NOISE

Your show is billed as a celebration of the music of ELP, but you're touring without a keyboardist or a vocalist. How have these versions of those songs been received thus far?

It's definitely a niche market that we're going for. In Europe this type of thing is accepted with open arms, instrumental, prog music on this level, and it seems to have translated quite well here in America. Years ago, there weren't guitar players who could actually play these type of things, so it's only been possible in the last few years. It took a while to get the repertoire together. Certain pieces worked and certain pieces didn't work. At the end of the day you're just hoping to find musicians who can put it across. And so far it seems to be very successful with both [guitarist] Paul Bielatowicz and [bassist] Stuart Clayton playing.

As a member of a highly skilled band like ELP that bridged the gap between the rock and classical worlds, what did you think when punk rock arrived in the late 1970s?

It's evolution. Things are always going to change, and you can't be disturbed by it because you don't have the power to stop it. What you have to do is stand by what you believe in, and if you believe that the music you're playing has legs and will carry on and mean something in the future, then you stay with what you know best. And while punk took over for a while and didn't help, at the same time I'm very pleased it happened. It had to happen, it's done, it's out of the way and that's it.

As a member of not one but two supergroups [Palmer is a founding member of Asia, which plays the House of Blues on September 21], do you think it's beneficial for bandmates to grow up around each other as opposed to being pieced together after they're already successful?

There's no doubt that when you're a group like U2 or AC/DC—born on the same street, go the same school—you have a kind of gang atmosphere going on. They produce great music, and they all know each other, and it's very, very strong. When you're put together by a corporation or a management company, and you're all from different parts of the world, obviously it's different. When you're from the same environment, you've probably had the same experiences so you understand what's going on in a similar way. Groups can become a lot bigger, if they're talented, if they have that attitude. But at the end of the day, we're talking about music, and music can be played by any group of musicians from anywhere in the world, provided they all want to play the same thing.

Mickey Thomas' Starship routinely plays "Somebody to Love" at its county fair concert appearances, which is odd considering the band has about as much claim to the tune as Jim Carey after his karaoke turn in The Cable Guy. Don't assume that because Jefferson Airplane evolved into Jefferson Starship, which in turn transitioned into Starship, the third incarnation has anything to do with the first. Where Airplane was a seminal member of San Francisco's 1960s psychedelic scene, Starship is responsible for some of the '80s most heinous radio fare, including "Sara," "Nothing's Gonna Stop Us Now" and "We Built This City" (Blender's pick as the worst song of all time). Grace Slick stayed aboard the Starship for a time, but like her fellow Airplane members, she wisely ejected the decaying vessel years ago.

THE MODERN MACHINES


Take it, Somebody! (3 stars)

Channeling the Upper-Midwestern punk attitude of the Replacements and Husker Du one moment and the garage vibe of the Nuggets era the next, this Milwaukee outfit blazes through 11 cuts with a palpable zest for its bar-band lot in life. What are the chances Nato Paisano is the frontman's real name?

THE BLACK ANGELS


Passover (3 stars)

Barring an improbable atmospheric re-entry by Spacemen 3, fans of psychedelic drone-rock could do far worse than worship at the shrine of this Texas seven-piece, whose membership includes a projectionist to enhance the live experience. An engaging, if somewhat familiar-sounding, first full-length effort.

Martina McBride


Timeless (3 stars)

Respectful almost to a fault, McBride's collection of classic country covers uses period-accurate instrumentation and recording techniques to re-create songs from the '40s through the '70s. McBride's voice is rich and warm, and the songs deserve their sterling reputations, but what the album does most is make you want to hear the original recordings.