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Upcoming Gigs & Albums
Latest Album Reviews
Latest Gig Reviews
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Gig review: SQUEEZE – Roundhouse, London, 22 November 2024
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Gig review: CARDINAL BLACK – Sub 89, Reading, 15 November 2024
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Gig review: SUZI QUATRO – London Palladium, 13 November 2024
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Gig review: HRH XVII, Great Yarmouth, 7-9 November 2024
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Gig review: WHEN RIVERS MEET, CHANTEL MCGREGOR, XANDER AND THE PEACE PIRATES – Dingwalls, London, 7 November 2024
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Gig review: DEEP PURPLE – 02 Arena, London, 6 November 2024
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Featured Album Reviews
Features
Single & EP Reviews
DVD Reviews
Book Reviews
News
Features
Author Archives: GRTR! HQ
Album review: LARKIN POE – Self Made Man
Tricki-Woo Records [Release date 12.06.20] Atlanta-bred, Nashville-based multi-instrumentalist Lovell sisters Rebecca and Megan have never been less than prolific, passing through folk, and then pop before alighting on the pop meets American South roots based format they debuted on Peach … Continue reading
Posted in ALBUM REVIEWS, ALBUM REVIEWS (Mobile), ALL POSTS
Tagged album, blues rock, Larkin Poe, review, roots, Self Made Man
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Album review: MAGENTA – Masters Of Illusion
Tigermoth [Release date 10.07.20] It seems a while since Magenta’s last studio release – We Are Legend (2017), and much as I enjoyed it, I have to confess it isn’t an album I’ve felt overly inclined to revisit at regular … Continue reading
Posted in ALBUM REVIEWS, ALBUM REVIEWS (Mobile), ALL POSTS
Tagged album, Hammer, horror, John Mitchell, Magenta, Masters Of Illusion, Peter Jones, prog, prog rock, progressive, review, Rob Reed, Troy Donockley
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Album review: MANDOKI SOULMATES – Living In The Gap/Hungarian Pictures
Red Rock Production/Cleopatra Records [Release date 06.20] 2-CD Reviewing in the millennium means that we miss out on previous decades’ lavish PR packages. If we are lucky these days we get a 320kbps download. The arrival of the re-promoted Mandoki … Continue reading
Posted in ALBUM REVIEWS, ALBUM REVIEWS (Mobile), ALL POSTS
Tagged Al Di Meola, album, Bobby Kimball, Chris Thompson, fusion, Hungarian Pictures, Ian Anderson, Jack Bruce, Jazz rock, John Helliwell. Leslie Mandoki, Living In The Gap, Mandoki Soulmates, Mike Stern, prog, progressive, Randy Brecker, review, rock
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News: RORY GALLAGHER celebrated in virtual festival – Sunday 14 June
Sunday 14 June will mark the 25th anniversary of the passing of the legendary musician Rory Gallagher. In the absence of this year’s four-day celebration in Ballyshannon the day will be marked by Rory followers around the world. WDR TV, … Continue reading
Feature: Gigs of the Millennium – JOE BONAMASSA
In June 2016 Joe Bonamassa trod the boards at the venue where – nearly over 50 years earlier – the Fab Four had fired their opening salvo. This historic gig has become one of life’s highlights for GRTR! reviewer Alan … Continue reading
Posted in ALL POSTS, FEATURES, Gigs of the Millennium
Tagged 27 June 2016, blues, blues rock, feature, gig, Joe Bonamassa, Liverpool, review, The Cavern
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Album review: INTELLIGENT MUSIC PROJECT – Sorcery Inside/Life Motion
Intelligent Music [Release date 12.02.20, 24.12.18*] There must be something in the Bulgarian water. One time Uriah Heep vocalist John Lawton has also used that country’s musicians in recent years and actually appears on the first two ‘Intelligent’ releases. This … Continue reading
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: STRAWBS – Burning For You (Remastered & Expanded Edition)
Esoteric [Release date: 26.6.20] In common with most rock survivors, David Cousins’ Strawbs have worked a variety of music genres over the past 50 years, segueing early folk stirrings into more conventional song structures via a progressive heyday. The last … Continue reading
Posted in ALBUM REVIEWS, ALBUM REVIEWS (Mobile), ALL POSTS, Reissues
Tagged album, Burning For You, classic rock, Dave Cousins, folk, pop, progressive, reissue, remastered, review, Strawbs
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Album review: THE WALK-A-BOUT – 20/20
Shred The Evidence Records [Release date 05.06.20] New York Long Islanders (East End) The Walk-A-Bout developed around the songwriting skills of Australian Darren ‘Sully’ Sullivan (vocals) and Kevin Anderson (guitars) and their debut mini-album ‘Things Are Looking Up’ came out … Continue reading
Posted in ALBUM REVIEWS, ALBUM REVIEWS (Mobile), ALL POSTS
Tagged 20/20, album, classic rock, review, The Walk-A-Bout
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Feature: Gigs of the Millennium – Steve Tilston, Argent, Camel, The Tubes
David Randall surveys a near-20 year period, reflecting on what constitutes a great gig… What makes a good gig? It can often be the events surrounding it – a pre-gig meal or drink for example - your fellow gig-goer(s), the … Continue reading
Posted in ALL POSTS, FEATURES, Gigs of the Millennium
Tagged Argent, Camel, classic rock, Dan Reed Network, David Gilmour, Europe, feature, gig, hard rock, Jeff Scott Soto, melodic rock, Progressive Rock, review, Saxon, singer songwriter, Steve Lukather, Steve Tilston, The Tubes, Winger
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Album review: SPIRIT – Tent Of Miracles (2CD Remastered & Expanded Edition)
Esoteric [Release date: 22.05.20] The 20-year journey from the band’s 1970 career-defining ‘The Twelve Dreams of Dr Sardonicus’ to pulling back the flaps of ‘Tent Of Miracles’ had been a wayward one for this acclaimed late ‘60s West Coast psych … Continue reading
Posted in ALBUM REVIEWS, ALBUM REVIEWS (Mobile), ALL POSTS, Reissues
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Feature: Call Collect – An introduction to ROY BUCHANAN
David Randall reflects on a patchy early recording career, with Telecaster Titan Roy Buchanan only realising his full potential three years before his untimely death… The story of Roy Buchanan is one of a great unsung hero, a feeling of … Continue reading
Posted in Call Collect, FEATURES
Tagged blues, blues rock, discography, feature, guitar, guitarist, interview, introduction, Roy Buchanan
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Feature: Albums that time forgot – NOTHING BY CHANCE – Ghosts Of Love
Dover/Chrysalis/Starward [1991] Bob Harris has a lot to answer for. I am sure – like many other musical insomniacs – he influenced our choice of album purchase in the early 1990s. As mentioned in despatches elsewhere, his overnight show for … Continue reading
Posted in Albums that time forgot, ALL POSTS, FEATURES
Tagged album, feature, Ghosts Of Love, Gilly darbey, John Acock, Kevin Donnelly, Nick Magnus, Nothing By Chance, pop, review, singer, soft rock, songwriter
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Feature: Albums that time forgot – MAE McKENNA – Mirage And Reality
Kadence [1991] In 1993 “old school” DJs at the BBC, such as Bob Harris and Alan Freeman, would be culled as part of a new regime at Radio 1 but that didn’t stop a “golden” period for a few years … Continue reading
Posted in Albums that time forgot, ALL POSTS, FEATURES
Tagged 1991, album, Celtic, folk, fusion, Hugh Mckenna, John Hackett, Mae McKenna, Mirage And Reality, review, singer, soft rock, songwriter, Steve Hackett
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Feature: Call Collect – An introduction to MOLLY HATCHET
Joe Geesin on southern rockers Molly Hatchet, named after a prostitute who allegedly mutilated and decapitated her clients. Things got even more horrendous as the band entered the 1990s … Molly Hatchet is a Southern Rock band from Jacksonville, Florida, … Continue reading
Posted in ALL POSTS, Call Collect, FEATURES
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Feature: What FREEDOM CALL mean to me
Joe Geesin recounts an enduring 20 year passion, cultivated after a few drinks and an introduction to the German metallers Freedom Call… After a decade of writing features and sleevenotes, (I first starting writing reviews for Record Collector magazine in … Continue reading
Posted in ALL POSTS, FEATURES, What a Band/Artist means to me...
Tagged feature, Freedom Call, German, metal, power metal, review
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Album review: JEFFERSON AIRPLANE – Long John Silver/Thirty Seconds Over Winterland
Esoteric [Release date: 27.03.20] Bed fellows of the early ’70s, the Airplane’s last studio release for 17 years and a subsequent live album ensemble woozily in a heyday fade. Where the ’60s releases were taped under the clock in Hollywood … Continue reading
Album review: SHAPE OF THE RAIN – Rily Riley Wood & Waggett (Deluxe Edition)
Grapefruit [Release date: 24.04.20] Deep catalogue but worth the wait is this welcome reissue of an unjustly-neglected little diamond dogged by ill fortune. Signing to emergent imprint Neon back in 1971 probably seemed a good plan given it was run … Continue reading
Posted in ALBUM REVIEWS, ALBUM REVIEWS (Mobile), ALL POSTS, Reissues
Tagged album, pop, review, Rily Riley Wood & Waggett, rock, Shape Of the Rain
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Album review: LETTUCE – Resonate
Round Hill Records [Digital release date 08.05.20] I have to declare at the outset that I have a soft spot for jazz funk. After a decade of prog and classic rock buying, in the late-1970s and 1980s I turned my … Continue reading
Posted in ALBUM REVIEWS, ALBUM REVIEWS (Mobile), ALL POSTS
Tagged album, funk, fusion, instrumental, jazz funk, Lettuce, Resonate, review
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Album review: FIREWIND – Firewind
AFM Records [Release date 15.05.20] Although the main attraction of Firewind is their frontman Gus G, maybe their Achilles heel over the years has been the regularly changing line-up. This time round, the band have another new singer – Herbie … Continue reading
Posted in ALBUM REVIEWS, ALBUM REVIEWS (Mobile), ALL POSTS
Tagged album, Firewind, Gus G, hard rock, Herbie Langhans, power metal, review
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News: UK BLUES AWARDS 2020 – Sunday 17 May – Pete Feenstra is nominated in UK blues broadcaster category
Get Ready to ROCK!’s Pete Feenstra has been voted “UK Blues Broadcaster of the Year” in the annual UK Blues Awards, sponsored by ‘Blues Matters’. The winners of each category were announced in a special virtual awards stream via the … Continue reading
Quick plays: DELAIN, JESSICA WOLFF, BEFORE SUNDAY
DELAIN Apocalypse & Chill (Napalm Records) [Release date 07.02.20] There was a time – around 10 years ago – when I was rather taken with Delain, and for that matter, Within Temptation. Both brought a slightly more commercial edge to … Continue reading
Album review: MICHAEL McDERMOTT – What In The World
[Release date 06.05.20] I’ve been reasonably positive about previous releases by Chicago based Americana singer songwriter Michael McDermott. And if you’re looking for a singer songwriter in the great American troubadour mould, look no further. That is, so long as … Continue reading
Posted in ALBUM REVIEWS, ALBUM REVIEWS (Mobile), ALL POSTS
Tagged album, Michael McDermott, review, roots, singer, songwriter, What In The World
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Album review: LUCIFER – Lucifer III
Century Media [Release date 20.03.20] It says a lot, when you can’t immediately recall that you reviewed a band’s last release only 2 years ago! In the case of Lucifer = a Stockholm based outfit owing much to the likes … Continue reading
Posted in ALBUM REVIEWS, ALBUM REVIEWS (Mobile), ALL POSTS
Tagged album, heavy rock, Lucifer, Lucifer III, progressive, psychedelic, review, Stoner
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Album review: TIGER MOTH TALES – A Visit To Zoetermeer (CD/DVD)
White Knight Records [Release date 21.02.20] Peter Jones was something of a revelation when fellow scribe Dave Randall and I saw Camel on their 2018 Moonmadness tour. Had it not been for the sheer brilliance of Andy Latimer, Jones’ keyboard … Continue reading
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