Ray Manzarek, one of the founding members of The Doors, whose keyboard and organ sounds were as much of a signature sound for the band as was lead singer Jim Morrison’s attitudinal and poetic lead singing, has died at the age of 74 in Rosenheim, Germany after a lengthy battle with bile duct cancer reports Rolling Stone.

The Doors were and remain one of the premier American rock and roll bands to come out of California in the 1960s. Like The Beach Boys, the band is pretty much synonymous with the California lifestyle, but very unlike the Beach Boys, they were like the solarized version of them, expressing musically about darkness, early gothic nightmarish tales of love, political awareness, death and doomy styles that were punctuated by music which was deep rooted in the blues and something else actually, something indescribable at the time. A sound that was all their own, which was created by Morrison’s shamanic lizard king posturing, the jazzy yet tight bottom ended drumming of John Densmore, the buried in the delta swampy fretwork of Robby Krieger, and the horrorshow carnivalesque feel from the hands of Ray Manzarek who flawlessly played his instrument (and sometimes even played the bass parts on the organ as well). [...]

Happy 68th Birthday today to one of the greats of rock and roll, British and otherwise, a true genius and original in his craft, who not only showed the world what he could do with an electric guitar, but what could also be done with the rock song itself in the way it could be elevated to operatic mythos and all its glories, the man, the leader of The Who, guitarist Pete Townshend.

It’s kind of incredible when you think about the work of Pete Townshend and the overall underrated kind of perception he and The Who have when it comes to one quickly rattling off the names of the great bands and musicians during the arguable golden age of electric rock and roll, the mid 1960s to the mid 1970s. For sure, there are a handful of Who songs that remain blended in with the all-time classics on compilations and classic rock radio and the like, but when you really take into account a band and a man who put so much craft, energy, scope, influence, and sweat and grit into the amount of work that made their bands what they are, Pete Townshend becomes a figurehead who towers high above the rest [...]

Stevie Nicks: In Your Dreams
Directed by Stevie Nicks & Dave Stewart
Starring Stevie Nicks, Dave Stewart, Glen Ballard, Lindsey Buckingham, Mick Fleetwood, Ann Marie Calhoun
Virgil Films
Release date: May 14, 2013 (VOD)

Stevie Nicks, the singer/songwriter who has thrilled and delighted legions of fans for over 40 years now by way of her stint in Fleetwood Mac and her also successful solo career, now has a documentary on the process of making her album, entitled Stevie Nicks: In Your Dreams, available now for instant digital download on iTunes and through On Demand.

The Grammy-winning and legendary artist, responsible for so many chart successes and radio hits with Fleetwood Mac like “Rhiannon,” “Go Your Own Way,” “Gypsy,” “Landslide,” and songs like “Stop Dragging My Heart Around” as a solo act, still tours and is still regarded as one of the top-shelf musicians of that genre of all time. Her fan base still boils over today with a passion and fervor for her, she gives off the kind of heat and adoration which many of her audience (especially women), still absorb. She’s kind of a hero, muse, and inspiration all at once to them, in her style, her slapdash, post-hippie, post-Janis Joplin kind of fashion sense, and her art [...]

The Redwoods Bar and Grill in downtown Los Angeles hosted a bevy of great bands last Saturday night, capped by the magnetic, eclectic performance of the man with the van with the bass in his hand, Mike Watt, who did a set with his Missingmen, and which absolutely blew the roof off the place with its sheer and raw energy.

Downtown LA, mind you, is rather desolate, even during the peak hours of a Saturday night. Unlike New York City, which pulses to its own beat and snakelike charm 24/7, downtown Los Angeles is a still, solemn, quiet area at night, the atmosphere swirling around the eerie silence of the surrounding skyscrapers, which look dark and dormant. If you don’t have a car, and are caught walking its streets at night, there’s almost a sense of paranoia and emptiness abounding, as the more salacious nightcrawlers seem to be the denizens of the timeframes [...]

“Gotta get up, I’ve gotta get going…” “Life is like a hurricane…” “Sometimes, some crimes…”

These are some of the lyrics of Disney’s most popular animated television show theme songs. In the late ’80s and early ’90s, Walt Disney Television produced a crop of programming based on its most beloved cartoon characters, as well as those revolving around new faces. These clever and entertaining series possessed toe-tapping tunes that most anyone who grew up during the ’80s or ’90s knows by heart.

Here are some top-notch renditions by YouTube users – and one famous chart-topper – that pay homage to the Disney TV theme songs of yesteryear. [...]

It wasn’t too long ago when the prospect of another Superman movie, particularly one directed by Zack Snyder, was looked upon with snark and derision by those of us still desperately trying to scrub the foul memories of Superman Returns from our minds. Casting reports, costume designs, modest plot details, nothing could really deter the hardcore devoted from dreading the worst. Then the trailers started rolling out, and thus apathy began to mutate into anticipation.

One of the big questions surrounding Man of Steel was if composer Hans Zimmer‘s music score could measure up to the iconic themes created for the 1978 classic superhero adventure Superman: The Movie by the legendary John Williams. The latest trailer gave us a taste of Zimmer’s composition and needless to say many of whom saw that trailer were suitably impressed with the original music, a soaring piece of orchestral bliss that is rich with emotion and thundering action motifs.

Today we have for your listening pleasure a sampling of the Man of Steel score. The preview track was originally made available on Soundcloud but seems now to have been withdrawn. Fortunately a very kind soul has made a video of the music set to that recent trailer. You can watch that video here below. [...]

If aliens came to earth and wanted to know what true heavy metal is, you could do a lot worse than to introduce them to Iced Earth, the Tampa, Florida band of sheer brute force whose near thirty year history has given us ten studio albums. But they’re not done yet.

Overseen from the beginning and at all times by ever-present guitarist and founder Jon Schaffer, Iced Earth’s is a story of a man with a one-track metal mind. Fronted during their history by ex-Judas Priest pipesman Tim ‘Ripper’ Owens and long-serving lead singer Matt Barlow, Iced Earth embarked on another new chapter in 2011 by hiring Canadian Stu Block and releasing album number ten, Dystopia.

If those aliens enjoyed Dystopia, which of course they would, what with it being yet another storming heavy metal charge, they may also like to get their hands/tentacles on Iced Earth’s newest live album. Live In Ancient Kourion was recorded and filmed at the beautiful, historic Kourion amphitheatre in Cyprus and boasts close to three hours of Schaffer and his band cranking out their hits to some crazy Cypriots.

Schaffer, as he says, is a man who moves forward all the time, which is why the future of Iced Earth is bright. Now is the time to hear from the leader…

Geeks of Doom: How are you?

Jon Schaffer: Good, man, just busy writing, working, doing a lot of press for the DVD. I’m in the writing process for the next Iced Earth album, so it’s always a time of a lot of pressure and a lot of work but it’s good, very happy with what’s coming out so far [...]

Classic Albums: Black Sabbath – Paranoid
Netflix | Amazon | Google Play | YouTube
DVD | Blu-ray
Directed by Matthew Longfellow
Starring Tony Iommi, Ozzy Osbourne, Geezer Butler, Bill Ward, Henry Rollins, Jim Simpson, Tony Allom, Deena Weinstein
Eagle Rock Entertainment
Originally Released: June 30, 2010

With drummer Bill Ward’s birthday today, May 5, and with all the news surrounding the upcoming Black Sabbath album, 13, (despite Ward not being involved), I thought it would be timely to delve back into the past for this week’s streaming review. This week, we take a look at the band’s classic album called Paranoid, a ground-breaking release that established them as an international phenomenal, and put Black Sabbath’s name down on the history books as the first heavy metal band.

The significance of Paranoid, in union with the other first four releases by Black Sabbath, is unparalleled. Combining musical influences of rock and roll, blues, jazz, swing, and classical; and swarming it among darker occultist lyrical topics, the band laid down a basis that would not only establish their own careers, but also form the basis for all metal bands that would follow as well as all of the subgenres to break off from metal. Black Sabbath’s contributions to the early development of metal are incomparable to all who would follow [...]

Jeff Hanneman, original guitarist and songwriter for the band Slayer, died today of liver failure in a southern California hospital, according to a posting on Slayer’s official Facebook page. He was 49 years old.

Born in 1964, Hanneman helped found the popular thrash metal band Slayer in 1981 along with fellow guitarist Kerry King. The band has been putting out albums consistently since its 1983 debut, Show No Mercy, and Hanneman has played rhythm and lead guitar on each of them, including their most recent effort, 2009′s World Painted Blood.

Hanneman had been on medical leave from Slayer since early 2011 after he contracted necrotizing fasciitis, a rare, quick-spreading flesh-eating disease. His bandmates had been optimistic during his recovery and rehabilitation and were hopeful that their he would eventually rejoin them for a new album and tour [...]

During a Berlin press conference for Star Trek Into Darkness, director J.J. Abrams was asked about Michael Giacchino’s score for the movie, as well as who might be scoring his next movie, Star Wars Episode VII.

While it’s very early in the process still, Abrams did say that he believed that the man you’d most expect to be scoring the movie, John Williams, would be the man that does score the movie.

Continue below to see a video of the press conference. [...]

Amidst all the hype about the fact that Iggy and the Stooges have gotten together recently, pretty much as a live unit born from the death of original lead guitarist Ron Asheton, and containing the musical unearthing of guitarist James Williamson, another influential game player who helped carve certain niches in the pre and post punk sounds and circles, finally comes the album Ready to Die.

The album, whose members have a median age around 60-66, is the first with the Raw Power lineup for the most part since that jolting sonic aneurysm of a release was released 40 years ago this year. Now think about that for a second. A 40-year gap between musical sounds done by the same artists. Reunions of that type in 1973 when Raw Power first hit record bins would have been of the Glenn Miller, Cab Calloway and Sidney Bechet variety. In 1933, Frank Sinatra wasn’t even on the charts yet. The point of that is, that music of that ilk around in 1973, 40 years after their inceptions, were as antiquated as they come, as out of place as a man in a three piece suit in a steambath. That kind of music wasn’t dated, it was double, even triple dated, and mainly reserved for a small contingent of fans who grew up with those sounds who still harked for those “good ol’ days” which were in full manifest by physical flesh and blood actualities of those artists they grew up with. [...]

Greatest Hits Volume 2, a fine offering of musical selections from the midpoint of the illustrious 1970′s career of Elton John, is now available on MP3 format from Amazon this month for only $5.00.

By 1977, Elton John could do no wrong as a pop superstar. Coming off of a string of number one and top ten successes via albums and singles, he was in full titanic form in every way: smashing successes on his tours, albums which flew off the shelves, making statements to the press which he toyed with his sexuality to the delight of the young post-glam fans who themselves had already gleaned heroes of pseudo-androgyny by way of David Bowie and Lou Reed, and it created an appeal that was worldwide and stretched many fan bases. By the release of this second collection of his greatest hits, it arguably was the closing point of the first dazzling chapter of the man’s unbridled, highly conquered string of successes, as evidenced by original songs (penned by John and long-time collaborator Bernie Taupin) like “Tiny Dancer,” “The Bitch is Back,” the ode to tennis star Billie Jean King with “Philadelphia Freedom,” “Island Girl,” the majestic and emotionally charged tracks “Levon” and “Someone Saved My Life Tonight” and covers of The Who’s “Pinball Wizard” and The Beatles’ “Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds,” which even sports John Lennon on rhythm guitar and background vocals. Essential stuff that not only puts one right back into the 1970s zeitgeist, but into Elton John’s as well.

Browse over 100 albums on sale this month for only $5 each! [...]

You would be hard pressed to find a musician who has had a more expansive and eclectic career than the illustrious Mike Watt, who started during the last waves of the original punk scene in California during the late 1970s and gained his original prominence as the bassist in the post-punk trio The Minutemen, which became one of the more well known bands of that genre and helping SST records (along with Black Flag, Sonic Youth, and the Meat Puppets among others) become a major player in the DIY music scene that was crystallizing itself as the 1980s rolled on. With lead singer/guitarist D. Boon and drummer George Hurley, The Minutemen spanned genres within the post-punk genre, adding dashes of funk, jazz, classic swamp rock like Creedence Clearwater Revival and the hardest edged swords of punk proper and released scores of albums and EP’s which have become highly influential and spawned many other bands which followed in their wake.

D. Boon died tragically in December 1985 and it marked the end of an era for The Minutemen. The rhythm section of Watt and Hurley thundered on however, and a new band, Firehose, with Ed “From Ohio” Crawford” was born, which also had their own cult niche as they released three sonically challenging records as the 1980s winded down. Since then, Mike Watt has been on scores of projects, many of his own solo bands and bands with like-minded musicians and also on big league ensembles such as Porno For Pyros and his new gig, which has been doing for almost ten years now, being the bass player in the Detroit Rock City powerhouse The Stooges.

I had the golden opportunity to conduct a lengthy interview with the man via video Skype, in which he waxed incredible about all the aforementioned topics and projects, and plenty of others, including his propensity for analog and digital when it comes to recording, some of his favorite bands and genres, life as an “econo” musician (a term he coined and which in essence, the man refreshingly still is) and of course, the upcoming Stooges album, Ready to Die [...]

Evanescence, the self-titled album from the band, is now available on MP3 format from Amazon this month for only $5.00, as part of their monthly 100 MP3 Albums For $5 Each promotion.

The album, which was released in October 2011 and is the third studio release from Evanescence, contains 12 songs, and the MP3 version comes with the digital booklet. If you’d like a physical copy of Evanescence, there’s also a CD version is available for $9.99 which comes with a FREE MP3 download of the entire album. Also, right now, if you purchase the CD, you’ll also get a $1 Amazon MP3 Credit (see the “Special Offers and Product Promotions” section of the product page).

Browse the main sale page to see all 100 albums on sale for only $5 each in MP3 format through the end of April 2013, as well as several albums on sale for only $2.99 each [...]

Happy Birthday today to The Spaceman, the irrepressible Ace Frehley, whose lead guitar work in the original version of the rock and roll quartet KISS elevated that band to one of the all-time great groups of that genre.

While the co-frontmen — Gene Simmons, with his blood-spurting, bass-playing rock shock antics, and Paul Stanley, all-around good guy with the sly wink — were pretty much always (and continuing to this day) at the forefront, it was the guitar sounds of the Space Ace and his attitude as well, which seemed to come from the Johnny Thunders/Ron Asheton/Wayne Kramer down and dirty rock variety that gave KISS arguably its musical cock walk strut on record, on stage, and in print. Frehley was the dark horse of the group who usually had musical photo finishes; he was the iron glue and in a lot of ways the one who experienced the most identity crisis, almost like the George Harrison in the theatrical greasepaint, the makeup which concealed the band’s identity during their heyday in the 1970s, but never concealed the band’s workman-like musical ethic [...]