Rarebird's Rock and Roll Nest

Peter Frampton, the British singer/guitarist whose 1976 live album Frampton Comes Alive has sold over 17 million copies, has revealed that he now suffers from a degenerative muscle disease called Inclusion-Body Myositis. Frampton has told Rolling Stone as well as CBS News that he feels he will not be able to play guitar well for much longer, so he has announced a farewell tour, and explained that his upcoming double album was created at a feverish pace because he felt a need to create as much material as possible before he further loses his musical abilities. Frampton said, "I've been playing guitar for 60 years. Started when I was eight and now I'm 68. So, I've had a very good run". Frampton's public "run" began during his teenage years. After his brief stint as a guitarist for a British beat band called the Preachers, who recorded one 1965 single ("Hole In My Soul" b/w "Too Old In The Head") produced by Bill Wyman, Frampton...

The Winkies were a British pub rock band from the '70's who are best remembered for their brief stint as Brian Eno's backing band during Eno's first and only solo tour in 1974, which was cut short after six dates and one session for the John Peel radio show when Eno was hospitalized with a collapsed lung. The Winkies also recorded one self-titled album in 1975 before calling it quits. The Winkies consisted of Canadian-born singer/songwriter Philip Rambow (who was later a solo artist), guitarist Guy Humphries, bassist Brian Turrington, and drummer Mike Desmarais. Their album, released only in the U.K. and Brazil at the time, was produced by Guy Stevens. The album is currently available in the U.K. and Japan in CD and digital formats, but is not commercially available in most countries. Although the Winkies were technically a part of the early-‘70’s glam rock scene, their music was more reflective of that era’s British pub rock scene. Despite a fairly convincing Bowi...

Have you heard of Singles Awareness Day , or Singles Appreciation Day? It's celebrated by romantically unattached people the day after Valentine's Day -- sometimes even on Valentine's Day, as a protest against the holiday by people who feel left out. Well, this February I am celebrating a different kind of Singles Appreciation Day, in appreciation of 7-inch vinyl singles! This February marks the 70-year anniversary of the pressing of the very first 45 rpm record. This disc, titled "Whirl Away", was reportedly pressed in February of 1949 for use in record store displays for the purpose of introducing the new format. The 7-inch, 45 rpm format was designed as a more convenient replacement for the heavier and wider shellac 78 rpm records which preceded them. Here is a YouTube video providing us with this February 1949 demonstration record in all of its scratched-up glory (the B-side was blank): The Eddy Arnold song that we hear a snippet from on this disc was t...