Charles Snider's blog

Incredible interview with Hansford Rowe on Innerviews, talking Gong, Pierre Moerlen, Allan Holdsworth, Mike Oldfield and the hotly anticipated new Gong Expresso album! Thanks to Anil Prasad.

From NPR, Bob Boilen talks with Giles Martin about the new 50th anniversary mix of The Beatles' Sgt Peppers album. A great podcast, and some very revealing a-b-c comparisons between the original mono mix, original stereo mix and the new stereo mix. Nowhere mentioned however is the 5.1 mix, which I personally am eagerly awaiting!

From Nick Mason, of Pink Floyd: "With a heavy heart our Pink Floyd family say farewell to dear Clive Brooks, drummer for Egg and later drum technician extraordinaire, who sadly passed away." Clive was also the drummer of Uriel, a member of Steve Hillage's touring band, and a member of The Groundhogs during their Hogwash-Solid era. RIP, my condolences to your loved ones.

Love this one, from Robert Fripp and Andy Summers 1982 album. Wonder which director called for the scantily clad Asian girls?!

The book is available directly from my on-demand publisher CreateSpace.com via Amazon.com. It is also distributed via Amazon in Canada, UK and throughout Europe. Book stores may order the book via traditional channels (like Ingram) or CreateSpace Direct using its ISBN: 978-0578189024. For bulk orders, or for signed copies, please use the contact form at the bottom of the page.

Guitarist Allan Holdsworth passed away on April 16th, 2017, the news from a post by one of his daughters on Facebook. Uniquely talented, I would steer anyone to Gong's Gazeuse! album for a prime example of his guitar technique. When I was a teenager, I went to my local record shop (Spec's Music) and asked if they had Holdsworth's Velvet Darkness album, or if they could order it for me. The manager said to me, "He's pretty good guitarist, how do you know about him?" I replied that I had a Soft Machine and Gong album that he played on.

Esoteric Recordings are set to reissue the entire Patto catalog, with a load of bonus material; SPOILER ALERT:

[Bad link: Invalid Node ID "3167"] has passed away after a lengthy battle with cancer. I had the honor of interviewing him via phone last summer, an interview that will feature prominently in the next edition of the book. Here's the portrait that Plastic Crimewave drew for it and an excerpt from my interview:

John spent the next few years in King Crimson as part of the monster rhythm section with Bill Bruford.

Jean-Michel Jarre's Electronica World Tour is coming to the US. See you in Chicago!

5/9/2017 Toronto, ON Canada Sony Center for the Performing Arts
5/11/2017 Montreal, QC Canada Bell Centre
5/16/2017 Boston, MA Blue Hills Bank Pavilion
5/18/2017 Upper Darby, PA Tower Theatre
5/20/2017 New York, NY Radio City Music Hall
5/22/2017 Chicago, IL Auditorium Theatre
5/24/2017 Broomfield, CO 1st Bank Center
5/26/2017 Berkeley, CA The Greek Theatre
5/27/2017 Los Angeles, CA Microsoft Theater

From Can's Facebook page: "It is with great sadness we have to announce that Jaki passed away this morning from sudden pneumonia. He fell asleep peacefully, surrounded by his loved ones. We will miss him hugely."