Author Archives: alanjones

Album review: BLACK SABBATH – Technical Ecstasy (Super Deluxe 5LP Vinyl Box Set)

Posted on September 21, 2021 by alanjones
BLACK SABBATH - Technical Ecstasy

BMG / Sanctuary Records   [Release date: 01.10.21] Following the superb ‘Super-Deluxe’ releases of ‘Paranoid’, ‘Volume 4’ and ‘Sabotage’ in the last couple of years, it is now the turn of ‘Technical Ecstasy’ to receive the sumptuous multi-disc box-set treatment. … Continue reading →

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Album review: RPWL: God Has Failed – Live And Personal

Posted on May 28, 2021 by alanjones
RPWL - God Has Failed: Live And Personal

Gentle Art Of Music [Release date: 30.04.21] RPWL started life way back as a Pink Floyd tribute band, and, rather like Marillion and their relentless (and wrong) “Genesis Clones” soubriquet, struggled early on to free themselves of the PF comparisons. … Continue reading →

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Album review: TRANSATLANTIC – The Absolute Universe

Posted on May 26, 2021 by alanjones
TRANSATLANTIC - The Absolute Universe

Inside Out  [Release date: 05.02.21] Supergroups – don’t you just love them? Remember, back in the day, when England used to play various sporting matches against “The Rest Of The World”? England always won because they all knew each other’s … Continue reading →

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Album review: BEN RANDALL – Before The Rain

Posted on March 26, 2021 by alanjones
BEN RANDALL

Thoroughbred Music    [Release date: 02.04.21] www.benrandallguitar.com For me, it’s always been about the guitar. Back in the day, from the moment I heard Paul Kossoff’s wailing Les Paul on the early Free albums, I was hooked. Koss, Blackmore, Iommi, … Continue reading →

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Album review: KATATONIA – Dead Air

Posted on March 18, 2021 by alanjones
KATATONIA - Dead Air

Peaceville [Release date: 13.11.20] First of all a confession: I did not join the Katatonia train until they de-coupled themselves from their black metal roots around 2009 with the progressive metal behemoth of an album, ‘Night Is The New Day’. … Continue reading →

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Album review: STEVE HACKETT – Under A Mediterranean Sky

Posted on March 11, 2021 by alanjones
STEVE HACKETT - Under A Mediterranean Sky

Inside Out  [Release date: 22.01.21] Being the modest chap that he is, Steve Hackett would probably not describe himself as a virtuoso. However, in a career spanning getting on for fifty years from the early days of Genesis through his … Continue reading →

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Album review: STEVEN WILSON – The Future Bites

Posted on March 8, 2021 by alanjones
STEVEN WILSON

SW Records [Release date: 29.01.21] There’s a body of music fans who, if their favourite artist dares to stray from their favoured genre, castigate said artist with the tired (and tiresome) clichés “sold out”, “going mainstream”, “chasing the Yankee dollar”, … Continue reading →

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Album review: RIVERSIDE – Out Of Myself (Re-issue)

Posted on January 14, 2021 by alanjones
RIVERSIDE

Inside Out [Release Date: 12.02.21] Riverside have developed, album upon album, into one of the finest progressive rock bands on the planet, with albums such as ‘Love, Fear And The Time Machine’, ‘Shrine Of New Generation Slaves’ and ‘Wasteland’ garnering … Continue reading →

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Album review: THE FLOWER KINGS – Islands

Posted on December 13, 2020 by alanjones
THE FLOWER KINGS - Islands

Inside Out   [Release date: 30 October 2020] There’s a debate that rages in a certain music magazine as to what is and what isn’t “prog” – where much pointless navel-gazing and hand-wringing occurs in trying to decide whether the … Continue reading →

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Album Review: RIVERSIDE – Lost ‘n’ Found – Live In Tilburg

Posted on November 12, 2020 by alanjones
RIVERSIDE - Lost 'n' Found - Live In Tilburg

Inside Out – [Release date: 11 December 2020] Where to start with the sadness of this release? Live in Tilburg was recorded in October 2015 – just four days before I saw them live in Manchester – one of my … Continue reading →

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Album review: MARIANA SEMKINA – Sleepwalking

Posted on February 8, 2020 by alanjones
MARIANA SEMKINA - Sleepwalking

Kscope  [Release date: 14.02.20] Mariana Semkina is one half of exceptional Russian “chamber prog” duo Iamthemorning whose delicate, fragile and occasionally disturbing songs have breathed new life into the quieter side of progressive music. Her long term partner in IATM, … Continue reading →

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Album review: FRANK WYATT & FRIENDS – Zeitgeist

Posted on January 25, 2020 by alanjones
FRANK WYATT - ZEITGEIST

Self-released    [Release date: 01.11.19] Frank Wyatt was a founding member of noted American band Happy The Man – who got together through a shared love of British progressive rock way back in 1973. A series of prog albums followed … Continue reading →

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Album review: DAVE KERZNER – Breakdown – A Compilation 1995 – 2019

Posted on January 22, 2020 by alanjones
DAVE KERZNER

Cherry Red [Release date: 22.11.19] Dave Kerzner is a deservedly celebrated musician and producer who has had a long and varied career both as a solo artist and as a member of a number of excellent bands. Starting out with … Continue reading →

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Album review: BLIND EGO – Preaching To The Choir

Posted on January 17, 2020 by alanjones
BLIND EGO - Preaching To The Choir

Gentle Art Of Music  -  [Release date: 14.02.20] German progressive rock titans RPWL have been ridiculously busy lately, both collectively and individually. Their ‘Tales From Outer Space’ album from early 2019 was deservedly five starred, as was their double live … Continue reading →

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Album review: FERNANDO PERDOMO – The Crimson Guitar

Posted on January 14, 2020 by alanjones
FERNANDO PERDOMO - The Crimson Guitar

Forward Motion Records  –  [Release date: 8 November 2019] Fernando Perdomo’s day job is as the guitarist and bass player for the excellent Dave Kerzner Band but he has spread his solo wings quite frequently in recent years, to mixed … Continue reading →

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Gig review: STEVE HACKETT – Philharmonic Hall, Liverpool, 11 November 2019

Posted on November 12, 2019 by alanjones
STEVE HACKETT - Philharmonic Hall, Liverpool, 11 November 2019

The latest incarnation of Steve Hackett’s “Genesis Revisited” tour swept into Liverpool’s iconic, Eric Gill-inspired, Philharmonic Hall on an absolutely filthy November evening – not that it deterred a single one of the Hackett cognoscenti who filled the hall to … Continue reading →

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Album review: STEVE HACKETT – Genesis Revisited: Band And Orchestra

Posted on October 21, 2019 by alanjones
STEVE HACKETT - Genesis Revisited: Band And Orchestra

This interview with Steve Hackett was broadcast on Get Ready to ROCK! Radio on the eve of his UK orchestral tour. The hour special includes tracks from several albums included in the retrospective box set released in October 2018. Steve … Continue reading →

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Album review: YOGI LANG – A Way Out Of Here

Posted on October 9, 2019 by alanjones
Yogi Lang - A Way Out Of Here

Gentle Art Of Music  [Release date: 08.11.19] Although probably a new name to those not in the know, Yogi Lang’s day job is as vocalist and front-man for exceptional German progressive rock luminaries RPWL (he’s the ‘L’). He’s flown solo … Continue reading →

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Album review: RPWL – Live From Outer Space

Posted on October 7, 2019 by alanjones
RPWL - Live From Outer Space

Gentle Art Of Music  [Release date: 15 .11.19] Back in the day, bands such as Pearl Jam recorded all their gigs, pressed the CDs at the venue and flogged them to fans on their way out as a souvenir. A … Continue reading →

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Album Review: JOE LOUIS WALKER – Viva Las Vegas Live

Posted on August 28, 2019 by alanjones
JOE LOUIS WALKER - Viva Las Vegas Live

Cleopatra Records   [Release date: 10.05.2019] There’s just something about these old blues guys that sets them apart and I think the word is authenticity – it’s in their blood, and they’re going to keep doing it until they can’t … Continue reading →

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Album Review: BILLY SHERWOOD – Citizen: In The Next Life

Posted on August 9, 2019 by alanjones
BILLY SHERWOOD - CITIZEN: IN THE NEXT LIFE

Frontiers Music [Release date: 12.07.2019] The prolific Mr Sherwood is a busy man. Not only is he now ensconced as bass player in the ever-revolving door of personnel that is Yes and also as the wonderful John Wetton’s replacement in … Continue reading →

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Album review: IAMTHEMORNING – The Bell

Posted on July 28, 2019 by alanjones
IAMTHEMORNING - The Bell

K-scope   (Release date: 02.08.19) One thing is for certain – you don’t listen to the music of iamthemorning for a laugh. Their exceptional 2016 album ‘Lighthouse’ which was based around the complexities of mental illness and which I described … Continue reading →

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Gig review: MARTIN BARRE BAND (50 Years of Jethro Tull) – Floral Pavilion, New Brighton, Wirral, 2 June 2019

Posted on June 3, 2019 by alanjones
MARTIN BARRE BAND (50 Years of Jethro Tull) – Floral Pavilion, New Brighton, Wirral, 2 June 2019

The International Guitar Festival Of Great Britain, held annually for many years, has been a showcase for some of the world’s finest players. Sadly, it has lost its focus a little in recent years with acts appearing that have no … Continue reading →

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Album review: RED BAZAR – Things As They Appear

Posted on April 3, 2019 by alanjones
RED BAZAR - THINGS AS THEY APPEAR

White Knight Records    [Release date: 26.01.2019] Whilst much of music these days drifts aimlessly in a reality-TV-induced slough of mediocrity, progressive rock appears to be in rude health – bucking the trend with a slew of tremendous albums released … Continue reading →

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Album review: RPWL – Tales From Outer Space

Posted on February 8, 2019 by alanjones
RPWL - Tales From Outer Space

Gentle Art Of Music  [Release date: 22.03.19] You know what it’s like. You go to a gig and there’s a couple of support bands and you’re thinking to yourself “these are quite good” – then the main band comes on … Continue reading →

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