![[hand]](/hs-pics/portraits/hands/mcbride3.jpg)
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Hammond for nothing
Lots of people seemed to like what Sons of Apollo did with the Gates of Babylon. On the last tour before the proverbial excrement hit the proverbial fan, they regularly used to do a cover of Burn. Tony MacAlpine was supporting them, so he was joining to jam on this one. The only downside seemed to be that despite we were getting two guitar solos and a bass solo, it’s as if Derek Sherinian was lugging around that Hammond of his for nothing.
The video is from the Corona Theatre in Montreal, February 3, 2020, courtesy of TheMetalSyndicate.
Unauthorized copying, while sometimes necessary, is never as good as the real thing
“Derek Sherinian was lugging around that Hammond of his for nothing.” What a waste … Unfortunately, that’s a very common fate for keyboard/organ players, regardless of their musicianship and sound. But it’s not only the fault of tone engineers, it’s also the musical arrangement and the inability of some guitar players to make a step back and leave some space for the keyboards. Dynamical playing can be a real blessing, also for the audience. Plus, I don’t understand why a real Hammond doesn’t seem worth to be appreciated, especially with someone like Derek playing it and employing customized high-power Leslies (it would be an understatement to say that this is a quite rare thing to have).
June 29th, 2021 at 21:56Yes indeed, Derek Sherinian doesn’t get a chance in this guitar wank fest. Appalling version for that reason. As soon as we see another guitarist it often happens, it’s show off time, destroys the music in many ways. Hard to see & hear Portnoy properly being hand held footage. But he seems to be keeping it simple & straight during the traditional Ian Paice busy drum fill sections. Cheers.
June 29th, 2021 at 22:52Didn’t Mr Big play Burn too? Probably Billy’s idea then. He also does the best solo on it, emulating a Purple feel.
It seems that after all these decades, Mk III’s work finally sees some reappreciation in muso circles. About time too!
June 30th, 2021 at 10:05I love that Mike Portnoy (no drumming (drummer?) slouch himself) is wearing a T-Shirt with Neil Pearts name!!…. Gotta admire the respect musicians have ( or should have ) for each other!
June 30th, 2021 at 10:54Enjoyable version!
Yea it woulda been nice to hear some Hammond but I like it much better than the Dead Daisies version!
June 30th, 2021 at 11:20A much better version is the one I was at, Denver – Oriental 1/29. The best song of the night.
July 1st, 2021 at 15:49There’s definitely a gaping hole where a growling Hammond should be.
July 1st, 2021 at 16:56The fact that there’s a keyboardist in the band with said beast in front of him…… I don’t get it.
Derek Sherinian would be used to a guitarist dominating proceedings, he was in Dream Theater after all. But two guitarists here, too much, sheeesh! I think he is on the album Falling Into Infinity which I own along with Awake, which he isn’t on. I always wondered why Dream Theater have a keyboard player in many ways. To compete with John Petrucci & his wall of sound & metal riffs, well enough said there. A good band they are, however I ceased to listen to them after the 2000 era, too much the same old same old. Maybe Jordan Rudess has found a way or Petrucci has backed off a little, so to speak. Cheers.
July 1st, 2021 at 22:13@ 8 – ‘would be used to’ woeful use of the language there, upon reading that, I thought about it & a little research. Oh dear. Cheers.
July 2nd, 2021 at 03:45I think people are being too critical of the sound quality of an amature video from a cell phone.
July 9th, 2021 at 01:56