of Alan White who is really reminiscent of Ringo Starr in his playing. The album ends with an optimistic and happy country-style tone with "Oh Yoko!". Lennon began writing the song in 1968 during his visit to Rishikesh, India. This love song's melody was influenced by the song "Lost John" by Lonnie Donegan and John Lennon plays here. for the first and last time in his solo career, a harmonica. The person who sings background vocals here is producer Phil Spector. Interestingly, the EMI company wanted to release the song as a single, but Lennon refused. For Listening: Spotify, Apple Music "Face/Off" - Israel's Rock Blog Follow us on Facebook / Instagram or Subscribe to our website

On September 9, 1992, the MTV Music Awards ceremony took place. Source: Uproxx Why is this an event important enough to address? Stay with us and find out. Let’s start with the fact that this was the Music Awards ceremony for one of the craziest years in Rock, as it sums up the year from June 16, 1991, to June 15, 1992. Just think how many masterpieces albums have come out in this time frame: Pearl Jam’s "Ten", Nirvana's "Nevermind", "Blood Sex Sugar Magik" by "Red Hot Chili Peppers", "The Black Album" by "Metallica", "Achtung Baby" by "U2", "Use Your Illusion I & II" by "Guns N 'Roses", should we continue ??? Let's keep in mind that the big winners of this evening were "Van Halen" who won three awards, including the most prestigious award of "song of the year" with "Right Now", which defeated the video clips for the songs "Smells Like Teen Spirit" and "Under the Bridge". "The Red Hot Chili Peppers" also stood out with 6 different nominations of which they won three awards. But that's not what we came to tell you about this very sensational evening. The stars of this evening were Kurt Cobain and "Nirvana" on the one hand Vs. Axl Rose and "Guns" on the other. In between those two giants, there was Elton John who got into a silly conflict involuntarily and unknowingly and eventually paid the "price ". So as with any good story, it all started with a quarrel that originated with a "Girl." The singer, actress, and the walking provocation, who happens to be the wife of ... Courtney Love, walked behind the scenes of the music awards ceremony when she met Axl Rose and offers him to be the godfather of her newborn (just a few weeks old) - Frances Bean Cobain. The mad Axl Rose threatened Cobain that if he did not immediately silence his wife then... and within seconds a loud exchange of insults began between him and Cobain and between Courtney Love and Axl Rose's girlfriend at the time - Stephanie Seymour. The bassists from both sides of the barricade, Duff McKagan and Krist Novoselic, immediately joined the "celebration" and even exchanged blows between them, up until "Nirvana" had to take the stage. "Nirvana" and "Guns" were the bands that were scheduled to perform on stage this evening. Kurt Cobain really wanted to play the song "Rape Me" but the MTV management was very unhappy with his choice. Even bassist Krist Novoselic did not understand why Kurt insisted on this song and thought the band should play a song from "Nevermind". Eventually, the band played "Lithium" but Kurt who did not remain obligated started the song with a few chords from "Rape Me" while also singing the pair of "Forbidden" words, which of course infuriated the network. See here the amazing performance at the end of which "Nirvana" just took the stage by storm, quite literally: The quarrel continued even after "Nirvana"'s performance when drummer Dave Grohl also continued to tease Axl. At one point Kurt Cobain passed by the grand piano where he thought Axl was going to play the song "November Rain" and spat on it from the best fluids in his mouth and nose. The one who paid the price was Elton John, as Kurt Cobain did not know that the piano on which he spat was the piano that Elton John was supposed to play on during the duet with "Guns", while Axl Rose played on another piano. See here: Either way, it was one of MTV's best ceremonies, to sum up, one of the best years in music, with more shows by Bryan Adams, "Def Leppard", "Red Hot Chili Peppers", "Pearl Jam", Eric Clapton, "U2" that appeared via satellite broadcast and more. "Face/Off" - Israel's Rock Blog Follow us on Facebook / Instagram or Subscribe to our website

Written By: Moti Kupfer Release date - 09.09.1977 Imagine Jim Morrison, Mick Jagger, James Brown and David Bowie merging into the body of a single artist. What an incredible performance we would get. Well, we did get it, and he did not even know he was all of those things. I am talking, of course, about Iggy Pop. Iggy Pop was the nickname given to him by members of his early band, "The Iguanas". After his friend Jimmy Popp lost all of his hair, including his eyebrows, Iggy responded by shaving off his own eyebrows, and the rest is history. The name Iggy Pop stayed with him for good. The lust for life is a basic instinct in every human being. Even when life puts difficulties in our way, we find a way to overcome them. The will to live is stronger than anything. That will to live was the basic force that drove the creation of Iggy Pop's second album, "Lust for Life", released on 09.09.1977. Iggy Pop was born in 1947 in Ann Arbor, Michigan, to a father who taught English and a Jewish mother who worked as a secretary. Early in his career, Iggy was a drummer. Only after realizing that his place was at the front of the stage did he form "The Stooges" with his school friend Ron Asheton, Ron's brother Scott Asheton and bassist Dave Alexander. Pop, who had been a shy kid in his youth, turned out to be a wild stage animal. "They have a good rhythm and a strange singer who blends sensuality and violence onstage," said the "Elektra" representative who recommended signing them. Pop, who as mentioned was shy in everyday life, moved across the stage with feline energy while constantly interacting with the crowd. He did not shy away from bizarre gestures either, such as rolling around in broken glass and smearing his body with peanut butter. And, of course, Stage Diving, that leap into the audience that Pop was the first artist daring enough to perform. Pop took the inspiration for his uninhibited stage behavior from Jim Morrison, lead singer of "The Doors", whom he saw perform in 1967 while he was a student at the University of Michigan. At the end of the day, "The Stooges" became a band that, in hindsight, served as a magnet and a guiding light for groups such as "Television", "Nirvana", "The Smiths", "Sex Pistols", "Siouxsie and the Banshees" and others. "The Stooges", like "The Velvet Underground", became highly influential in hindsight, but struggled to sell albums, perhaps because they chose to play a lot of punk in its various forms. Iggy, who struggled with drug addiction over the years, was left penniless, until his good friend David Bowie, who was addicted himself, decided to try to save "The Stooges" from financial collapse, much as he had done a year earlier with "Mott the Hoople", who benefited from the huge hit "All the Young Dudes", which Bowie wrote for them. Bowie produced "The Stooges"' third album "Raw Power" (1973), which also failed commercially. The band broke up afterward. Bowie and Iggy Pop, both addicted to drugs, went on a European tour and afterward drifted as far as Germany in an effort to get clean. Both wanted to live and understood that they could not go on that way. While staying in the house where they were recovering from addiction, the idea of recording an album began to take shape. The album was created in a studio located not far from their home, close to the Berlin Wall, which had not yet fallen, at Hansa Studios, known for their distinctive acoustics and sound, and a place many artists flocked to in order to record their albums. The album was recorded quickly, partly because Iggy Pop wanted to receive more credit and feel that he had contributed more to an album released under his own name, after feeling that he had contributed too little of himself to his first album "The Idiot", created with David Bowie half a year earlier. The album includes songs about addiction and the desire to break free from it. "Lust for Life" deals exactly with that place. The addictive rhythm at the beginning of the song actually came from the Morse-code-like sound of the opening theme of the television channel Iggy Pop and David Bowie watched while going through recovery. At the time, "Lust for Life" made less of an impact, and only about twenty years later, when it was featured on the soundtrack of the film "Trainspotting", did it receive the recognition it deserved. The song best remembered from the album at the time is "The Passenger", inspired by the way Jim Morrison saw modern life as one long journey inside a car. Over the years, the song received many cover versions, including recordings by "Siouxsie and the Banshees" and Michael Hutchence. Iggy Pop and David Bowie took the album's title from Irving Stone's novel about the life of Dutch painter Vincent van Gogh. The album cover, photographed by Andy Kent, captures Iggy Pop in a distilled "nice guy next door" moment. It is a cover that reflects the positive change in Iggy Pop once he began the process of getting clean from drugs. For Listening: Spotify, Apple Music "Face/Off" - Israel's Rock Blog Follow us on Facebook / Instagram or Subscribe to our website

"Incubus'" second album consisting of the acronym "S.C.I.E.N.C.E." released on September 9, 1997, so let's tell you a few things about it: 1. This is the first album out of a 7 albums contract that the band signed with Sony after the release of their first album. 2. The initials of the album name represent a joke of the band members and not a real meaning: Sailing Catamarans Is Every Nautical Captain's Ecstasy 3. This is the first and only album on which DJ Lyfe participated and besides being a DJ he is also a famous graffiti artist. 4. This is one of the most diverse albums of the band that was then at the beginning of their journey and was looking for the musical direction, it includes sections of heavy metal, electro, jazz, hip-hop, and more... 5. After the release of the album they joined "Korn's" well-known tour called "Family Values" and the "Ozzfest" which gave them a huge boost towards meteoric success. 6. This album was a big part of the band's setlist performing for 15 years. 7. This is the band's first album to receive a gold album from the RIAA. 8. From the album came three singles, the first and most famous is "A Certain Shade of Green", the second "Redefine (Promo)" and the third "New Skin" 9. In 1998 the album sold 100,000 copies without any support or exposure from radio and television. 10. The band members have given themselves nicknames and do not appear in their real names on the album: Cornelius (Brandon Boyd), Jawa (Mike Einziger), Dirk Lance (Alex Katunich), DJ Lyfe (Gavin Koppel), Badmammajamma (José Pasillas) If you want to get into some cool and interesting Kebab mix, click to listen to the album on: Spotify, Apple Music "Face/Off" - Israel's Rock Blog Follow us on Facebook / Instagram or Subscribe to our website

On September 9, 1991, "Dire Straits" released "On Every Street", their sixth and final studio album. Six years had passed since "Brothers in Arms" transformed "Dire Straits" from a successful rock band into one of the biggest acts in the world. It was the kind of album that changes the scale of everything around it: tens of millions of copies sold, stadiums, videos burned into the MTV era, and tours that turned the band into a global machine. So when the time came to return to the studio, the benchmark was almost impossible to match. How do you follow a peak like that without sounding as though you are trying to recreate it? Mark Knopfler's answer was to step away. In the years after "Brothers in Arms", he continued writing film music, played with other artists, and formed "The Notting Hillbillies", a project that took him back to the country, blues, and folk music he had loved long before he became a stadium star. By the time he returned to "Dire Straits", he was coming from a different musical place. Less need to impress, more desire simply to play. "On Every Street" was recorded between November 1990 and May 1991 at AIR Studios in London. The core lineup featured Mark Knopfler on guitar and vocals, John Illsley on bass, and Alan Clark and Guy Fletcher on keyboards, surrounded by an impressive cast of studio musicians. Phil Palmer added guitars, Paul Franklin brought the pedal steel that gives much of the album its distinctly American shade, Chris White added saxophone and flute, Danny Cummings played percussion, while Jeff Porcaro and Manu Katché shared drum duties. George Martin even entered the picture with the string arrangements. Produced by Mark Knopfler and the band, the album is highly polished, but it never feels as though it is trying to build another giant stadium record. This time the atmosphere is closer to a group of musicians in a room searching for the right song. "Calling Elvis" opens the album at the point where the old and the new meet. The groove is big enough to carry a stadium, but the guitars already have the dust of the road, country, and rockabilly all over them. The lyrics use Elvis Presley as a way to tell the story of someone who cannot reach the person he is looking for, playing with titles and images associated with the King of Rock and Roll. Mark Knopfler's solo is another reminder that even when his music becomes more restrained, it only takes a few seconds of playing to know exactly who is holding the guitar. The video, built around Thunderbirds-style puppets, also became one of the most memorable visuals from the band's later years. Then comes "On Every Street", the title track and the album's true emotional center. It opens with almost complete restraint: a weary voice, piano, a guitar that seems to paint more than play, and a story about searching for a figure who has disappeared into streets, clues, and memories. Slowly the song expands, the pedal steel and keyboards widen the picture, and the second half turns into an instrumental journey in which Mark Knopfler never seems in a hurry to arrive anywhere. This is not drama in the vein of "Making Movies", but the melancholy of someone who already knows that some stories do not offer a resolution, only a path you keep walking through. "When It Comes To You" continues the rootsy direction with sharp guitars and a rhythm that sounds as if it walked out of a small club somewhere in the American South. "Fade To Black" moves deeper into the blues, with a smoky, late-night atmosphere where the spaces between the notes matter almost as much as the notes themselves. Then comes "You and Your Friend", one of those tracks that keeps opening up with repeated listens: slow, sensual, and slightly threatening, with pedal steel hovering around Mark Knopfler's guitar and showing just how clearly this album already points toward the solo career that would follow. "The Bug" is the moment when the album smiles. Vince Gill joins on guitar and backing vocals, and the band slips into a lively rockabilly groove built around a simple and clever idea about life: sometimes you are the windshield, and sometimes you are the bug. Beneath the lightness sits one of the album's recurring themes, the realization that we control far less of what happens to us than we like to believe. "Heavy Fuel" is the other side of that coin. It is the biggest, dirtiest boogie on the album, a track that sounds as though it was written to shake stadiums, while its lyrics turn consumption, money, alcohol, cigarettes, food, and other bad habits into a caricature. The production here is harder and more immediate, and not coincidentally it is the only track on the album mixed by Bob Clearmountain rather than Neil Dorfsman. There is a distant echo of "Money for Nothing", but instead of laughing at the pop industry, Mark Knopfler turns his attention toward a culture that lives as though the bill will never come due. "Iron Hand" pulls the album back toward almost completely exposed folk. Inspired by the violent clashes surrounding the British miners' strike in the 1980s, the contrast between the quiet melody and the harsh images in the lyrics makes it one of the sharpest songs on the record. "Ticket To Heaven" takes the opposite route, using a richer arrangement, including strings, to mock preachers and religious opportunists who sell salvation for money. "My Parties" continues the satirical thread in a lighter way, following a host desperate to impress everyone with his toys, status, and abundance while the world around him feels increasingly unstable. Near the end comes one of the album's most beautiful and underrated tracks, "Planet of New Orleans". For almost eight minutes, guitar, keyboards, and percussion are allowed to develop at their own pace without rushing toward the chorus. Manu Katché gives the song a soft, flexible movement, while Mark Knopfler's guitar drifts between blues, country, and jazz as if wandering through the city after midnight. It is exactly the kind of track that explains why "On Every Street" rewards patience. Its peaks are not always found in the singles, and sometimes they are hidden in moments when almost nothing seems to be happening. "How Long" closes the album without a grand statement or any ceremonial sense of farewell. At the time, no one presented "On Every Street" as the final "Dire Straits" studio album, which makes its simple ending feel almost touching today. No door slams shut. A band finishes a song, puts down its instruments, and only in hindsight do we realize that this was the end of its studio chapter. Commercially, the album held up remarkably well under both the pressure and the expectations. "On Every Street" went straight to No. 1 in the UK, reached No. 12 in the US, and was certified platinum there. The band then launched the massive 1991-92 world tour, playing 216 shows across Europe, North America, and Australia and selling around 7.1 million tickets. The tour was later documented on the live album "On the Night", but behind the impressive numbers it also reinforced Mark Knopfler's feeling that the stadium world was no longer where he wanted to remain. By the middle of the 1990s, it was clear that "Dire Straits" had reached the end of the road. "On Every Street" is not a perfect album. It is long, sometimes distant, and there are moments when restraint comes close to detachment. Anyone looking for another "Brothers in Arms" received a very different record. But that is also why it has aged in such an interesting way. Rather than chasing the success of its predecessor, "Dire Straits" ended its career looking backward toward blues, country, and folk, while at the same time pointing forward toward the world in which Mark Knopfler would continue as a solo artist. There are fewer immediate hits here, but more hidden corners, more space, and a stronger sense of musicians choosing the right sound over the biggest moment. In hindsight, this may be the most fitting album for a farewell that did not yet know it was a farewell. "On Every Street" does not close the story of "Dire Straits" with fireworks. It does it with streetlights, the sound of pedal steel, a guitar speaking quietly, and the feeling that the journey has simply reached the point where another road must be taken. For Listening: Spotify, Apple Music "Face/Off" - Israel's Rock Blog Follow us on Facebook / Instagram or Subscribe to our website