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• Long-established as a hugely popular radio format, the Classic Rock sound was established – though not codified and canonised until some while later – in the Seventies, when numerous British bands from a pop or blues-based background pioneered a muscular, riff-based sound that dominated American FM airwaves and led the most successful practitioners to fame, fortune and all manner of related excess.
• But although there are innumerable radio stations now devoted to the baby boomer sounds of Classic Rock, their innately conservative, playlist-based nature means that the same heavyweight tunes are endlessly recycled: the casual listener could be forgiven for thinking that the careers of major bands like Thin Lizzy and The Who didn’t extend beyond ‘Whiskey In The Jar’, ‘The Boys Are Back In Town’ and ‘Won’t Get Fooled Again’.
• So allow the Grapefruit label to break down the walls of stultifying retroactive conservatism with an alternative look at the Classic Rock genre. Riding The Rock Machine features many of the era’s headline names (Lizzy and The ‘Oo, but also The Moody Blues, Free, Status Quo, Jethro Tull, Procol Harum, ELP, ELO, Uriah Heep etc) in slightly less familiar settings as well as some Classic Rock-friendly performances from acts who walked the walk and talked the talk but never quite received the same level of acclaim as the brand leaders.
• Housed in a no-expense-spared clamshell box with a lavishly annotated and illustrated 40-page booklet, Riding The Rock Machine features four hours of vintage sounds from British rock’s golden age as Grapefruit turns it up to eleven and goes where other labels fear to tread in search of the perfect riff. As our opening track proclaims, Long Live Rock’n’Roll!
Tracklist
DISC ONE:
1. LONG LIVE ROCK’N’ROLL – Rainbow
2. EASY LIVIN’ – Uriah Heep
3. I’M JUST A SINGER (IN A ROCK AND ROLL BAND) – The Moody Blues
4. I WOULDN’T WANT TO BE LIKE YOU – The Alan Parsons Project
5. SLOW RIDE (single version) – Foghat
6. CATCH YOU ON THE REBOP – Spencer Davis Group
7. I CAN’T EXPLAIN (album version) – Yvonne Elliman
8. CINDY INCIDENTALLY – Faces
9. ROBERT’S BOX – Procol Harum
10. STANDING IN THE ROAD – Blackfoot Sue
11. BACK TO THE WALL – Medicine Head
12. SUCCESS STORY – The Who
13. BLACK CLOUD – Trapeze
14. HOLD OUT YOUR HAND – Chris Squire
15. SPIRITS IN THE NIGHT – Manfred Mann’s Earth Band
16. THE BOSTON TEA PARTY – The Sensational Alex Harvey Band
17. BUNGLE IN THE JUNGLE – Jethro Tull
18. CLEVER FOOL – Agnes Strange
19. SHE’S RIDIN’ THE ROCK MACHINE (single version) – Fancy
20. ACTION (single version) – Sweet
DISC TWO:
1. FEELS LIKE THE FIRST TIME – Foreigner
2. THIS FLIGHT TONIGHT – Nazareth
3. WISHING WELL – Free
4. OUT OF YOUR HEAD – Man
5. MY FRIEND PETER – Strawbs
6. QUARK, STRANGENESS AND CHARM – Hawkwind
7. ACE SUPREME (single version) – Silverhead
8. MYSTERY SONG (album version) – Status Quo
9. U.H.F. – Curved Air
10. BABY I NEED – Magnum*
11. SHOWDOWN – Electric Light Orchestra
12. MOMMA’S BOY – City Boy
13. THE 1959 ROCK’N’ROLL BOP – Duffy
14. HOODLUM FUN – Rococo
15. ONLY AFTER DARK – Mick Ronson
16. STRADDLE – Strider
17. MOVE IT – Stray
18. ICE COLD DICK – Bullfrog*
19. SHOELACE – Maggot*
20. LUCKY MAN – Emerson Lake & Palmer
DISC THREE:
1. STREET LIFE – Roxy Music
2. MAID IN HEAVEN – Be-Bop Deluxe
3. DEVIL’S ANSWER (US album version) – Atomic Rooster
4. IN MY OWN TIME – Family
5. GET MY ROCKS OFF – Dana Gillespie
6. NEW YORK GROOVE – Hello
7. JAILBREAK – Thin Lizzy
8. CAN’T LIVE WITHOUT IT – Tucky Buzzard
9. BLOWING A MILLION – National Flag
10. MONSTER IN PARADISE – Hard Stuff
11. BLACK SHEEP OF THE FAMILY – Fat Mattress
12. LIFE IS A MINESTRONE (album version) – 10cc
13. DREAM KID – Sutherland Brothers & Quiver
14. GOT A BAD LEG – Smokestack Crumble
15. FEVER – The Winkies*
16. READY FOR LOVE/AFTER LIGHTS – Mott The Hoople
17. MY OH MY (single version) – Sad Cafe
18. JACK O’LANTERN – Babe Ruth
19. GOD GAVE ROCK AND ROLL TO YOU – Argent