Concert Review: Jukebox Heroes From Outer Space

Jeff Lynne's E.L.O. and the Attacca Quartet rock Radio City Music Hall.

by Paul J. Pelkonen

Jeff Lynne (center, to the drummer's right) and E.L.O. perform "Telephone Line"
last night at Radio City Music Hall. Photo by the author.

Forty years ago, Electric Light Orchestra were one of the biggest bands on the planet. The group, brainchild of singer-songwriter Jeff Lynne conquered the world with brilliant pop songs and a sound that mixed the British psychedelic-baroque pop of The Beatles with actual orchestral instruments: violin and cellos that chugged along with the band onstage. In the '80s, they ditched the strings for synths, calling it a day in the middle of the "me" decade. This led to Mr. Lynne taking a 25-year break from the rigors of concert touring. In the late '80s and '90s, he applied his producer's touch to projects by Tom Petty, Roy Orbison and George Harrison, ultimately founding the five-piece supergroup The Traveling Wilburys with Bob Dylan.

Evgeny Nikitin takes on...KISS?

Tattooed opera singer blasts American rockers in Der Spiegel.
by Paul J. Pelkonen

Bassist Gene Simmons (left) of American rockers Kiss,
 and bass-baritone Evgeny Nikitin. Yes, this is PhotoShop by the author.
(Actually, it was done in OS X Preview, we're on a budget here.)

In the latest (and hopefully the last) round of the Summer Scandal that Refuses to Die, Russian bass-baritone Evgeny Nikitin has launched an attack against American rock band Kiss.

The singer, who lost his job earlier this summer singing the role of the Dutchman in the Bayreuth Festival's new production of Wagner's Die Fliegende Höllander left Bayreuth after questions emerged about a controversial tattoo on his chest that, in an earlier iteration, depicted a swastika.

The American rock band came up when Mr. Nikitin, who is scheduled to appear at the Metropolitan Opera next February as Klingsor in the company's new production of Wagner's Parsifal defended his actions and his skin decorations in an interview with German newspaper Der Spiegel.

Superconductor Interview: From Genesis to Orchestration

He knows what he likes: Tony Banks.
Photo alteration by Captured Epoch. Source: Deviant Art.

Keyboard man Tony Banks now writes classical music.
by Paul Pelkonen
Over the 45-year career of the band Genesis, members of the British progressive rock group have crossed over into other endeavors with great success. Former singer Peter Gabriel is a rock icon, who does much to popularize world music. Phil Collins plays big-band jazz and, (like Mr. Gabriel) enjoyed a chart-topping solo career. Recently, keyboardist Tony Banks, a life-long (and founding) member of the group, has successfully launched his career as a composer of classical music.

"In Genesis, in the early days we played with form a lot more," he says in a telephone interview with Superconductor. "In the later years we were writing more conventionally in terms of how the songs were structured."

Mr. Banks has a new CD out. Six Pieces for Orchestra is his second venture into the classical stratosphere, a collection of orchestral instrumentals and "songs without words."  He adds, "I wanted to throw all structure out the window."