Rarebird's Rock and Roll Nest

In recent years, filmmaker Jonathan Demme directed a trilogy of Neil Young concert documentaries. The first film in this trilogy, titled Neil Young: Heart Of Gold (2006), and the third film, Neil Young Journeys (2011), are both currently available on DVD. However, the second film in the trilogy, Neil Young Trunk Show (2009), is curiously absent from the home video market. The film played in theatres for one-week runs in select cities in March 2010, and was set for a DVD and Blu-ray release later that year. However, for reasons that are unclear, Trunk Show has still not been released in any home video format to this day. Trunk Show was filmed at the Tower Theater in Upper Darby, PA in 2007, during the Chrome Dreams II tour. In the film, Young performs three songs from that album (“Spirit Road”, “No Hidden Path”, “The Believer”), and other songs spanning his entire career, some well-known (“Cinnamon Girl”, “Like A Hurricane”) and others obscure. Three of the songs have never b...

Andy Fraser, the former bass player for Free, passed away in California earlier this week at the age of 62. As of this writing, the cause of death has not been officially determined, although Fraser was known to have struggled with AIDS and HIV-related cancer. Fraser was a mere lad of 15 when he became a founding member of Free in 1968. He was still in his teens when he co-authored the British blues-rock band's international chart-topper "All Right Now" in 1970, reportedly conceiving the classic rock anthem in no more than ten minutes. After Fraser departed from Free in 1972, he formed a band called Sharks, and played piano and bass on their 1973 debut album First Water . Fraser’s bandmates in Sharks were British journeyman guitarist Chris Spedding, Canadian session drummer Marty Simon (formerly of Life and later of April Wine), and a singer named Snips (aka Steve Parsons, who later joined the Baker Gurvitz Army). First Water was not a commercial success, but it di...

Years before forming the power pop band Smash Palace , brothers Stephen and Brian Butler were members of a new wave band called Quincy. Stephen played guitar, while Brian shared lead vocal duties with bassist Gerald Emerick. Their other two bandmates were drummer Bob Holden and a keyboardist called Metro (aka Wally Smith). This band was originally formed in Haddon Heights, NJ in 1976, and recorded only one long-lost album for Columbia Records in 1980. The self-titled Quincy album is steeped in the new wave stylings of its day, inviting comparisons to Elvis Costello, Joe Jackson, and the Cars. But its twelve tracks are rooted in power pop, with delectable melodies and hooks that make them timeless. Although a Lennon and McCartney influence is most noticeable on “Grow Up” and “Dime Store Lies”, the Beatles influence can actually be detected beneath the sleek surfaces of nearly all of the tracks. There isn’t a dull song in the dozen. Despite the production (by Tim Friese-Greene, later ...