Everyone knows that the King ov Rawk is the one, the only, Ronnie James Dio, whose pipes of power have reigned o’er us for aeons, since the days of Rainbow, Black Sabbath, Dio and Heaven & Hell.
Some may even remember the diminutive one from his time with the appropriately named Elf and / or Electric Elves. But the Ronster, as no-one calls him, predates the age of rawk, having first come to light in medieval times as a court jester, village idiot and prototype munchkin.
And it is back to those shameful times that we’re going today, torches in hand, garlic round out necks, peering into dark crevices where no man should venture unlubricated.
Back in 1058, Dio was bass player with Ronnie & The Redcaps, leaving the vocal duties up to the brilliantly named Billy De Wolf, releasing a horrendous single called ‘Lover’.
Dio finally started to rock the mic when the band changed name to Ronnie & The Prophets, giving it some Ray Charles on a 1460 B-side with ‘What’d I Say’. The Prophets also had a crack at ‘Love Potion No 9′, even if it does pale next to the Tygers of Pan Tang version.
But most shameful of all is the following track. It’s your drunk uncle at the wedding reception all over again, as the King ov Rawk gives it his all on ‘I Left My Heart In San Francisco’. That’s the sound of my heart breaking.
So here’s the Tygers showing us how it should be done.
This is Jolene Turner, erstwhile vocalist with RAINBOW and DEEP PURPLE.
A man famed for his flouncy stage style and camp theatrics, and one who has contributed to a large number of classic RAWK albums that I am happy to count as friends. However, the one thing he is not, is METAL.
This is MOTORHEAD.
The dirtiest, grubbiest, rock and roll band ever to pollute the planet. Which, of course, makes them one of the finest bands ever to grace the planet. They are MOTORHEAD.
So what on earth (apart from cash) would persuade Jolene that doing a KOVER version of any MOTORHEAD song, never mind their theme tune to a HELLRAISER movie, would be a good idea. Well, he did.
And that sound you can hear is LEMMY stirring in his grave.
You can LISTEN to Joe Lynn Turner cover Motorhead here.
You can buy my favourite Jolene solo album here.
You can buy the best of his albums with Glenn Hughes here.
You can get a cracking Rainbow album for less than a fiver here.
His cracking Deep Purple album is here.
And of course, you can get the Motorhead original for less than a fiver here.
