Anvil! The Story of Anvil Book Review

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AppId is over the quota

I do not know why I had not lifted this one of the bookshelf earlier. Since that day, I made it a mission to get my hands on this book as soon as possible and 2 days ago, I finally got it. Anvil! The Story of Anvil is one hell of a read. I spent one whole day finishing this one. Anvil is a Canadian heavy metal band and many considered them the first few bands whose music paved the way for the entire genre of Speed and Thrash Metal, among those in agreement are the likes of Scott Ian of Anthrax and Lars Ulrich of Metallica.

Basically this book illustrates the journey of two friends, Lips and Robbo, childhood friends who made a vow when they were fourteen years old to rock together, for ever and they meant it. It was an emotional journey. They toured with all the greatest bands ever lived. You name it, Whitesnake, Bon Jovi, Aerosmith, Scorpions and all of these bands sold millions and millions of records around the world except Anvil.

It depicts a story of staying true to yourself, staying true to your dreams, not losing hope and to do things not for the sake of doing it but for the love it. When they first stormed the scene back in the late 70's and early 80's, everybody thought that Anvil was the band that will turn the world upside down with their brand of fast and odd timing heavy metal. Though most of the lyrics are kind of sleazy, but musically they were revolutionaries, ahead of their time. They should have made it big.

Anvil remained obscure. Nobody knows about them. But they were true to their dream to become rock stars and to become successful. They kept releasing albums and do small tours. They lived for music. It takes a heart of a lion to have that kind of dedication, my friend. This also a story about friendship, a story of two heavy metal brothers staying true to each other despite their ups and downs of life. Fighting personal demons in the shape of drugs and what not. It is an emotional read. Whether they finally achieve that dream or not, that you must find out on your own if you choose to read this book.

This book came in support of the movie, a documentary made about them which goes by the same name. I have yet to watch the movie, but judging by the power of this book and the trailer I just watched recently, I know it is a must that I go and see the movie. Even by watching the trailer almost made me cry. I am a fan.

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Unsung Heroes - People Who Make it Happen

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AppId is over the quota

We are pretty much aware about the tasks of music bands and the extreme sports athletes at the Vans Warped Tour but have we ever thought about the people who are raison d'?tre for putting together such a great show?

With over 100 bands performing live each day on the Vans Warped Tour, it takes a colossal task to plan and execute properly, so that things are up and running. Who are the real heroes behind the success of the grand festival.

You will be surprised to know that there are more than 400 people who travel with the tour for the entire duration of the rock festival. These folks toil all times of the day, every day to make it happen. Each day they get up at 6 AM in the morning to set up lighting rigs, stages, sound systems and vendor booths. They meet up well before time to schedule the performances for the day. So, who are these people and what do they do?

1. Bus Drivers: There are more than 17 band buses and 19 productions buses (excluding the extra ones) which run day and night, from one place to another. These buses and trucks cover a distance of approximately 500 miles each night and it requires mettle to drive non-stop with almost no rest.

2. Tour nurse: A typical tour nurse hands out more than 1000 Band-Aids and drains out more than 4 bottles of aspirin in each tour. And of course it has to be; after all they are the only ones accountable for the health of artists, fans, crew and the athletes.

3. Caterer: It is virtually impossible to cook for more than 400 people 5-6 times a day but the tour caterer has done it over and over again. With his very own 18 wheeler mobile kitchen, the caterer is ready to cook almost anything any time of the day.

4. Production engineers: It takes a challenge to organize more than 100 music bands and make them perform their best on 10 different stages on a single tour. Production engineers are the ones responsible for it.

5. Security: To ensure that everyone has fun and yet are safe in the entire tour, Vans Warped Tour employs more than 70 security personnel each day.

6. Merchandise Vendors: Fans often wish to collect a souvenir, a T-shirt or a CD so that they remember the fun they had at the tour. For this purpose, merchandise vendors set up and break down their booths each day of the tour.

7. Road crew: Road crew members are in charge to test and tune musical instruments, setting up and breaking down lighting rigs and arranging things in case of emergencies.

8. First Aid tent Personnel: They are always there to treat minor injuries, bandage cuts and even to rehydrate the drained out folks at the tour.

9. Tour Clean-Up Personnel: Once the show winds up, the tour clean-up personnel begin with their work. They collect garbage in large poly-bags and sometimes, the trash weighs up to four thousand kilograms. The personnel work all through the night so that the next morning when the fans return, they find a clean place to hang around.

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Funk and Disco Grooves For Bass & Guiitar - Book Review

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AppId is over the quota

Bernard Edwards of Chic laid down some essential funk grooves during his time with Chic. Finally someone has had the foresight to transcribe some of his greatest grooves and present them for the bass community. Stuart Clayton has released a book of both Bernard's bass lines AND Nile Rodgers' guitar lines. The book is called Funk & Disco Grooves For Bass & Guitar.

So What's The Book About?

This book is a collection of transcriptions of both guitar and bass lines to a host of great tunes that were played on by Nile Rodgers and Bernard Edwards. The book covers songs from Chic, Sister Sledge & Diana Ross - as well as the song they produced for Carly Simon called Why.

How Is The Book Presented?

Because these songs relied heavily on sections built upon grooves that then repeated, the transcriptions are not always presented as 'whole' songs. Instead you might get say the intro, the verse, the chorus and the bridge.

The transcriptions themselves are published in standard notation with chord symbols and tab.

The book is around 140 pages long and soft bound. Stuart Clayton the author has self published this book and previous books of his have featured spiral binding - sadly, this one doesn't have a spiral binding. As well as the transcriptions there are some short sections on gear and technique, and the history of how Chic came together.

What Songs Are Included?

The book features bass and guitar lines to 20 songs. These include Dance Dance Dance, Everybody Dance, Strike Up the Band, Le Freak, Chic Cheer, I Want Your Love, Happy Man, He's The Greatest Dancer, We are Family, Lost In Music, Thinking of You, Pretty Baby, Good Times, My Feet Keep Dancing, My Forbidden Lover, Upside Down, I'm Coming Out, My Old Piano, Burn Hard and Why.

How Could This Book Be Better

There's no CD to playalong to with this book - the author states that he thought about it, but then decided it would be better to play along to the original recordings and absorb the essence of groove directly. I still think a CD would have made this better though.

Some video lessons - whether available with the book, or as additional content accessed via the internet - would also have been good. Especially some footage of the unusual 'thumb as pick' technique that Bernard Edwards used on Everybody Dance.

And from a personal viewpoint there are some songs that Bernard played on that I'd have liked to see included - and some that are included I'd have liked to see not included. But that's always going to be the way with projects of this nature.

Summary

This is a 5 Star book. Even the lack of spiral binding can't stop me giving this book 5 stars. The bass lines of Bernard Edwards are well worth of study and reproduction. Don't let the fact that Chic were a 'disco' band fool you - there are some serious bass lines going on and we should all be thankful to Stuart Clayton that he was transcribed some of Bernard Edwards's finest moments for us.

If you want to learn how to play bass to 10 songs head over to my website at http://www.how-to-play-bass.com/ and subscribe to my free monthly ezine. You can instantly download PDFs with notation and bass tab to 10 songs in return for subscribing. Plus there are how to play bass videos, articles, reviews and tutorials and more.