Tag Archives: AOR

Album review: FM – Tough It Out Live

FM Tough It Out Live

Frontiers Records (Release date 09.04.21) It already seems a long time ago but one of the gig highlights of the winter before the pandemic struck was the Big-Three-O tour in which FM, together with Dan Reed Network and Gun, celebrated … Continue reading

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News: Albums of the Month (January 2021 – March 2021)

Albums of the Month (January-March 2021)

THUNDER All the Right Noises (BMG) Thunder fans will love this album as it touches all the band’s key strengths – memorable songs, party rockers, ballads, lyrics to make you think and above all, well-crafted hard rock tunes. An Album … Continue reading

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Album review: GARY HUGHES – Decades

GARY HUGHES- Decades

Frontiers Records [Release Date 12.03.21] With Gary Hughes having just released his first solo album in a long while, the simultaneous release of this generous 29 track double compilation is very timely as an opportunity to discover (or rediscover) the … Continue reading

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Album review: CHEZ KANE

CHEZ KANE- S/T

Frontiers Records [Release Date 12.03.21] Chez Kane is one of three sisters fronting Kane’d, who have gained a reputation pre-pandemic as an enjoyable live act. This is her debut solo album, though equal uncredited billing goes to Danny Rexon, lead … Continue reading

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Upcoming: New releases (CD/DVD) April 2021 – June 2021

LYLE WORKMAN - Uncommon Measures

Compiled by Jason Ritchie January – March 2021 July-September 2021 October-December 2021 April 2nd DAVID BOWIE ‘The Kit Kat Klub (Live In New York ’99)’ Parlophone CACTUS ‘Tightrope’ Cleopatra Records DR FEELGOOD ‘Greatest Hits’ EAGLES ‘The Millennium Concert’ (vinyl) BRYAN … Continue reading

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Album review: RONNIE ATKINS – One Shot

ronnie atkins one shot

Frontiers Records [release date 12.03.21] Ronnie Atkins, founding member of Denmark’s Pretty Maids, bows out with his one and only solo album, One Shot. Ronnie has recently been diagnosed with an incurable form of cancer. So the album title is … Continue reading

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Album review: TOUCH – Tomorrow Never Comes

TOUCH-Tomorrow Never Comes

Escape Music [Release Date 26.03.21] Here’s a reunion few ever expected to see. Touch are most famous to the wider world as the band that opened the first ever Monsters of Rock at Download in 1980. Many years later I … Continue reading

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Album review: STEPHEN CRANE- Kicks

STEPHEN CRANE- Kicks

AOR Heaven (Release Date 26.03.21) The rock world is littered with hard luck stories of people failed by the record industry. One such is Stephen Crane. Already a seasoned figure on the Texas music scene, he was signed to MCA … Continue reading

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Album review: PARIS- 50/50

Paris- 50/50

AOR Heaven (Release Date 26.03.21) France is hardly a hotbed of melodic rock but Paris, essentially the duo of Frederic Dechevanne and Sebastien Montet with some guest musicians, have now released three albums. They  follow in a distinguished line of … Continue reading

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Album review: WINDING ROAD- s/t

WINDING ROAD- s/t

AOR Heaven [Release Date 26.03.21] The thriving Scandinavian melodic rock scene is not just one for young bucks. Winding Road are a new band in which three musicians with a long list of credits in their native Sweden have come … Continue reading

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Book review: ROY WOOD, KANSAS (On Track…)

ROY WOOD On Track

Sonic Bond Publishing Roy Wood: The Move, ELO & Wizzard by James R Turner The ‘On Track…’ series gets to one of my musical heroes, Roy Wood. An interesting musician to cover, as although he still tours, Roy Wood has … Continue reading

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Album review: WILDLIFE – Burning (reissue/remaster)

wildlife burning

Rock Candy Records [Release date 12.02.21] FM and Steve Overland have bona fide legendary status in the annals of UK Rock’n’Roll. It began with Wildlife in the late seventies. Overland and the Jupp brothers, Chris and Pete, were the core … Continue reading

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Feature: Collectible Collections – MANFRED MANN’S EARTH BAND – 40th Anniversary Box Set

MANFRED MANN'S EARTH BAND - 40th Anniversary Box Set

Pete Feenstra chatted to Manfred Mann for Get Ready to ROCK! Radio with tracks from Manfred Mann’s Earth Band.  First broadcast 23 February 2021. Creature Music (2011) The rather large parcel dropped off at GRTR! Towers was like Christmas come … Continue reading

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Album review: JOSEPH WILLIAMS – Denizen Tenant

JOSEPH WILLIAMS – Denizen Tenant

The Players Club/Mascot Records [Release date 26.02.21] Toto’s Steve Lukather and Joseph Williams both release solo albums on the same date and label, with both artists including a few cover versions on their respective albums. Joining Joseph Williams on his … Continue reading

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Album review: WORLD GOES ROUND – S/T

WORLD GOES ROUND - World Goes Around

Viper Records [Release date 22.01.21] It was 30 years ago today that World Goes Round recorded their one and only album (Ed: we might be a year or two out). This supremely talented array of artists, whose names (almost) always … Continue reading

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Album review: BITE THE BULLET – Black & White

BITE THE BULLET - Black & White

Escape Music [Release date 27.11.20] Bite The Bullet were originally formed in 1986 by singer songwriter Mick Benton and drummer Graham Cowling (who are also the only two musicians on this album) and they released their debut album in 1989. … Continue reading

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Album review: CREYE – II

CREYE – II

Frontiers [Release date 22.01.21] Second album from Creye, a Swedish band founded by Andreas Gullstrand, now fronted by new vocalist, August Rauer. Sweden has been the lightning rod for AOR and melodic rock since the eighties, delivering up aspiring band … Continue reading

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Album review: ANDY SUSEMIHL – Alienation

ANDY SUSEMIHL - Alienation

SM Noise [Release date 21.01.21] Andy Susemihl’s last album ‘Elevation’ was my “Best of 2018″ – perhaps it should have been called “revelation” such was the surprise at a seasoned pro – and a relatively unknown one albeit with an … Continue reading

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Album review: PALACE- Rock And Roll Radio

PALACE- Rock and Roll Radio

Frontiers Records [Release date 04.12.20] Michael Palace, a man with multiple performing and writing credits to his name, is now onto the third album from his own project. 2016’s ‘Master of the Universe’ was mainstream melodic hard rock, but is … Continue reading

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Album review: EAST TEMPLE AVENUE – Both Sides of Midnight

EAST TEMPLE AVENUE- Both Sides of Midnight

AOR Heaven (Release Date 27.11.20) East Temple Avenue sees Australian songwriter Darren Phillips, whose project under his own name featured a star studded cast, join forces for a whole album with Robbie Le Blanc, the Blanc Faces singer whose combination … Continue reading

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EP review: ICONIC EYE – Back From Beyond The Sun

ICONIC EYE – Back From Beyond The Sun

www.iconiceyemusic.com [Release date 04.12.20] Iconic Eye formed back in 2016, although this latest line-up only includes one member from the start, guitarist/keyboards/songwriter Greg Dean. The rest of the line-up is Neil Hackett (lead guitar), Mike Dagnall (bass, backing vocals) and … Continue reading

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Album review: UNRULY CHILD – Our Glass House

UNRULY CHILD - Our Glass House

Frontiers [Release date 04.12.20] When Unruly Child arrived in 1992, Melodic Rock bands were crashing and burning all around them. AOR had been shot down in flames by the bands of the Pacific North West. Low altitude, below the radar … Continue reading

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Album review: ART OF ILLUSION – X Marks The Spot

ART OF ILLUSION - X Marks The Spot

AOR Heaven [Release date 29.01.21] This is the debut album by Art Of Illusion, a duo consisting of composer and producer Anders Rydholm (Grand Illusion) and singer Lars Säfsund (Work Of Art) – see what they did there with the … Continue reading

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Album review: DAN REED – Liftoff

DAN REED - Liftoff

Zero One Entertainment [Release date 04.12.20] At the end of a horrific year for humanity, and also for music, Dan Reed’s latest solo album arrives to provide the perfect antidote. Dan’s solo works since the “comeback” – ‘Coming Up For … Continue reading

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Album review: PHENOMENA – Still The Night

PHENOMENA – Still The Night

Cherry Red [Release date 27.11.20] Tom and Mel Galley put Phenomena together in 1984. Glenn Hughes, Don Airey, Cozy Powell, Neil Murray had been enlisted…Whitesnake versus Deep Purple, a metalised marriage made in hard rock heaven. The following year they … Continue reading

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