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Latest Album Reviews
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Latest Gig Reviews
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Gig review: THE DARKER MY HORIZON – Dirty Rockers, Dudley, Saturday 24 October 2020
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Gig review: MARK MORRISS- Cabbage Patch, Twickenham, 3 October 2020
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Gig review: GARY FLETCHER AND NICK RITCHIE – Cabbage Patch, Twickenham, 2 October 2020
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Gig review: COLLATERAL – Leo’s, The Red Lion, Gravesend, Friday 4 September 2020
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Gig review: THE DARKER MY HORIZON – The Victoria, Swindon, Thursday 27 August 2020
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Feature: Collectible Collections – MANFRED MANN’S EARTH BAND – 40th Anniversary Box Set
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Feature: Albums that time forgot … NATIVE CAIN – The Primitive Soul
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Feature: Albums that time forgot…EUROPE – Secret Society
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Feature: Albums that time forgot…JAMES LABRIE – Elements Of Persuasion
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Feature: Albums that time forgot…DON DOKKEN – Up From The Ashes
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Feature: Albums that time forgot … CODE OF SILENCE – Dark Skies Over Babylon
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Tag Archives: synth pop
Album review: RADAR – Lost In The Atlantic

Escape Music [Release date 19.02.21] Escape Music have a knack of uncovering long lost albums, or in the case of Radar, one that has never had a proper release until now. Radar was formed in 1981 by David West (keyboards, … Continue reading
Posted in ALBUM REVIEWS, ALBUM REVIEWS (Mobile), All Posts, Reissues
Tagged 80's pop, album, Go West, Lost In The Atlantic, Nik Kershaw, pop, Radar, review, synth pop
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Album review: JOHNNY HATES JAZZ – Wide Awake

[Release date 14.08.20] Johnny Hates Jazz’s return in 2013 was well received, with a comeback album ‘Magnetized’ gathering airplay and even a short tour in 2016 (when we saw them in downtown Darwen Library Theatre) and a handful of festival … Continue reading
Posted in ALBUM REVIEWS, ALBUM REVIEWS (Mobile), All Posts, INTERVIEWS, Radio interview
Tagged 80s, album, Clark Datchler, eighties, interview, Johnny Hates Jazz, Mike Nocito, pop, pop rock, review, synth pop, Wide Awake
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Album review: CHRIS ROSANDER – King Of Hearts

AOR Heaven [Release date 26.06.20] Christian Rosander is a 22-year-old musician and songwriter from Örnsköldsvik, Sweden. Since he was 14 years old, he’d been writing songs in the AOR/Melodic and Westcoast genre. To be fair you’d been pretty certain the … Continue reading
Posted in ALBUM REVIEWS, ALBUM REVIEWS (Mobile), All Posts
Tagged album, AOR, AOR Heaven, Chris Rosander, King Of Hearts, melodic rock, review, synth pop, Toto
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Album review: THE BIRTHDAY MASSACRE – Diamonds

Metropolis Records [Release date 27.03.20] Diamonds is the eighth studio album from Canadian gothic rock outfit The Birthday Massacre. That genre embraces a whole range of musical styles, of course, and the influences here lean heavily towards the electro-pop end … Continue reading
Posted in ALBUM REVIEWS, ALBUM REVIEWS (Mobile), All Posts
Tagged album, Diamonds, electro, gothic, pop, review, rock, synth pop, the Birthday Massacre
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Album review: MISSING PERSONS featuring Dale Bozzio – Dreaming

Cleopatra Records [Release date 20.03.20] A ‘household name’ back in the early days of MTV – as lead singer of Missing Persons – Dale Bozzio is said to have influenced Lady Gaga via Madonna. Also known for her work with … Continue reading
Posted in ALBUM REVIEWS, ALBUM REVIEWS (Mobile), All Posts
Tagged album, Dale Bozzio, Dreaming, electronica, Missing Persons, review, synth, synth pop
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Album review: LEAGUE OF LIGHTS – In The In Between

Website [Release date 27.09.19] Second album from League Of Lights, who are the husband and wife duo Farrah and Richard West – the latter best known for being a member of Threshold. Their self-titled debut album released back in 2011, … Continue reading
Posted in ALBUM REVIEWS, ALBUM REVIEWS (Mobile), All Posts
Tagged album, Farrah West, In The In Between, League Of Lights, pop rock, progressive, review, Richard West, rock, synth pop, Threshold
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Album review: ROBERT HART – Pure

Escape Music [Release date 20.02.20] Vocalist Robert Hart sang on one of my all-time favourite albums, ‘Under The One Sky’ by The Distance, added to his solo album ‘Cries & Whispers’ is still revered in AOR circles. He has also … Continue reading
Posted in ALBUM REVIEWS, ALBUM REVIEWS (Mobile), All Posts
Tagged album, AOR, Bad Company, classic rock, FM, funk, Power Station, Pure, review, Robert Hart, rock, synth pop, Tommy Denander
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Album review: SPARKS – Past Tense: The Best Of Sparks

BMG [Release date 08.11.19] For many people of a certain age Sparks are famed for the high vocals and scary looking bloke on the keyboards, yet there is so much more to their music aside from the big hits ‘This … Continue reading
Posted in ALBUM REVIEWS, ALBUM REVIEWS (Mobile), All Posts
Tagged album, best of, classic rock, dance, Franz Ferdinand, pop, quirky, review, rock, Ron Mael, Russell Mael, SPARKS, synth pop
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Album review: SPARKS – Gratuitous Sax & Senseless Violins

BMG [Release date 01.11.19] ‘Gratuitous Sax & Senseless Violins’ originally came out in 1994 and came after a six year gap by Sparks since 1988’s ‘Interior Design’ album. The band were said to be on hiatus, something Ron Mael takes … Continue reading
Posted in ALBUM REVIEWS, ALBUM REVIEWS (Mobile), All Posts, Reissues
Tagged album, Christo Haydon, dance, Gratuitous Sax & Senseless Violins, pop, quirky, review, Ron Mael, Russell Mael, SPARKS, synth pop, Techno
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Gig review: SQUEEZE – New Theatre, Oxford, 25 October 2019

A packed out New Theatre were eagerly awaiting Squeeze, however before the main event we had Heaven 17, a band who had plenty of chart success in the early-mid 80’s. Still featuring two thirds of the original line-up in vocalist … Continue reading
Posted in All Posts, GIG REVIEWS
Tagged Chris Difford, classic pop, concert, gig, Glenn Gregory, Glenn Tilbrook, Heaven 17, New Wave, Oxford, pop, pop rock, review, singer songwriter, Squeeze, synth pop
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Gig review: FLIGHT BRIGADE – Telford’s Warehouse, Chester, 4 October 2019

What’s not to like? An architecturally interesting venue for food, drink and music. A beer festival. And a free gig!! The first thing you might say about Flight Brigade, two days into a 14-date tour, is “where are the girls?”. … Continue reading
Posted in All Posts, GIG REVIEWS
Tagged 4 October 2019, alternative, Chester, eighties, Flight Brigade, gig, indie, pop, review, synth, synth pop, Telford's Warehouse
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Album review: SWIM DEEP – Emerald Classics

[Release date 04.10.19] Swim Deep formed in 2011 and their first two albums made the UK album charts. However, last year they were sat at a crossroads in their local pub – The Emerald, from which the album takes its … Continue reading
Posted in ALBUM REVIEWS, ALBUM REVIEWS (Mobile), All Posts
Tagged album, dream pop, electro pop, Emerald Classics, indie pop, melodic, OMD, Pet Shop Boys, pop, review, Ride, Swim Deep, synth pop
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Album review: BERLIN – Transcendance

Cleopatra Records [Release date 16.08.19] OK, hands up who can name a Berlin number other than ‘Take My Breath Away’? I certainly can’t, and I used to have a vinyl copy of their 1984 album Love Life. But to be … Continue reading
Posted in ALBUM REVIEWS, ALBUM REVIEWS (Mobile), All Posts
Tagged album, Berlin, pop rock, review, synth pop, Teri Nunn, Transcendance
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Album review: PRINCE – Originals

Warner Brothers Records [Release date 07.06.19 exclusively on Tidal, 21.06.2019 CD, vinyl, streaming] In this multi-platform, content driven age it would be hard to imagine an artist ever producing too much material but such were his prolific studio habits, that … Continue reading
Posted in ALBUM REVIEWS, ALBUM REVIEWS (Mobile), All Posts
Tagged album, funk, Kenny Rogers, Originals, pop, pop rock, Prince, rarities, review, rock, Sinead O'Connor, synth pop, The Bangles, The Time
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Album review: THE BETA MACHINE – Intruder

T-Boy/UMe [Release date 29.03.19] The Beta Machine hail from Los Angeles, led by A Perfect Circle’s rhythm section of bassist, vocalist and keyboardist Matt McJunkins and drummer Jeff Friedl. They are joined by vocalist Claire Acey and guitarist and keyboardist … Continue reading
Posted in ALBUM REVIEWS, ALBUM REVIEWS (Mobile), All Posts
Tagged A Perfect Circle, album, alternative, Depeche Mode, Electronic Rock, Intruder, review, rock, synth pop, the Beta Machine
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Album review: MAGIC DANCE – New Eyes

Frontiers Music [release date: 07.12.18] Prime driver for this melodic rock/AOR outfit is Jon Siejka who created Magic Dance as a solo project in 2012. ‘New Eyes’ follows an earlier album ‘Vanishings’ and is the first output since the band … Continue reading
Posted in ALBUM REVIEWS, ALBUM REVIEWS (Mobile), All Posts
Tagged album, AOR, Jon Siejka, Magic Dance, melodic rock, New Eyes, review, synth pop
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Album review: LEFT WITH PICTURES – Afterlife

Organ Grinder Records [Release date 29.04.16] Left With Pictures describe their music as an orchestral pop ensemble. They have been around since 2005 and consist of Tom Walker, Toby Knowles and Stuart Barter. They have released a series of EP’s … Continue reading
Posted in ALBUM REVIEWS, ALBUM REVIEWS (Mobile), All Posts
Tagged Afterlife, album, atmospheric, classical, Left With Pictures, Organ Grinder Records, pop, review, synth pop, synths
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Gig review: SIMPLE MINDS and ULTRAVOX, O2 Arena, London, 30 November 2013

It’s an 80’s revival tonight with one of the 80’s big stadium bands Simple Minds headlining, but first we had Ultravox who had their own series of hit singles in the early to mid-80’s. They reformed with their classic line-up … Continue reading
Posted in All Posts, GIG REVIEWS
Tagged 80's pop, Charlie Burchill, classic rock, eighties, gig, Jim Kerr, Midge Ure, O2 Arena, review, Simple Minds, stadium, synth pop, ULTRAVOX
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