In a throwback to 1990, Iron Maiden’s Bruce Dickinson delivered an unexpected public service announcement during a concert, urging the audience to wear their seatbelts. Known for his dynamic stage presence, Dickinson took a brief moment to emphasize safety, reminding fans that even rock stars prioritize staying safe on the road.
Drive home safe. Remember to strap yourselves in with your safety belts. You don’t want to end up like Eddie. Belt up, don’t be a dummy.
Today, WAR announces two new box sets, each capturing SoCal’s legendary street band at the height of their most dynamic era. Arriving for Black Friday on November 29th, The Vinyl 1977-1994 and The CD Collection 1977-1994 both feature five definitive albums that further show why WAR has been hailed as “a sophisticated pop machine, slicker than Sly and the Family Stone and more down to earth than Funkadelic” (Pitchfork). With newly remastered audio by award-winning engineer Bernie Grundman, Platinum Funk (1977), Galaxy (1977), The Music Band (1979), Outlaw (1982) and Peace Sign (1994) all come together in one beautiful package, right as WAR prepares to celebrate its 55th Anniversary next year – and receive its official star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, among numerous other milestones.
Purchase WAR’s limited-edition The Vinyl 1977-1994, available exclusively via Record Store Day Black Friday. Pre-order The CD Collection 1977-1994, available worldwide via Rhino on November 29th.
The Vinyl: 1977-1994 is the first time since their original pressings that these five albums are being released on vinyl, and each LP has been pressed in a rainbow of spinning colors – Platinum Funk in silver, Galaxy in yellow, The Music Band in red, Outlaw in purple, Peace Sign in orange, nestled in a boss slipcase illustrated by Grammy-winning artist Dave Van Patten. WAR’s The Vinyl: 1977-1994 and The CD Collection 1977-1994 are the next installments in a series of special edition releases. Building on the band’s previous five-LP, decade-spanning compilation, The Vinyl: 1971-1975, this next compendium arrives on the heels of 2023’s The World Is a Ghetto: 50th Anniversary Collector’s Edition. Named one of the year’s best box sets by The New York Times and Variety, with rave reviews by Pitchfork, AP, Paste and SPIN, a Goldmine cover story and more, the project honored the #1 Billboard top-selling album of 1973, and cemented WAR’s legacy as “one of the most seminal bands in music.” (Billboard).
All of the records included in the 1977-1994 collection continue to highlight WAR’s career-long perfection of universal street music, delivered by way of the band’s innovative arrangements and seamless blend of diverse styles, as well as their master musicianship, and the sheer quantity, quality, depth and breadth of grooves, melodies and messages. Produced by Jerry Goldstein, in associated with Lonnie Jordan, Howard Scott and Jeremy Levine for Avenue Records/Far Out Productions, The Vinyl 1977-1994 and The CD Collection 1977-1994 share the same tracklist of songs, and while each album is wildly different, they all contain WAR’s signature sound and soul.
Spanning 18 years, the new set begins with the rare Platinum Funk release from 1977. Originally a half-new, half-compilation double album issued under the title Platinum Jazz, it became the first Platinum album in the history of Blue Note Records, and includes #1 R&B single “L.A. Sunshine,” as well as the title song from the film The River Niger, starring James Earl Jones and Cicely Tyson. Now included in The Vinyl: 1977-1994 and The CD Collection 1977-1994 is the UK-only reissue of Platinum Funk from the Island Records label, which was never before available in the US except as an import. This special version features just the original material from Platinum Jazz – six cuts of mainly instrumental jazz-based flavors, unlike any of the other music WAR was known for up until that time, once again demonstrating to the world just how broad and deep their musical chops really were.
Having sold over 50 million records worldwide, WAR has amassed more than 20 platinum, multi-platinum, and gold records, including Galaxy and The Music Band, which led to the unforgettable music video for “Good, Good Feelin’,” choreographed and directed by the iconic Lester Wilson. 1982’s Outlaw follows The Music Band – led by classic tracks like “Cinco De Mayo,” “You Got The Power” and the titular “Outlaw,” before WAR reassembled most of its surviving members for 1993’s Peace Sign, carrying on WAR’s mission of love, harmony and brotherhood, with a guest appearance from José Feliciano on “East L.A.,” and a touching dedication to late bandmates Papa Dee Allen and Charles Miller.
WAR is currently performing across California and beyond this fall, as part of The World Is a Ghetto 50th Anniversary Tour. Upcoming dates include The Greek Theatre, and more on-sale now at war.com/tour.
In the Summer of 1965, Ray Manzarek had a chance encounter on Venice Beach with Jim Morrison, a young poet whom he knew when they were both students at UCLA’s film school. Jim told Ray he had been living on a friend’s rooftop writing songs. Though Morrison had never intended to be a singer, he sat down on the beach and sang the new songs to Ray, including “Moonlight Drive.” Manzarek thought they were the best rock and roll lyrics he ever heard. At that moment, they both agreed to start a rock band and call it The Doors, taking their name from Aldous Huxley’s psychotropic monograph The Doors of Perception and William Blake’s The Marriage of Heaven and Hell. Guitar player Robby Krieger and drummer John Densmore, who’d played together in the Psychedelic Rangers, were recruited soon thereafter. After months of rehearsals, they landed a gig as the house band at a small Sunset Strip club called the London Fog. By May 1966, they had graduated to their dream gig – house band at the Whisky a Go Go. Soon after, Elektra Records president Jac Holzman and producer Paul A. Rothchild saw the band performing at the Whisky and signed The Doors to the label. Over the course of a week, The Doors recorded their debut album at Sunset Sound Recording Studios in Hollywood, putting on tape the songs they had been playing night after night at the Whisky. With an intoxicating, boundary-pushing sound, provocative and uncompromising lyrics, and mesmerizing stage presence, The Doors would go on to have a transformative impact on both music and culture.
Beginning next month, The Doors will kick off the 2025 60th Anniversary with a new anniversary logo, a series of physical releases, an extraordinary anthology book, and much more to come.
The Doors 1967-1971 6-LP set will arrive as the latest installment in Rhino’s acclaimed High Fidelity audiophile vinyl series on November 22nd, featuring all six of the band’s original studio albums cut from the original analog master tapes by Kevin Gray at Cohearant Audio. The vinyl was pressed at Optimal Media and the box includes a heavyweight gatefold jacket featuring rare photos and liner notes by Doors archivist David Dutkowski. Only 3,000 copies of the limited-edition set will be available exclusively at thedoors.com and rhino.com.
Additionally, for Record Store Day’s Black Friday on November 29th, The Doors will release The Doors – Live in Detroit, featuring the band’s performance from the Cobo Arena in Detroit, Michigan on May 8, 1970. This 4-LP set will be available on vinyl for the first time.
Captured on tape during the band’s 1970 US tour, it was one of the band’s longest performances. In fact, the band played for an hour past curfew and were then banned from the Cobo Arena on future tours. The fiery set includes a number of Blues covers, including “Back Door Man,” Junior Parker’s “Mystery Train,” and “Crossroads” by Robert Johnson. The Doors also tear through a 17-minute-plus version of “The End,” as well as an over 19-minute version of “Light My Fire” and other rare tracks such as “Love Hides.” This collection captures the band at their absolute zenith.
The Doors’ eponymous debut album – which the BBC and Rolling Stone have each hailed as one of the greatest debuts of all time – released in January 1967 and features the chart-topping smash-hit “Light My Fire,” the bluesy, growling “Back Door Man” and seminal live-set showstopper “The End,” with its legendary Oedipal spoken word section.
Having cemented their place in the rock pantheon and the psychedelic rock revolution, The Doors returned to the studio resulting in the anticipated follow-up, Strange Days, which went to number three on the US Billboard 200 and featured “Love Me Two Times” and “People Are Strange.”
In 1968, the band released Waiting for the Sun, their first number one album featuring the chart-topping single “Hello, I Love You,” along with “Love Street” and “Five to One.”
The Doors then dove further into uncharted psychedelic territory with 1969’s string and horn-laden album The Soft Parade, which included the Krieger-penned hit “Touch Me.”
1970’s Morrison Hotel, which boasts fan favorites “Roadhouse Blues” and “Peace Frog,” took the band back to its bluesy roots. 1971’s L.A.Woman, the band’s final album with Morrison and recorded in the band’s rehearsal space, features “Riders on the Storm,” “Love Her Madly” and the title track.
During their brief time together, The Doors delivered six studio albums before Morrison’s untimely death in Paris in 1971. Their electrifying achievements in the studio and onstage remain unmatched in the annals of rock, and today they remain as one of the best-selling bands of all time with over 100 million records sold worldwide.
In 1993 the band was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Several years later, the songs “Light My Fire” and “Riders on the Storm” along with The Doors’ debut album were inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame. The Library of Congress also recognized the band, selecting their self-titled album for inclusion in the National Recording Registry in 2014. The Doors also received a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award and a Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2007.
Created to commemorate the upcoming 60th anniversary, The Doors’ first-ever complete anthology book Night Divides the Day will illuminate the band’s archives like never before with rare photography, intimate interviews with Robby Krieger and John Densmore, and meticulously sourced archival text from Jim Morrison and Ray Manzarek. With unlimited access granted by the band, Night Divides the Day includes a unique collection of historical ephemera – including childhood photos, song lyrics, poster artwork, movie stills, and much more – which adds context to the wealth of rare photography that documents the band’s musical odyssey.
Joining Robby and John are a host of contributors, with a foreword by Nirvana bassist Krist Novoselic, and afterword by maestro Gustavo Dudamel. The anthology is presented in a limited-edition of only 2,000 numbered box sets, each hand-signed by Densmore and Krieger. Each set includes the 344-page signed edition, a 7” vinyl record with rare demos of “Hello, I Love You” and “Moonlight Drive,” and other assorted historical memorabilia. Available for pre-order now and shipping early 2025.
Stay tuned for more news coming soon from The Doors and Rhino this year, and as the 60th Anniversary kicks off in the new year.
As the Eagles’ acclaimed Sphere residency continues in Las Vegas, Nevada, Rhino will be reissuing two of Don Henley’s solo albums this fall—his first, I Can’t Stand Still (1982), and his most recent, Cass County (2015).
Both albums will be released on November 22, with pre-orders available now at Amazon.ca. I Can’t Stand Still has been remastered from the original analog tapes and will be available on CD, 180-gram vinyl LP, and digitally. Cass County will be available as a deluxe, 16-track version on CD and as a double 180-gram vinyl set. Pre-Order HERE.
With the Eagles on hiatus, Henley released his first solo album in 1982, the gold-certified I Can’t Stand Still. The record included the smash hit “Dirty Laundry,” a sharp critique of the media that launched his solo career and established his voice as a singer-songwriter. Listen to remastered version of “Dirty Laundry” HERE.
More than 30 years later, in 2015, Henley returned to his country roots with Cass County. Named after the Texas county where he grew up, the album features collaborations with legends like Vince Gill, Merle Haggard, Mick Jagger, Alison Krauss, Martina McBride, Dolly Parton, and Trisha Yearwood, among others. Cass County debuted at #1 on the Billboard Top Country Albums chart, earning praise for its authenticity and heartfelt songwriting.
Best known as co-founder of the legendary rock band, the Eagles, as well as an influential solo artist, Don Henley has maintained an extraordinary commitment to music and various philanthropic efforts throughout his career, including a dedication to environmental issues and artists’ rights.
Raised in a small East Texas town, Henley was drawn to the sounds of exotic music broadcast from distant radio stations in New Orleans, Nashville, and Ciudad Acuna, Mexico. These stations introduced him to the blues, bluegrass, gospel, jazz, and rock and roll, paving the way for his future as an artist.
As a solo artist and member of the Eagles, Don Henley has received countless accolades, numerous gold and platinum records, and performed sold-out concert tours worldwide. A highly-respected musical artist, Henley launched his solo career in 1982 with his debut album, I Can’t Stand Still. 1984’s Building The Perfect Beast followed, with four hit singles including “The Boys Of Summer, which earned Henley a Best Rock Vocal GRAMMY Award. The artist’s track record continued unabated with 1989’s The End Of The Innocence, which yielded three more hits, including the title track, and brought Henley another Best Rock Vocal GRAMMY Award. Henley is a founding member, drummer, vocalist, and songwriter of the Eagles. The group was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 1998 and continues to perform sold-out concerts all over the world.
Formed in 1971, the Eagles pioneered a uniquely American musical style, blending elements of country, folk, R&B, rock, and pop. Since then, it has become one of the most creatively and commercially successful bands of all time. Despite today’s fractured rock ’n’ roll landscape, the Eagles retain a timeless appeal that transcends both generations and genres, solidifying the band’s status as a musical icon.
The Eagles have sold more than 150 million albums worldwide, scoring six #1 albums and five chart-topping singles. They have earned six GRAMMY Awards, were inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 1998, and received the Kennedy Center Honors in 2016. Their Greatest Hits 1971-1975 stands as the best-selling album in history (certified 38-times platinum), while Hotel California ranks as the third best-selling U.S. album in history (certified 26-times platinum). Check Eagles.com for full band and tour information, including the band’s current residency at Sphere in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Due to a manufacturing delay, the previously announced reissue of Building The Perfect Beast has been rescheduled for November 15.
I CAN’T STAND STILL
LP Track Listing
Side One
“I Can’t Stand Still”
“You Better Hang Up”
“Long Way Home”
“Nobody’s Business”
“Talking To The Moon”
Side Two
“Dirty Laundry”
“Johnny Can’t Read”
“Them And Us”
“La Eile”
“Lilah”
“The Unclouded Day”
CASS COUNTY
2-LP Track Listing
LP One
Side One
“Bramble Rose” (featuring Mick Jagger and Miranda Lambert)
“The Cost Of Living” (featuring Merle Haggard)
“No, Thank You” (featuring Vince Gill)
“Waiting Tables” (featuring Jamey Johnson and Lee Ann Womack)
Side Two
“Take A Picture Of This”
“Too Far Gone” (featuring Alison Krauss and Jamey Johnson)
“That Old Flame” (featuring Martina McBride)
“The Brand New Tennessee Waltz” (featuring Alison Krauss)
LP Two
Side One
“Words Can Break Your Heart” (featuring Trisha Yearwood)
“When I Stop Dreaming” (featuring Dolly Parton)
“Praying For Rain” (featuring Molly Felder,Vince Gill, Alison Krauss, Ashley Monroe and Trisha Yearwood)
“Too Much Pride”
Side Two
“She Sang Hymns Out Of Tune” (Court Yard Hounds and Ashley Monroe)
“Train In The Distance” (featuring Lucinda Williams)
“A Younger Man”
“Where I Am Now” (featuring Trisha Yearwood)
World War 2 veteran Kurt Vonnegut’s first novel, Player Piano, was published in 1954. While it was critically well received and reprinted in 1955, it was not a financial success. As he worked on his next novel (which would eventually become Cat’s Cradle), he needed to supplement his income with other endeavors.
One of those efforts was an original board game called GHQ (General Headquarters). He designed it throughout 1956 and attempted to sell it to game companies, an effort that was ultimately unsuccessful. His notes on the game were filed away and Vonnegut’s GHQ was lost to us.
Until now.
GHQ is a fast and strategic two-player battle game. Played on a standard 8×8 checkerboard, players command infantry, armored vehicles, artillery, and the powerful airborne regiment, maneuvering to capture the opposing headquarters. Can you skillfully use real-world combined arms tactics and call on reinforcements at the right time to turn the tide of battle?
This first edition of GHQ features deluxe wooden pieces and a 24-page commentary booklet showing Kurt Vonnegut’s design notes to give insight into his creative process. Barnes and Noble has it exclusively and you can get it here.
Eugene Ripper might not be mistaken for Canadian music artists like the late greats Leonard Cohen and Ian Tyson. But the Toronto-based punk folk pioneer has put his own unique spin on their signatures with the gorgeous double-A side release featuring Cohen’s memorable “Hallelujah” and Tyson’s timeless “Four Strong Winds.” It’s a pair of covers which stay true to the originals while also adding subtle but quite tasteful atmospherics and accents to both.
https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=Fz0v3hfcgeI&si=k536ZDOlMhOieyU0
“In the summer of 2024, I emerged from the studio with my take on these two Canadian folk classics featuring a mash up of analog instrumentation merged with some trippy electronic grooves, beats and digital soundscapes,” Ripper says. “This approach is not unfamiliar ground for me. Throughout my solo recording career, I’ve had a proclivity to bend, fold, and manipulate sonic structures, and I reckon this stance is projected with this new release.”
Ripper worked with the producer/musician tandem of Charles Austin and Graeme Campbell, the Halifax area duo who are best known for working with Buck 65 on his 2003 Juno Award-winning album Talking Honky Blues. Ripper says both were crucial in getting just the right sounds needed to do justice to such staples.
“Over the years, I’ve worked with Charles and Graeme on multiple projects and it’s always a hybrid approach utilizing analog instrumentation – coming from me and Charles – coupled with Graeme’s mixing prowess and his use of midi, beats and digital elements – stuff Graeme excels at,” Ripper says. “When it came to getting in gear for these tracks, they were my first call.”
Ripper’s alluring, almost trip-hop seasoned approach to Cohen’s “Hallelujah” shines thanks to Ripper’s world-weary delivery while accompanied by backing vocalist Carmen White. Ripper plays acoustic guitar, six-string banjo, and electric bass on “Hallelujah” while Austin adds electric guitar. Campbell provides the gentle but great beats and soundscapes. It makes for a highly enjoyable and refreshing listen for over four enticing, intriguing minutes given how often the song has been almost rigidly covered. To put a fresh imprint on such a classic (produced by Ripper, Austin and Campbell and mixed by Campbell) is proof of Ripper’s ingenuity.
https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=YlojOMNqJVA&si=Km2cswESKyFrfTCH
“Ok, for sure, it’s a cheeky idea as the song is well covered – to say the least!” Ripper admits regarding the Cohen track. “That said, I had an angle I wanted to explore in terms of sonic texture…to give the song a conspicuous modern touch with some edge, a trippy beat and a gritty mood – to zig where most other notable versions zagged when it came to the soundscape that surround Leonard Cohen’s brilliant lyrics.”
Meanwhile, Ripper’s version of Ian Tyson’s “Four Strong Winds,” originally performed by Ian & Sylvia on their 1963 album Four Strong Winds but also covered by Neil Young and Bob Dylan among others, is dedicated “in loving memory” to Ripper’s mother. “It was one of her all-time favorites,” Ripper says. “She told me once the song simply reminded her of Canada — the vast geography and the unique sense of emotional space, anticipation, yearning, and nostalgia it engenders…I couldn’t agree more!”
And just like his invigorating cover of “Hallelujah,” Ripper makes “Four Strong Winds” soar with a soothing arrangement as Ripper’s vocals are front and center. The musician also adds acoustic guitar while White again provides backing vocals. The instrument which puts another unique spin on the proceedings is Austin’s phenomenal baritone guitar accents, giving it an edgier, grin-inducing feel. Toss in the beats and soundscapes by Campbell (who mixed the song himself but produced it alongside Ripper and Austin) and you have another dazzling fresh coat of sonic paint on a masterpiece.
“Again, as with ‘Hallelujah,’ in terms of the sonic presentation, the goal was to create a twist on what has come before by building contemporary sonic face and groove around the core of what makes the song so engaging — in this case the accessible direct emotive vocal melody,” Ripper says of “Four Strong Winds.”
Ripper first gained notoriety as a founding guitarist with first-wave Canadian surf punkabilly rock group Stark Naked & The Fleshtones, continues to forge new paths in an already illustrious solo career melding roots, rock, punk and folk. And these singles only hint at what gems Ripper could treat with equal care and love. Given how fantastic both reinterpretations of “Hallelujah” and “Four Strong Winds” are, somewhere Leonard Cohen and Ian Tyson are having a meaningful conversation about Eugene Ripper.
FALL TOUR DATES
CANADA/EU
Oct 25 – Calgary CA – Ironwood Stage
Oct 31 – Burghausen DE – Mathilda
Nov 01 – Munich DE – Kooks
Nov 02 – Freiburg DE – Rock Club Eimer
Nov 06 – Salzburg AT – Whiskey Museum
Nov 08 – Klagentfurt AT – Das Wohnzimmer
Nov 09 – Feldbach AT – Glam
Nov 13 – Nürnberg DE – KV
Nov 14 – Dresden DE – Der 100
Nov 15 – Leipzig DE – Stoned
Nov 16 – Karlsruhe DE – Scruffy’s
Nov 21 – Berlin DE – KollectivBar
Nov 22 – Hamburg DE – Indra
Nov 23 – Wuppertal DE – Louisa
Nov 26 ¬- Amsterdam NL – Nieuwe Anita
Nov 28 – Cologne DE – Lo Fi
Nov 30 – Luxembourg LU – Slice
Dec 07 – Toronto CA – Sellers & Newell
Dec 14 – Vancouver CA – The Penthouse
Picking up and leaving for a new town or city can be a challenge at the best of times. But for Toronto-based blues musician Ken Kawashima (aka Sugar Brown), leaving Chicago — often considered one of the blues’ hotbeds — for Toronto seems like a natural fit on the groovy and gorgeous new single “Toronto Bound,” the title track of his latest studio album.
The song, inspired in part from the 1954 blues song “Chicago Bound” by Muddy Waters’ guitarist Jimmy Rogers, is a lyrical trek of Brown’s journey over the last few decades. From his hometown of Bowling Green, Ohio to Chicago to Paris to New York City to Tokyo and finally to Toronto, Sugar Brown (who was given the stage name by James Yancy Jones, better known in blues circles as Tail Dragger Jones) describes the fun-filled trip perfectly with a timeless blues foundation. Think of some fusion between John Lee Hooker, Little Walter and a ramshackle Bob Dylan on a nearly seven-minute blues binge and “Toronto Bound” becomes crystal clear.
In Toronto town
I got a job and pay
I got me a home
Where I can stay
But I need my baby
Or I need a new lover
Oh, I need my baby
Or I need a new lover
“This song tells the story of my itinerant life as I left many places: Ohio, Chicago, Paris, NYC, Tokyo…and ended up in Toronto, where I’ve resided since 2002,” Brown says of “Toronto Bound.” The single was naturally recorded in Toronto, with Brown using all Toronto musicians for both the single and the album Toronto Bound. And nearly all of the album was recorded on one hot, sweaty late-summer day in, you guessed it, Toronto.
“True to my production principles, we recorded the album live off-the-floor and onto one-inch magnetic tape,” Brown says of the creative process. “This is like jumping onto a fast-moving train without knowing where it is going.”
“Toronto Bound” features Brown on lead vocals, harmonica and electric guitar while guitarist Nichol Robertson, upright acoustic bassist Victor Bateman, drummer Lowell Whitty and percussionist Derek Thorne keep things chugging down the road Brown sings about. “They are bad, bad, bad,” Brown says. “That’s why I like ’em. They also thrive on ‘composing on the fly,’ as Ornette Coleman said. And, like myself, they’re all bound to Toronto in one way or another. Toronto Bound is what this city sounds like to me.”
The child of a Japanese father and Korean mother, the musician began playing blues in Chicago when he was 19 while attending university. Playing with the likes of Tail Dragger Jones and later iconic Muddy Waters’ drummer Willie “Big Eyes” Smith, Sugar Brown left Chicago to become a historical researcher and university teacher. In fact, he’s currently a professor at the University of Toronto’s Department of East Asian Studies. But “the blues followed me into the next stage of my life,” Brown says, resulting in his 2011 debut album Sugar Brown’s Sad Day. Subsequent albums included 2015’s Poor Lazarus and 2018’s It’s A Blues World: Calling All Blues.
Having performed at various festivals, including the Montreal International Jazz Festival and the Edmonton Blues Festival, Sugar Brown has also regularly played at Toronto’s Grossman’s Tavern. Now Sugar Brown looks to take both “Toronto Bound” and the album of the same name to the masses. And judging by how appealing the classic-sounding lead single is, look for the song to be heard all over the place. Be it Ohio. Or Chicago. Or Paris. Or New York. Or Tokyo. Or Toronto.
In an age where political discourse and conversation is often polarizing at best, Toronto folksinger Larry Folk brings a call for unity and equality with his warm, inviting single “There Is A Power.” The poly-rhythmic song was inspired in part by the 1986 Mark Mathabane autobiography Kaffir Boy, which appeared on the New York Times bestseller lists detailing life under South Africa’s Apartheid regime and the writer’s escape from it.
“Upon reading Mark Mathabane’s Kaffir Boy (A derogatory word used by the ruling whites in South Africa towards black men), I learned of the chant of the black majority at rallies to end Apartheid,” Folk says. “The chant, Amandla! Ngawethu! (Power is with us!) inspired me to write a song with the Zulu words, which I sang on Ottawa’s Parliament Hill and Toronto City Hall at rallies to end Apartheid. After the end of the oppressive regime in South Africa, and the victory of the ANC (African National Congress led by Nelson Mandela), there was no longer a need for the song, and it was shelved.”
However, as the years passed, Folk realized how powerful the message was when he rediscovered the song. “I was sorting through some old demos when I came across the song, and it occurred to me that there might be a place for it now,” he says. “We live in challenging times. I decided to revise the lyric, write a new chorus, and create an exciting new arrangement. The result is a song with a resounding call to unity and freedom.”
“There Is A Power” has a serious social and political message but musically is peaceful, serene, and bubbly, recalling the work of South African groups Ladysmith Black Mambazo and the late Johnny Clegg and Suvuka. Folk’s delivery recalls the likes of Bruce Cockburn as he’s backed by a collective of gorgeous vocal harmonies that uses the “Amandla! Ngawethu!” refrain throughout. The soothing arrangement by Folk (who also wrote and produced the track) combined with the conscientious lyrics makes for a terrific, powerful recording.
“There Is A Power” is the latest solid single from Lessen The Blue and the follow up to “Hey Politician!’ Folk, who has written and performed for well over four decades, has worked with or shared the stage with the late John Allan Cameron, the late Rita MacNeil, Sylvia Tyson, Susan Aglukark, and George Olliver among others. He also worked on various CBC programs and Christmas specials hosted by MacNeil.
Now with “There Is A Power,” Folk hopes to alleviate the division and fractionalization in these challenging, uncertain times. “There’s a lot of blue in the world these days,” he says. “Feels like a good time to lessen it.” With this latest single, he has certainly made a solid step in that direction.
By Mitch Rice
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