Monthly Archives: August 2013

Album review: GOV’T MULE – Shout!

Provogue [Release date 23.09.13] It’s a measure of Gov’t Mule adventurous self confidence and their essential connection with their fans, that their new album ‘Shout’ offers a groundbreaking bonus disc, with alternate versions of the same songs featuring different singers. … Continue reading

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Album review: PARTHENON HUXLEY – Thank You Bethesda

www.parthenonhuxley.com Parthenon Huxley is fine purveyor of pop rock tunes and over here in the UK maybe best known as the guitarist in The Orchestra, the band that features former ELO members (one of these, Eric Troyer helps out on … Continue reading

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Album review: THE KEV WALKER BAND – Biding My Time

The Kev Walker Band - Biding My Time

[Release date 09.09.13] A carpenter by trade, it’s been 30 years since Essex singer songwriter Kev Walker released his last album (The Dusk, 1983).  Sadly, it was the loss of his wife to cancer that inspired Biding My Time – … Continue reading

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Album review: LEEROY STAGGER – Truth Be Sold

Clubhouse Records UK [Release date 04.06.13] ‘Truth Be Sold’ is an album full of linguistic exuberance and boisterous musical vitality. Leeroy Stagger is a Canadian wordsmith with a punk indie past who is joined on this album by the experienced … Continue reading

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EP Review: TOM GEE BAND – Better Things To Do

 TGB [Release date 14.06.13] Tom Gee is a fine white boy soul singer with a big band line-up that given the laid back nature of this 5 track EP sometimes feels like an extravagance. For most of the well crafted … Continue reading

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Album Review: ACTIVE HEED – Visions From Realities

Active Heed

Self Released – 30 June 2013 Active Heed, despite having a name that suggests something a Glaswegian would use in a Saturday night ruckus, is actually the musical brainchild of one Umberto Pagnini – an Italian composer and lyricist who … Continue reading

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Album review: MARK PONTIN GROUP – Days Of Destiny

Moochee Records [Release date 08.05.13] Mark Pontin Band’s liner notes on ‘Days Of Destiny, makes clear the essential connection between his struggles to get this recording made and the thematic title track of a power trio album with real substance. … Continue reading

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Gig review: LAST IN LINE – Islington Academy, 1 August 2013

LAST IN LINE + SWEET SAVAGE + DENDERA A two thirds full Islington Academy to see the surviving members of the classic Dio line-up from the early/mid-80’s, no mean feat as August is never a great month for gigs outside … Continue reading

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Album review: JOHNNY DOWD – Do The Gargon

   Mother Jinx Records [Release date 05.08.13] ‘The record took two weeks to make, which is plenty if you know what you’re doing’, says New York based Texan exile Johnny Dowd. He seems to know what he’s doing, as he … Continue reading

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Album review: TOMMY BOLIN – Whirlwind

TOMMY BOLIN - Whirlwind

Cleopatra Records [Release date: 26.08.13] Guitarist Tommy Bolin has an interesting pre-Purple history and this 2-CD set is an excellent chronicle of the band he formed in 1972 after Zephyr and before James Gang.  Energy, with a mix of rock … Continue reading

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Album review: SOIL – Whole

SOIL - Whole

AFM Records [Release date 19.08.13] Soil – or should that be SOiL – have been with us for a while now as their major label debut album Scars was released back in 2001. The band hail from Texas and are … Continue reading

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Album review: ANTOINE FAFARD – Occultus Tramitis

Unicorn Digital [Release date 01.06.13] Fusion music often throws an unexpected curve ball at the humble listener, and prog fusion such as this with its musical density, ever changing time signatures and challenging improvisation sometimes pushes the envelope beyond the … Continue reading

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Album review: THE PROOF – 100% The Proof

Note Records [Release date 31.05.13] Paul Cox has always been a singer in search of the perfect song and when the two meet head on, sparks tend to fly. And so it is with ‘100% The Proof’, an album that … Continue reading

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Album review: WILLIE NILE – American Ride

Blue Rose Records [Release date 24.06.13] Willie Nile is a true blue collar troubadour with a poet’s eye for colourful analytical prose. He’s worked every bar, club and theatre in town, world-wide and he’s excited audiences big and small with … Continue reading

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Album review: DICKEY BETTS – Pattern Disruptive

Retroworld [Release date 29.07.13] Listening to this kick ass record, it’s hard to imagine that the Allman Brothers Band legend Dickey Betts was without a record contract and hadn’t recorded for the best part of 7 years. He came back … Continue reading

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Album review: JOHN KLINE – Different Drummers

Wet Present Records [Release date 23.11.12] With the exception of the title track which features drummer Michael Arata, ‘Different Drummers’ is a completely self penned, engineered and produced album by multi instrumentalist John Kline. He leads on guitar, but plays … Continue reading

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Interview with JON OLIVA (Oliva/Savatage/Trans-Siberian Orchestra) – 15 July 2013

It is not often that one gets to have a conversation with a music legend, especially one as pleasant, humble and down to earth as Jon Oliva – a man whose musical journey has created music of unsurpassable quality under … Continue reading

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Album Review: FIVE FINGER DEATH PUNCH – The Wrong Side Of Heaven and The Righteous Side Of Hell – Volume 1

      Eleven Seven ( Release date – Out now) This is the snappily titled new album from FFDP and is the first of two releases planned for this year. Anyone who witnessed the band at Download this year will … Continue reading

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Album review: JONNY LANG – Fight For My Soul

Jonny Lang - Fight For My Soul

Provogue [Release date 02.09.13] It’s a measure of Jonny Lang’s maturity that he’s slowly but surely repositioned himself in the music scene as a dance friendly, contemporary white boy soul singer at the ripe old age of 32. I say … Continue reading

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Interview: 10Q’s with STEVE NEWMAN

Steve Newman and his band Newman have just released their tenth album, ‘Siren’ on AOR Heaven and it is quite possibly the best yet. Here Steve gives us an update on the new album, tour plans and more… What are … Continue reading

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Interview with JONNY LANG – 26 June 2013

Jonny Lang is back after a 7 year hiatus with a groundbreaking new album ‘Fight For My Soul’, which falls back on his formative influences of R&B and soul. Judged simply in terms of relentless road work – that is … Continue reading

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Gig review: ROCK THE PARK – London, Ontario, Canada, 26-27 July 2013

My hometown London has been rocking various parks all summer, from the Stones and Bon Jovi at Hyde Park to Springsteen at the Olympic Park. But to our colonial cousins ‘across the pond’ , London is a mid sized city … Continue reading

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Gig Review: IAMI – Classic Grand, Glasgow, 4 August 2013

Tonight’s gig was part of a tour package rolling around the country entitled ‘The Headbangers Balls Tour’. The tour was organised by the band Reign Of Fury to raise money for the Teenage Cancer Trust, a cause close to the … Continue reading

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Album review: KINVER – The Stone House

Eye-Pea [Release date 19.03.13] The doomed romanticism and fragility of Nick Drake has a lot to answer for in term of contemporary folk music. His biographer Trevor Dann pointed to a foreboding and fatalism at the heart of his work … Continue reading

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Gig review: ANVIL – The Garage, London, 30 July 2013

Support Acts: Asomvel, Skreamer. Last time I visited The Garage was five days ago for Kscope’s celebratory gig, headlined by the mighty Anathema. I had firmly resolved to stay away from that place until the weather had cooled down as … Continue reading

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