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This month’s contributors

BILL DeMAIN Journalist-musician Bill opens our cover story

Burke Shelley

April 10, 1950 – January 10, 2022

RIP

Thank you… and good night

Michael Nesmith

December 30, 1942 – December 10, 2021

Michael Lang

December 11, 1944 – January 8, 2022

Bobby Harrison

June 22, 1939 – January 7, 2022

Robin Le Mesurier

March 22, 1953 – December 22, 2021

Mensi

July 4, 1956 – December 10, 2021

Janice Long

April 5, 1955 – December 25, 2021

Alex Lifeson’s New Project

Ex-Rush guitarist announces new band, album and single

Priest Now One Guitarist Live

Andy Sneap “incredibly disappointed” to be sidelined

NEWS

In the Queen’s New Year’s Honours list, Elton

Dan Reed Network

The band return with a new album that Reed says is “a little more fun than our last couple of records”

Naked Gypsy Queens

Tennessee’s next great blues band, who follow some good advice from from Alice Cooper

THE OUTSIDERS

C.Q. Polydor, Netherlands 1968. £500+

NEWS

The Royal Mail has announced a set of

Helen Love

Twenty years and 10 albums in, approved by John Peel and Joey Ramone, maybe it’s time you gave them a little love

MY FIRST LOVE

Montrose MONTROSE

NEWS

Frank Zappa’s 1971 run of shows at the

Spoon

Almost 20 years into their career, the band return with album number 10 and a playlist that helped inspire it

Splinter

Fancy some punk-spirited rock’n’roll with a side of fancy footwork? Go Dutch with these guys

Q&A Beth Hart

The heart-on-sleeve singer-songwriter on her new album of Led Zep covers, and how lockdown helped with mental health issues

UNDER THE COVERS

Songwriters And Bands On The Best Covers , Being Covered, & The Art Of The Cover Version

AIN’T NO LOVE IN THE HEART OF THE CITY

WHITESNAKE 1978

DEAR PRUDENCE SIOUXSIE AND THE BANSHEES 1983

“Too damn catchy,” according to Siouxsie, but their take on the Beatles’ tune was a turning point

THE GREEN MANALISHI (WITH THE TWO PRONG CROWN)

JUDAS PRIEST 1978

THE GHOST OF TOM JOAD

RAGE AGAINST THE MACHINE 1997

ALONE

HEART 1987

100% PROOF

Thin Lizzy were on the road to nowhere when they decided to record a dusty old folk tune titled Whiskey In The Jar, intended as a B-side. Result: a 70s classic

HALLELUJAH

JEFF BUCKLEY 1994

BLINDED BY THE LIGHT

MANFRED MANN’S EARTH BAND 1976

STOP YOUR SOBBING

THE PRETENDERS 1979

JETT POWERED

Topping charts around the world, Joan Jett & The Blackhearts’ I Love Rock ’N’ Roll was a huge rock single of the 80s, with its basic but instantly recognisable monster riff. But you’d be forgiven for not knowing it was a cover version

THE HOLY GRAIL

On March 10, 1968 at Winterland in San Francisco, Cream covered a Robert Johnson song. Today it is seen as one of the most magnificent four minutes of live rock ever recorded

ROCKIN’ ALL OVER THE WORLD

STATUS QUO 1977

LITTLE WING

STEVIE RAY VAUGHAN & DOUBLE TROUBLE 1991

WALK THIS WAY

RUN-DMC 1986

Breaking The Law

A song written in the late 1950s, I Fought The Law took on a new and decidedly grittier life when The Clash put their stamp on it in 1979. Songwriter Sonny Curtis tells all

GOD GAVE ROCK AND ROLL TO YOU II

KISS 1991

GLORIA

PATTI SMITH

MAMA TOLD ME NOT TO COME

THREE DOG NIGHT 1970

LED ZEPPELIN vs MEMPHIS MINNIE

Whose version of When The Levee Breaks is better?

SINCE YOU BEEN GONE

RAINBOW 1979

HANGING ON THE TELEPHONE

BLONDIE 1978

BL ACK BETTY

RAM JAM 1977

CASH CONVERTERS

Johnny Cash doing a version of industrialists Nine Inch Nails’ Hurt was nothing if not unlikely. But then the iconic Man In Black was no stranger to recording unlikely cover versions

THE SONGS THEY ARE A-CHANGIN

Thousands have bitten off Bob Dylan‘s catalogue, but only a few covers of his songs have become immortal. From The Byrds to Guns N’ Roses, via Jimi Hendrix’s unimpeachable All Along The Watchtower, we look at the covers where the students eclipsed the master

AM I EVIL?

​METALLICA 1984

ELOISE

THE DAMNED 1986

10 WORST ROCK COVERS

Great songs as you probably never want to hear them ever again. We’re very sorry

FULLY QUALIFIED SURVIVOR

With his substance-abuse years well behind him, and more acclaim and successes ahead, Eric Gales is shaping up to be the next superstar modern-blues man for the 21st century

American IDOL

As his all-conquering single American Pie passes its halfcentury, Don McLean recalls a childhood dogged by illness, getting a foot in the folk scene, the struggle to get signed, and keeping the folk flame burning in the wake of 2020’s civil unrest

HEROES,JUST FOR ONE DAY

For one night only in 1997, David Bowie and personally invited stars celebrated his 50th birthday with a show at Madison Square Garden. Here’s how the stardust was sprinkled…

ON THIS MONTH’S DIGITAL ALBUM…UNDER THE COVERS

Okay, so we couldn’t mention all the great rock covers in this issue. To give you a few more recent gems, however, we’ve joined with the fine folks at Mascot Records for this eclectic, exclusive compilation

Slash Ft. Myles Kennedy And The Conspirators

4 GIBSON RECORDS/BMG

ROUND-UP: SLEAZE

Sonny Vincent: resolutely badass. Sonny Vincent Snake Pit

Scorpions

Rock Believer UNIVERSAL

ROUND-UP: MELODIC ROCK

Kissin’ Dynamite: accomplished songs that will make

Eddie Vedder

Earthling SEATTLE SURF/REPUBLIC

Magnum

The Monster Roars STEAMHAMMER/SPV

Hawkwind

Dust Of Time: An Anthology 1969-2021 / Sonic Attack 40th Anniversary ESOTERIC

Theatre Of Hate

Omens: Studio Work (1980-2020) CHERRY RED

Various

Eddie Piller Presents British Mod Sounds Of The 1960s EDSEL

Van Der Graaf Generator

Reissues CHARISMA/UMC

Manic Street Preachers: Album By Album

Edited by Marc Burrows PEN & SWORD

Kevin ‘Caveman’ Shirley

The in-demand, classic rock-loving South African is arguably the 21st century’s leading producer for the best music

Wilko Johnson & John Otway

They might play different musical styles, but, as Johnson says: “We go all-out to entertain.”

The Zombies

The reunited makers of Odessey & Oracle are back on the road

The Sheepdogs

With the Canadian retro-rockers set to tour the UK, we catch up with frontman Ewan Currie

A Bowie Celebration 2022

A well-meaning cast celebrate the late star’s legacy, with mixed results

The Soundtrack Of My Life

Guitar hero Steve Vai on the records, artists and gigs that are of lasting significance to him