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***** Out of this world
**** Pretty damn fine
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Latest Album Reviews
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Latest Gig Reviews
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Gig review: JOE BONAMASSA – Live Stream, Austin City Limits Live, Austin, Texas – Thursday April 1, 2021
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Gig review: THE DARKER MY HORIZON – Dirty Rockers, Dudley, Saturday 24 October 2020
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Gig review: MARK MORRISS- Cabbage Patch, Twickenham, 3 October 2020
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Gig review: GARY FLETCHER AND NICK RITCHIE – Cabbage Patch, Twickenham, 2 October 2020
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Gig review: COLLATERAL – Leo’s, The Red Lion, Gravesend, Friday 4 September 2020
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Featured Album Reviews
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Features
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Feature: Collectible Collections – FAMILY – Old Songs New Songs (The Definitive Box Set)
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Feature: Collectible Collections – CAMEL – Rainbow’s End An Anthology 1973-1985
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Feature: Collectible Collections – MANFRED MANN’S EARTH BAND – 40th Anniversary Box Set
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Feature: Albums that time forgot … NATIVE CAIN – The Primitive Soul
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Feature: Albums that time forgot…EUROPE – Secret Society
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Feature: Albums that time forgot…JAMES LABRIE – Elements Of Persuasion
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Author Archives: andynathan
Album review: FM- Tough It Out Live

Frontiers Records (Release Date 09.04.21) It already seems a long time ago but one of the gig highlights of the winter before the pandemic struck was the Big-Three-O tour in which FM, together with Dan Reed Network and Gun, celebrated … Continue reading
Posted in ALBUM REVIEWS, ALBUM REVIEWS (Mobile), All Posts
Tagged album, AOR, FM, live album, melodic rock, Steve Overland, Tough It Out
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Album review: GARY HUGHES – Decades

Frontiers Records [Release Date 12.03.21] With Gary Hughes having just released his first solo album in a long while, the simultaneous release of this generous 29 track double compilation is very timely as an opportunity to discover (or rediscover) the … Continue reading
Posted in ALBUM REVIEWS, ALBUM REVIEWS (Mobile), All Posts
Tagged album, AOR, compilation, Gary Hughes, melodic rock, TEN
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Album review: A RISING FORCE – Undertow

HighVolMusic [Release Date 07.05.21] A Rising Force brings together several seasoned Minnesota musicians in a new band. They include guitarist Leni DiMancari, who was an original member of Hericane Alice but is better known, at least to me, as the … Continue reading
Posted in ALBUM REVIEWS, ALBUM REVIEWS (Mobile), All Posts
Tagged A Rising Force, album, Brian Lorenson, Lane Allen, Leni DiMancari, Mark Westlund, Undertow
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Album review: CHEZ KANE

Frontiers Records [Release Date 12.03.21] Chez Kane is one of three sisters fronting Kane’d, who have gained a reputation pre-pandemic as an enjoyable live act. This is her debut solo album, though equal uncredited billing goes to Danny Rexon, lead … Continue reading
Posted in ALBUM REVIEWS, ALBUM REVIEWS (Mobile), All Posts
Tagged album, AOR, Chez Kane, Crazy Lixx, Danny Rexon, melodic rock
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Album review: GARY HUGHES – Waterside

Frontiers Records [Release Date 12.03.21] It’s been a relatively quiet period for Gary Hughes, the usually prolific Ten mainman- over two years since Ten’s last album but a whopping 14 since his last album under his own name. Now, on … Continue reading
Posted in ALBUM REVIEWS, ALBUM REVIEWS (Mobile), All Posts
Tagged album, Dann Rosingana, Darrel Treece-Birch, Gary Hughes, melodic rock, TEN
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Album review: TOUCH – Tomorrow Never Comes

Escape Music [Release Date 26.03.21] Here’s a reunion few ever expected to see. Touch are most famous to the wider world as the band that opened the first ever Monsters of Rock at Download in 1980. Many years later I … Continue reading
Posted in ALBUM REVIEWS, ALBUM REVIEWS (Mobile), All Posts
Tagged album, AOR, Craig Brooks, Doug Howard, Glenn Kitchart, Mark Mangold, melodic rock, pomp rock, Touch
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Album review: STEPHEN CRANE- Kicks

AOR Heaven (Release Date 26.03.21) The rock world is littered with hard luck stories of people failed by the record industry. One such is Stephen Crane. Already a seasoned figure on the Texas music scene, he was signed to MCA … Continue reading
Posted in ALBUM REVIEWS, ALBUM REVIEWS (Mobile), All Posts
Tagged album, AOR, Jai Winding, Kicks, melodic rock, Richard Page, Stephen Crane, Steve Lukather, Tom Kelly
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Album review: PARIS- 50/50

AOR Heaven (Release Date 26.03.21) France is hardly a hotbed of melodic rock but Paris, essentially the duo of Frederic Dechevanne and Sebastien Montet with some guest musicians, have now released three albums. They follow in a distinguished line of … Continue reading
Posted in ALBUM REVIEWS, ALBUM REVIEWS (Mobile), All Posts
Tagged AOR, Frederic Dechevanne, melodic rock, Paris, Sebastien Montet
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Album review: WINDING ROAD- s/t

AOR Heaven [Release Date 26.03.21] The thriving Scandinavian melodic rock scene is not just one for young bucks. Winding Road are a new band in which three musicians with a long list of credits in their native Sweden have come … Continue reading
Posted in ALBUM REVIEWS, ALBUM REVIEWS (Mobile), All Posts
Tagged album, AOR, Jonas Tyskhagen, Magnus Akerlund, melodic rock, Winding Road
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Album review: INGLORIOUS- We Will Ride

Frontiers Records [Release Date 12.02.21] It has been a rocky road for Inglorious since they burst onto the scene as one of the great hopes of classic rock. For a while their huge potential, not least in the powerful vocals … Continue reading
Posted in ALBUM REVIEWS, ALBUM REVIEWS (Mobile), All Posts
Tagged album, classic rock, Danny De La Cruz, hard rock, Inglorious, Nathan James, We Will Ride
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Album review: W.E.T. – Retransmission

Frontiers Records (Release Date 22.01.21) Of all the melodic rock supergroups assembled, usually on the Frontiers roster, W.E.T. have proved to have staying power. This fourth studio release comes a relatively recent three years after its predecessor ‘Earthrage’, which is … Continue reading
Posted in ALBUM REVIEWS, ALBUM REVIEWS (Mobile), All Posts
Tagged album, Eclipse, Erik Martensson, Jeff Scott Soto, melodic rock, Robert Sall, W.E.T.
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Album review: PALACE- Rock And Roll Radio

Frontiers Records [Release date 04.12.20] Michael Palace, a man with multiple performing and writing credits to his name, is now onto the third album from his own project. 2016’s ‘Master of the Universe’ was mainstream melodic hard rock, but is … Continue reading
Posted in ALBUM REVIEWS, ALBUM REVIEWS (Mobile), All Posts
Tagged album, AOR, melodic rock, Michael Palace, Palace, review
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Album review: EAST TEMPLE AVENUE – Both Sides of Midnight

AOR Heaven (Release Date 27.11.20) East Temple Avenue sees Australian songwriter Darren Phillips, whose project under his own name featured a star studded cast, join forces for a whole album with Robbie Le Blanc, the Blanc Faces singer whose combination … Continue reading
Posted in ALBUM REVIEWS, ALBUM REVIEWS (Mobile), All Posts
Tagged album, AOR, Darren Phillips, melodic rock, Philip Lindstrand, Robbie Le Blanc
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Album review: JEFF SCOTT SOTO – Wide Awake (In My Dreamland)

Frontiers Records [Release Date 6.11.20] After going in a more modern metal direction with his Soto project and fronting prog rock supergroup Sons of Apollo, the latest album from the ever prolific Jeff Scott Soto sees him return to the … Continue reading
Album review: ECLIPSE – Viva La Victouria (CD/DVD)

Frontiers Records [Release Date 6.11.20] This package of goodies from Eclipse is very timely, as their last album ‘Paradigm’ rather got swamped in the rush of autumn 2019 releases, then after gearing up for a huge tour, it never reached … Continue reading
Posted in ALBUM REVIEWS, ALBUM REVIEWS (Mobile), All Posts, DVD REVIEWS
Tagged album, DVD, Eclipse, Eric Martensson, live album, Magnus Hendriksson, melodic rock, review
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Book Review: ON TRACK (every album, every song…) – IRON MAIDEN (by Steve Pilkington) and THIN LIZZY (by Graeme Stroud)

Sonic Bond Publishing The ‘On Track’ series is a new one to me, but glancing at GRTR!’s recent book reviews it seems to be a rapidly growing collection. While more critically acclaimed artists such as the Beatles and Bruce Springsteen … Continue reading
Posted in All Posts, BOOK REVIEWS
Tagged book, Every Album Every Song, Graeme Stroud, Iron Maiden, On Target, Steve Pilkington, Thin Lizzy
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Album review: ALIEN – Into the Future

AOR Heaven [Release Date 27.11.20] One of the original wave of Scandi AOR bands at the end of the eighties, Alien’s return with their original line up was one of the stories of the early 2010’s. They followed up two … Continue reading
Posted in ALBUM REVIEWS, ALBUM REVIEWS (Mobile), All Posts
Tagged album, Alien, AOR, Jim Jidhed, melodic rock, Tony Borg
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Album review: PRIDE OF LIONS – Lion Heart

Frontiers Records [Release Date 09.10.20] Approaching 70, maestro songwriter and Survivor founder member Jim Peterik is showing no signs of slowing down. After last year’s World Stage release with a star studded casts of guest vocalists, and co-writing much of … Continue reading
Posted in ALBUM REVIEWS, ALBUM REVIEWS (Mobile), All Posts
Tagged album, AOR, Jim Peterik, melodic rock, Pride of Lions, Survivor, Toby Hitchcock
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Film review: PHIL LYNOTT – Songs For While I’m Away

Break Out/ Eagle Rock Productions [Release Date 30.10.20] Autumn 2020 is one of those times when the Thin Lizzy legacy is getting one of its periodic dusting downs. Alongside a bumper budget compilation and a 6 CD box set of … Continue reading
Posted in All Posts, DVD REVIEWS, FILM REVIEWS
Tagged DVD, film, hard rock, Phil Lynott, review, Songs For While I'm Away, Thin Lizzy
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Gig review: MARK MORRISS- Cabbage Patch, Twickenham, 3 October 2020

Perhaps it wasn’t quite squarely in GRTR’s ballpark, but the last time bands with guitars dominated the charts, possibly forever, was when Britpop ruled. Led by the likes of Blur, Oasis and Pulp, the movement defined the sound and style … Continue reading
Posted in All Posts, GIG REVIEWS
Tagged Britpop, gig, Mark Morriss, singer songwriter, the Bluetones
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Gig review: GARY FLETCHER AND NICK RITCHIE – Cabbage Patch, Twickenham, 2 October 2020

Of course it’s trivial compared to those who have lost loved ones or their own livelihoods, but one of the biggest effects of the Coronavirus pandemic has been cutting live music dead in its tracks. Having been to over 80 … Continue reading
Posted in All Posts, GIG REVIEWS
Tagged blues, Blues Band, Eel Pie, Gary Fletcher, gig, Nick Ritchie, singer songwriter
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Album review: BROTHER FIRETRIBE – Feel The Burn

Odyssey Music (Release Date 18.09.20) With the release of their first album back in 2006, Brother Firetribe (alongside the Poodles and WigWam) kick started the Scandinavian-led revival of melodic rock that is thriving to this day. Since then the only … Continue reading
Posted in ALBUM REVIEWS, ALBUM REVIEWS (Mobile), All Posts
Tagged album, AOR, Brother Firetribe, melodic rock, Pekka Ansiu Heino, review
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Album review: PERFECT PLAN- Time For A Miracle

Frontiers Records [Release Date 04.09.20] Perfect Plan’s self titled debut was one of the revelations of 2018, these seasoned Swedes emerging from nowhere with a high quality mix of hard rock and AOR. After keeping the pot boiling nicely with … Continue reading
Posted in ALBUM REVIEWS, ALBUM REVIEWS (Mobile), All Posts
Tagged album, AOR, Kent Hilli, melodic rock, Perfect Plan
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