Highway Companions

I've been away for a few days, taking a short break. The only advantage of a long drive is that I finally got chance to work my way through a pile of CD's I've been meaning to listen to for a couple of weeks. Of those, Tom Petty's latest 'Highway Companion', is a truly awesome album and finds him returning to the type of catchy-guitar-jangle that he excelled in the late eighties and early nineties - before Rick Rubin made a complete balls up of his sound. Talking of producers, the new Iron Maiden album has taken a really raw approach, thanks to the work of Kevin Shirley (read his entertaining blog at his website http://www.cavemanproductions.com ). The tracks aren't half bad either and it''s their finest recording in years.

I'm hoping to divulge some more info on the DT book in the next week or so, and things appear to be finally moving in terms of sourcing a printer. In the meantime, there are a stack of CD's and DVD's that need reviewing for Classic Rock. No rest for the wicked or the hungover . . .

Book Update

Right then, here's the latest. It is now likely that the book will be out early next year, and not by the end of 2006 as hoped. The reason is that what is planned is something quite different, and finding someone with the capability to produce the thing is proving tricky. But it will be worth the wait.

The plan at the moment is to release a limited edition hardback version of the book first. This has the working title of 'Lifting Shadows - Images And Words Limited Edition' and will come with a host of goodies. None of these are set in stone, so I'll remain tight-lipped about the exact format until they are confirmed. This will be followed at a later date by a standard version. It is also hoped that the book will be translated into other languages, but again this is all to be confirmed.

Anyway, enough of the business talk. Here's another teaser quote lifted from the book:

James LaBrie: "I guarantee you we would have broken up if they had continued to push us down that road and try to mould us into something other than what we were. There would have been no other option but to say ‘Screw it. We’ve had fun. Bye.’"