BEEHIVE CANDY

OK lets get the all important 'Queen Of Soul' reference stated, and out of the way! From the mid 1970's Aretha Franklin's musical career was struggling, not surprisingly as her personal life was troubled by family tragedy and a big problem with tax debt issues. In 1980, Aretha Franklin's career was given a much-needed boost thanks to a cameo appearance on The Blues Brothers, singing 'Think' as Mrs. Matt Murphy. That same year, Clive Davis signed Aretha, to his Arista Records. 'United Together' and 'Love All The Hurt Away', a duet with George Benson, returned her to the Top 10 on the Billboard R&B charts. Her 1982 release, 'Jump To It', produced by longtime admirer Luther Vandross, gave the singer her first R&B chart-topper and pop success since '(Giving Him) Something He Can Feel'. The Jump To It album enjoyed a long run at Number One on Billboard's R&B Albums chart. Aretha was back on form, as th...

Carlos Santana is sixty years young this year, yep once again another one of those now familiar milestones for music fans. Was it really 35 years ago that I bought Caravanserai , an album of timeless qualities, which I think pretty much sums up so much of the music of Santana. This concert was recorded in 1976. Lets get the period in context. Carlos Santana along with Tom Coster, producer David Rubinson, and drummer Ndugu Leon Chancler had formed yet another version of Santana, adding vocalist Greg Walker. The album "Amigos" was released in 1976 which featured the songs "Dance, Sister, Dance" and "Let It Shine" and had a strong funk and Latin sound. The album also received considerable airplay on FM (USA) album oriented rock stations with the instrumental "Europa (Earths Cry Heavens Smile)" and re-introduced Santana back into the charts. Rolling Stone magazine ran a second cover story on Santana entitled; "Santana Comes Home"...

Guess which one went on to a solo career and acting? Hmmm.... OK so Fish was a bit of an extrovert, that said Marillion have done very well since he left, way back when. This is interesting, the band on tour prior to 'Misplaced Childhood' being released, and the very successful hit single 'Kayleigh'. They played some of the 'forthcoming material', which for Marillion fans, is fascinating to hear. The comments from Fish, introducing the 'new material', also demonstrates that the final album structure was not quite as planned. Also the lyrics on 'Kayleigh' are different from the final album/single version. This was recorded at the Hammersmith Odeon on December 14th 1984. The original source was stereo soundboard, and considering that the likely path was vinyl, then CD, and finally digital, the sound quality remains excellent. Setlist is: 01. Garden Party 02. Cinderella Search 03. Jigsaw 04. Chelsea Monday 05. Pseudo Silk Kimono / Kayleigh 06. Bitt...

Welcome to Bootleg Originals number one , an occasional look back to some of the defining moments in rock bootleg history. Bootlegs have been around for a long time, way before rock'n'roll, however this series will focus on the rock/pop era. 1969 tends to have tacit agreement, as the year rock bootlegs began to surface for sale, particularly in the USA. Bob Dylan is often regarded as an early 'target'. Other obvious candidates were The Beatles, and The Rolling Stones. It was made easier when the Rolling Stones undertook a 17 date US tour, in November 1969, culminating at the notorious Altamont concert on December 6th. The third date (two shows) on November 9th 1969, at The Oakland Coliseum in California, has been widely circulated as a boot. It was the US 1969 tour, and the subsequent bootlegs, that lead to the official release of the 1970 Rolling Stones album 'Get Your Ya Ya's Out!' (predominately recorded from the Madison Square Garden concerts element ...