Russell Leadbetter

6 days ago | heraldscotland.com | Russell Leadbetter

IT'S a question that has been asked by anyone who's ever seen Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band power their way through a high-energy, three-hour-long set: how do they do it, night after night? It's not, after all, as if they're still in the first flush of youth. Springsteen himself is 75; guitarist Steven Van Zandt is 74, as is the powerhouse drummer Max Weinberg. Keyboard player Roy Bittan is the same age as Springsteen. Guitarist Nils Lofgren is 73.

1 week ago | heraldscotland.com | Russell Leadbetter

Over the decades, Scottish musicians have made many classic, cult or under-appreciated albums that have stood the test of time. Today, we look back at Sunshine Superman, the third album by Donovan. TO read Donovan’s colourful autobiography, The Hurdy Gurdy Man, is to be reminded of his remarkable ubiquity in the latter half of the Sixties.

2 weeks ago | heraldscotland.com | Russell Leadbetter

The band played 18 Scottish gigs between 1983 and 1986 – five in Glasgow (three of them at the Barrowland Ballroom) and the rest in Edinburgh, Aberdeen, Inverness, Dundee, Irvine and Lerwick. Their first Scottish concert was at Night Moves, in Sauchiehall Street, in June 1983, just as Margaret Thatcher was celebrating her second general election triumph.

2 weeks ago | heraldscotland.com | Russell Leadbetter

Kenny Anderson aka King Creosote. Pic Calum Gordon. Over the decades, Scottish musicians have made many classic, cult or under-appreciated albums that have stood the test of time. Today, we look back at Bombshell, a 2007 album by King Creosote. TEDDY Jamieson’s recent articles in The Herald, in which he touched on certain on-stage remarks by King Creosote at a gig in Stirling, have provoked a widespread response.

2 weeks ago | heraldscotland.com | Russell Leadbetter

Perhaps its stand-out track is “What Are We Left With”, a contemplative, resigned look at a fading, or faded, relationship, its chorus embedded with the timeless question, ‘Without love, what are we left with now?”, accompanied by a marvellously plaintive, yearning keyboard synth motif. Sean, his long-time musical collaborator, underpins the sense of introspection throughout as well as beautifully mixing the entire album.