A Year in Harmony: Celebrating 2023's Top Albums, the Legacy of Lee Kerslake, and a Musical Farewell

As the year's final chords fade, we look back at the standout soundtracks that colored our world in 2023. From my cozy holiday celebrations to the exuberant tunes that filled our homes, this episode is a heartfelt salute to the albums and documentaries that have left an indelible mark on us. Feel the soulful stirrings as I recount the musical journey through Steve Augeri's "Seven Ways Till Sunday," which not only made my top three albums of the year but also captured my highest accolades for its deep emotional resonance.

Venture with me behind the scenes of the rock legends Uriah Heep, as we celebrate their latest triumph "Chaos and Color" and remember the indomitable spirit of the late Lee Kerslake. Through the rhythm of reminiscence, we'll explore Kerslake's contributions to Uriah Heep's legacy and his crucial role in shaping Ozzy Osbourne's early solo career. The episode is further enriched by discussing a poignant documentary that weaves together the threads of Kerslake's personal and professional life, offering a tribute to his underappreciated talents as both a powerhouse drummer and a vocalist with a touch of magic.

As the calendar turns, we bid a warm Aloha to 2023 and look forward to the new melodies and narratives that await us. Whether you're streaming on Apple Podcast, tuning in on Spotify, or engaging with us on YouTube and Instagram, your companionship on this sonic journey means the world. So join us one last time this year on the Ben Maynard program, where the music plays on and the stories never end. Thank you for being the heart of our harmonious community—we can't wait to see what next year's playlist has in store.

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and subscribe to my YouTube channel: THE BEN MAYNARD PROGRAM
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Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:07

Hey there, welcome into the Ben Maynard program. Thanks for being here. Before we get started, a little bit of housekeeping to take care of. As a reminder, this program is available on multiple podcast outlets like Apple Podcasts, amazon Music and Spotify, among others. Just simply do a search for the Ben Maynard program. You'll have several options to choose from. Pick your option. I like to steer everybody towards Buzzsprout, because that's where my website is. If you can't resist this right here and I know there's many of you that can't and you watch on YouTube, then ask that you please subscribe to the channel, give me a thumbs up and leave a comment. I love comments. As I said in the past, I'll read comments right here on the air. Last but not least, follow me on Instagram, simply Ben Maynard program. With that, there are plenty of ways to take in this show for your dancing and listening pleasure.

Speaker 1: 1:19

Let's recap the last show. That was the Christmas show. That was a lot of fun. I really enjoyed doing it and got a chance to get out of the studio set up in the living room. I was doing work, to tell the truth, anyway, I was doing work in the studio installing some new lights, just trying to take care of some things. It made a perfect time to get out and record a show somewhere else. Why not in front of the Christmas tree, huh, in front of the Christmas decorations and bring you a Christmas show. I did. I had a lot of fun. I want to say that I hope you all enjoy your Christmas holiday, however you choose to celebrate it. I hope it was safe. Everybody's coming back to the show now.

Speaker 1: 2:17

I know that we had a ton of fun here at our home. We had a big party. We called it the Christmas Eve party. We had it on the 23rd rather than the 24th. We planned it that way just so that we have a large family. We didn't want to get in the way of other people's smaller get-togethers on Christmas Eve or on Christmas Day as well. We did that. It was good. It worked out for us. Oops, yeah, bumping into the microphone here. It worked out for us that Christmas was on a Monday. We had a nice big party here. We had about 50 people. It was just a ton of fun. We were all in our pajamas outdoors. Fortunately, we're here in Southern California. Yeah, it was cold, it was chilly, but we had the fire pits going and we had the patio heaters going. It was quite Christmas-y outdoors and we had a good time With that.

Speaker 1: 3:29

This here is going to be the last program for the year, closing out 2023 with this show right here. Not a lot to get into, not a lot to cover. There's a couple things I thought were interesting and I would go over with everyone. I want to cover my favorite CDs or my favorite albums of the year. I say CDs because I'm staring down at the table here at these albums in CD form. I want to cover my favorite CDs or my favorite albums of the year. Then I want to talk about a couple of documentaries that I think you'll find real interesting. I know I do. There's a lot of good stuff with them. Anyway, let's get into that First.

Speaker 1: 4:24

We'll get started, like I said, with my favorite albums of 2023 and I'm cheating a little bit. I've got it down to three. I'm only going to give you three. A lot of people want to do top fives or top tens and all that. I'm going to keep it at three.

Speaker 1: 4:44

There was just a ton of music released in the year 2023, a ton in the genre that we listen to, that we like to take in, but I am limiting it to three, I think right out of the gate. I'm cheating a little bit. The first one I'm going to talk about was released in December of 2022, but I myself didn't get this album until early in 2023. There you go, it's 2023 for me. I've talked about this one in the past and it's just really good. These are in no particular. Actually, they are in a particular order. The order is their release date. That's all it is. It's not going to be my favorite top to bottom or bottom to top, nothing like that but the first one I'm going to talk about is that one right there Steve Ageri Seven Ways Till Sunday.

Speaker 1: 5:53

This is just such a wonderful album. I know I talked about it early on in the history of this show, but since then, that's what? Two and a half months ago and I've even been able to spend more time with it. I'll be honest with you. This one here is my. I'm going to set it up right there. I probably can't see it anyway, but that one there. That is a rotation for me and I listened to it while I'm working out. Now I don't have it blasting, I have it in the background just because of the workout that I put in. I work out on the tonal, if anybody knows what a tonal is. I work out with a trainer so I can't have it too loud in my workout room but I have it on in the background. So three to four days a week I have Seven Ways Till Sunday, playing from front to back, and every time I hear it I love it more.

Speaker 1: 7:10

It's no-transcript, it's to me it's kind of like Arrival Part 2. It sits for me somewhere between Journey Arrival and Journey Generations. It sits somewhere in between the two of those. It's not. You know there's a lot of Journey sound to it, but then there's a lot that's not Journey sound. So that's why I say it's kind of in the middle there Steve definitely does have his own sound and he's in great voice on this. He sounds wonderful. You know I still have to go with my three favorite tracks, but which are the last three tracks on the album. But, as I said, the more I listen to it, the more it's like okay, now I don't have three favorite, now I have four favorite tracks, now I have five favorite tracks and it's just that good it really really is. So if you don't have this one, I recommend you go out and grab this one. You can buy it off of his website. You can probably buy it anywhere else you can get music to. But it's really, it's just really that good.

Speaker 1: 8:26

And I'll be very, very honest. I try, you know. Look, I'm always gonna be honest with you as a listener to this program. I'm gonna give you my honest opinion on musicians. I'm gonna give you my honest opinion on music, the music that they put out. I don't have an agenda here. I'm not out here to make best friends because I don't know any of these people, but I'm gonna give you my honest opinion.

Speaker 1: 8:56

And with Seven Ways to Sunday, that album is so much better than I thought it would be, and that is to me. I'm giving Steve a tremendous compliment on that, not that I didn't think he had the ability or the capability of doing it, but it's just. I just I don't know what else to say. It is so much better than I thought it would be, and I guess I'll just leave it at that. You know, if I have to give you know scale a one to 10, I'm giving it probably a nine and a half. You know that's I'm just telling you the truth. I'm not trying to shill for anyone. I'm not trying to score points. I'm just giving my honest opinion because there are songs on there that when they come on, they just hit me a certain way, they strike a chord within me, and that's what to me, that's what music's all about, and there's a lot of really cool. I wanna say soul music, but soul full, because I've always believed that, just like Steve Perry, steve Ageri has a soul in his voice. He doesn't just sing the notes, he's very soulful in his, with his voice and in his delivery cell, anyway, so that's certainly one of my favorites of the year.

Speaker 1: 10:26

The next one, this one, was released right at the end of January I think it was around the 27th of January of 2023. And that is from this band right here, uriah Heap. This is their chaos and color album, the follow-up to their 2019 album, or 2018, I'm sorry, late 2018 album, live in the Dream. And what can I say about this one? You know I am a tremendous. I'm a tremendous fan of Uriah Heap and I have been, oh gosh, probably since I was about I don't know eight or nine years old. I got turned on to Uriah Heap from my brother, jim, and I've just been a fan ever since. And yes, uriah Heap is a band that is down to one original member, mick Fox, the guitarist in the band or lead guitarist in the band. But a lot of that is through. It's not through guys coming and going, it's through guys dying, and so you know I always give a pass to that type of stuff. You can't help it if someone dies. But and I'm not gonna get into Uriah Heap too much that's not what this show is about today and, trust me, there is a Uriah Heap episode out there and it's coming. It's coming, I'm working on it and for any Heap fans out there it's gonna be tremendous. You're going to want to listen or watch the show, but it'll be coming in the new year. But this album, like I said, what I love about it, maybe even more than the music and the music's great it is a great follow-up to Live in the Dream.

Speaker 1: 12:28

This band is, you know, the I will say the core. The core of this band has been together now I think it's almost 35 years, maybe longer which is Mick Box, phil Lanson and Bernie Shaw. Bernie is the lead singer, phil is on keyboards. There has been, you know, there was a change a few years ago on bass. That was Dave Rimmer. Dave Rimmer took over for Trevor Boulder who passed away, and then Russell Gilbrook who is on drums now. He took over I believe it was in 2007, for the late great Lee Kerslake. Why? Well, lee was dealing with a lot of health problems back then and there was just no way he could tour anymore. So he bowed out and Russell came in.

Speaker 1: 13:27

And so I mean, yes, there have been a lot of lineup changes, there have been a lot of different lineups and Uriah Heap, but the one thing that has been very, very consistent has always been their great output of music. They've stayed true. Well, I shouldn't say they've stayed true. They did change up their sound in the 80s. They became a little more mainstream in the early 80s. They were kind of going with that sound of the early 80s British heavy metal bands, kind of going with that I don't want to say early Judas Priest more in line of what maybe Ozzy Osbourne was doing on Blizzard of Oz and Diary of a Mad man. So we're kind of going for that sound a little bit and it did gain them some traction during those times in the early 80s. But when it got to the 90s they really started to get back to their roots, which is just hard driving heavy rock, a lot of Hammond Oregon and just so good progressive. There's a lot of progressiveness in their music and there's a lot of guitar work Mickbox Mickbox is an absolute beast on guitar.

Speaker 1: 15:10

I've, fortunately, I've had the privilege to see this band a couple of times and this right here, chaos and color, does not disappoint, I started to say, and then I got off on a tangent. What I like, like I said, maybe just as much as the music, is the packaging in this. This the packaging. I've never seen another disc packaged like this. This is almost like a hardcover book, a mini hardcover book. It's got nice, heavy, thick, beautiful color photos of the guys in the band. It's got all the lyrics, the liner notes and credits.

Speaker 1: 16:00

And for those of you who are Jeff Scott Soto fans, jeff co-writes the lead track on this album here. He co-writes it with bassist Dave Rimmer. Yeah, so that one saved me tonight. That was, I believe that was the first song released off the album. I think the second one was Hurricane. They might've been released right about the same time, but if you're a heap fan, if you're a diehard heap fan. Yeah, definitely grab this one, if you haven't already. It is, you won't be disappointed. It is that good. It is that good.

Speaker 1: 16:41

Okay, so then the last one that I'll talk about my favorite albums of the year, or my three favorite anyway, and I just can't get enough of this band. I love this band so much. I don't know if you can see that with the glare. I'll try to get the glare off of there, but that's Angel. That's Angel and that's their latest release. That's Once Upon a Time. It was released I think it was April 20, 24th somewhere around there of this year and what can I say? It's the follow-up to their 2019 album, risen, and I'm wow, I'm so excited and I'm wow, like I said, I love this band so much. These guys are so good.

Speaker 1: 17:48

The musicianship is great on this. The songwriting, I think, is just, you know, it's just something else. It's just so good. And I love the combination of punky meadows and Frank D'Amino and Danny Farrow, who are basically the main songwriters on everything since the reformation of Angel, and it's just. You know, the lead track, the torch, is maybe kind of a sequel to probably the fan favorite of Angel and that's the Tower. It kind of has. Yeah, it's kind of like a sequel to that, but the music on here is just so good and I wish, I really do.

Speaker 1: 18:50

I wish that these guys would get a lot more traction than what they're getting out there in the music world. They're certainly never going to get any airplay. None of these bands that I'm talking about tonight are going to get any airplay. That's not the point. The point is I wish that they would get just more exposure though, through their shows, through social media, through other avenues, other people in the broadcast business. You know that would push these guys. I know Angel's been around for a long time but since they reformed they're obviously they put out, they put out two albums, great albums, and I say great, yeah, great with a capital G and it's just a band that is so worth your time going out to see because they deliver and it's just yeah, it's a good show.

Speaker 1: 20:03

I can't wait. I know they're going to be doing some more touring coming up in the new year and I can't wait for those shows. I'm going to be looking those up. I'll be finding a couple of shows in my area. I'll be hitting them up. I'll be standing in front and center, right in front of those guys. Just really, really good stuff, and, yeah, I'm hoping that they'll keep up the good work too. Maybe put out another album, if not in the next year, you know, maybe the year after. I look forward to any new material that these guys deliver. So, yeah, so those are my three favorite albums of the year 2023.

Speaker 1: 20:52

Like I said, I wasn't going to hammer you with a big long list, but I wanted to bring those to light. I know I've talked about them a little bit in the past, so why not talk about them again? Because I can never I'd never get tired of talking about these three acts right here. That's just no two ways about it. So the next thing I wanted to bring up was a couple of documentaries. The first one I'll talk about is it's a John Lennon documentary. It's on Apple TV, if you have that streaming service. It's called John Lennon Murder Without a Trial. Now, I haven't finished it, I'll be honest with you. I'm two thirds of the way through it. It's three parts. I've seen the first two parts and I'll probably finish up watching that once I'm done recording this show here, but it's really good.

Speaker 1: 21:55

You know, when John Lennon was murdered, I was 15 years old. I was a sophomore in high school and I loved the Beatles and I mean I still do. I still like the Beatles. But at 15 years old I still hadn't even really broadened my musical taste, it was just getting there. So I was quite familiar with the Beatles and I think I had I don't know five or six Beatles albums that I wish I still had to this day. But you know, as an 18 year old I took them to the record store and sold them and that's a shame. I really wish I still had them. Oh my gosh, I want to punch myself when I think about that. But so I'm 15 years old at the time that John Lennon is murdered and, yes, beatles fan. In fact, I was watching Monday Night Football when the announcement was made right on television. So that was quite a shock. But being 15, I didn't know all the particulars, I didn't know all the ins and outs on this, you know, on the case.

Speaker 1: 23:14

And what this documentary does is it brings in people who have never spoken about this before, people with first hand first hand I witnesses to the events that night. You know a close, personal friend of John and Yoko's a cab driver, the doorman or the concierge at the Dakota where they lived. These people, they've never spoken before and now their stories are coming out and they're sharing their information and it does shed some light on it. Through the second part of the documentary it kind of starts to touch on the possibility that there was a conspiracy out there to do away with John Lennon from the conspiracy from the FBI or the CIA, something like that. I don't know, I'll see what happens when I finish watching it, but you know the way things go down in our government now. I wouldn't put it past them, that's for sure. But it's really good and if you're like me and you were young when it happened or maybe you weren't even alive when it happened this great information and it takes you back at least it takes me back, of course. But it's just, it's good stuff. A lot of good information, some good interviews, and I'm looking forward to part three of this, of this documentary. And once again it's called John Lennon Murder Without a Trial. So yeah, they get into Mark David Chapman and, and it's pretty in depth, I'll, I'll, I'll leave it there. Just good stuff. If you have the service, if you have Apple, seek it out. It's definitely worth your time.

Speaker 1: 25:22

And then the next doc that I wanted to talk about. I'm going back to one of my favorites, uriah Heap. There's a documentary just came out a couple of weeks ago. It's called Lee Curslake Not on the Heap.

Speaker 1: 25:38

Lee Curslake was the drummer in Uriah Heap. He actually was not the original drummer. He came in, I believe, on Uriah Heap's. I believe his first album was the Demons and Wizards album in 1972. So I believe he came into the band in late 71. So I think Demons and Wizards, I believe, is Uriah Heap's fourth album, believe it or not, in 72, four albums in. That's how prolific this band was in the 70s and even into the 80s.

Speaker 1: 26:13

But Lee Curslake for those who are not familiar, lee was the drummer in the classic lineup of Uriah Heap, but in the early 80s he had left the band due to a disagreement with the band's manager, jerry Braun, over money. What else? Of course, jerry Braun not one of my favorite guys, certainly not as a band manager. But he had a disagreement and he left Uriah Heap and he got a call from I believe it was Bob Daisley. Everybody knows Bob Daisley from Ozzie's band. Well, Ozzie, as you know, in 1980, was out of Black Sabbath and was looking to resurrect his career and looking to put a band together. So Lee got a phone call I believe it was from, like I said, bob, and said hey, ozzie's looking for this, looking for that needs a drummer. Blah, blah, blah. They had auditioned numerous drummers and couldn't find the right one. Lee comes in, knocks it out of the park. Lee is now part of the band.

Speaker 1: 27:30

So it covers Lee's time in Uriah Heap. It covers the time that well, it doesn't cover the time that he was with Ozzie and he recorded those first two albums with Ozzie. And for those who don't know, the very first Ozzie album, blizzard of Oz, was not supposed to be called that. The band itself was supposed to be called Blizzard of Oz and the guys in the band meaning Randy and Bob and Lee, all thought that they were now part of this band called Blizzard of Oz, until the album drops and it says on the album cover Ozzie Osbourne, blizzard of Oz. Well, strike one against Sharon Osbourne for that. I mean she was the manager. Strike one against her because these guys felt deceived. But it covers a little bit about that. And for those who don't know, those two records, those first two records of Ozzie Osbourne, blizzard of Oz and Diary of a Madman worldwide and it says it in the doc worldwide they've sold something like 26 million copies and I think just in the United States alone they're both of. Those combined are up around 16 million. So just tremendous numbers in the way of sales.

Speaker 1: 29:05

But it covers the time that Lee was a part of the band and this documentary was filmed during Lee's last probably his last year and a half to two years that he lived. He had been battling cancer among other ailments, and the one thing that he has wanted this whole entire time is, you know, he never him and Bob never got recognition for writing, and Randy as well, for writing all this material. Ozzie never wrote a song, he never wrote lyrics, he didn't write anything. He hummed out some melodies from time to time. But yet on the backs of all these Ozzie albums he gets credit for all the, all the. He gets all the writing credits. Well, of course that never sat well with Bob and Lee. They had fought for years in court with the Osborns over that and you know they ended up losing. They got a small tiny settlement, but not much. But it talks about that a little bit, but more importantly it, lee mentions the fact that all he really wants is to be recognized for his contributions to the, to Ozzie's solo career by way of receiving his platinum records for these two. He's never gotten platinum records for these, so so they go through that a little bit and it's just a really good, it's a feel good moment.

Speaker 1: 30:49

But but you know, being the big Uriah Heap fan that I am, I've always appreciated Lee Kerslake and he's always been such an underrated, an underrated drummer. He's been an underrated singer too. Oh my gosh, if you could hear him sing, especially in his heyday. Great singer, great drummer. But as I said, he's underrated in the United States and he's underrated amongst, I guess you could say, music fans. But to the musician, lee Kerslake is not an underrated drummer at all. Drummers understand what Lee Kerslake's contribution to music has been over the years and what a fabulous drummer he is. They all said he had the fastest foot of any drummer they'd ever seen. Multiple musicians had said that where it would sound like he was playing a double bass drum, it's just his foot, just his right foot. But they said he had the fastest foot, not a double bass pedal, just his single bass pedal and a single bass drum. But yeah, lee was a fabulous drummer, I loved his drumming, and Uriah Heap and it's a good documentary.

Speaker 1: 32:21

It has a good story to it. You get some appearances by Ian Pace from Deep Purple, joe Elliott from Def Leppard, the guys from Kiss, the current lineup from Kiss. They make an appearance in there as well, and he was still up to the day he died. He was still just. I mean, I guess you could say best friends or you know brothers with, with Mick Box from from Uriah Heap, and they talk about that. Mick makes an appearance more than once.

Speaker 1: 33:03

But if you like, if you like your music documentaries, this is one to check out. I don't think I mentioned it. It's on 2B, so you don't have to worry about you don't have to worry about paying for another streaming service that you don't have. 2b is completely free. Just, you know, just go on to the 2B streaming app and just search. You can search just Lee Curse Lake and it'll pop up, so you're covered there. But it is so good.

Speaker 1: 33:36

And you know, I don't want to get into Uriah Heap so much because, like I said, I'm gonna, I'm gonna bring you Uriah Heap show and there's a lot to talk about with that band. There is a ton to talk about just because they I mean, they've been around for over 50 years and there's a ton to go over with them. They have a great history, a great catalog and, yeah, just really really good stuff. But yeah, check out the the Lee Curse Lake documentary not on the heap, it is just, it's good and it's got a nice I think. I think there's a nice heartwarming end to it that that you will appreciate I know I did. They did a very, very good job and I think that it's just a great tribute to a great musician, to a great drummer.

Speaker 1: 34:35

Oh and, by the way, during this documentary, not only is Lee trying to get his as I turn my notes over not only is Lee trying to get his, his platinum records before he passes on, because he knows he knows he's, he knows his days are numbered, but he is working on his very first solo album and yeah, so you got to watch, you got to watch the documentary on it. You have to watch that movie to get the story on that, just good stuff. And you can check out the solo album. It's called 11 Teen. You have to watch the doc for that to get what that title is all about. But it's 11 Teen and you can buy it wherever you can get music. It's out there.

Speaker 1: 35:29

I did a sample, listened to it and just good stuff. It was good to hear Lee's voice at 72 years old when he passed. He passed through three years ago, I believe it was. I think it was 2020, 2020 or 20. Yeah, I think it was 2020, late 2020 and still sounding really good. Still sounding really really good. So yeah, so yeah. Check out those documentaries John Lennon, murderer Without a Trial and Lee Cursed Lake Not on the Heap and then check out my three favorite CDs for the year 2023. I'll count them down, let's see. We had Steve Ageri Seven Ways Till Sunday. We had Uriah Heap, chaos in Color and Angel Once Upon a Time.

Speaker 1: 36:26

But before we wrap, I think most of you know, if you've been around for the duration of this program, that this podcast is not a regular job for me. This is a side project, this is my hobby. It's a hobby that I love doing, that's for sure, and I want to bring you the best content that I can and I want to try to make it as professional as I can on no budget, by the way. So I do have a regular job. I have been off work for the entire year of 2023. I have a really physical job and I had shoulder surgery, so that put me out for a year.

Speaker 1: 37:09

Well, guess what people? I will be going back to work coming up next month, probably around the middle of the month, and I share this with you because only because I have promised that I will be putting out an episode a week. I promised it on Fridays and so far I'm sticking to that. We'll see what the work schedule is like. I may change the day, but Friday seems like a good day to put out a new episode every week. But I am promising you at least one episode every week and that's why I've tried to push through so much. I shouldn't say push through, it sounds cheap, but that's why I've tried to bring you so much content since the beginning of this show until now, because I wanted you to have something to chew on, something to listen to, something to watch, get to know me a little bit, get to know what this show is about, and try to bring you as much of that before the schedule changes, where it's going to be one episode a week. If I can get out a second episode, I will, but I know when I get back to work I keep some pretty crazy work hours, so we'll see how that goes, but you're definitely going to get one episode every week. When I do get back to work but we probably have it's probably going to be the middle of the month, so we have at least two more weeks, so you may get two, three, four episodes before that. I'm looking forward to that. We'll see how that goes. Yeah, so I think that's about it.

Speaker 1: 38:51

Short show today, but I need to talk to my people and I need you to see my face and I wanted to bring you a little bit of not so much year in review, but just some musical highlights from me for the year 2023. Yeah, I hope you enjoyed it. I hope you come back next year and I hope you enjoy your New Year holiday, no matter what you do, no matter who you spend it with, just be safe out there, be good to each other. Yeah, we got some good things coming up for this show and I hope nothing but the best for you and your families. That comes from my Corazon.

Speaker 1: 39:47

But, once again, the program is available on multiple podcast outlets like Apple podcast, amazon Music and Spotify. You can simply do a search for the Ben Maynard program. You'll have multiple options to choose from. Pick your option and listen away. If you're watching on YouTube, subscribe to the channel. Give me a thumbs up and leave a comment, please. Okay, last but not least, follow me on Instagram. Ben Maynard program. That is it, and this is a wrap for 2023. And Aloha, this is the Ben Maynard program. Tell a friend.