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Category Archives: ALBUM REVIEWS
Album review: SIMPLE MINDS – Acoustic In Concert

Eagle [Release date 16.06.17] CD/DVD Well, if Status Quo can do it, why not Simple Minds? The Scottish band’s eighties heyday was always predicated on big, anthemic, arrangements and in this BBC Radio 2 gig we get trimmed down versions … Continue reading
Posted in ALBUM REVIEWS, ALBUM REVIEWS (Mobile), ALL POSTS
Tagged Acoustic In Concert, album, BBC, Charlie Burchill, Hackney Empire, Jim Kerr, live, pop, review, rock, Simple Minds
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Album review: STANLEY CLARKE, NORMAN CONNORS, HARVEY MASON (Jazz Funk compilations)

Cherry Red Records/imprints The mid to late 1970s was a golden age for disco/jazz-funk. Bands like Earth, Wind & Fire were ascendant in the charts whilst our more home-grown Level 42 picked up the baton for the burgeoning Brit Funk … Continue reading
Posted in ALBUM REVIEWS, ALBUM REVIEWS (Mobile), ALL POSTS
Tagged album, Arista, Buddah, collection, compilation, funk, Harvey Mason, jazz funk, jazz fusion, Norman Connors, R&B, review, Sho Nuff Groovin' You The Arista Records Anthology (1975-1981), Stanley Clarke, The Definitive Collection, Valentine Love The Buddah/Arista Anthology
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Album review: SELWYN BIRCHWOOD – Pick Your Poison

Alligator [Release date: 19.05.17] Mentored by Sonny Rhodes and now some 7 years into his own solo career, Selwyn Birchwood’s second album ‘Pick Your Poison’ is a celebration of everything that makes him a unique presence on a blues circuit … Continue reading
Posted in ALBUM REVIEWS, ALBUM REVIEWS (Mobile), ALL POSTS
Tagged album, Alligator, blues, Courtney “Big Love” Girlie, funk, gospel, guitar, Huff Wright, Pick Your Poison, Regi Oliver, review, Selwyn Birchwood, Sonny Rhodes, soul
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Quick plays: THE BIRTHDAY MASSACRE, TUESDAY THE SKY

THE BIRTHDAY MASSACRE Under Your Spell Metropolis Records [Release date 09.06.17] I first came across the Birthday Massacre with last year’s enjoyable ‘Imagica’ album, which was a reworking of some of their earlier songs, so was looking forward to hearing new … Continue reading
Posted in ALBUM REVIEWS, ALBUM REVIEWS (Mobile), ALL POSTS, Quick Plays
Tagged album, Drift, Fates Warning, Jim Matheos, pop, progressive, review, rock, the Birthday Massacre, Tuesday The Sky, Under The Sky
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Album review: IT – We’re All In This Together

Progressive Gears Records [Release date 01.03.17] This is the fifth album by IT and judging by this album I have some catching up to do. IT is the mastermind of Nick Jackson and Andy Rowberry, with the band completed by James Hawkins … Continue reading
Posted in ALBUM REVIEWS, ALBUM REVIEWS (Mobile), ALL POSTS
Tagged album, I am Daniel Blake, IT, melodic, political, prog, progressive, review, rock, We're All In This Together
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Album review: REX BROWN – Smoke On This

[Release date 28.07.17] Judge a book by its cover at your peril, especially when that man is former Pantera/Down bass-slinger turned six-stringer, Rex Brown – who comes off an entire life of rocking the road with a firm vow to … Continue reading
Posted in ALBUM REVIEWS, ALBUM REVIEWS (Mobile), ALL POSTS, The Best of 2017
Tagged album, Down, Pantera, review, Rex Brown, rock, Smoke On This, southern rock
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Album review: RADIATION ROMEOS – S/T

Frontiers [Release date 02.06.17] Radiation Romeos is the new band featuring former Warrior and Steve Stevens’ Atomic Playboys vocalist Parramore McCarty – the band name comes from the Atomic Playboys album. He is joined by Dag Heyne (guitars), Jogi Spittka … Continue reading
Posted in ALBUM REVIEWS, ALBUM REVIEWS (Mobile), ALL POSTS
Tagged album, Atomic Playboys, Casanova, Frontiers, melodic, Michael Voss, Parramore McCarty, Radiation Romeos, review, rock, Silver, Steve Stevens, Warrior
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Album review: SONNY LANDRETH – Recorded Live In Lafayette

Provogue [Release date: 30.06.17] Not so much a live career résumé – there’s no ‘Speak Of The Devil’ or ‘Congo Square’ – Sonny Landreth’s ‘Recorded Live In Lafayette’ is more of a dip into a re-invigorated past and a tip … Continue reading
Quick plays: SCARVED, OOBERFUSE

SCARVED Lodestone [Release date 03.03.17] What springs to mind when you think about Belgium? World class beer, chocolate, and a national football team? Could female fronted rock be added to that impressive roster with the sophomore release from Scarved? Fronted … Continue reading
Posted in ALBUM REVIEWS, ALBUM REVIEWS (Mobile), ALL POSTS, Quick Plays
Tagged album, Belgium, electronica, hard rock, Lodestone, Ooberfuse, pop, review, Scarved, The Odd Ones
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Album review: NASHER – 432-1 Open The Vein

Babylon Pink [Release date 23.06.17] Whatever happened to Frankie Goes To Hollywood guitarist Brian ‘Nasher’ Nash? The opener – ‘Salt In Her Veins’ – sounds like you’ve put the radio on FM by mistake and it’s drifted ‘off station’. But … Continue reading
Posted in ALBUM REVIEWS, ALBUM REVIEWS (Mobile), ALL POSTS
Tagged 432-1 Open The Vein, album, Brian Nash, Frankie Goes To Hollywood, Nasher, pop, review, rock, singer, songwriter
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Album review: RITCHIE BLACKMORE’S RAINBOW – Live In Birmingham 2016

Eagle Records [Release date 09.06.17] You may wonder why – after the release last year of the German gigs – we have yet another version of Ritchie’s hard rock comeback? As we commented in our original review, it is a … Continue reading
Album review: JFKBlue – Rough Round The Edges

Busy B [Release date: 05.05.17] ‘Rough Round The Edges’ is an impressive debut album with plenty of depth. It’s born of 11 strong and original tracks that jump out the grooves on the back of emotive vocals and fine band … Continue reading
Posted in ALBUM REVIEWS, ALBUM REVIEWS (Mobile), ALL POSTS
Tagged Al Wilson, album, Andy Fraser, blues, Canned Heat, Chris Elliott, Free, funk, Iago Banet, jazz, Jerry Garcia, JFKBlue, Jim Darby, leslie Fleischman, Paul Blunt, review, rock, Rough Round The Edges, Sol Ezra, The Faces, Warren Haynes
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Album review: SNAKECHARMER – Second Skin

Frontiers Records [Release Date 12.05.17] If their 2013 debut album of original compositions was an unexpected twist for a band that started out paying homage to vintage Whitesnake with two former members, Snakecharmer’s follow up is perhaps even more of … Continue reading
Quick plays: WILL LUDFORD, DAUDI MATSIKO, HANNAH ALDRIDGE

WILL LUDFORD Addicted Big Buzzard Songs Blues guitarist Will Ludford has worked in the past with Joe Meek, met George Harrison and jammed with Jimi Hendrix – not a bad musical CV! ‘Addicted’ has a distinctive 60′s feel to the music, … Continue reading
Posted in ALBUM REVIEWS, ALBUM REVIEWS (Mobile), ALL POSTS, Quick Plays
Tagged Addicted, album, Americana, An Introduction to Failure, blues, Daudi Matsiko, Gold Rush, Hannah Aldridge, indie, pop, Quick Play, reviews, rock, Will Ludfor
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Album review: 42 DECIBEL – Overloaded

SPV/Steamhammer [Release date 23.06.17] When a band lists their influences as pretty much “Aussie Rock”, there’s no mistaking what’s going to be in that tin. And whaddya know…? Ditties about venereal disease, booze, loose women and fighting abound on the … Continue reading
Posted in ALBUM REVIEWS, ALBUM REVIEWS (Mobile), ALL POSTS
Tagged 42 Decibel, AC/DC, album, Argentina, Bon Scott, hard rock, Junior Figueroa, Overloaded, review, rock, SPV
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Album review: NIKKA & STRINGS – Underneath And In Between

Metropolis Recordings [Release date 02.6.17] Despite a background as a teen star, a high profile backing singer and a songwriter who has worked with the likes of Clapton and Prince, Nikka Costa still has a way to go before carving … Continue reading
Posted in ALBUM REVIEWS, ALBUM REVIEWS (Mobile), ALL POSTS
Tagged album, blues, Eartha Kitt, Erc Clapton, Frank Sinatra, funk, Jeff Buckley, Motown, Nikka & Strings, Nikka Costa, pop, Prince, review, soul, Underneath And In Between
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Album review: HAREM SCAREM – United

Frontiers [Release date 12.05.17] This is Harem Scarem’s second album since reuniting back in 2013 – three if you count their re-recording of their classic ‘Mood Swings’ album they did to get back their ownership of the songs. Original members … Continue reading
Posted in ALBUM REVIEWS, ALBUM REVIEWS (Mobile), ALL POSTS, The Best of 2017
Tagged album, Harem Scarem, Harry Hess, Jeff Scott Soto, melodic rock, review, rock, United
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