Wednesday 1 February 2012

Postings From Planet Rock [henceforth PFPR]

Chickenfoot - Different Devil, Chickenfoot III

I'm still enjoying the assembly-line of rock classics played on Planet Rock throughout my marking day, though the musical sushi display is beginning to repeat its specials a little too often. But that's another story.

What I am enjoying is aurally witnessing the current creation of a new AOR classic in the Chickenfoot power-ballad Different Devil. It's a great song of its genre - acoustic intro into solo rock vocal, then thumping drums and bass, rising to the crescendo of harmony vocal and the song's simple but effective hook - yet that treadmill repeat may make it wear thin for this listener if I stick with the playlist suchi bar for too much longer.

However, I do enjoy imagining in years to come this being played with all those layers of likeable listening nostalgia that come from a radio programme having championed such a song at its AOR inception.


re. photo of band: good to see Antony Worral Thompson, second from right, making music rather than making off shiftily from Tesco.....

4 comments:

  1. Don't let Jeff hear you say that! That's Michael Anthony from the classic Van Halen lineup!

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  2. What, is he a fan of AWT then? Nothing derogatory in what I said about Chickenfoot: AOR isn't a critisicm for me; I listen to and like all the time and, as I said, 'DD' is an AOR classic in the making. I think if you claimed it was any more significant than that, you're jumping out of the wishful thinking plane without a parachute....

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  3. On reflection, did you mean he'd consider Anthony a turncoat? Really not sure. Anyway Chickenfoot ain't chicken shit and the new Van Halen is sounding OK too.

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    1. Neither of those! Jeff, as a fully paid up member of the bassist's union, as well as formerly playing in a Van Halen tribute band AS Mike Anthony, is having none of the new Van Halen album, simply because Anthony has been ostracised from the band and essentially airbrushed from their history. To compare him in appearance to the gnome-like Worrall-Thompson (double hyphen alert!) might be too much for both Gowen and Anthony.

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