MARK REALE

I wanted to write some words for Mark, who left so unexpectedly, at least for the majority of fans who were not aware of his lifelong struggle with his health problems. There were only few people like Mark. People who have the gift to create great music, who keep going on inspite of never gaining the recognition deserved and most of all people who don't act like rock stars despite the countless years spent on the road playing music in front of thousands. Mark, if you had the chance to watch him play live, was a musician who enjoyed his music to the maximum and transferred this emotion to his fans.



Have you ever tried to count how many metal anthems Mark wrote? I'll only remind you of a few, because otherwise this page couldn't possibly load!

Outlaw:


You burn in me:


Fight or fall:


Storming the gates of hell:


Should I run:


What's sad to me, is the fact that Mark left just at the time when he could enjoy some well earned praise and recognition with the reunited line up of Riot's ''Thundersteel'' era. Unfortunately he had no more strength left in him to participate in one of the most highly expected albums of the last years, and he passed away just a short time after its release. I'd like to see him one more time playing his music for his fans who loved him so much. If I believed in God I would ask him to rest Mark's weary soul. He will never be forgotten while some ''stars'' will fade into oblivion.

Don Airey- All out (2011)

Don Airey has a bio longer than a train and he has played with half of the people whose name means something in rock music. For almost ten years he has been playing with Deep Purple succeeding the legendary Jon Lord. In between Purple's commitments and various sessions and guest apperances he managed to come up with a smoking solo album that's hands down way better than anything Purple have done for about 20 years. Carl Sentance of Persian Risk and Krokus fame helps out with the vocals and what a great rock singer he still is! ''All out'' is a feast of hammond-driven hard rock. If you like loud 70's hard rock with progressive attitude and keyboard extravaganzas, then look no further. This is a feast of notes! Joe Bonamassa lends a helping hand on People in your head, one of the best hard rock songs you'll get to hear this year. Other highlights include Running from the shadows (70's melodic rock ala Boston), Right arm overture (7 minutes instrumental madness) and Long Road (a beautiful guitar based instrumental full of passionate playing). You rarely get such joyful albums by veterans long over their 60's. Despite age Don managed to set things right in the retro rock scene, setting the bar high for all those newcomers trying to follow the steps of 60's-70's rock giants.

Cool Feet- Burning desire (1976)

Extremely obscure album (it’s supposed to fetch many hundreds of dollars) by a bunch of German and British guys who were based in Luxemburg. Obviously influenced by early Scorpions, Cool Feet can be proud for managing to recreate part of the Germans’ magic, leaving behind some really good songs. You can easily detect the Scorpions influence even on the sexist album cover and furthermore ‘’Burning desire’’ was recorded at the Dieter Dirks studios in Cologne, Germany. Especially ‘’Fly to the rainbow’’ must have been one of their favorite albums at the time, The man from Marakesh sounds a lot like They need a million and Alone in your cage draws inspiration from symphonic anthems like Fly to the rainbow or Fly people fly. Despite the similarities one cannot underestimate the talent of Cool Feet, nor the great songs they contributed to rock history.

JAMES BYRD- Jane

Just felt like posting a great instrumental track by James Byrd. It can be found on the 1998 album ''Crimes of virtuosity'', which you should at one point add to your collection if you like good hard rock/metal, great guitars and great vocals courtesy of the terrific Kendall Torrey.



Check Torrey's vocals here:

THE CRYSTAL CARAVAN- Against the rising tide (2010)

2010 was a great year for retro rock and I totally got into this style. If you like 60's-70's rock give these new bands a chance, some off them are really good in what they do, and honest as well. The song post below is so amazing I couldn't believe it was released just last year. If this band comes to tonw get your ass down there! and buy the cd, we want them to release a lot more and it won't happen if we don't support them!