Album review : LYNCH MOB – Lynch Mob (Remaster w/bonus tracks)

Rock Candy Records [release date: 17.12.21]

Lynch Mob, the album, came two years after the 1990 debut, Wicked Sensation. This was more of a band effort, with all members collaborating on the songwriting. Oni Logan had gone, and the superb Robert Mason was upfront.
Like its predecessor, it racked up several complimentary reviews in the music press, but was criminally overlooked by the record buying public, whose attention was fast being diverted toward the USA’s Pacific Northwest.

Still, there are some shrewdly crafted songs here. ‘Jungle Of Love’ and ‘Tangled In the Web’ … the opening tracks, are huge improvements over most of the debut’s content. It’s fair to say (like a lot of Lynch Mob material) that they are not immediately lovable, but the effort required to get there is part of the payoff.

At times, Logan’s lyrics on ‘Wicked Sensation’ pursued a plain speaking directness, aiming to match Lynch’s shadowy guitar phrasings. Here on the follow up, the Brown/Esposito/Mason lyric writing team try to distance themselves from the over-familiarity of love and lust tropes. Or at least leaven them with the realities of life on the street (‘Secret’ and ‘Cold Is The Heart’ are especially effective).

Lynch, of course, is a huge presence. He’s clearly self aware, and works hard to light up the music with the kind of calm intensity that stops short of overloading the band’s musical circuits. It’s impressive.

Bonus tracks ‘Love In Your Eyes’ and ‘Love Finds A Way’ were the original “bonus tracks for Japan”, and could easily have found a place anywhere on the album.

Producer, Keith (Foreigner/ Heart/ Hagar) Olsen had a hand in the remastering, and all the usual RC Reissue goodies are on board… new interviews and pics etc etc ****

Review by Brian McGowan


Featured Artist: JOSH TAERK

Since early 2020 Josh has been entertaining us with exclusive monthly live sessions,

Check out videos here: https://www.facebook.com/getreadytorockradio




David Randall presents a weekly show on Get Ready to ROCK! Radio, Sundays at 22:00 GMT, repeated on Mondays and Fridays), when he invites listeners to ‘Assume The Position’. The show signposts forthcoming gigs and tours and latest additions at getreadytorock.com. First broadcast 26 April 2026.


UK Blues Broadcaster of the Year (2020 and 2021 Finalist) Pete Feenstra presents his weekly Rock & Blues Show on Tuesday at 19:00 GMT as part of a five hour blues rock marathon “Tuesday is Bluesday at GRTR!”. The show is repeated on Wednesdays at 22:00, Fridays at 20:00). First broadcast on 21 April 2026

How to Listen Live?

Click the programming image at the top of the page (top right of page if using desktop)

Get Ready to ROCK! Radio is also in iTunes under Internet Radio/Classic Rock
Listen in via the Tunein app and search for “Get Ready to ROCK!” and save as favourite.

More information and links at our radio website where you can listen live or listen again to shows via the presenter pages: getreadytorockradio.com


Power Plays w/c 11 May 2026

BREITLER Sentinel (El Puerto Records)
FIRE IN HER EYES Too Late To Change (indie)
KING FALCON Wait (indie)
BEAUTIFUL SKELETONS Come What May (indie)
KARIN PARK Shadow (Size Records)
HARSH Don’t Mess With Me (indie)

Featured Albums w/c 11 May 2026

09:00-12:00 The Best of 2003 – 2025 (Melodic Rock)
12:00-13:00 The Best of 2003 – 2025 (Melodic Hard Rock)
14:00-16:00 The Best of 2003 – 2025 (Singer Songwriter)


Our occasional Newsletter signposts latest additions to the website(s). We also include a selection of recent top albums, based on GRTR! reviewer ratings.  The newsletter is sent out a few times a year.

If you’d like to register to receive this occasional mailing please complete the form:

If using a smartphone/tablet please tap here or re-orientate your device

(Note that this registration is separate from site registration which allows you to leave comments and receive daily emails about new content. If you wish to register for this – in addition or separately – please click or tap here – for more information – the form is at the foot of each page. Please read our privacy policy when opting-in to receive emails.


Recent (last 30 days)


Album review: LOVERBOY – Keep It Up/Lovin’ Every Minute Of It (Remasters)

Rock Candy Records [release date: 17.12.21]

The remasters of Loverboy’s third album, Keep It Up (1983), and their fourth, Lovin’ Every Minute Of It (1985) follow hard on the heels of the first two, Get Lucky (1981) and the self titled debut (1980).

(It’s generally accepted that the essence of a remastered album is the unaltered sound of the original recording, cleaned up, polished and balanced for today’s audio. Rock Candy seem to get this right every time.)

If any band characterised the rise of the melodic rock genre it was Loverboy. Those first two releases were gateway albums for high calibre US AOR, which came from every angle as the labels caught on.

Bands like Van Halen, Cheap Trick, Def Leppard seemed to claim the fame, but you only have to hear Mike Reno’s singular vocals, perfectly toned for melodic rock, and Paul Dean’s tough but finely calibrated riffs on ‘One Sided Love Affair’ and ‘Strike Zone’ from Keep It Up to appreciate the quality – and indeed depth – of the band’s music. The charting singles, ‘Hot Girls In Love’ and ‘Queen Of Broken Hearts’ are everything their titles suggest. It was the band’s third album to be produced by hugely talented Canadian, Bruce Fairbairn…the hits just kept on coming. ****

Tom (YandT/Krokus) Allom produced 1986′s Lovin Every Minute Of It.
Being a shrewd bunch, the band had no qualms about turning to Mutt Lange for the title track and to Jonathan Caine and Harry Nilsson for ‘This Could Be The Night’.

Despite some inevitable music critic (you know, the ones with a short attention span) backlash, both songs were US Billboard top ten entries. Fellow Canadian Jim Vallance contributed ‘Dangerous’, and prolific hit writer Bill Wray, who penned best selling songs for Diana Ross, ELP, Trixter and Ace Frehley, co-wrote most of the remaining tracks with Dean and Reno. 

Like every Loverboy album to date, it’s loud yet it has soul and warmth.
The heart on the sleeve love laments and the pulse quickening hooks perhaps began to pale a little, but it still went platinum. They must have been doing something right. ***1/2

Review by Brian McGowan


Featured Artist: JOSH TAERK

Since early 2020 Josh has been entertaining us with exclusive monthly live sessions,

Check out videos here: https://www.facebook.com/getreadytorockradio




David Randall presents a weekly show on Get Ready to ROCK! Radio, Sundays at 22:00 GMT, repeated on Mondays and Fridays), when he invites listeners to ‘Assume The Position’. The show signposts forthcoming gigs and tours and latest additions at getreadytorock.com. First broadcast 26 April 2026.


UK Blues Broadcaster of the Year (2020 and 2021 Finalist) Pete Feenstra presents his weekly Rock & Blues Show on Tuesday at 19:00 GMT as part of a five hour blues rock marathon “Tuesday is Bluesday at GRTR!”. The show is repeated on Wednesdays at 22:00, Fridays at 20:00). First broadcast on 21 April 2026

How to Listen Live?

Click the programming image at the top of the page (top right of page if using desktop)

Get Ready to ROCK! Radio is also in iTunes under Internet Radio/Classic Rock
Listen in via the Tunein app and search for “Get Ready to ROCK!” and save as favourite.

More information and links at our radio website where you can listen live or listen again to shows via the presenter pages: getreadytorockradio.com


Power Plays w/c 11 May 2026

BREITLER Sentinel (El Puerto Records)
FIRE IN HER EYES Too Late To Change (indie)
KING FALCON Wait (indie)
BEAUTIFUL SKELETONS Come What May (indie)
KARIN PARK Shadow (Size Records)
HARSH Don’t Mess With Me (indie)

Featured Albums w/c 11 May 2026

09:00-12:00 The Best of 2003 – 2025 (Melodic Rock)
12:00-13:00 The Best of 2003 – 2025 (Melodic Hard Rock)
14:00-16:00 The Best of 2003 – 2025 (Singer Songwriter)


Our occasional Newsletter signposts latest additions to the website(s). We also include a selection of recent top albums, based on GRTR! reviewer ratings.  The newsletter is sent out a few times a year.

If you’d like to register to receive this occasional mailing please complete the form:

If using a smartphone/tablet please tap here or re-orientate your device

(Note that this registration is separate from site registration which allows you to leave comments and receive daily emails about new content. If you wish to register for this – in addition or separately – please click or tap here – for more information – the form is at the foot of each page. Please read our privacy policy when opting-in to receive emails.


Recent (last 30 days)


EP review: CUSTARD DREAM – Blue Wave

3MS [release date: 17.12.21]

Custard Dream is Ryan Davies, a young man who’s written, produced and performed everything you hear on this 6 track EP, Blue Wave.

The label, 3MS, could be stylised as the gambler who likes to take a punt on the outsiders, with the utmost confidence that one or more of the bands he’s backing will soon break through.

There are perhaps a few more mainstream bands on the label now, like Saints Of Sin and High Treason, but this one man band could be the one.

Davies’s signature sound is hard to pin down. The melancholy tones and slender tune of opener ‘Asteroid’ are guided by chirping rhythms, and glassy synths, punctuated by a resounding programmed bass line. It all suggests that Davies’s musical inspiration is drawn mainly from the Synth/New Wave bands of the eighties, like Tears For Fears or OMD.

Subsequent tracks are much more interesting. ‘Back In The Room’ and ‘Ocarina Vice’ riff off that whole Wang Chung/ Hall & Oates blue eyed soul vibe that peaked in the mid eighties.

But it’s probably ‘Mastermind Champion’ that works best. If only for the way in which the processed vocals and distorted keys lead ultimately to the sparkling pop immediacy of the hook, and one of the best lines of lyrics you’ll hear this year – “I’m the Mastermind champion, and you’re my speciality, but it’s like I’m playing Guess Who indefinitely”. Make of that what you will.

The EP closes with a synth rock interpretation of Led Zeppelin’s ‘When The Levee Breaks’. Yes, it sucks out the blues, but it fills the void with satisfying synth soul. It works surprisingly well.

Ryan Davies, aka Custard Dream. Two names to watch. ***1/2

Review by Brian McGowan


Featured Artist: JOSH TAERK

Since early 2020 Josh has been entertaining us with exclusive monthly live sessions,

Check out videos here: https://www.facebook.com/getreadytorockradio




David Randall presents a weekly show on Get Ready to ROCK! Radio, Sundays at 22:00 GMT, repeated on Mondays and Fridays), when he invites listeners to ‘Assume The Position’. The show signposts forthcoming gigs and tours and latest additions at getreadytorock.com. First broadcast 26 April 2026.


UK Blues Broadcaster of the Year (2020 and 2021 Finalist) Pete Feenstra presents his weekly Rock & Blues Show on Tuesday at 19:00 GMT as part of a five hour blues rock marathon “Tuesday is Bluesday at GRTR!”. The show is repeated on Wednesdays at 22:00, Fridays at 20:00). First broadcast on 21 April 2026

How to Listen Live?

Click the programming image at the top of the page (top right of page if using desktop)

Get Ready to ROCK! Radio is also in iTunes under Internet Radio/Classic Rock
Listen in via the Tunein app and search for “Get Ready to ROCK!” and save as favourite.

More information and links at our radio website where you can listen live or listen again to shows via the presenter pages: getreadytorockradio.com


Power Plays w/c 11 May 2026

BREITLER Sentinel (El Puerto Records)
FIRE IN HER EYES Too Late To Change (indie)
KING FALCON Wait (indie)
BEAUTIFUL SKELETONS Come What May (indie)
KARIN PARK Shadow (Size Records)
HARSH Don’t Mess With Me (indie)

Featured Albums w/c 11 May 2026

09:00-12:00 The Best of 2003 – 2025 (Melodic Rock)
12:00-13:00 The Best of 2003 – 2025 (Melodic Hard Rock)
14:00-16:00 The Best of 2003 – 2025 (Singer Songwriter)


Our occasional Newsletter signposts latest additions to the website(s). We also include a selection of recent top albums, based on GRTR! reviewer ratings.  The newsletter is sent out a few times a year.

If you’d like to register to receive this occasional mailing please complete the form:

If using a smartphone/tablet please tap here or re-orientate your device

(Note that this registration is separate from site registration which allows you to leave comments and receive daily emails about new content. If you wish to register for this – in addition or separately – please click or tap here – for more information – the form is at the foot of each page. Please read our privacy policy when opting-in to receive emails.


Recent (last 30 days)


Album review: KISSIN’ DYNAMITE – Not The End Of The Road

Kissin’ Dynamite - Not the End of the Road

Napalm Records [Release date 21.01.22]

Kissin’ Dynamite is a German band, formed in 2007. Entertaining the public with great albums for over 20 years, they now release their new album, ‘Not the End of the Road’, and it would be an understatement to call it just ‘good’.

The album starts with a catchy and melodic song, named as the album itself, ‘Not the End of the Road’. It goes on with ‘What Goes Up’ which draws a more ecstatic feeling to it – one to play at a party. ‘Good Life’ (featuring Saltatio Mortis/Alea, Guernica Mancini & Charlotte Wessels) is more melodic and innovative, combining feelings of hopefulness and love. Quite opposite to ‘Only the Dead’, which embraces the beauty of the unknown when it comes to being six feet under.

‘Yoko Ono’ goes slightly Pop-Rock style, making you want to dance and jump around – who says the 80’s has been forgotten? ‘Coming home’ will hit home for many people who have been away from their loved ones in the past 2 years, with everything that has happened around the world – but nonetheless it shows the greatness of the band for reaching to people’s emotions through their music.

‘All for a Halleluja’ brings the album back to its heavy metal feeling, with the intro guitars being outstanding. ‘No One Dies a Virgin’ is filled with great lyrics, such as ‘[…] it makes you lose your cocky winner-smile’ and ‘In the very end life f*cks us all’, which will definitely bring a smile on your face.

The 9th song in their album of 12, ‘Gone for Good’ reminds of me early Axel Rudi Pell with its glam feeling to it and lyrics like ‘Funny how all our yesterdays grow pale’. It also allows Hannes Braun to show his empowering and strong voice. ‘Defeat it’ follows the same route when it comes to emphasizing Braun’s voice and it is impossible not to like it.

‘Voodoo Spell’ brings back the excitement from the beginning of the album, being a super captivating and melodious song, including some tribal beats alongside an intense guitar. All that to introduce us to the last song of the album, ‘Scars’ which is a gentle, acoustic and mellow song. It brings a lot of emotion while listening to it and closes the album on a feeling of yearning for more. ***1/2

Review by Marina Negru


Featured Artist: JOSH TAERK

Since early 2020 Josh has been entertaining us with exclusive monthly live sessions,

Check out videos here: https://www.facebook.com/getreadytorockradio




David Randall presents a weekly show on Get Ready to ROCK! Radio, Sundays at 22:00 GMT, repeated on Mondays and Fridays), when he invites listeners to ‘Assume The Position’. The show signposts forthcoming gigs and tours and latest additions at getreadytorock.com. First broadcast 26 April 2026.


UK Blues Broadcaster of the Year (2020 and 2021 Finalist) Pete Feenstra presents his weekly Rock & Blues Show on Tuesday at 19:00 GMT as part of a five hour blues rock marathon “Tuesday is Bluesday at GRTR!”. The show is repeated on Wednesdays at 22:00, Fridays at 20:00). First broadcast on 21 April 2026

How to Listen Live?

Click the programming image at the top of the page (top right of page if using desktop)

Get Ready to ROCK! Radio is also in iTunes under Internet Radio/Classic Rock
Listen in via the Tunein app and search for “Get Ready to ROCK!” and save as favourite.

More information and links at our radio website where you can listen live or listen again to shows via the presenter pages: getreadytorockradio.com


Power Plays w/c 11 May 2026

BREITLER Sentinel (El Puerto Records)
FIRE IN HER EYES Too Late To Change (indie)
KING FALCON Wait (indie)
BEAUTIFUL SKELETONS Come What May (indie)
KARIN PARK Shadow (Size Records)
HARSH Don’t Mess With Me (indie)

Featured Albums w/c 11 May 2026

09:00-12:00 The Best of 2003 – 2025 (Melodic Rock)
12:00-13:00 The Best of 2003 – 2025 (Melodic Hard Rock)
14:00-16:00 The Best of 2003 – 2025 (Singer Songwriter)


Our occasional Newsletter signposts latest additions to the website(s). We also include a selection of recent top albums, based on GRTR! reviewer ratings.  The newsletter is sent out a few times a year.

If you’d like to register to receive this occasional mailing please complete the form:

If using a smartphone/tablet please tap here or re-orientate your device

(Note that this registration is separate from site registration which allows you to leave comments and receive daily emails about new content. If you wish to register for this – in addition or separately – please click or tap here – for more information – the form is at the foot of each page. Please read our privacy policy when opting-in to receive emails.


Recent (last 30 days)


EP review: JASON SWEENEY – Welcome To Bathvegas

JASON SWEENEY - Bathvegas

Facebook [Release date 07.01.22]

We’ve played a couple of songs Jason Sweeney released last year on GRTR! Radio, including the rather good ‘She’s A Fighter’. Now he kicks off 2022 with a new five song EP where he is joined by Scott Hannah (guitar), Craig Rolls (keys), Brian Stewart (bass) and Chris Kip Smith (drums).

The EP starts off with the classy melodic rocker ‘Without Love’, complete with parptastic keyboard fills. Chances are if you enjoy the likes of Nestor or Night Flight Orchestra you’ll like this 80s influenced tune.  ‘Drinking For The Weekend’ (with plenty of cowbell throughout!), is a raucous rocker that is one of those good time songs, perfect as a musical pick me up.

‘Love By The Hour’ is pretty standard fare, however, the pace picks up nicely on ‘Georgia Sunshine’. The guitar riffs neatly combining with the piano, with another fine guitar solo on the outro. ‘The Road I Take’ sees the EP out with the sort of tune Bon Jovi used to do. Good use of harmony vocals on this one.

Musically this one hits the spot as Jason Sweeney has assembled a good bunch of musicians. The production allows each instrument to be heard clearly, none of that overly cluttered sound that has spoiled a few recent melodic rock releases by other artists.

Jason Sweeney deserves to be more widely known based on the highly enjoyable EP. Lovers of melodic hard rock should investigate and invest in this EP pronto. ****

Review by Jason Ritchie


Featured Artist: JOSH TAERK

Since early 2020 Josh has been entertaining us with exclusive monthly live sessions,

Check out videos here: https://www.facebook.com/getreadytorockradio




David Randall presents a weekly show on Get Ready to ROCK! Radio, Sundays at 22:00 GMT, repeated on Mondays and Fridays), when he invites listeners to ‘Assume The Position’. The show signposts forthcoming gigs and tours and latest additions at getreadytorock.com. First broadcast 26 April 2026.


UK Blues Broadcaster of the Year (2020 and 2021 Finalist) Pete Feenstra presents his weekly Rock & Blues Show on Tuesday at 19:00 GMT as part of a five hour blues rock marathon “Tuesday is Bluesday at GRTR!”. The show is repeated on Wednesdays at 22:00, Fridays at 20:00). First broadcast on 21 April 2026

How to Listen Live?

Click the programming image at the top of the page (top right of page if using desktop)

Get Ready to ROCK! Radio is also in iTunes under Internet Radio/Classic Rock
Listen in via the Tunein app and search for “Get Ready to ROCK!” and save as favourite.

More information and links at our radio website where you can listen live or listen again to shows via the presenter pages: getreadytorockradio.com


Power Plays w/c 11 May 2026

BREITLER Sentinel (El Puerto Records)
FIRE IN HER EYES Too Late To Change (indie)
KING FALCON Wait (indie)
BEAUTIFUL SKELETONS Come What May (indie)
KARIN PARK Shadow (Size Records)
HARSH Don’t Mess With Me (indie)

Featured Albums w/c 11 May 2026

09:00-12:00 The Best of 2003 – 2025 (Melodic Rock)
12:00-13:00 The Best of 2003 – 2025 (Melodic Hard Rock)
14:00-16:00 The Best of 2003 – 2025 (Singer Songwriter)


Our occasional Newsletter signposts latest additions to the website(s). We also include a selection of recent top albums, based on GRTR! reviewer ratings.  The newsletter is sent out a few times a year.

If you’d like to register to receive this occasional mailing please complete the form:

If using a smartphone/tablet please tap here or re-orientate your device

(Note that this registration is separate from site registration which allows you to leave comments and receive daily emails about new content. If you wish to register for this – in addition or separately – please click or tap here – for more information – the form is at the foot of each page. Please read our privacy policy when opting-in to receive emails.


Recent (last 30 days)


Album review: IVY GOLD – Six Dusty Winds

Pete Feenstra chatted to Manou and Sebastian from Ivy Gold for Get Ready to ROCK! Radio.  First broadcast 9 January 2022.

Ivy Gold - Six Dusty Winds

Golden Ivy Records [Release date: 12.03.21]

Ivy Gold is a muscular international rock-blues band featuring the dynamic duo of Austrian vocalist Manou and German guitarist Sebastian Eder, formerly of power metal outfit Avalon.

They work hard on their songs and fill their expansive arrangements with plenty of gusto and enough room for spontaneity.

The band is powered by the punchy rhythm section of drummer Tal Bergman, (Terence Trent Darby, Rod Stewart, Joe Zawinul, BB King and Joe Bonamassa etc) and German based American bassist Kevin Moore.

The lineup is completed by keyboard player Anders Olinder who was last seen with Sari Schorr and Glenn Hughes.

The band’s hard rocking style is based round Eder’s soaring guitar work, Olinder’s keyboard noodles and Manou’s wiry vocals, which on the opening cut ‘Face Of Deceit’ and the later ‘Suspicion’ reminds me of Amon Düül II’s Renate Knaup.

The impressive thing about this album is the way that the band grows exponentially over 10 tracks that give everyone room to breathe, stretch out and shape their collective identity.

‘Believe’ for example, bubbles up from a funky groove into a dazzling organ and guitar solo to give the song its defining touches.

‘We Are One’ also draws on a similar funky feel with an animated vocal and a big hair era chanted hook which unfortunately gives it a slightly dated feel.

‘This Is My Time’ is a similar guitar driven funky groove with a notably uplifting anthemic chorus.

The dirge filled title track asks some questions of Manou’s vocals, which she answers favourably when she soars rather than growls.

‘Suspicion’ is a guitar tour de force, opening in a bluesy vein, but then becomes more funkier over a cool organ line. It also marks the point in the musical journey when the project seems to be more relaxed and grooves nicely, especially on the very cool slow fade out.

For the most part, Ivy Gold straddle hard rock bluster, funk and blues, while the slow burning ‘Retribution’ strikes a neat balance between a subtle arrangement, Manou’s hard rock phrasing and a gospel influenced chanted hook which neatly resolves the piece.

Eder again comes into his own with a fluid solo on the melodic radio friendly ‘Shine On’, while ‘Without You’ finds Manou almost over singing on an otherwise laid back track full Eder’s delicate notes, Linder’s cool organ flourishes and Bergman’s subtle shuffle percussive work.

‘Born Again’ rounds things off impressively in hard rocking style, as Eder’s opening guitar burst cuts through a mid-tempo track that borders on the ponderous, but is rescued by the  uplifting lyric: “My soul is rising higher.” The song is finally  transformed by the big chorus and Eder’s defining solo that leaves you wanting more.

There’s plenty of good hard rocking vitality here, making ‘Six Dusty Winds’ a solid enough debut. It’s an album forged by an impressive collective musical ability that is only a few good songs short of a being completely convincing.

File under promising. ***½

Review by Pete Feenstra


Featured Artist: JOSH TAERK

Since early 2020 Josh has been entertaining us with exclusive monthly live sessions,

Check out videos here: https://www.facebook.com/getreadytorockradio




David Randall presents a weekly show on Get Ready to ROCK! Radio, Sundays at 22:00 GMT, repeated on Mondays and Fridays), when he invites listeners to ‘Assume The Position’. The show signposts forthcoming gigs and tours and latest additions at getreadytorock.com. First broadcast 26 April 2026.


UK Blues Broadcaster of the Year (2020 and 2021 Finalist) Pete Feenstra presents his weekly Rock & Blues Show on Tuesday at 19:00 GMT as part of a five hour blues rock marathon “Tuesday is Bluesday at GRTR!”. The show is repeated on Wednesdays at 22:00, Fridays at 20:00). First broadcast on 21 April 2026

How to Listen Live?

Click the programming image at the top of the page (top right of page if using desktop)

Get Ready to ROCK! Radio is also in iTunes under Internet Radio/Classic Rock
Listen in via the Tunein app and search for “Get Ready to ROCK!” and save as favourite.

More information and links at our radio website where you can listen live or listen again to shows via the presenter pages: getreadytorockradio.com


Power Plays w/c 11 May 2026

BREITLER Sentinel (El Puerto Records)
FIRE IN HER EYES Too Late To Change (indie)
KING FALCON Wait (indie)
BEAUTIFUL SKELETONS Come What May (indie)
KARIN PARK Shadow (Size Records)
HARSH Don’t Mess With Me (indie)

Featured Albums w/c 11 May 2026

09:00-12:00 The Best of 2003 – 2025 (Melodic Rock)
12:00-13:00 The Best of 2003 – 2025 (Melodic Hard Rock)
14:00-16:00 The Best of 2003 – 2025 (Singer Songwriter)


Our occasional Newsletter signposts latest additions to the website(s). We also include a selection of recent top albums, based on GRTR! reviewer ratings.  The newsletter is sent out a few times a year.

If you’d like to register to receive this occasional mailing please complete the form:

If using a smartphone/tablet please tap here or re-orientate your device

(Note that this registration is separate from site registration which allows you to leave comments and receive daily emails about new content. If you wish to register for this – in addition or separately – please click or tap here – for more information – the form is at the foot of each page. Please read our privacy policy when opting-in to receive emails.


Recent (last 30 days)


Album review: DIRTY WHITE BOY – Bad Reputation (Remaster with bonus track)

Bad Reputation Records [Released 16.12.21]

Dirty White Boy originally released Bad Reputation in 1990.

Melodic hard rock had entered the new decade unconvincingly, and was rapidly evolving into a bloated, corporate rock cliché. Bad Reputation was a significant exception.

The fast formed assembly of three seasoned professionals, Earl (Lennon/Bowie) Slick, Keni (Autograph) Richards and ex Giuffria vocalist, David Glen Eisley had talent to burn. They cranked the machine back to a better time, and recorded one of the era’s outstanding albums.

France’s premier rock reissue label is named for this album. Fittingly then, it has given us a remastered version (with bonus track) to remind us of that rich feeling that hard rock has when great musicians are in the room at the same time.
The band’s percolation of robust melodies through seventies’ hard rock produced powerful, punchy songs. Slick’s sleazy riffs and Eisley’s abrasive vocals are a lethal combination on every track here.

The glorious, relentless blues rock of ‘Let’s Spend Momma’s Money’ is unquestionably the album standout. And in fact would have stood tall on most rock albums of the time. It dispenses with the usual lyrical banalities of the genre to tell an amusing short story of luck, big winnings and Hollywood.

Everywhere you look, they’re taking classic seventies’ rock and subjecting it to their own forms, structures and influences.
‘Lazy Crazy’ places AC/DC somewhere south of the Mason Dixon line.
The inevitable ballad, ‘You Give The Night’ is low key torch balladry – a sensual mix of the Beatles, Joe Cocker and G’n'R – a welcome change to the cheesy, by- the-numbers chart fodder that had eventually choked the genre.

Elsewhere, the band’s driving, electrifying energy is impossible to resist. ‘Hard Times’ and ‘Badlands’ are full fat, valve driven rock monsters, surging, uplifting, creating an unstoppable groove.

And yet, nothing is overcooked. Yes, it’s in your face hard rock, but you never want to turn away. Even with the bonus track ‘Back in the Night’ (originally appeared on the vinyl single of ‘Let’s Spend…’ in 1990) taking the running time to around 55 minutes, we’re still left wanting more.
A unique album, in more ways than one. ****1/2

review by Brian McGowan


Featured Artist: JOSH TAERK

Since early 2020 Josh has been entertaining us with exclusive monthly live sessions,

Check out videos here: https://www.facebook.com/getreadytorockradio




David Randall presents a weekly show on Get Ready to ROCK! Radio, Sundays at 22:00 GMT, repeated on Mondays and Fridays), when he invites listeners to ‘Assume The Position’. The show signposts forthcoming gigs and tours and latest additions at getreadytorock.com. First broadcast 26 April 2026.


UK Blues Broadcaster of the Year (2020 and 2021 Finalist) Pete Feenstra presents his weekly Rock & Blues Show on Tuesday at 19:00 GMT as part of a five hour blues rock marathon “Tuesday is Bluesday at GRTR!”. The show is repeated on Wednesdays at 22:00, Fridays at 20:00). First broadcast on 21 April 2026

How to Listen Live?

Click the programming image at the top of the page (top right of page if using desktop)

Get Ready to ROCK! Radio is also in iTunes under Internet Radio/Classic Rock
Listen in via the Tunein app and search for “Get Ready to ROCK!” and save as favourite.

More information and links at our radio website where you can listen live or listen again to shows via the presenter pages: getreadytorockradio.com


Power Plays w/c 11 May 2026

BREITLER Sentinel (El Puerto Records)
FIRE IN HER EYES Too Late To Change (indie)
KING FALCON Wait (indie)
BEAUTIFUL SKELETONS Come What May (indie)
KARIN PARK Shadow (Size Records)
HARSH Don’t Mess With Me (indie)

Featured Albums w/c 11 May 2026

09:00-12:00 The Best of 2003 – 2025 (Melodic Rock)
12:00-13:00 The Best of 2003 – 2025 (Melodic Hard Rock)
14:00-16:00 The Best of 2003 – 2025 (Singer Songwriter)


Our occasional Newsletter signposts latest additions to the website(s). We also include a selection of recent top albums, based on GRTR! reviewer ratings.  The newsletter is sent out a few times a year.

If you’d like to register to receive this occasional mailing please complete the form:

If using a smartphone/tablet please tap here or re-orientate your device

(Note that this registration is separate from site registration which allows you to leave comments and receive daily emails about new content. If you wish to register for this – in addition or separately – please click or tap here – for more information – the form is at the foot of each page. Please read our privacy policy when opting-in to receive emails.


Recent (last 30 days)


Album review: JETHRO TULL – The Zealot Gene

JETHRO TULL - The Zealot Gene

InsideOut Music [Release date 28.01.22]

Some, like me, haven’t quite recovered from Martin Barre’s departure from Tull in 2011/12.  And, more recently, it appears his replacement Florian Ophale has given way to Joe Parrish-James although Ophale appears on the new album. On stage, bizarrely, the German successor even looked a bit like Barre.

Ian Anderson has always had a high turnover of staff since the late 1970s, and it seems now it is no different in terms of guitarists although the core band of David Goodier (bass) and John O’Hara (keyboards)  have been mainstays since the early millennium.

Anderson has now fully reclaimed the Jethro Tull moniker, having billed himself a little more circumspectly  in recent years.  But that’s about it as far as changes go because the music is still very much the same, following 2014′s ‘Homo Erraticus’.

The opening tracks are even a throwback to Classic Tull.   Mrs Tibbets has the spirited bounce of ‘Songs From The Wood’  whilst ‘Jacob’s Tales’  has an acoustic ‘Aqualung’ vibe along with ‘Sad City Sisters’. And ‘Mine Is The Mountain’ has echoes of  ‘My God’.

Perhaps we can’t expect much more than reframed past glories with artists of a certain age?

And if we judge Tull by the usual prog rock benchmarks most of these tracks barely touch the four minute mark.

Lyrically, as with recent ‘solo’ albums -  ‘Homo Erraticas’ and ‘Thick As A Brick 2′ – this is demanding, taking biblical themes as a basis for further observation.  However, given the short track lengths, perhaps not appropriately balanced by enough flamboyant instrumentation with Ophale’s contribution in particular very perfunctory.  You can see why Barre took a view a decade ago.

Oh well, ‘The Zealot Gene’ at least provides a platform for further touring. ***1/2

Review by David Randall


Featured Artist: JOSH TAERK

Since early 2020 Josh has been entertaining us with exclusive monthly live sessions,

Check out videos here: https://www.facebook.com/getreadytorockradio




David Randall presents a weekly show on Get Ready to ROCK! Radio, Sundays at 22:00 GMT, repeated on Mondays and Fridays), when he invites listeners to ‘Assume The Position’. The show signposts forthcoming gigs and tours and latest additions at getreadytorock.com. First broadcast 26 April 2026.


UK Blues Broadcaster of the Year (2020 and 2021 Finalist) Pete Feenstra presents his weekly Rock & Blues Show on Tuesday at 19:00 GMT as part of a five hour blues rock marathon “Tuesday is Bluesday at GRTR!”. The show is repeated on Wednesdays at 22:00, Fridays at 20:00). First broadcast on 21 April 2026

How to Listen Live?

Click the programming image at the top of the page (top right of page if using desktop)

Get Ready to ROCK! Radio is also in iTunes under Internet Radio/Classic Rock
Listen in via the Tunein app and search for “Get Ready to ROCK!” and save as favourite.

More information and links at our radio website where you can listen live or listen again to shows via the presenter pages: getreadytorockradio.com


Power Plays w/c 11 May 2026

BREITLER Sentinel (El Puerto Records)
FIRE IN HER EYES Too Late To Change (indie)
KING FALCON Wait (indie)
BEAUTIFUL SKELETONS Come What May (indie)
KARIN PARK Shadow (Size Records)
HARSH Don’t Mess With Me (indie)

Featured Albums w/c 11 May 2026

09:00-12:00 The Best of 2003 – 2025 (Melodic Rock)
12:00-13:00 The Best of 2003 – 2025 (Melodic Hard Rock)
14:00-16:00 The Best of 2003 – 2025 (Singer Songwriter)


Our occasional Newsletter signposts latest additions to the website(s). We also include a selection of recent top albums, based on GRTR! reviewer ratings.  The newsletter is sent out a few times a year.

If you’d like to register to receive this occasional mailing please complete the form:

If using a smartphone/tablet please tap here or re-orientate your device

(Note that this registration is separate from site registration which allows you to leave comments and receive daily emails about new content. If you wish to register for this – in addition or separately – please click or tap here – for more information – the form is at the foot of each page. Please read our privacy policy when opting-in to receive emails.


Recent (last 30 days)


Album review: STEVE GIBBONS BAND – Rollin’-The Albums 1976-78 (5CD boxset)

Pete Feenstra chatted to Steve Gibbons for Get Ready to ROCK! radio.  First broadcast 16 January 2022.

Cherry Red [Release date 07.01.22]

The Steve Gibbons Band family tree has so many branches, you’d be forgiven for thinking that it’s an impenetrable forest of rock’n'roll connections.

The man’s career is well documented, from his beginnings playing in strip clubs, to touring with The Who, Little Feat, Lynyrd Skynyrd and other rock’n'roll luminaries, to his time recording a bunch of streetsmart albums that still sound relevant today. And there is probably no better insider’s perspective than the one written by regular GRTR! contributor, Pete Feenstra, on his website. Take a look.

This (remastered) 5 CD boxset catches the band on the rise in the seventies, moulding blues, country, pop and pub rock into one homogenous sound that began to resonate loudly in the UK.

It’s the closest the band have come to offering up a representative body of work in one helping.

Any Road Up (1976) didn’t set the world alight, but in focusing mainly on rough edged, but finely tailored pub/street rock, it was a welcome alternative for many music fans to the rise of Punk.

It maybe attempts to tick too many stylistic boxes. Yet, that said, although the unrelenting drive of ‘Take Me Home’ and the poetic, hard edged pop of ‘Standing On the Bridge’ make for strange bedfellows, they are both exceptional examples of how to write and record outstanding material.

A year later the band recorded their follow up, Rollin On. (these were the days when labels pushed artists for at least one album a year).

An ironic cover of Chuck Berry’s ‘Tulane’, was subsequently released as a single, and became a welcome, if surprising Top Ten hit.

The same country rock (Now You Know Me) and pop (Wild Flowers) influences loom large on this second album as the debut, but overall the writing is sharper now and there’s a strutting, swaggering confidence across the board.

Live on stage is where the SGB separate themselves from other bands.

Remastered with clarity and crispness, Caught In The Act is testament to the power of live performance.

It’s the arena in which genuinely talented musicians can surprise their audience with “not previously released” rock’n'roll nuggets like ‘One Of The Boys’ and ‘You Gotta Pay’. Then deploy their bolted-to-the-floor rhythm section in building to the 1,2,3 knockout punch of ‘Tulane’, ‘Speed Kills’ and ‘Rollin’ to close the set.

1978′s Down In The Bunker is widely claimed by discerning music critics to be the pinnacle of the band’s studio recordings. Maybe they have been influenced by Tony Visconti’s populist production, which tries hard to bridge from the band’s street smart rock’n'roll groove to the sound of the late seventies’ zeitgeist. But the ornate instrumentation sometimes gets in the way of the songs.

That said, the catchy pop immediacy of ‘Eddy Vortex’ allowed for a minor hit single in the UK, and the toe-tapping ‘Any Road Up’ again demonstrated the sheer versatility of Gibbon’s songwriting talent.

The fifth and final CD in the set, a BBC Radio One In Concert, recorded live at the Golders Green Hippodrome in 1977, again demonstrates the excitement this band generates on stage. Being performed live seems to give their material an emotional weight, an intensity that grabs hold of the audience.

It might not be quite warts’n all, who knows, but one thing was clear, and was noted in the music press at the time – Gibbons’ live version of his self penned song, ‘One Of The Boys’ was easily the equal of Roger Daltrey’s version. It was The Who singer’s title track on his third solo album, released in the same year.

What we haven’t mentioned so far is the bountiful provision of bonus tracks across these 5 CDs. Many come from John Peel sessions, which is not surprising given Peels pioneering spirit. Others have been tracked down by Cherry Red’s archive detectives. There are 20 in all, helping form a clear musical picture of a talented band making its way in the world nearly fifty years ago. ****

Review by Brian McGowan


Featured Artist: JOSH TAERK

Since early 2020 Josh has been entertaining us with exclusive monthly live sessions,

Check out videos here: https://www.facebook.com/getreadytorockradio




David Randall presents a weekly show on Get Ready to ROCK! Radio, Sundays at 22:00 GMT, repeated on Mondays and Fridays), when he invites listeners to ‘Assume The Position’. The show signposts forthcoming gigs and tours and latest additions at getreadytorock.com. First broadcast 26 April 2026.


UK Blues Broadcaster of the Year (2020 and 2021 Finalist) Pete Feenstra presents his weekly Rock & Blues Show on Tuesday at 19:00 GMT as part of a five hour blues rock marathon “Tuesday is Bluesday at GRTR!”. The show is repeated on Wednesdays at 22:00, Fridays at 20:00). First broadcast on 21 April 2026

How to Listen Live?

Click the programming image at the top of the page (top right of page if using desktop)

Get Ready to ROCK! Radio is also in iTunes under Internet Radio/Classic Rock
Listen in via the Tunein app and search for “Get Ready to ROCK!” and save as favourite.

More information and links at our radio website where you can listen live or listen again to shows via the presenter pages: getreadytorockradio.com


Power Plays w/c 11 May 2026

BREITLER Sentinel (El Puerto Records)
FIRE IN HER EYES Too Late To Change (indie)
KING FALCON Wait (indie)
BEAUTIFUL SKELETONS Come What May (indie)
KARIN PARK Shadow (Size Records)
HARSH Don’t Mess With Me (indie)

Featured Albums w/c 11 May 2026

09:00-12:00 The Best of 2003 – 2025 (Melodic Rock)
12:00-13:00 The Best of 2003 – 2025 (Melodic Hard Rock)
14:00-16:00 The Best of 2003 – 2025 (Singer Songwriter)


Our occasional Newsletter signposts latest additions to the website(s). We also include a selection of recent top albums, based on GRTR! reviewer ratings.  The newsletter is sent out a few times a year.

If you’d like to register to receive this occasional mailing please complete the form:

If using a smartphone/tablet please tap here or re-orientate your device

(Note that this registration is separate from site registration which allows you to leave comments and receive daily emails about new content. If you wish to register for this – in addition or separately – please click or tap here – for more information – the form is at the foot of each page. Please read our privacy policy when opting-in to receive emails.


Recent (last 30 days)


Album review: LIFESIGNS – Altitude

Lifesigns - Altitude

Lifesigns Music [Release date: 08.03.21]

There are certain bands aren’t there that make you wonder “why aren’t this band massive?” and Lifesigns undoubtedly fall into this category.

Essentially the band of keyboard wizard John Young, whose eclectic career has included playing with bands and artists as diverse as Yes, Steeleye Span, The Law (with Paul Rodgers), Scorpions and Bonnie Tyler, and who has assembled for this album a coterie of exceptional musicians – not least Jon Poole (The Dowling Poole), Peter Knight (Steeleye Span) and Robin Boult (Fish).

Added to this stellar cast is fretmeister Dave Bainbridge (Iona) who brings his considerable six string talents to bear all over ‘Altitude’ – to dizzying effect.

‘Altitude’ is the third album from the band following their superb debut ‘Lifesigns’ in 2013 (which also included bass maestro Nick Beggs) and sophomore, critically acclaimed, ‘Cardington’ from 2017.

Recorded remotely (as so many have been lately), ’Altitude is an object lesson in melodic progressive rock – its sweeping keyboard flourishes and insistent ear-worm riffs blending beautifully with Bainbridge’s soulful guitar to produce a rounded, and musically diverse album.

Fans of the likes of Marillion, Genesis and Camel will find much to enjoy here – fans of the more challenging end of the prog spectrum should probably look elsewhere.

There are highlights everywhere, not least on the fifteen minute opening title track ‘Altitude’ whose cascading piano arpeggios give a delicious foretaste of the joys to come, with Peter Knight’s violin adding that je ne sais quoi and Bainbridge’s occasionally jazz-inflected fretwork contributing to a track that epitomises what the melodic prog genre is all about.

The high-points come thick and fast – ‘Gregarious’ with its Gilmouresque solo from Bainbridge, the Marillion-like keys of ‘Ivory Tower’, the jazzy feel and anthemic chorus of ‘Shoreline’ and the juxtaposition of light and shade on the ten minute epic ‘Fortitude’.

However, the highwater-mark is probably reached with ‘Last One Home’ – piano-led, but the plaudits scooped up by a heart-rending solo once again from the outstanding Mr. Bainbridge.

Although Young and Bainbridge will take the curtain calls, the band is a wonderful, cohesive whole with Poole’s bass playing rock-solid and the drumming of Zoltan Csörsz – amazing considering he had never met his bandmates – being a late replacement for Frosty Beedle on the drum-stool.

Inevitably there are traces of Genesis, Yes, ELP, Marillion and ‘Floyd here but which melodic prog album doesn’t? – those bands defined the genre – but Lifesigns have a sound that is all their own and with John Young have a great songwriter with an outstanding skillset and a voice tailor-made for this music.

Just one issue that should be flagged up is the price of the album – it’s hard to find it at anything less than twenty pounds.

Perhaps that’s why they’re not massive…

That said, it’s worth every penny.    *****

Review by Alan Jones

Alan sequences ‘The Eclectic Mix’ on Get Ready to ROCK! Radio on the first Sunday of the month at 18:00 GMT.  Expect some prog!

Albums of the Month (January - March 2022)

Gig review (November, 2021)


Featured Artist: JOSH TAERK

Since early 2020 Josh has been entertaining us with exclusive monthly live sessions,

Check out videos here: https://www.facebook.com/getreadytorockradio




David Randall presents a weekly show on Get Ready to ROCK! Radio, Sundays at 22:00 GMT, repeated on Mondays and Fridays), when he invites listeners to ‘Assume The Position’. The show signposts forthcoming gigs and tours and latest additions at getreadytorock.com. First broadcast 26 April 2026.


UK Blues Broadcaster of the Year (2020 and 2021 Finalist) Pete Feenstra presents his weekly Rock & Blues Show on Tuesday at 19:00 GMT as part of a five hour blues rock marathon “Tuesday is Bluesday at GRTR!”. The show is repeated on Wednesdays at 22:00, Fridays at 20:00). First broadcast on 21 April 2026

How to Listen Live?

Click the programming image at the top of the page (top right of page if using desktop)

Get Ready to ROCK! Radio is also in iTunes under Internet Radio/Classic Rock
Listen in via the Tunein app and search for “Get Ready to ROCK!” and save as favourite.

More information and links at our radio website where you can listen live or listen again to shows via the presenter pages: getreadytorockradio.com


Power Plays w/c 11 May 2026

BREITLER Sentinel (El Puerto Records)
FIRE IN HER EYES Too Late To Change (indie)
KING FALCON Wait (indie)
BEAUTIFUL SKELETONS Come What May (indie)
KARIN PARK Shadow (Size Records)
HARSH Don’t Mess With Me (indie)

Featured Albums w/c 11 May 2026

09:00-12:00 The Best of 2003 – 2025 (Melodic Rock)
12:00-13:00 The Best of 2003 – 2025 (Melodic Hard Rock)
14:00-16:00 The Best of 2003 – 2025 (Singer Songwriter)


Our occasional Newsletter signposts latest additions to the website(s). We also include a selection of recent top albums, based on GRTR! reviewer ratings.  The newsletter is sent out a few times a year.

If you’d like to register to receive this occasional mailing please complete the form:

If using a smartphone/tablet please tap here or re-orientate your device

(Note that this registration is separate from site registration which allows you to leave comments and receive daily emails about new content. If you wish to register for this – in addition or separately – please click or tap here – for more information – the form is at the foot of each page. Please read our privacy policy when opting-in to receive emails.


Recent (last 30 days)


Album review: SONATA ARTICA – Acoustic Adventures: Volume One

SONATA ARTICA - Acoustic Adventures - Volume One

Atomic Fire Records [Release date 21.01.22]

After Sonata Artica toured in 2016 with an acoustic set and then again in 2019. From these two successful tours the idea was born to capture these versions on two acoustic albums, the second of which is due later this year.

“Not all of the stuff we tried worked out which is why some songs were not recorded,” Henkka stated, adding “…a lot of the songs sound quite different from the original versions.”

The two opening songs, ‘The Rest Of The Sun Belongs To Me’ and ‘For The Sake Of Revenge’, are easy on the ear with minimal acoustic backing. Vocalist Tony Kakko sounds uncannily like Klaus Meine of Scorpions on this pair.

A cunning mix of banjo and organ run through ‘A Little Less Understanding’, one of the stand out arrangements on the album. ‘Tallulah’ is a beautiful song and not surprisingly one of their most popular songs in the streaming world.

Plenty of changes in pace too, as ‘The Wolves Die Young’ romps along, as does ‘Wolf & Raven’, where Henrik “Henkka” Klingenberg plays at lightning speed. These two songs would doubtless be great fun to hear performed live.

The whole concept works well as the band have adapted the songs, adding in extra instruments where needed, and Tony Kakko’s vocals fit the frequent quieter moments perfectly.

Sonata Artica have passed me by somewhat which is my musical loss as this band have some talent and songs. After listening to their acoustic versions of their songs on this album I have been investigating their back catalogue as I would humbly suggest you do, if not already a fan. Power and melodic metal songs never sounded so good in acoustic form. ****

Review by Jason Ritchie


Featured Artist: JOSH TAERK

Since early 2020 Josh has been entertaining us with exclusive monthly live sessions,

Check out videos here: https://www.facebook.com/getreadytorockradio




David Randall presents a weekly show on Get Ready to ROCK! Radio, Sundays at 22:00 GMT, repeated on Mondays and Fridays), when he invites listeners to ‘Assume The Position’. The show signposts forthcoming gigs and tours and latest additions at getreadytorock.com. First broadcast 26 April 2026.


UK Blues Broadcaster of the Year (2020 and 2021 Finalist) Pete Feenstra presents his weekly Rock & Blues Show on Tuesday at 19:00 GMT as part of a five hour blues rock marathon “Tuesday is Bluesday at GRTR!”. The show is repeated on Wednesdays at 22:00, Fridays at 20:00). First broadcast on 21 April 2026

How to Listen Live?

Click the programming image at the top of the page (top right of page if using desktop)

Get Ready to ROCK! Radio is also in iTunes under Internet Radio/Classic Rock
Listen in via the Tunein app and search for “Get Ready to ROCK!” and save as favourite.

More information and links at our radio website where you can listen live or listen again to shows via the presenter pages: getreadytorockradio.com


Power Plays w/c 11 May 2026

BREITLER Sentinel (El Puerto Records)
FIRE IN HER EYES Too Late To Change (indie)
KING FALCON Wait (indie)
BEAUTIFUL SKELETONS Come What May (indie)
KARIN PARK Shadow (Size Records)
HARSH Don’t Mess With Me (indie)

Featured Albums w/c 11 May 2026

09:00-12:00 The Best of 2003 – 2025 (Melodic Rock)
12:00-13:00 The Best of 2003 – 2025 (Melodic Hard Rock)
14:00-16:00 The Best of 2003 – 2025 (Singer Songwriter)


Our occasional Newsletter signposts latest additions to the website(s). We also include a selection of recent top albums, based on GRTR! reviewer ratings.  The newsletter is sent out a few times a year.

If you’d like to register to receive this occasional mailing please complete the form:

If using a smartphone/tablet please tap here or re-orientate your device

(Note that this registration is separate from site registration which allows you to leave comments and receive daily emails about new content. If you wish to register for this – in addition or separately – please click or tap here – for more information – the form is at the foot of each page. Please read our privacy policy when opting-in to receive emails.


Recent (last 30 days)


Album review: MAGNUM – The Monster Roars

MAGNUM - The Monster Roars

SPV/Steamhammer [Release date 14.01.22]

50 years on, and studio album number 22, there’s no keeping Magnum down – not even a pandemic.  Whilst the band will be frustrated by the tour cancellations following the release of ‘The Serpent Rings’ they can at least look forward to another European tour in April 2022 including the UK.

The early advance tracks were a little confusing.  ‘I Won’t Let You Down’ followed the crooner trajectory that has seeped into recent offerings, presumably to accommodate Bob Catley’s mellowing tones.  But ‘No Steppin Stones’ was a real curveball; Magnum with a brass section.  At least it was more upbeat.  Labels and bands usually put out an album’s strongest tracks early on so these two were somewhat unsettling as they were diverse.

Tony Clarkin’s songwriting for the band still reigns supreme but whether consciously or not the recurring motif of ‘Remember’ recalls (Don’t Fear) The Reaper.  At least it’s not Saxon!  Elsewhere, there are similarities with previous (recent) offerings; ‘Remember’ also recalls ‘The Archway Of Tears’ from ‘The Serpent Rings’.

The album pivots on that brass-inflected curveball. The following ‘That Freedom Word’ puts a bit more heft in the mix that has been sadly lacking and this continues with ‘Your Blood Is Violence’ and ‘The Day After The Night Before’.  The album’s parting shot even has a rare, if rather too short, wah-wah wig-out from our mainman.

There’s no doubt that Magnum – even with the recent input of Dennis Ward (bass) and Rick Benton (keyboards) – have now succumbed, musically,  to a sort of septuagenerian sepsis. This is evidenced in ‘All You Believe In’ and ‘I Won’t Let You Down’ whilst ‘The Present Not The Past’ continues the AOR vibe of prime-time John Farnham.  ‘Walk The Silent Hours’ is the strongest of these offerings.

Whereas Benton’s keys were a raised-in-the-mix feature of the last two albums sadly they are somewhat submerged apart from a few flourishes here and there not least a rather unexpected coda to ‘Remember’.

The best that can be said about ‘The Monster Roars’ is that it simply tops up a very fine back catalogue but Classic Magnum it is not.  Even Rodney Matthews’ iconic artwork is missing.  This year should simply be a celebration of the great durability and consistent quality of one of our finest rock bands and not least of Bob Catley and Tony Clarkin.  The extended package even recognises this with a remastering of the band’s debut single.  ***1/2

Review by David Randall

Magnum Month @GRTR! (March 2022)
2020 Vision: An Introduction to Magnum

European Tour 2022
28.03. UK-Cambridge – Junction
29.03. UK-Norwich – Waterfront
30.03. UK-London – Islington Assembly Hall
31.03. UK-Birmingham – Symphony Hall
03.04. UK-Southampton – Engine Rooms
04.04. UK-Cardiff – Tramshed
17.04. NL-Weert – De Bosuil
18.04. DE-Frankfurt – Batschkapp (with Gotthard)
19.04. DE-Fürth – Stadthalle (with Gotthard)
20.04. DE-Hannover – Capitol (with Gotthard)
22.04. DE-Singen – Stadthalle (with Gotthard)
23.04. DE-Balingen – Volksbankmesse (with Gotthard)
24.04. DE-Regensburg – Airport Obertraubling (with Gotthard)
26.04. DE-Munich – Tonhalle (with Gotthard)


Featured Artist: JOSH TAERK

Since early 2020 Josh has been entertaining us with exclusive monthly live sessions,

Check out videos here: https://www.facebook.com/getreadytorockradio




David Randall presents a weekly show on Get Ready to ROCK! Radio, Sundays at 22:00 GMT, repeated on Mondays and Fridays), when he invites listeners to ‘Assume The Position’. The show signposts forthcoming gigs and tours and latest additions at getreadytorock.com. First broadcast 26 April 2026.


UK Blues Broadcaster of the Year (2020 and 2021 Finalist) Pete Feenstra presents his weekly Rock & Blues Show on Tuesday at 19:00 GMT as part of a five hour blues rock marathon “Tuesday is Bluesday at GRTR!”. The show is repeated on Wednesdays at 22:00, Fridays at 20:00). First broadcast on 21 April 2026

How to Listen Live?

Click the programming image at the top of the page (top right of page if using desktop)

Get Ready to ROCK! Radio is also in iTunes under Internet Radio/Classic Rock
Listen in via the Tunein app and search for “Get Ready to ROCK!” and save as favourite.

More information and links at our radio website where you can listen live or listen again to shows via the presenter pages: getreadytorockradio.com


Power Plays w/c 11 May 2026

BREITLER Sentinel (El Puerto Records)
FIRE IN HER EYES Too Late To Change (indie)
KING FALCON Wait (indie)
BEAUTIFUL SKELETONS Come What May (indie)
KARIN PARK Shadow (Size Records)
HARSH Don’t Mess With Me (indie)

Featured Albums w/c 11 May 2026

09:00-12:00 The Best of 2003 – 2025 (Melodic Rock)
12:00-13:00 The Best of 2003 – 2025 (Melodic Hard Rock)
14:00-16:00 The Best of 2003 – 2025 (Singer Songwriter)


Our occasional Newsletter signposts latest additions to the website(s). We also include a selection of recent top albums, based on GRTR! reviewer ratings.  The newsletter is sent out a few times a year.

If you’d like to register to receive this occasional mailing please complete the form:

If using a smartphone/tablet please tap here or re-orientate your device

(Note that this registration is separate from site registration which allows you to leave comments and receive daily emails about new content. If you wish to register for this – in addition or separately – please click or tap here – for more information – the form is at the foot of each page. Please read our privacy policy when opting-in to receive emails.


Recent (last 30 days)


EP review: MACHINE’S DREAM – Earth

MACHINE’S DREAM - Earth

Bandcamp [Release date 25.12.21]

Machine’s Dream released this four track EP on Christmas Day via Bandcamp as a ‘pay what you can’ release. The EP not only serves as a taster from their new album due later this year on Progressive Gears, but also introduces the band’s new six piece line-up. Guitarist Keith Conway and drummer Phil Greco join the core of Rob Coleman (guitar), Brian Holmes: (keyboards), Jacob Rendell (vocals) and Craig West (vocals, bass, keyboards, lyrics).

Machine’s Dream have been making music since 2010 and are one of those band’s that successfully blend traditional prog rock influences with a more modern musical twist.

‘Bloodworker’ has hints of Pink Floyd and Porcupine Tree, with ‘Edge of the World’ deftly mixing acoustic guitar and keys to good effect. The keyboards outro on this song is a thing of beauty. ‘Starling’ is different again, leaning more on acoustic backing with another fine bit of keys/synths playing.

‘The Standingfield’ is the EP’s ‘long one’, clocking in at over eleven minutes and one that sees Machine’s Dream go in various musical directions. Little bit of proggy folk, then some musical bombast topped off with deft acoustic guitar and synths at the nine minutes mark.

These four songs certainly whet the appetite for the new album.

Give Machine’s Dream a listen if you haven’t already as they are one of prog’s most consistent and entertaining bands out there. ****

Review by Jason Ritchie


Featured Artist: JOSH TAERK

Since early 2020 Josh has been entertaining us with exclusive monthly live sessions,

Check out videos here: https://www.facebook.com/getreadytorockradio




David Randall presents a weekly show on Get Ready to ROCK! Radio, Sundays at 22:00 GMT, repeated on Mondays and Fridays), when he invites listeners to ‘Assume The Position’. The show signposts forthcoming gigs and tours and latest additions at getreadytorock.com. First broadcast 26 April 2026.


UK Blues Broadcaster of the Year (2020 and 2021 Finalist) Pete Feenstra presents his weekly Rock & Blues Show on Tuesday at 19:00 GMT as part of a five hour blues rock marathon “Tuesday is Bluesday at GRTR!”. The show is repeated on Wednesdays at 22:00, Fridays at 20:00). First broadcast on 21 April 2026

How to Listen Live?

Click the programming image at the top of the page (top right of page if using desktop)

Get Ready to ROCK! Radio is also in iTunes under Internet Radio/Classic Rock
Listen in via the Tunein app and search for “Get Ready to ROCK!” and save as favourite.

More information and links at our radio website where you can listen live or listen again to shows via the presenter pages: getreadytorockradio.com


Power Plays w/c 11 May 2026

BREITLER Sentinel (El Puerto Records)
FIRE IN HER EYES Too Late To Change (indie)
KING FALCON Wait (indie)
BEAUTIFUL SKELETONS Come What May (indie)
KARIN PARK Shadow (Size Records)
HARSH Don’t Mess With Me (indie)

Featured Albums w/c 11 May 2026

09:00-12:00 The Best of 2003 – 2025 (Melodic Rock)
12:00-13:00 The Best of 2003 – 2025 (Melodic Hard Rock)
14:00-16:00 The Best of 2003 – 2025 (Singer Songwriter)


Our occasional Newsletter signposts latest additions to the website(s). We also include a selection of recent top albums, based on GRTR! reviewer ratings.  The newsletter is sent out a few times a year.

If you’d like to register to receive this occasional mailing please complete the form:

If using a smartphone/tablet please tap here or re-orientate your device

(Note that this registration is separate from site registration which allows you to leave comments and receive daily emails about new content. If you wish to register for this – in addition or separately – please click or tap here – for more information – the form is at the foot of each page. Please read our privacy policy when opting-in to receive emails.


Recent (last 30 days)


Album review: SARAH PERROTTA – Blue To Gold

SARAH PERROTTA - Blue To Gold

7D Media/Third Star Records [Release date  15.10.21]

Sarah Perrotta released her debut album – ‘Drink The Sky’ (2000) – with the band Outland Dreamer when 19 and it received rave reviews.  Since that time she has worked with Garth Hudson of The Band who appeared on her second album ‘The Well’ (2008) which also featured legendary bassist Tony Levin (King Crimson, Peter Gabriel).  Levin appears on the follow up ‘Tonight’ (2010) and the latest offering which is produced by another Gabriel alumni, Jerry Marotta.

Perrotta’s vocal style reminds of prime-time Carly Simon fused with a touch of  Helen Reddy and even Imogen Heap.  And there’s a bit of Julia Fordham in there as well.

This is an album of highlights, from the opener ‘The Other Side’ via the bitter sweet ‘The Wilderness’ and the cool groove of ‘Spectrum Of Color’.

We recently reviewed the Christmas album from the band Orleans, mentioning in despatches that during their most commercially successful period Jerry Marotta was their drummer.  Marotta has lent his experienced ear to this album as well as his drums and you can’t help feeling his production is a masterstroke.  It gives free rein to Perrotta’s use of orchestration and multi-tracked backing vocals.

In short this is a sumptuous feast and would have sat nicely in Asylum’s catalogue in another era.  Classic, and classy.  *****

Review by David Randall


Featured Artist: JOSH TAERK

Since early 2020 Josh has been entertaining us with exclusive monthly live sessions,

Check out videos here: https://www.facebook.com/getreadytorockradio




David Randall presents a weekly show on Get Ready to ROCK! Radio, Sundays at 22:00 GMT, repeated on Mondays and Fridays), when he invites listeners to ‘Assume The Position’. The show signposts forthcoming gigs and tours and latest additions at getreadytorock.com. First broadcast 26 April 2026.


UK Blues Broadcaster of the Year (2020 and 2021 Finalist) Pete Feenstra presents his weekly Rock & Blues Show on Tuesday at 19:00 GMT as part of a five hour blues rock marathon “Tuesday is Bluesday at GRTR!”. The show is repeated on Wednesdays at 22:00, Fridays at 20:00). First broadcast on 21 April 2026

How to Listen Live?

Click the programming image at the top of the page (top right of page if using desktop)

Get Ready to ROCK! Radio is also in iTunes under Internet Radio/Classic Rock
Listen in via the Tunein app and search for “Get Ready to ROCK!” and save as favourite.

More information and links at our radio website where you can listen live or listen again to shows via the presenter pages: getreadytorockradio.com


Power Plays w/c 11 May 2026

BREITLER Sentinel (El Puerto Records)
FIRE IN HER EYES Too Late To Change (indie)
KING FALCON Wait (indie)
BEAUTIFUL SKELETONS Come What May (indie)
KARIN PARK Shadow (Size Records)
HARSH Don’t Mess With Me (indie)

Featured Albums w/c 11 May 2026

09:00-12:00 The Best of 2003 – 2025 (Melodic Rock)
12:00-13:00 The Best of 2003 – 2025 (Melodic Hard Rock)
14:00-16:00 The Best of 2003 – 2025 (Singer Songwriter)


Our occasional Newsletter signposts latest additions to the website(s). We also include a selection of recent top albums, based on GRTR! reviewer ratings.  The newsletter is sent out a few times a year.

If you’d like to register to receive this occasional mailing please complete the form:

If using a smartphone/tablet please tap here or re-orientate your device

(Note that this registration is separate from site registration which allows you to leave comments and receive daily emails about new content. If you wish to register for this – in addition or separately – please click or tap here – for more information – the form is at the foot of each page. Please read our privacy policy when opting-in to receive emails.


Recent (last 30 days)


Album review: STARLITE CAMPBELL BAND – The Language Of Curiosity

Pete Feenstra chatted to Suzi Starlite and Simon Campbell for Get Ready to ROCK! Radio.  First broadcast on 12 December 2021.

Starlite Campbell Band - The Language Of Curiosity

Supertone [Release date 29.09.21]

The Starlite Campbell Band’s second album ‘The Language of Curiosity’ is a cross genre, conceptual indie blues album, full of honest songs, great playing and shot through with an undeniable joie de vivre.

It’s a well written, superbly crafted and passionately delivered album with a subtle organic retro feel. 10 heartfelt songs are given their immediacy by consistent vocal harmonies, studio experimentation and plenty of spontaneity.

And though it only features a couple actual blues outings, it’s an album that explores the way various facets of the blues act as a catalyst for a broader musical canvas in which the duo’s creative process always celebrates the moment.

They fill their music with contemporary lyrics which sometimes rely on internal rhymes to give a sense of acceleration, while a liberal use of metaphor also gives them an evocative feel.

In sharp contrast, they use by an old school recording approach to emphasise the melodies and polish the harmonies, while the arrangements frequently derive their vitality from The Searchers and The Byrds style jangling guitars and some occasional George Harrison style slide.

Much of the album is built round the locked-in rhythm section of Suzi Starlite’s lilting bass lines and drummer Steve Gibson’s muscular drive. The duo make light of the job of recording remotely.

There’s a melange of sumptuous grooves, booming hooks, Simon Campbell’s steely licks and tonal variety, and Johnny Henderson’s ever present keyboards.

The strong lyrics are part of a seamless musical journey which reveals different aspects of the band’s music.

All the above elements are to be found in the burgeoning rock into psychedelia of ‘Said So’, which shifts from an opening Dave Davies, Kinks style riff, via a snappy hook, to a 70’s psychedelic wash favoured by welsh band Alkatraz.

There’s also an Allman Bros harmony guitar link, a manic mash up and some impressive Steve Hillage style space rock and the kind of siren sample associated with Man’s Phil Ryan back in the day.  They finish with a big crescendo featuring a passing Ray Manzarek organ motif.

This number alone gives us an early insight into the band’s unique oeuvre. For while they happily occupy the role of musical magpies – raiding the 60’s 70’s and even early 80’s with an Elvis Costello feel of the title track – it’s the way the past evolves into the present to give them something unique that makes this album so engaging.

If their debut ‘Blueberry Pie’ album was an impressive homage to the two British Blues Invasions, then this album is a significant step forward.

There’s an undeniable familiarity to their music, but it’s counter-weighted by plenty of diversity, structural depth and lyrical meaning.

They open and close ‘Distant land’ with a powerful grungy Neil Young dirge  - all piercing guitar, tub thumping rhythms, a disguised McCartney bass line and an uplifting hook – to which they add a luscious harmony laden bridge and unexpected castanets.

The guitar squalls at the end reflect the vitriolic concerns about homelessness in general and the current refugee crisis in particular.

They unashamedly raid The Faces back catalogue for the riff driven, electric piano and slide opening of ‘Gas Light’, leading to a chanted hook. The title concerns the manipulative nature of the ‘gaslighting’ concept, the subject matter of which they leave us to guess.

The title track fuses jangly pop, an irresistible harmony duet and Simon on a brief abut unexpected baritone vocal excursion.

The ballad ‘Take Time To Grow’ has a living in the moment vibe and could easily become the band’s own anthem. A slow build – comprising Johnny Henderson on organ, special guest pianist Gabriel Del Vecchio and Simon’s jangly guitars – give way to lyrics with a poignant universality and a perfect drifting piano-led outro.

‘It Ain’t Right’ finds Suzy in Sue Foley mode with close-to-the-mic vocals which provides a striking contrast to the soft brushed backing and biting lyrics.

She’s equally good on the closing fazed vocals of ‘Ride On Cowboy’, in which a sparse intro with a subliminally strong repeated hook is subsumed by a luscious funky percussive groove.

And if the stomping single  ‘Stone Cold Crazy’ isn’t quite as convincing as what has gone before, it still boasts a catchy hook that resolves the hard driving Paul Kossoff/Free style guitar line.

‘The Language of Curiosity’ is the perfect title for an album with a feel good aesthetic cover that digs deep for meaning.

Listeners of a certain age will doubtless have fun spotting the various influences at play, but ultimately it’s the depth of the band’s own songs and their musical versatility and accessibility that gives them every right to be in the vanguard of contemporary rock-blues.

File under refreshing, innovative and close enough for the blues. ****½ 

Review by Pete Feenstra


Featured Artist: JOSH TAERK

Since early 2020 Josh has been entertaining us with exclusive monthly live sessions,

Check out videos here: https://www.facebook.com/getreadytorockradio




David Randall presents a weekly show on Get Ready to ROCK! Radio, Sundays at 22:00 GMT, repeated on Mondays and Fridays), when he invites listeners to ‘Assume The Position’. The show signposts forthcoming gigs and tours and latest additions at getreadytorock.com. First broadcast 26 April 2026.


UK Blues Broadcaster of the Year (2020 and 2021 Finalist) Pete Feenstra presents his weekly Rock & Blues Show on Tuesday at 19:00 GMT as part of a five hour blues rock marathon “Tuesday is Bluesday at GRTR!”. The show is repeated on Wednesdays at 22:00, Fridays at 20:00). First broadcast on 21 April 2026

How to Listen Live?

Click the programming image at the top of the page (top right of page if using desktop)

Get Ready to ROCK! Radio is also in iTunes under Internet Radio/Classic Rock
Listen in via the Tunein app and search for “Get Ready to ROCK!” and save as favourite.

More information and links at our radio website where you can listen live or listen again to shows via the presenter pages: getreadytorockradio.com


Power Plays w/c 11 May 2026

BREITLER Sentinel (El Puerto Records)
FIRE IN HER EYES Too Late To Change (indie)
KING FALCON Wait (indie)
BEAUTIFUL SKELETONS Come What May (indie)
KARIN PARK Shadow (Size Records)
HARSH Don’t Mess With Me (indie)

Featured Albums w/c 11 May 2026

09:00-12:00 The Best of 2003 – 2025 (Melodic Rock)
12:00-13:00 The Best of 2003 – 2025 (Melodic Hard Rock)
14:00-16:00 The Best of 2003 – 2025 (Singer Songwriter)


Our occasional Newsletter signposts latest additions to the website(s). We also include a selection of recent top albums, based on GRTR! reviewer ratings.  The newsletter is sent out a few times a year.

If you’d like to register to receive this occasional mailing please complete the form:

If using a smartphone/tablet please tap here or re-orientate your device

(Note that this registration is separate from site registration which allows you to leave comments and receive daily emails about new content. If you wish to register for this – in addition or separately – please click or tap here – for more information – the form is at the foot of each page. Please read our privacy policy when opting-in to receive emails.


Recent (last 30 days)


Album review: PERFECT PLAN- Live at Sharpener’s House

PERFECT PLAN- Live at Sharpener's House

Frontiers Records (Release Date 10.12.21)

Among the finest of this golden generation of Scandinavian acts, Perfect Plan‘s second album ‘Time for a Miracle’ was voted GRTR’s melodic rock album of 2020. That year also saw them play a ‘live in the studio’ concert which was uploaded to You Tube and a whole year later, in which time singer Kent Hilli has released a solo album and covers EP, this has now been released as a stand alone album.

If they have escaped you so far, this is an excellent primer. Six songs are taken from the aforementioned album, opening with the pomp of the title track, and songs like ‘Everytime We Cry’ and ‘What About Love’ mining the seam of Survivor and Joe Lynn Turner-era Rainbow. The keyboards and guitar are in a perfect balance for classic AOR and Kent’s vocals are excellent, with his performance on the ballad ‘Fighting to Win’ a particular tour de force. He also carries off Foreigner’s ‘That Was Yesterday’, complete  with a slightly different vocal intro, with aplomb, losing little in comparison to Lou Gramm.

The final two electric songs are taken from their ‘All Rise’ debut including the song that put them on the map, ‘In and Out of Love’, before a quartet of unplugged numbers. This opens with a cover of ‘Stay’,  a delicious irony as Kent has subsequently been announced as lead singer of a controversial Giant reunion.  ‘Heaven in Your Eyes’  and ‘Don’t Leave Me Here Alone’ are ballads yet they also whip up quite a bluesy storm on the Whitesnake  flavoured ‘Nobody’s Fool’.

The music cannot be faulted, but this type of project will hopefully in years to come be seen as a historical curiosity of lockdown- that hybrid of an album recorded ‘live’, but without an audience. The lack of crowd noise can be discombobulating and only the three words ‘thank you guys’ gives any indication the performance is live.

Worse still, the package seems to have been put together in perfunctory fashion, in disappointing contrast to the more lavish efforts from counterparts Eclipse and One Desire on the same label in recent times. The release is audio- only rather than with a DVD, and there are no sleeve notes, merely an existing picture of the band on the CD inlay.

It feels more of an effort could have been made to produce a package worth having, which is why I feel I cannot award this album the five stars that it deserves on a purely musical basis.   ****

Review by Andy Nathan


Featured Artist: JOSH TAERK

Since early 2020 Josh has been entertaining us with exclusive monthly live sessions,

Check out videos here: https://www.facebook.com/getreadytorockradio




David Randall presents a weekly show on Get Ready to ROCK! Radio, Sundays at 22:00 GMT, repeated on Mondays and Fridays), when he invites listeners to ‘Assume The Position’. The show signposts forthcoming gigs and tours and latest additions at getreadytorock.com. First broadcast 26 April 2026.


UK Blues Broadcaster of the Year (2020 and 2021 Finalist) Pete Feenstra presents his weekly Rock & Blues Show on Tuesday at 19:00 GMT as part of a five hour blues rock marathon “Tuesday is Bluesday at GRTR!”. The show is repeated on Wednesdays at 22:00, Fridays at 20:00). First broadcast on 21 April 2026

How to Listen Live?

Click the programming image at the top of the page (top right of page if using desktop)

Get Ready to ROCK! Radio is also in iTunes under Internet Radio/Classic Rock
Listen in via the Tunein app and search for “Get Ready to ROCK!” and save as favourite.

More information and links at our radio website where you can listen live or listen again to shows via the presenter pages: getreadytorockradio.com


Power Plays w/c 11 May 2026

BREITLER Sentinel (El Puerto Records)
FIRE IN HER EYES Too Late To Change (indie)
KING FALCON Wait (indie)
BEAUTIFUL SKELETONS Come What May (indie)
KARIN PARK Shadow (Size Records)
HARSH Don’t Mess With Me (indie)

Featured Albums w/c 11 May 2026

09:00-12:00 The Best of 2003 – 2025 (Melodic Rock)
12:00-13:00 The Best of 2003 – 2025 (Melodic Hard Rock)
14:00-16:00 The Best of 2003 – 2025 (Singer Songwriter)


Our occasional Newsletter signposts latest additions to the website(s). We also include a selection of recent top albums, based on GRTR! reviewer ratings.  The newsletter is sent out a few times a year.

If you’d like to register to receive this occasional mailing please complete the form:

If using a smartphone/tablet please tap here or re-orientate your device

(Note that this registration is separate from site registration which allows you to leave comments and receive daily emails about new content. If you wish to register for this – in addition or separately – please click or tap here – for more information – the form is at the foot of each page. Please read our privacy policy when opting-in to receive emails.


Recent (last 30 days)


News: BIG BIG TRAIN, DIAMOND DOGS, NICK MASON (January 2022)

Dare - GIANTS OF ROCK – Butlins, Minehead, 26 January 2019

News - Album News

Alestorm begin work on their next album, ‘Seventh Rum Of A Seventh Rum’, which will be released on Napalm Records later this year.

Arch Enemy will release their latest studio album, ‘Deceivers’, via Century Media Records on July 29.

Big Big Train recently released ‘Bats In The Belfry’, composed by the band’s drummer Nick D’Virgilio, and it will feature on the band’s forthcoming ‘Welcome To The Planet’ album due at the end of this month.

The Black Sabbath albums featuring Tony Martin have been signed up by a label for re-issue for a box set release.

Demon plan to release a new album this year.

Dream Theater vocalist James La Brie releases his new solo album, ‘Beautiful Shade Of Grey’, on May 26 via InsideOut.

Blue October will start recording their next album in February.

Dare (pictured) release their new album ‘Road To Eden’ on April 1.

Diamond Dogs release their second single, ‘Rocket Ricochet’, from their upcoming double album ‘Slap Bang Blue Rendezvous’ due on January 21.

Bruce Dickinson will resume work on his latest solo album in the spring.

Envy Of None, featuring Alex Lifeson (Rush), Andy Curran (Coney Hatch), Alfio Annibalini and singer Maiah Wynne, release their self-titled debut album on Kscope on April 8.

GWAR will release their new album, ‘The New Dark Ages’, on June 3.

Elton John’s guitarist Davey Johnstone releases his second solo album, ‘Deeper Than My Roots’, on February 3. His first solo album came out in 1973.

Former Kraftwerk member Wolfgang Flur is to release a new album, ‘Magazine 1′, on March 4. Guests include Midge Ure, Peter Hook (New Order) and Claudia Brücken (Propaganda).

Peter Knight & John Spiers release a new album, ‘Both In A Tune’, on February 11.

Kreator will release their new album in the summer with a single due in the next couple of months.

Lionheart release an expanded version of their 2017 album ‘Second Nature’ on January 21 via Metalville Records.

Dom Martin releases his latest album ‘A Savage Life’ on April 8.

Megadeth‘s sixteenth studio album, ‘The Sick, The Dying And The Dead’, has been pushed back to a summer release.

Meshuggah have released a new single, ‘The Abysmal Eye’, from their forthcoming album ‘Immutable’, set for release on April 1 via Atomic Fire Records.

Moby releases ‘Reprise – Remixes’ on May 20 via Deutsche Grammophon.

Odin Dragonfly release their new album ‘Sirens’ on January 22 via Black Sand Records.

Revival Black release a new single ‘Believe’ on 6 January.

Keith Richards will release a 30th-anniversary Super Deluxe Edition of his second solo album, Main Offender’, on March 18. It will include a double-LP and CD of the previously unreleased concert ‘Winos Live in London ’92′.

Joe Satriani releases his new album ‘The Elephants of Mars’ on April 8 on earMUSIC.

Chris Caffery revealed in a recent interview with That Metal Interview that he has been working with Jon Oliva on new Savatage music. There are currently no plans to record formally due to the lack of a record label at present.

John Sloman (ex-Uriah Heep), releases his latest solo album ‘Two Rivers’ on 25 February.

Sam Sweeney has announced ‘Solo’ (4 February), the first in a series of EPs that will highlight different members of the band who performed and recorded on his 2020 album ‘Unearth Repeat’.

King’s X guitarist, songwriter, and co-vocalist Ty Tabor has announced his new solo album, “Shades”, is out on March 4 via Rat Pak Records.

Earache Records release ‘Caught On Stage: Live & Acoustic’ from the Temperance Movement on 14 January.

TNT guitarist Ronni Le Tekrø will release his first solo album in six years, ‘Bigfoot TV’, on March 18 through TBC Records via Cargo Records.

Trick Or Treat will release their new studio album, ‘Creepy Symphonies’, on April 1 via Scarlet Records.

Tygers of Pan Tang release an EP  ‘A New Heartbeat’ on February 25 via Mighty Music.

Warrior Soul release their latest album ‘Out On Bail’ on March 4 via Cargo.

Steven Wilson plans to release his next solo album in 2023 and it is likely to be a concept album.

News - Tours and Gigs

Newly announced UK tours (2022 unless stated):

Franck Carducci, Lloyd Cole, Dare, Godsmack, Rick Wakeman & The English Rock Ensemble

Upcoming (Gigs – UK)

Newly announced US & European tours (2022 unless stated):

Arch Enemy + Behemoth (US), Bon Jovi (US), Cheap Trick (US Feb/Mar), Clutch (US), Godsmack (EU), Daryl Hall (US), Kid Rock + Foreigner (US), KISS (US), Yngwie Malmsteen (US), Megadeth + Lamb Of God (US), Quiet Riot (US), Steve Rothery (EU Mar/Apr), Steel Panther (US),

Upcoming (USA/ROW)

UK Festivals 2022

Rescheduled & cancelled tours:

Avatar (2022 to 2023), Belle & Sebastian (UK Mar to Nov), Biffy Cylro (Jan UK postponed), Blackberry Smoke (UK & EU 2022 to 2023), Bring Me The Horizon (EU 2022 to 2023), Cheap Trick (UK Feb to Oct), Diamond Head + Rock Goddess (Jan/Feb UK cancelled), Brain Fallon (US Jan/Feb cancelled), Samantha Fish (UK Jan/Feb to Oct), Nick Mason’s Saucerful of Secrets (US 2022 to “later in the year”), Pendragon (all 2022 dates postponed), Queen Extravaganza (2022 to 2023), Rage Against The Machine (US tour postponed to Jul), Henry Rollins (UK/Eur cancelled), Dave Lee Roth (Las Vegas residency cancelled), Sabataon (UK & Eur postponed), Scarlet Rebels (UK Jan/Feb to Mar/Apr), Spock’s Beard (UK Mar postponed), Static X + Fear Factory (US 2022 to 2023),  Rod Stewart (Aus/NZ Mar cancelled), Stone Broken (UK Jan/Feb to Apr), Walter Trout (UK Jan to Jun), Midge Ure (UK 2022 to 2023), Wolf Alice (UK Jan to Feb/Mar), the Zombies (2022 to 2023),

Former Status Quo drummer John Coghlan has announced he is retiring after a UK farewell tour this year.

Ricky Warwick has announced his touring band for his upcoming UK dates in March – Tax The Heat’s Jack Taylor (drums), Ben Christo (guitars) and ex-The Mission bassist Richard Vernon.

Asia are planning 40th anniversary tour dates in the US this year. The line-up will feature original members Carl Palmer and Geoff Downes.

Other Stuff

Coldplay have announced they will stop making music after 2025.

Vinyl hit a new sales record in 2021 with ABBA’s ‘Voyage’ the biggest seller.

Rush have a new pinball machine coming soon!

David Bowie’s music catalogue has been sold to Warner Music, whilst David Coverdale has sold his rights to his Deep Purple and Whitesnake songs to Round Hill Music, who recently brought the rights to Heart’s Nancy Wilson’s songs.

Cliff Richard has again topped the sales charts for music calendars in the UK.

Tesco is reportedly phasing out CDs and DVDs in its UK stores, with plans to stop selling both formats by the end of February.

The Ronnie James Dio documentary is set to air later this year.

Thorsten Bauer has announced he is leaving both Leave’s Eyes and Atrocity.

Fozzy have parted ways with long-time drummer Frank Fontsere who has been replaced with Grant Brooks (Through Fire).

Guitarist Mick Sweda  and drummer Jimmy D’Anda are no longer part of the BulletBoys, who reformed with their original line-up in 2019.

Heavy Pettin’ are looking for a new bassist after Jez Perry left the band.

IO Earth have announced that they have singer Rosanna Leferve.

Phil Campbell and the Bastard Sons have announced Joel Peters as the band’s new vocalist. Peters fronted the band on last year’s autumn dates.

Brian Tichy is back on the drumstool for the Dead Daisies.

Original keyboards player Pete Jones has re-joined Haken.

Soilwork have recruited bassist Rasmus Ehrnborn as a full-time member

News - RIP

Meat Loaf whose ‘Bat Out Of Hell’ album is one of the best-selling of all time. “We know how much he meant to so many of you and we truly appreciate all of the love and support as we move through this time of grief in losing such an inspiring artist and beautiful man,” Meat Loaf’s family said in a statement. “From his heart to your souls … don’t ever stop rocking!”

Former BBC Radio 1 DJ Janice Long

Woodstock organizer Michael Lang

Budgie’s Burke Shelley

Ronnie Spector of the Ronnettes

Ventures guitarist Don Wilson

Producer Kit Woolven who worked on albums by UFO and Magnum, amongst many others


Featured Artist: JOSH TAERK

Since early 2020 Josh has been entertaining us with exclusive monthly live sessions,

Check out videos here: https://www.facebook.com/getreadytorockradio




David Randall presents a weekly show on Get Ready to ROCK! Radio, Sundays at 22:00 GMT, repeated on Mondays and Fridays), when he invites listeners to ‘Assume The Position’. The show signposts forthcoming gigs and tours and latest additions at getreadytorock.com. First broadcast 26 April 2026.


UK Blues Broadcaster of the Year (2020 and 2021 Finalist) Pete Feenstra presents his weekly Rock & Blues Show on Tuesday at 19:00 GMT as part of a five hour blues rock marathon “Tuesday is Bluesday at GRTR!”. The show is repeated on Wednesdays at 22:00, Fridays at 20:00). First broadcast on 21 April 2026

How to Listen Live?

Click the programming image at the top of the page (top right of page if using desktop)

Get Ready to ROCK! Radio is also in iTunes under Internet Radio/Classic Rock
Listen in via the Tunein app and search for “Get Ready to ROCK!” and save as favourite.

More information and links at our radio website where you can listen live or listen again to shows via the presenter pages: getreadytorockradio.com


Power Plays w/c 11 May 2026

BREITLER Sentinel (El Puerto Records)
FIRE IN HER EYES Too Late To Change (indie)
KING FALCON Wait (indie)
BEAUTIFUL SKELETONS Come What May (indie)
KARIN PARK Shadow (Size Records)
HARSH Don’t Mess With Me (indie)

Featured Albums w/c 11 May 2026

09:00-12:00 The Best of 2003 – 2025 (Melodic Rock)
12:00-13:00 The Best of 2003 – 2025 (Melodic Hard Rock)
14:00-16:00 The Best of 2003 – 2025 (Singer Songwriter)


Our occasional Newsletter signposts latest additions to the website(s). We also include a selection of recent top albums, based on GRTR! reviewer ratings.  The newsletter is sent out a few times a year.

If you’d like to register to receive this occasional mailing please complete the form:

If using a smartphone/tablet please tap here or re-orientate your device

(Note that this registration is separate from site registration which allows you to leave comments and receive daily emails about new content. If you wish to register for this – in addition or separately – please click or tap here – for more information – the form is at the foot of each page. Please read our privacy policy when opting-in to receive emails.


Recent (last 30 days)


Quick plays: BLACKLITE DISTRICT, NORTHTALE

blacklite district 1990

BLACKLITE DISTRICT – 1990 AK19 Entertainment, LLC [Release date 31.12.21]

Kyle Pfeiffer is better known by the name Blacklite District and has been releasing music since 2011.

The album title gives a little clue to the sounds contained within, as the music takes its cue from grunge and nu metal (which is slightly after 1990 granted). As Kyle notes – “It feels good to get things to a point where you can create art for yourself and your fans, without having to worry about commercial performance. That’s what recording 1990 was all about.”

He certainly likes to mix things up as one minute we have the catchy metal of ‘Confessed’, then the nu metal single ‘Gotta Get Out Here’ and album closer ‘Thank You’, is a beast of an electro pop tune.

Fans of his work will certainly be onboard, with those after something a little different would do well to seek this one out. ***1/2

Review by Jason Ritchie

NORTHTALE – Eternal Flame

NORTHTALE – Eternal Flame Nuclear Blast [Release date .21]

NorthTale are often labelled as a power metal ‘supergroup’ featuring former U.D.O. guitarist Bill Hudson, ex-Malmsteen drummer Patrick Johansson, former Twilight Force vocalist Christian Eriksson plus bass player Mikael Planefeldt and keyboards player Jimmy Pitts. In 2020 it was announced that Eriksson had left the band due to that age old musical differences excuse with Guilherme Hirose replacing him.

Hirose certainly follows the Michael Kiske school of metal singing, as ‘Only Human’ and the title track sound like prime time Helloween. They do epic too as the eleven minutes plus of ‘Nature’s Revenge’ shows. In actual fact the album’s stand out as they add in symphonic parts and a damn fine lyrical yarn. Plus plenty of shredding solos! A real movie soundtrack feel to this one.

Personally I find power metal can be a little one paced at time with relentless double bass drums and widdly guitar solos, however, if they float your boat add an extra star for this album. NorthTale are certainly talented and bound to win over more fans with this album. ***1/2

Review by Jason Ritchie


Featured Artist: JOSH TAERK

Since early 2020 Josh has been entertaining us with exclusive monthly live sessions,

Check out videos here: https://www.facebook.com/getreadytorockradio




David Randall presents a weekly show on Get Ready to ROCK! Radio, Sundays at 22:00 GMT, repeated on Mondays and Fridays), when he invites listeners to ‘Assume The Position’. The show signposts forthcoming gigs and tours and latest additions at getreadytorock.com. First broadcast 26 April 2026.


UK Blues Broadcaster of the Year (2020 and 2021 Finalist) Pete Feenstra presents his weekly Rock & Blues Show on Tuesday at 19:00 GMT as part of a five hour blues rock marathon “Tuesday is Bluesday at GRTR!”. The show is repeated on Wednesdays at 22:00, Fridays at 20:00). First broadcast on 21 April 2026

How to Listen Live?

Click the programming image at the top of the page (top right of page if using desktop)

Get Ready to ROCK! Radio is also in iTunes under Internet Radio/Classic Rock
Listen in via the Tunein app and search for “Get Ready to ROCK!” and save as favourite.

More information and links at our radio website where you can listen live or listen again to shows via the presenter pages: getreadytorockradio.com


Power Plays w/c 11 May 2026

BREITLER Sentinel (El Puerto Records)
FIRE IN HER EYES Too Late To Change (indie)
KING FALCON Wait (indie)
BEAUTIFUL SKELETONS Come What May (indie)
KARIN PARK Shadow (Size Records)
HARSH Don’t Mess With Me (indie)

Featured Albums w/c 11 May 2026

09:00-12:00 The Best of 2003 – 2025 (Melodic Rock)
12:00-13:00 The Best of 2003 – 2025 (Melodic Hard Rock)
14:00-16:00 The Best of 2003 – 2025 (Singer Songwriter)


Our occasional Newsletter signposts latest additions to the website(s). We also include a selection of recent top albums, based on GRTR! reviewer ratings.  The newsletter is sent out a few times a year.

If you’d like to register to receive this occasional mailing please complete the form:

If using a smartphone/tablet please tap here or re-orientate your device

(Note that this registration is separate from site registration which allows you to leave comments and receive daily emails about new content. If you wish to register for this – in addition or separately – please click or tap here – for more information – the form is at the foot of each page. Please read our privacy policy when opting-in to receive emails.


Recent (last 30 days)


Album review: L.A. GUNS – Checkered Past

L.A. GUNS - Checkered Past

Frontiers [Release date 12.11.21]

When vocalist Phil Lewis and guitarist Tracii Guns buried the hatchet and started working together again, they breathed new life into L.A Guns and, whilst retaining the sleaze and swagger of their 80’s and early 90’s heyday they brought a darker and more metallic edge to the sound of the band. New album “Checkered Past” continues the path set by its recent predecessors “The Devil You Know” and “The Missing Peace”, with consistently strong songs the band show that they are managing to age remarkably better then some of their Sunset Strip peers.

Straight out of the starting blocks is “Cannonball”, the fast paced and fiery opening track setting the stage for the rest of the album. The sleazy vibe of “Bad Luck Charm” and “Dog” harks back nicely to those early records and “That Ain’t Why” has a great groove to it.

There are though a trio of slower songs that really help showcase the dynamic of the album. “Get Along” is a Zeppelin inspired track that is followed by “It’s Over Now”, a track that is reminiscent of Alice Cooper at times and could easily have fitted in on 1994’s “Vicious Circle” album. However, it is the album’s early single “Let You Down” that steals the day here, a haunting and emotion filled number, it stands as one of the best songs throughout the band’s lengthy career.

Other highlights on “Checkered Past” include “Knock Me Down” and “Better Than You”. The albums final track, “Physical Itch”, feels like a tribute to Black Sabbath and closes proceedings in a way that will have you scrambling for the play button to repeat the album again and again.

But, “Checkered Past” is not the bands only recent album as Frontiers have also released L.A Guns “Cocked and Loaded Live”. The band performed their second album in its entirety direct from Las Vegas and as a web broadcast. The songs have aged very well, the band sound great and the stage banter is funny when you consider that there is no live audience. The addition of more recent track “Speed” shows the band are as consistent with their song writing now as they were back then.

Old favourites including “Never Enough”, “Malaria”, “Rip and Tear” and “The Ballad of Jayne” took me back decades when I watched the broadcast live and the album makes a great addition to the collection.

“Checkered Past” ****

“Cocked and Loaded Live” ****

Review by Nikk Gunns


Featured Artist: JOSH TAERK

Since early 2020 Josh has been entertaining us with exclusive monthly live sessions,

Check out videos here: https://www.facebook.com/getreadytorockradio




David Randall presents a weekly show on Get Ready to ROCK! Radio, Sundays at 22:00 GMT, repeated on Mondays and Fridays), when he invites listeners to ‘Assume The Position’. The show signposts forthcoming gigs and tours and latest additions at getreadytorock.com. First broadcast 26 April 2026.


UK Blues Broadcaster of the Year (2020 and 2021 Finalist) Pete Feenstra presents his weekly Rock & Blues Show on Tuesday at 19:00 GMT as part of a five hour blues rock marathon “Tuesday is Bluesday at GRTR!”. The show is repeated on Wednesdays at 22:00, Fridays at 20:00). First broadcast on 21 April 2026

How to Listen Live?

Click the programming image at the top of the page (top right of page if using desktop)

Get Ready to ROCK! Radio is also in iTunes under Internet Radio/Classic Rock
Listen in via the Tunein app and search for “Get Ready to ROCK!” and save as favourite.

More information and links at our radio website where you can listen live or listen again to shows via the presenter pages: getreadytorockradio.com


Power Plays w/c 11 May 2026

BREITLER Sentinel (El Puerto Records)
FIRE IN HER EYES Too Late To Change (indie)
KING FALCON Wait (indie)
BEAUTIFUL SKELETONS Come What May (indie)
KARIN PARK Shadow (Size Records)
HARSH Don’t Mess With Me (indie)

Featured Albums w/c 11 May 2026

09:00-12:00 The Best of 2003 – 2025 (Melodic Rock)
12:00-13:00 The Best of 2003 – 2025 (Melodic Hard Rock)
14:00-16:00 The Best of 2003 – 2025 (Singer Songwriter)


Our occasional Newsletter signposts latest additions to the website(s). We also include a selection of recent top albums, based on GRTR! reviewer ratings.  The newsletter is sent out a few times a year.

If you’d like to register to receive this occasional mailing please complete the form:

If using a smartphone/tablet please tap here or re-orientate your device

(Note that this registration is separate from site registration which allows you to leave comments and receive daily emails about new content. If you wish to register for this – in addition or separately – please click or tap here – for more information – the form is at the foot of each page. Please read our privacy policy when opting-in to receive emails.


Recent (last 30 days)


Album review: AT THE MOVIES – The Soundtrack of Your Life Vol. 1 & 2

Atomic Fire Records [Release date 07.01.22]

Pretty Maids Chris Laney has been watching lots of movies during the pandemic and he noticed how great the soundtracks often were. So, At The Movies was born when he enlisted drummer Allan Sørensen (Pretty Maids, Royal Hunt) and keyboards player Morten Sandager (Pretty Maids).

They then decided to contact some friends asking them to join in…namely vocalists Björn “Speed” Strid (The Night Flight Orchestra, Soilwork) & Linnéa Vikström Egg (Kamelot, Therion), HammerFall guitarist Pontus Norgren and bassist Pontus Egberg (King Diamiond, Wolf).

AT THE MOVIES – The Soundtrack of Your Life Vol. 1

The Movie Hits Of The 80′s (The Soundtrack Of Your Life – Vol. 1) was first released independently in 2020 and now gets a re-release via the band’s new label Atomic Fire Records (who themselves are a new name, albeit featuring many years of experience in former Nuclear Blast label staff).

At The Movies don’t always go for the obvious songs either, preferring to go with ‘No Easy Way Out’ from Rocky IV, rather than the more obvious ‘Eye Of The Tiger’ or ‘Burning Heart’. ‘Maniac’ is a corker, as Strid and Egg’s vocals intertwine perfectly and there is a suitably OTT guitar solo.

Songs like ‘St Elmo’s Fire (Man In Motion)’ already had a bit of rock clout, however, it is a song like Nik Kershaw’s ‘Wouldn’t It Be Good’ (from Pretty In Pink), where At The Movies add their own musical magic. It is heavy but still keeps the original’s pop melody.

Comparisons to the Night Flight Orchestra are likely given Björn “Speed” Strid’s involvement, however, At The Movies are if anything a little heavier, as can be heard on their excellent version of ‘The Power Of Love’. Strid really gives this one a hard rocking vocal.

As an added bonus they have included their cover of Wham!’s ‘Last Christmas’ – their 2021 festive offering – and what a jolly good version it is too! ****

The Movie Hits Of The 90′s (The Soundtrack Of Your Life – Vol.2)

Fast forward to the 90′s for their latest album, another winner and perhaps one to win them over new fans as they revamp a few 90s pop film tunes.

‘Waiting For A Star To Fall’ (from Three Men And A Little Lady) is a chance for Linnéa Vikström Egg to take the lead and what a stunning version this is. She also makes ‘The One and Only’ her own – move over Chesney Hawkes!

‘I Want It That Way’ by Backstreet Boys? Not a problem for At The Movies who give it a full on riff makeover. Other highlights include ‘When You Say Nothing at All’ (from Notting Hill), and Jennifer Paige’s teen pop soundtrack anthem ‘Crush’, which is suitably rocked up and a fun listen.

In these crazy and difficult times music like this is a real uplift, especially as the band put so much into these classic movie songs. A Disney themed one or a dash back to 60’s could be on the cards next according to Chris Laney, but can I humbly suggests a Bond themed album? At The Movies would have a lot of fun doing that one I am sure! ****

Review by Jason Ritchie


Featured Artist: JOSH TAERK

Since early 2020 Josh has been entertaining us with exclusive monthly live sessions,

Check out videos here: https://www.facebook.com/getreadytorockradio




David Randall presents a weekly show on Get Ready to ROCK! Radio, Sundays at 22:00 GMT, repeated on Mondays and Fridays), when he invites listeners to ‘Assume The Position’. The show signposts forthcoming gigs and tours and latest additions at getreadytorock.com. First broadcast 26 April 2026.


UK Blues Broadcaster of the Year (2020 and 2021 Finalist) Pete Feenstra presents his weekly Rock & Blues Show on Tuesday at 19:00 GMT as part of a five hour blues rock marathon “Tuesday is Bluesday at GRTR!”. The show is repeated on Wednesdays at 22:00, Fridays at 20:00). First broadcast on 21 April 2026

How to Listen Live?

Click the programming image at the top of the page (top right of page if using desktop)

Get Ready to ROCK! Radio is also in iTunes under Internet Radio/Classic Rock
Listen in via the Tunein app and search for “Get Ready to ROCK!” and save as favourite.

More information and links at our radio website where you can listen live or listen again to shows via the presenter pages: getreadytorockradio.com


Power Plays w/c 11 May 2026

BREITLER Sentinel (El Puerto Records)
FIRE IN HER EYES Too Late To Change (indie)
KING FALCON Wait (indie)
BEAUTIFUL SKELETONS Come What May (indie)
KARIN PARK Shadow (Size Records)
HARSH Don’t Mess With Me (indie)

Featured Albums w/c 11 May 2026

09:00-12:00 The Best of 2003 – 2025 (Melodic Rock)
12:00-13:00 The Best of 2003 – 2025 (Melodic Hard Rock)
14:00-16:00 The Best of 2003 – 2025 (Singer Songwriter)


Our occasional Newsletter signposts latest additions to the website(s). We also include a selection of recent top albums, based on GRTR! reviewer ratings.  The newsletter is sent out a few times a year.

If you’d like to register to receive this occasional mailing please complete the form:

If using a smartphone/tablet please tap here or re-orientate your device

(Note that this registration is separate from site registration which allows you to leave comments and receive daily emails about new content. If you wish to register for this – in addition or separately – please click or tap here – for more information – the form is at the foot of each page. Please read our privacy policy when opting-in to receive emails.


Recent (last 30 days)


Album review : ZELBO – In My Dreams

ZELBO - In My Dreams

Frontiers [Release date 10.12.21]

Melodic Rock/AOR band, Zelbo is named for keyboard player and founding member, Dag Selboskar.

This relatively unknown Norwegian musician in fact has quite a pedigree. He debuted with the legendary Da Vinci. His DV bandmate, Bjorn Boge went on to form Street Legal with guitarist/producer, Ken Ingwersen (who produced In My Dreams). Selbosar joined them for a while in the mid nineties. He also contributed keys to the recent Memoria Avenue album on Frontiers.

In My Dreams is unashamed AOR. It’s one of those “best before 1989” albums, cut from the same cloth as Perfect Plan and Kent Hilli, two similar artists on the same label.

By definition then, none of these bands is groundbreaking. That’s not the intent…they’re not looking for the music to transcend its genre limitations. Each and every song is emblematic of an era. Perfect pastiche.

The sweet harmonising and tight interplay of the slickly melodic opening track, ‘In My Dreams’ whip up a strong, driven sense of yearning, establishing the mood.

That alluring sonic atmosphere is reinforced by the modestly graceful, elegantly simple ‘Phoenix Rising’ and ‘Small Town Girl’. Each has the same sprightly step as Work Of Art’s material, without perhaps reaching the same hooky pop heights.

The AOR pendulum swings way into Eighties’ Soft Rock territory with ‘Wild Young And Free’ and ‘Beautiful Flyaway’. There are memories of artists like Christopher Cross and Ambrosia buried in these grooves. Each track has a constant pulse, an AOR heartbeat that cleverly disguises the music’s lack of depth.

‘Fortune And Fame’ and ‘Heads Down’ carry a weightier punch, each suggesting that the band has been thumbing through a dog eared copy of Journey’s blueprint, sprinkling familiar musical phrases and riffs here and there, beefing up the sweet, lyrical melodic rock that is clearly the band’s default position.

With In My Dreams, Zelbo capture the past, and present it in primary musical colours. Even when you’re joining the dots, you can create an attractive picture. ***1/2

Review by Brian McGowan


Featured Artist: JOSH TAERK

Since early 2020 Josh has been entertaining us with exclusive monthly live sessions,

Check out videos here: https://www.facebook.com/getreadytorockradio




David Randall presents a weekly show on Get Ready to ROCK! Radio, Sundays at 22:00 GMT, repeated on Mondays and Fridays), when he invites listeners to ‘Assume The Position’. The show signposts forthcoming gigs and tours and latest additions at getreadytorock.com. First broadcast 26 April 2026.


UK Blues Broadcaster of the Year (2020 and 2021 Finalist) Pete Feenstra presents his weekly Rock & Blues Show on Tuesday at 19:00 GMT as part of a five hour blues rock marathon “Tuesday is Bluesday at GRTR!”. The show is repeated on Wednesdays at 22:00, Fridays at 20:00). First broadcast on 21 April 2026

How to Listen Live?

Click the programming image at the top of the page (top right of page if using desktop)

Get Ready to ROCK! Radio is also in iTunes under Internet Radio/Classic Rock
Listen in via the Tunein app and search for “Get Ready to ROCK!” and save as favourite.

More information and links at our radio website where you can listen live or listen again to shows via the presenter pages: getreadytorockradio.com


Power Plays w/c 11 May 2026

BREITLER Sentinel (El Puerto Records)
FIRE IN HER EYES Too Late To Change (indie)
KING FALCON Wait (indie)
BEAUTIFUL SKELETONS Come What May (indie)
KARIN PARK Shadow (Size Records)
HARSH Don’t Mess With Me (indie)

Featured Albums w/c 11 May 2026

09:00-12:00 The Best of 2003 – 2025 (Melodic Rock)
12:00-13:00 The Best of 2003 – 2025 (Melodic Hard Rock)
14:00-16:00 The Best of 2003 – 2025 (Singer Songwriter)


Our occasional Newsletter signposts latest additions to the website(s). We also include a selection of recent top albums, based on GRTR! reviewer ratings.  The newsletter is sent out a few times a year.

If you’d like to register to receive this occasional mailing please complete the form:

If using a smartphone/tablet please tap here or re-orientate your device

(Note that this registration is separate from site registration which allows you to leave comments and receive daily emails about new content. If you wish to register for this – in addition or separately – please click or tap here – for more information – the form is at the foot of each page. Please read our privacy policy when opting-in to receive emails.


Recent (last 30 days)


Gig review: THE DARKNESS – 02 Academy, Bristol, Tuesday 7 December 2021

Never have I seen a queue so big so early at the 02 Academy in Bristol, particularly on a school night – and this had nothing to do with the time taken to show covid status and get in, which was smooth and efficient, but everything to do with change to the support act. Originally, British Lion were due to support, but they pulled out with only a month or so to go, citing the Darkness’ covid requirements as unreasonable. Filling that support act is none other than, NWOCR breaking band, Massive Wagons with a 30-minute slot to showcase exactly what they’re about.

There are a few Massive Wagons fans in the crowd (me included) and the excitement is building as those of us who have seen Wagons before, know the rest of the crowd are going to be inducted in a blast of high-octane rock.

Launching onto the stage to Fee Fi Fo Fum, Baz and band start as they mean to go on, delivering high energy, fast paced rock to Bristol, the floor fills up quickly as people come to check them out. Baz working the stage and crowd from the opening riffs of ‘In It Together’, ‘China Plates’ for those who live their lives vicariously through social media, this song is for you! The set includes a crowd pleasing, sing-along  cover of The Clash’s ‘I Fought the Law’, by which time Baz has them eating out of hands, fist pumps all round. Closing out with ‘Ratio’ and ‘Back to the Stack’ to an enraptured crowd, it is pleasing to hear people acknowledging how good they are, new fans definitely made – great to see the band having a ball too, whilst delivering a great performance. In my humble opinion, the sound levels were set for the headliner so make sure you check Massive Wagons out on other channels if you weren’t convinced of how good they actually are.

The Darkness grace the stage with their presence to ‘Welcome Tae Glasgow’ and Justin is in his usual understated attire, looking like one of Village People in his leather trousers, jacket and cap combo – tonight is definitely a treat for those of us who love a lively frontman. They launch into ‘One Way Ticket’, followed by another the crowd favourite, ‘Growing on Me’ and we are rocking!

Introducing songs from the new album, Motorheart and then returning to the back catalogue with ‘Black Shuck’, ‘Friday Night’ (from the crowd participation, you wouldn’t think it was a damp, cold, stormy night in Bristol that’s for sure) and ‘Love is Only a Feeling’.

Justin’s legendary taste in catsuits continues with a cheeky gold version that looks like it was fashioned out of 1970’s curtains – you can’t knock him for being out there!

I’ll own up to having a complete fan girl moment watching the sublime Dan Hawkins riffage, on what seems like the biggest selection of guitars ever, Frankie Poullain on delivery all the rhythm needed on bass and of course, Rufus Taylor (son of Queen’s Roger Taylor) on drums.  Plus, addition support with acoustic guitar and cow bells from the limited crew.

We have a few comedy moments with Justin offering an extension cable to those filming, to enable them to charge their phones, so they don’t miss any of the show – please people stop doing this, take a few pics, put your phone away, be in the moment and enjoy it!

Fair play to Justin for stopping mid song during ‘Solid Gold’ as he realised there was a problem in the crowd, once satisfied it was sorted, the band resumed as if nothing had interrupted the evening.

Justin having just delivered ‘Get Your Hands off my Woman’ pronounces that we all needed to be in the moment for ‘THE song’ and that it was just for us, not for the ‘watchers’ elsewhere, phones put away at last, it’s ‘I Believe in a Thing Called Love’ which is just fabulous, the crowd going mental.

For the encore, the band retake the stage in the most ridiculous Christmas outfits with Rufus having to take full credit, dressed as a Christmas tree, he hard barely room to get behind his drum kit and let alone see what he was doing, after a couple of comedy moments, they launch into a medley of Christmas songs, starting with ‘Do They Know It’s Christmas’, ‘Last Christmas’ (apparently this doesn’t count for Whamageddon), ‘Mistletoe & Wine’ and of course, culminating in ‘Christmas Time (Don’t let the bells end)’. Complete envy of Dan’s Marshall Christmas jumper – love it!

A fabulous, lots of fun evening which is everything you’d expect from The Darkness, a band that doesn’t take themselves too seriously, yet are superb musicians – they are marmite, but I love them.

 Review by Karen Clayton

Photo Credit

Phil Watson (@PTWimages)


Featured Artist: JOSH TAERK

Since early 2020 Josh has been entertaining us with exclusive monthly live sessions,

Check out videos here: https://www.facebook.com/getreadytorockradio




David Randall presents a weekly show on Get Ready to ROCK! Radio, Sundays at 22:00 GMT, repeated on Mondays and Fridays), when he invites listeners to ‘Assume The Position’. The show signposts forthcoming gigs and tours and latest additions at getreadytorock.com. First broadcast 26 April 2026.


UK Blues Broadcaster of the Year (2020 and 2021 Finalist) Pete Feenstra presents his weekly Rock & Blues Show on Tuesday at 19:00 GMT as part of a five hour blues rock marathon “Tuesday is Bluesday at GRTR!”. The show is repeated on Wednesdays at 22:00, Fridays at 20:00). First broadcast on 21 April 2026

How to Listen Live?

Click the programming image at the top of the page (top right of page if using desktop)

Get Ready to ROCK! Radio is also in iTunes under Internet Radio/Classic Rock
Listen in via the Tunein app and search for “Get Ready to ROCK!” and save as favourite.

More information and links at our radio website where you can listen live or listen again to shows via the presenter pages: getreadytorockradio.com


Power Plays w/c 11 May 2026

BREITLER Sentinel (El Puerto Records)
FIRE IN HER EYES Too Late To Change (indie)
KING FALCON Wait (indie)
BEAUTIFUL SKELETONS Come What May (indie)
KARIN PARK Shadow (Size Records)
HARSH Don’t Mess With Me (indie)

Featured Albums w/c 11 May 2026

09:00-12:00 The Best of 2003 – 2025 (Melodic Rock)
12:00-13:00 The Best of 2003 – 2025 (Melodic Hard Rock)
14:00-16:00 The Best of 2003 – 2025 (Singer Songwriter)


Our occasional Newsletter signposts latest additions to the website(s). We also include a selection of recent top albums, based on GRTR! reviewer ratings.  The newsletter is sent out a few times a year.

If you’d like to register to receive this occasional mailing please complete the form:

If using a smartphone/tablet please tap here or re-orientate your device

(Note that this registration is separate from site registration which allows you to leave comments and receive daily emails about new content. If you wish to register for this – in addition or separately – please click or tap here – for more information – the form is at the foot of each page. Please read our privacy policy when opting-in to receive emails.


Recent (last 30 days)


Album review: BITE THE BULLET – End of the Line

Escape Music [Release date 22.01.22]

Bite the Bullet trace their origins back to 1986 and still feature the original duo of Mick Benton (Vocals, Guitar, Bass, Keyboards) and Graham Cowling (Drums). They released a strong comeback album, ‘Black and White’, on Escape early last year and now they are back a year later with another new album.

Malcolm Jones joins again to add guitar as Bite The Bullet go more down the FM route, as opposed to Mr Mister, although ‘Camaraderie’ really sounds like primetime Mr Mister and features some the album’s best guitar moments. But the one band that really comes to mind is Brian Howe era Bad Company, especially on ‘Over You’ and ‘Cold Wind’, the latter given extra pizazz with keyboard horns. Rick Benton has that classic rock vocal that whilst very melodic, has a hint of roughness to it.

The title track gives FM a run for their money, with plenty of meaty guitar riffs to enjoy. At the ballad end of things ‘Lost For Words’ is a bit tasty, featuring a harmony filled chorus and a passionate vocal from Mick Benton.

‘Base Jumping’ sees them sign off the album on a high. A very catchy hard rocker which highlights this album’s heavier style. Reminiscent of Shy at times.

Another well-crafted piece of melodic hard rock from Bite The Bullet, who should be in the collections of any melodic rock fan. ****

Review by Jason Ritchie


Featured Artist: JOSH TAERK

Since early 2020 Josh has been entertaining us with exclusive monthly live sessions,

Check out videos here: https://www.facebook.com/getreadytorockradio




David Randall presents a weekly show on Get Ready to ROCK! Radio, Sundays at 22:00 GMT, repeated on Mondays and Fridays), when he invites listeners to ‘Assume The Position’. The show signposts forthcoming gigs and tours and latest additions at getreadytorock.com. First broadcast 26 April 2026.


UK Blues Broadcaster of the Year (2020 and 2021 Finalist) Pete Feenstra presents his weekly Rock & Blues Show on Tuesday at 19:00 GMT as part of a five hour blues rock marathon “Tuesday is Bluesday at GRTR!”. The show is repeated on Wednesdays at 22:00, Fridays at 20:00). First broadcast on 21 April 2026

How to Listen Live?

Click the programming image at the top of the page (top right of page if using desktop)

Get Ready to ROCK! Radio is also in iTunes under Internet Radio/Classic Rock
Listen in via the Tunein app and search for “Get Ready to ROCK!” and save as favourite.

More information and links at our radio website where you can listen live or listen again to shows via the presenter pages: getreadytorockradio.com


Power Plays w/c 11 May 2026

BREITLER Sentinel (El Puerto Records)
FIRE IN HER EYES Too Late To Change (indie)
KING FALCON Wait (indie)
BEAUTIFUL SKELETONS Come What May (indie)
KARIN PARK Shadow (Size Records)
HARSH Don’t Mess With Me (indie)

Featured Albums w/c 11 May 2026

09:00-12:00 The Best of 2003 – 2025 (Melodic Rock)
12:00-13:00 The Best of 2003 – 2025 (Melodic Hard Rock)
14:00-16:00 The Best of 2003 – 2025 (Singer Songwriter)


Our occasional Newsletter signposts latest additions to the website(s). We also include a selection of recent top albums, based on GRTR! reviewer ratings.  The newsletter is sent out a few times a year.

If you’d like to register to receive this occasional mailing please complete the form:

If using a smartphone/tablet please tap here or re-orientate your device

(Note that this registration is separate from site registration which allows you to leave comments and receive daily emails about new content. If you wish to register for this – in addition or separately – please click or tap here – for more information – the form is at the foot of each page. Please read our privacy policy when opting-in to receive emails.


Recent (last 30 days)


Album review: HAWKWIND – Dust Of Time

HAWKWIND - Dust Of Time

Atomhenge [Release date 10.12.21]

Synonymous with Space Rock and the surprise hit single Silver Machine, Hawkwind are one of the UK’s most revered and hard working rock bands. Formed in the late 60s, they mixed blues rock, progressive and space rock, later blending in hard rock and, as we moved into the 90s, ambient and trance (I blame it on the mushrooms), the band have released over 30 studio albums (with over 20 charting), numerous live albums and even more archive releases. As for compilations? Don’t go there. Noteable alumni include Motorhead’s Lemmy, Rob Calvert, Ginger Baker, Huw Lloyd Langton, and sci-fi writer and poet Michael Moorcock, and the band have to this day remained centred around guitarist/singer/songwriter Dave Brock. Like them (or a bit of them) or not, Hawkwind are a British institution.

This compilation is, before I even press play, one of the best. For a start there’s the wonderful package, a box that opens up to a poster and thick booklet (loads of text, and lots of rare records too). Then we get six CDs in card sleeves.

Disc 1 covers the period 1969-1973, when the band were signed to Liberty/United Artists. Much of this disc is what many traditionalists prefer, when the proto blues rock quickly became their trademark space rock. Guitarist and guitar roadie Lemmy joined on bass because the position needed filling, and during that period provided many lead vocals, including the classic Silver Machine. Not a bad song here.

The second disc covers 1972-1975, another classic period. Kicking off with the 11 minute Brainstorm, there’s plenty of effects over the pounding bass and guitar. Orgone Accumulator and Assault & Battery run to a similar length, and the shorter acoustic The Watcher provides a nice respite. Magnu – 8 minutes of cacophony or a space rock dream? I’m definitely with the latter. Shame there’s no ‘Motorhead’ (a single b-side and the last track Lemmy wrote for Hawkwind before being fired) but that’s a minor quibble.

Disc 3 covers 1976 to 1979, and four albums that saw the band signed to Charisma. The start of the revolving doors of personnel, a touch of hard rock, and further proof that Hawkwind dipped into proto punk, especially with their urban and sci-fi themes. Astounding Sounds And Amazing Music is a criminally overlooked album; well, these four albums are. Quark, Strangeness And Charm is a classic, and the album 25 Years (issued as The Hawklords for temporary legal reasons) even dips into post punk new wave, but still fits in perfectly. The final Charisma album PXR was my intro to the band remains a favourite. Tracks like High Rise (a wonderful urban comment) and the 8 minute Robot are regular listens in this household.

Covering one Bronze and three RCA albums, disc 4 takes us 1979 through 1982. Ginger Baker dipped into the band during this period, and Michael Moorcock returned to provide lyrics. There’s some solid driving rhythms and a good guitar solo or two, but the spaced out undertones remain. Motorway City (also a single) stands out.

Now the catalogue is a little more rushed through, although the band weren’t quite as prolific. Disc 4 covers 1982 to 1992. Opener Night Of The Hawks is one of the band’s finest (uptempo riffing aplenty), and Needle Gun remains a catchy favourite. But from then on Hawkwind experimented a bit more, seamlessly transforming their blend of prog and space rock in to a more ambient trance style of rock music. This is where many prog rock fans checked out, but the space rock fans got it.

The final disc continues this theme, covering 1993 to 2021. There remains a rock undertone but there’s a real journey we’re taken on here. The eleven minute Space Is Their Palestine is an enjoyable trip. Tracks like Love In Space nod to Spade Indie, and while there’s plenty of merits, it’s a little disjointed compared to the pre 84 material.

It would be unfair to complain about the track list, as it impossible to do such a prolific catalogue over just 6 discs. Consider this a wonderful cross genre introduction, or a soundtrack to the wonderful book that comes with it. There’s a lot of hits, not many mises, some live and single edits, and it’s a fantastic package. Enjoy, and if you want to explore further, Cherry Red / Atomhenge have done a very fine job on reissuing much of the Hawkwind catalogue in complete form. Essential. *****

 Review by Joe Geesin


Featured Artist: JOSH TAERK

Since early 2020 Josh has been entertaining us with exclusive monthly live sessions,

Check out videos here: https://www.facebook.com/getreadytorockradio




David Randall presents a weekly show on Get Ready to ROCK! Radio, Sundays at 22:00 GMT, repeated on Mondays and Fridays), when he invites listeners to ‘Assume The Position’. The show signposts forthcoming gigs and tours and latest additions at getreadytorock.com. First broadcast 26 April 2026.


UK Blues Broadcaster of the Year (2020 and 2021 Finalist) Pete Feenstra presents his weekly Rock & Blues Show on Tuesday at 19:00 GMT as part of a five hour blues rock marathon “Tuesday is Bluesday at GRTR!”. The show is repeated on Wednesdays at 22:00, Fridays at 20:00). First broadcast on 21 April 2026

How to Listen Live?

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Get Ready to ROCK! Radio is also in iTunes under Internet Radio/Classic Rock
Listen in via the Tunein app and search for “Get Ready to ROCK!” and save as favourite.

More information and links at our radio website where you can listen live or listen again to shows via the presenter pages: getreadytorockradio.com


Power Plays w/c 11 May 2026

BREITLER Sentinel (El Puerto Records)
FIRE IN HER EYES Too Late To Change (indie)
KING FALCON Wait (indie)
BEAUTIFUL SKELETONS Come What May (indie)
KARIN PARK Shadow (Size Records)
HARSH Don’t Mess With Me (indie)

Featured Albums w/c 11 May 2026

09:00-12:00 The Best of 2003 – 2025 (Melodic Rock)
12:00-13:00 The Best of 2003 – 2025 (Melodic Hard Rock)
14:00-16:00 The Best of 2003 – 2025 (Singer Songwriter)


Our occasional Newsletter signposts latest additions to the website(s). We also include a selection of recent top albums, based on GRTR! reviewer ratings.  The newsletter is sent out a few times a year.

If you’d like to register to receive this occasional mailing please complete the form:

If using a smartphone/tablet please tap here or re-orientate your device

(Note that this registration is separate from site registration which allows you to leave comments and receive daily emails about new content. If you wish to register for this – in addition or separately – please click or tap here – for more information – the form is at the foot of each page. Please read our privacy policy when opting-in to receive emails.


Recent (last 30 days)


Album review: MINISTRY – Bad Blood, The Mayan Albums, 2002-2005 (4 CDs)

Cherry Red [release date: 17.12.21]

There are Industrial Metal bands and there is Ministry.
After the breakthrough in 1983, Al Jourgensen’s minimalist metal-in-extremis became the benchmark for the genre pretty rapidly.

You could argue that this 4 CD snapshot, originally on the Sanctuary imprint, was in itself an abbreviated sound and vision version of the band’s 5 decade journey.

In fact, everything that made Ministry great is especially evident on the set’s first CD, the live recording, Sphinctour (2002).

It’s the recipe as before. Surging, hulking riffs turned up to 11, metronomic rhythms with emphatic beats, delivered like a series of underwater detonations.
Jourgensen’s vocals add dramatic heft to the action. In every excoriating lyric, in every political polemic, the isolating psyche of the musician yearning to perfect his art shines through.
It was released against the ever present background of label v label machinations, and captured some of the best material from the band’s mid nineties’ ‘Psalm 69′ and ‘Filth Pig’ albums, arguably where the band reached its creative Industrial / Alt Metal peak.

A year later they released the underappreciated Animositisomina (easy for me to say). It’s easily one of the band’s most confounding recordings. It’s a resurrection of sorts when we consider they had again been written off. Once more they push the boundaries of structure and tone to the outer edges of the genre.
The electrifying title track is as good a piece of writing and recording as ‘Jesus Built My Hotrod’ and ‘Stigmata’. You can feel the spark ignite in your bloodstream.

2004′s Houses Of The Mole saw the band dive down the Thrash Metal rabbit hole in pursuit of George Bush and his ultra conservative, militaristic tendencies.
It’s a tough album to love. When the songs are filled with corrosive, laser guided lyics, squarely aimed at US foreign policy in the mid 2000s, we’re unlikely to see a rush for the dancefloor.
It has a freeform sensation at times. Of chaos just about marshalled, with the music providing the dark notes and industrial clamour needed to frame Jourgensen’s typically dark and dangerous imagery. ‘WTV’ and ‘No W’ are outstanding tracks … two walls of noise occasionally penetrated by random words. The message is in the medium.

Rantology (2005) is a collection of remixes, cherry picked from some of the band’s better known songwriting and performing peaks. All the songs you would expect are here. ‘Bad Blood’ (alternate mix) and ‘Warp City’ (alternate mix) are probably the picks. In each case the insidious weight and heft of a densely constructed bedrock base is already in position. The accusatory fury and the raw, dirty edges of the mixes cut through quickly, leaving only blood, bruises and exhaustion behind. Ministry in the raw. ****

Review by Brian McGowan


Featured Artist: JOSH TAERK

Since early 2020 Josh has been entertaining us with exclusive monthly live sessions,

Check out videos here: https://www.facebook.com/getreadytorockradio




David Randall presents a weekly show on Get Ready to ROCK! Radio, Sundays at 22:00 GMT, repeated on Mondays and Fridays), when he invites listeners to ‘Assume The Position’. The show signposts forthcoming gigs and tours and latest additions at getreadytorock.com. First broadcast 26 April 2026.


UK Blues Broadcaster of the Year (2020 and 2021 Finalist) Pete Feenstra presents his weekly Rock & Blues Show on Tuesday at 19:00 GMT as part of a five hour blues rock marathon “Tuesday is Bluesday at GRTR!”. The show is repeated on Wednesdays at 22:00, Fridays at 20:00). First broadcast on 21 April 2026

How to Listen Live?

Click the programming image at the top of the page (top right of page if using desktop)

Get Ready to ROCK! Radio is also in iTunes under Internet Radio/Classic Rock
Listen in via the Tunein app and search for “Get Ready to ROCK!” and save as favourite.

More information and links at our radio website where you can listen live or listen again to shows via the presenter pages: getreadytorockradio.com


Power Plays w/c 11 May 2026

BREITLER Sentinel (El Puerto Records)
FIRE IN HER EYES Too Late To Change (indie)
KING FALCON Wait (indie)
BEAUTIFUL SKELETONS Come What May (indie)
KARIN PARK Shadow (Size Records)
HARSH Don’t Mess With Me (indie)

Featured Albums w/c 11 May 2026

09:00-12:00 The Best of 2003 – 2025 (Melodic Rock)
12:00-13:00 The Best of 2003 – 2025 (Melodic Hard Rock)
14:00-16:00 The Best of 2003 – 2025 (Singer Songwriter)


Our occasional Newsletter signposts latest additions to the website(s). We also include a selection of recent top albums, based on GRTR! reviewer ratings.  The newsletter is sent out a few times a year.

If you’d like to register to receive this occasional mailing please complete the form:

If using a smartphone/tablet please tap here or re-orientate your device

(Note that this registration is separate from site registration which allows you to leave comments and receive daily emails about new content. If you wish to register for this – in addition or separately – please click or tap here – for more information – the form is at the foot of each page. Please read our privacy policy when opting-in to receive emails.


Recent (last 30 days)


Album review: TARJA – Frisson Noir

lynch mob 2

earMUSIC [Release date 12.06.26] Tarja Turunen releases her tenth studio album and one she calls the “heaviest record of her career”. There are a few notable guest appearances including fellow ex-Nightwish member Marko Hietala, Dani Filth (Cradle of Filth), Apocalyptica, and Chad Smith (Red … Continue reading

Album review : LYNCH MOB – Lynch Mob (Remaster w/bonus tracks)

lynch mob 2

Rock Candy Records [release date: 17.12.21] Lynch Mob, the album, came two years after the 1990 debut, Wicked Sensation. This was more of a band effort, with all members collaborating on the songwriting. Oni Logan had gone, and the superb … Continue reading

Album review: LOVERBOY – Keep It Up/Lovin’ Every Minute Of It (Remasters)

loverboy lovin

Rock Candy Records [release date: 17.12.21] The remasters of Loverboy’s third album, Keep It Up (1983), and their fourth, Lovin’ Every Minute Of It (1985) follow hard on the heels of the first two, Get Lucky (1981) and the self … Continue reading

EP review: CUSTARD DREAM – Blue Wave

custard dream

3MS [release date: 17.12.21] Custard Dream is Ryan Davies, a young man who’s written, produced and performed everything you hear on this 6 track EP, Blue Wave. The label, 3MS, could be stylised as the gambler who likes to take … Continue reading

Album review: KISSIN’ DYNAMITE – Not The End Of The Road

Kissin’ Dynamite - Not the End of the Road

Napalm Records [Release date 21.01.22] Kissin’ Dynamite is a German band, formed in 2007. Entertaining the public with great albums for over 20 years, they now release their new album, ‘Not the End of the Road’, and it would be … Continue reading

EP review: JASON SWEENEY – Welcome To Bathvegas

JASON SWEENEY - Bathvegas

Facebook [Release date 07.01.22] We’ve played a couple of songs Jason Sweeney released last year on GRTR! Radio, including the rather good ‘She’s A Fighter’. Now he kicks off 2022 with a new five song EP where he is joined … Continue reading

Album review: IVY GOLD – Six Dusty Winds

Ivy Gold - Six Dusty Winds

Pete Feenstra chatted to Manou and Sebastian from Ivy Gold for Get Ready to ROCK! Radio.  First broadcast 9 January 2022. Golden Ivy Records [Release date: 12.03.21] Ivy Gold is a muscular international rock-blues band featuring the dynamic duo of … Continue reading

Album review: DIRTY WHITE BOY – Bad Reputation (Remaster with bonus track)

dirty white boy

Bad Reputation Records [Released 16.12.21] Dirty White Boy originally released Bad Reputation in 1990. Melodic hard rock had entered the new decade unconvincingly, and was rapidly evolving into a bloated, corporate rock cliché. Bad Reputation was a significant exception. The … Continue reading

Album review: JETHRO TULL – The Zealot Gene

JETHRO TULL - The Zealot Gene

InsideOut Music [Release date 28.01.22] Some, like me, haven’t quite recovered from Martin Barre’s departure from Tull in 2011/12.  And, more recently, it appears his replacement Florian Ophale has given way to Joe Parrish-James although Ophale appears on the new … Continue reading

Album review: STEVE GIBBONS BAND – Rollin’-The Albums 1976-78 (5CD boxset)

steve_gibbons_rollin_lrg

Pete Feenstra chatted to Steve Gibbons for Get Ready to ROCK! radio.  First broadcast 16 January 2022. Cherry Red [Release date 07.01.22] The Steve Gibbons Band family tree has so many branches, you’d be forgiven for thinking that it’s an … Continue reading

Album review: LIFESIGNS – Altitude

Lifesigns

Lifesigns Music [Release date: 08.03.21] There are certain bands aren’t there that make you wonder “why aren’t this band massive?” and Lifesigns undoubtedly fall into this category. Essentially the band of keyboard wizard John Young, whose eclectic career has included … Continue reading

Album review: SONATA ARTICA – Acoustic Adventures: Volume One

SONATA ARTICA - Acoustic Adventures - Volume One

Atomic Fire Records [Release date 21.01.22] After Sonata Artica toured in 2016 with an acoustic set and then again in 2019. From these two successful tours the idea was born to capture these versions on two acoustic albums, the second … Continue reading

Album review: MAGNUM – The Monster Roars

MAGNUM - The Monster Roars

SPV/Steamhammer [Release date 14.01.22] 50 years on, and studio album number 22, there’s no keeping Magnum down – not even a pandemic.  Whilst the band will be frustrated by the tour cancellations following the release of ‘The Serpent Rings’ they … Continue reading

EP review: MACHINE’S DREAM – Earth

MACHINE’S DREAM - Earth

Bandcamp [Release date 25.12.21] Machine’s Dream released this four track EP on Christmas Day via Bandcamp as a ‘pay what you can’ release. The EP not only serves as a taster from their new album due later this year on … Continue reading

Album review: SARAH PERROTTA – Blue To Gold

SARAH PERROTTA - Blue To Gold

7D Media/Third Star Records [Release date  15.10.21] Sarah Perrotta released her debut album – ‘Drink The Sky’ (2000) – with the band Outland Dreamer when 19 and it received rave reviews.  Since that time she has worked with Garth Hudson … Continue reading

Album review: STARLITE CAMPBELL BAND – The Language Of Curiosity

Starlite Campbell Band - The Language Of Curiosity

Pete Feenstra chatted to Suzi Starlite and Simon Campbell for Get Ready to ROCK! Radio.  First broadcast on 12 December 2021. Supertone [Release date 29.09.21] The Starlite Campbell Band’s second album ‘The Language of Curiosity’ is a cross genre, conceptual … Continue reading

Album review: PERFECT PLAN- Live at Sharpener’s House

PERFECT PLAN- Live at Sharpener's House

Frontiers Records (Release Date 10.12.21) Among the finest of this golden generation of Scandinavian acts, Perfect Plan‘s second album ‘Time for a Miracle’ was voted GRTR’s melodic rock album of 2020. That year also saw them play a ‘live in … Continue reading

News: BIG BIG TRAIN, DIAMOND DOGS, NICK MASON (January 2022)

Dare - GIANTS OF ROCK – Butlins, Minehead, 26 January 2019

Alestorm begin work on their next album, ‘Seventh Rum Of A Seventh Rum’, which will be released on Napalm Records later this year. Arch Enemy will release their latest studio album, ‘Deceivers’, via Century Media Records on July 29. Big … Continue reading

Quick plays: BLACKLITE DISTRICT, NORTHTALE

blacklite district 1990

BLACKLITE DISTRICT – 1990 AK19 Entertainment, LLC [Release date 31.12.21] Kyle Pfeiffer is better known by the name Blacklite District and has been releasing music since 2011. The album title gives a little clue to the sounds contained within, as the … Continue reading

Album review: L.A. GUNS – Checkered Past

L.A. GUNS - Checkered Past

Frontiers [Release date 12.11.21] When vocalist Phil Lewis and guitarist Tracii Guns buried the hatchet and started working together again, they breathed new life into L.A Guns and, whilst retaining the sleaze and swagger of their 80’s and early 90’s … Continue reading

Album review: AT THE MOVIES – The Soundtrack of Your Life Vol. 1 & 2

AT THE MOVIES – The Soundtrack of Your Life Vol. 1

Atomic Fire Records [Release date 07.01.22] Pretty Maids Chris Laney has been watching lots of movies during the pandemic and he noticed how great the soundtracks often were. So, At The Movies was born when he enlisted drummer Allan Sørensen … Continue reading

Album review : ZELBO – In My Dreams

ZELBO - In My Dreams

Frontiers [Release date 10.12.21] Melodic Rock/AOR band, Zelbo is named for keyboard player and founding member, Dag Selboskar. This relatively unknown Norwegian musician in fact has quite a pedigree. He debuted with the legendary Da Vinci. His DV bandmate, Bjorn … Continue reading

Gig review: THE DARKNESS – 02 Academy, Bristol, Tuesday 7 December 2021

Darkness1

Never have I seen a queue so big so early at the 02 Academy in Bristol, particularly on a school night – and this had nothing to do with the time taken to show covid status and get in, which … Continue reading

Album review: BITE THE BULLET – End of the Line

BITE THE BULLET - End of the Line

Escape Music [Release date 22.01.22] Bite the Bullet trace their origins back to 1986 and still feature the original duo of Mick Benton (Vocals, Guitar, Bass, Keyboards) and Graham Cowling (Drums). They released a strong comeback album, ‘Black and White’, … Continue reading

Album review: HAWKWIND – Dust Of Time

HAWKWIND - Dust Of Time

Atomhenge [Release date 10.12.21] Synonymous with Space Rock and the surprise hit single Silver Machine, Hawkwind are one of the UK’s most revered and hard working rock bands. Formed in the late 60s, they mixed blues rock, progressive and space … Continue reading

Album review: MINISTRY – Bad Blood, The Mayan Albums, 2002-2005 (4 CDs)

Ministry_4CD_HNEBOX158-scaled

Cherry Red [release date: 17.12.21] There are Industrial Metal bands and there is Ministry. After the breakthrough in 1983, Al Jourgensen’s minimalist metal-in-extremis became the benchmark for the genre pretty rapidly. You could argue that this 4 CD snapshot, originally … Continue reading