Producer

Robert Plant Gets the Led Out

  Nick Krewen Hamilton Spectator December 12, 1988 Robert Plant loves his music. Already elevated to the status of rock immortal for his contribution as vocalist for Led Zeppelin – arguably the mightiest and most influential of the crunch-chord dinosaur rockbands – Plant is enjoying an enormously successful career as a solo artist. His fourth and most recent album, Now And Zen , has gone platinum twice-over in this country,…


Keeping Owen Bradley in the Barn

    Nick Krewen The Spectator June 28, 1988     MOUNT JULIET, TENNESSEE:  In one corner of his luxurious recording studio, Bradley’s Barn – located approximately 35 miles outside of Nashville – there are five mounted posters representing record producer Owen Bradley‘s angels. They are the late Patsy Cline, Kitty Wells, Loretta Lynn, Brenda Lee – and Consort, Alberta’s k.d. lang. The 73-year old Bradley – who produced lang’s…


Propellerheads’ History Repeating for the First Time

NICK KREWEN Special To The Spectator May 26, 1998   TORONTO — It’s a case of “History Repeating” for Alex Gifford, but success is sweeter the second time around. The last time Gifford was in Toronto, he was a teenager playing sax for British punk rockers The Stranglers, a position he held from 1984 until lead singer Hugh Cornwell announced his departure in 1990. Now he’s back on a promo…


Robbie Robertson’s Music For Native Americans

 NICK KREWEN Special To The Hamilton Spectator Thursday, March 12, 1998     TORONTO:  In 1994, Robbie Robertson embraced his Native heritage with the documentary soundtrack album Music For The Native Americans. He continues the exploration of his roots with his latest album, Contact From The Underworld Of Red Boy — released this past Tuesday — but says that this album is much more personal. “It isn’t a sequel to…


Surviving With Rush

PUBLISHED IN THE CANADIAN COMPOSER, APRIL 1986     SURVIVING WITH RUSH     Drummer-lyricist Neil Peart looks forward      By Nick Krewen   The mark of longevity in the music business is originality. Usually, a band that lasts in this fashionably fickle marketplace does so by leaving an indelible imprint on audiences. For the 12 years that drummer Neil Peart has been a part of Rush with guitarist…