• Newsletter Sign up
• Subscribe
• Back Issues
• Sample Issue
• Contact Us

Russ never sleeps Hey, guys, I only just found a copy of your magazine from earlier this year with the Whitesnake cover story (April issue). I went to see Whitesnake in Ipswich, and Coverdale still has one of the best blues-power voices

From page 5 of Classic Rock Magazine October 2003

Cover of October 2003 issue.

in rock – ever.

Anyhow, here are a few of my comments about Classic Rock, for what they’re worth. I like the balance of retro and contemporary in the magazine, especially the stories you’ve had on Edgar Winter and the like. The review of the Rainbow anthology mentioned Russ Ballard, and it really would be great to have a piece on classic rock songwriters such as Ballard, and Jim Steinman and Desmond Child as well. It would be fantastic to know exactly how these people go about composing songs, especially when they’re writing them for people other than themselves.

Ballard was a brilliant melodic pop rock writer.

The stuff he recorded with Argent shows how inventive he was – and doubtless still is. The songs combined progressive rock complexity with gorgeous pop melodies and never lost sight of Argent’s rhythm-and-blues roots – there are even traces of funk on numbers such as ‘Thunder And

Lighting’.

What’s Ballard been doing recently, and why did his solo career seem to disappear? Tell us, people. Give us something on Ballard and Argent.

Kobbie, via email