Happy returns

THERE ARE VARYING degrees of guitar hero, but Carlos Santana is a name you’d expect to find near the top of any list. Like Jimi Hendrix, Brian May or Slash, Santana has transcended guitar music and pe

In 1974, Mike Oldfield defied the critics and hit the top of the UK charts with Hergest Ridge, the ambitious follow-up to his unexpectedly successful debut Tubular Bells . To coincide with the release of the 50th-anniversary edition, the musician, his siblings and collaborators recount the story of an album created by an overwhelmed 21-year-old taking refuge near the Welsh borders.

WHILE MOST DUAL-GUITAR bands tend to have designated roles in terms of what kind of sonic space their members occupy, Momma six-stringers Etta Friedman and Allegra Weingarten enjoy being unrestricted,

WE WERE THE first band of our generation that started to grow up,” Billy Corgan says, reflecting on the making of the Smashing Pumpkins’ 1995 grand opus, Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness. “The b

STEVE JONES HAS been on the road with the Sex Pistols. And like his old-guard bandmates, bassist Glen Matlock and drummer Paul Cook, he’s been reinvigorated by their vocalist, who — you might’ve notic

FROM HIS EARLIEST days as the apple of Mike Varney’s eye to stepping in for Slash in Guns N’ Roses, it’s always the same for Ron Thal, aka Bumblefoot. “With every album, the inspiration comes from liv