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Upcoming Gigs & Albums
Latest Album Reviews
Latest Gig Reviews
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Gig review: BLACK EYED SONS- The Lexington, London, 16 December 2024
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Gig review: BRAVE RIVAL – Thames Side Brewery, Staines, 8 December 2024
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Gig review: STRAY – The Cavern, Raynes Park, London, 7 December 2024
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Gig review: THE SHEEPDOGS, THE COMMONERS – Islington Assembly Hall, London, 5 December 2024
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Gig review: GUN – Barrowlands, Glasgow, 14 December 2024
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Gig review: THE DAMN TRUTH – The Grace, London, 26 November 2024
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Featured Album Reviews
Features
Single & EP Reviews
DVD Reviews
Book Reviews
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Author Archives: GRTR! HQ
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
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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
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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
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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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Feature: Bands that time forgot – BAD COMPANY (1986-1996)
For most, Bad Company conjures up the classic seventies line-up fronted by Paul Rodgers and with Mick Ralphs, Simon Kirke and Boz Burrell. The eponymous and classic first album yielded a handful of airplay and chart hits and set the … Continue reading
Feature: Albums that time forgot – NEAL SCHON – Late Nite
Columbia [1989] Years ago there was a very good record store in the Liverpool area and with a branch in my nearby shopping bolthole Chester. Penny Lane Records yielded a fine selection of import albums at a reasonable price. It … Continue reading
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Tagged album, AOR, Bob Marlette, interview, Journey, Late Nite, melodic rock, Neal Schon, review, Santana, Sheryl Crow
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Feature: Bands that time forgot – CELTUS
The two brothers John and Pat McManus had previously been members of eighties Irish heavy rockers Mama’s Boys. Both were multi-instrumentalists and their desire to achieve a more atmospheric, reflective groove was partly influenced by the premature death from leukaemia … Continue reading
Posted in ALL POSTS, Bands that time forgot, FEATURES
Tagged album, Celtic, Celtus, feature, fusion, John McManus, Pat McManus, review, rock
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Feature: Albums that time forgot – 21 GUNS – Nothing’s Real
Z Records [1997] The 1990s was a hard time for melodic hard rock bands feeling the chill wind from Seattle. Joey Tempest from the band Europe told me that they also succumbed to the prevailing trend, and that when visiting … Continue reading
Posted in Albums that time forgot, ALL POSTS, FEATURES
Tagged 21 Guns, album, feature, hard rock, interview, melodic, Mike Sturgis, Nothing's Real, Phenomena II, review, Scott Gorham, Thin Lizzy
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Feature: Albums that time forgot – KEATS
EMI [1984] Released in 1984 the eponymous album by Keats might be considered as an Alan Parsons Project off-shoot. It was produced by Parsons and includes the core band members that feature on most of the Project albums, Ian Bairnson, … Continue reading
Feature: Albums that time forgot – PUBLIC SYMPHONY
[2006] Public Symphony is the brainchild of TV music composer (including ‘The Travel Show’, ‘Rogue Traders’) Dobs Vye who, together with James Reynolds, released their one and only album in 2006. When reviewing the album I opined: “‘Public Symphony’ is … Continue reading
Posted in Albums that time forgot, ALL POSTS, FEATURES
Tagged album, chill-out, Dobs Vye, electronica, pop, Public Symphony, review, rock
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Feature: What FREE mean to me…
Alan Jones on a woman in a diaphanous dress, a wailing Les Paul, and a T-shirt that said it all… It could have gone either way. In the late sixties my musical experiences were limited to my mother’s meagre collection … Continue reading
Posted in ALL POSTS, FEATURES, What a Band/Artist means to me...
Tagged Andy Fraser, blues rock, feature, Free, Paul Kossoff, Paul Rodgers, review, Simon Kirke
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Feature: Albums that time forgot – DOMINICI – O3 A Trilogy (Part 3)
Inside Out [2008] Charlie Dominici may merit a mere footnote in the history of Dream Theater, the band’s original singer who was in the formative Majesty before making the band’s first album. Then in 2005 he produced the first of … Continue reading
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Tagged album, Brian Maillard, Charlie Dominici, Dominici, Dream Theater, interview, O3 A Trilogy, Part 3, progressive metal, review
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Feature: Call Collect: An introduction to CHRISTOPHER LEE and his music
Best known for his portrayal of Dracula in the late 1960s Hammer horror films Christopher Lee also lent his (vocal) talents to several rock albums including power metallers Rhapsody of Fire… Sir Christopher Frank Carandini Lee CBE was an actor … Continue reading
Posted in ALL POSTS, Call Collect, FEATURES
Tagged actor, album, Christopher Lee, Dracula, film, Hammer, horror, power metal, RHAPSODY OF FIRE, screen, The Wicker Man
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Feature: What SAXON mean to me…
Saxon have been a life-long passion for Joe Geesin who has followed the band since the mid-1980s. More recently he has contributed sleeve notes and curation to several re-issues. And now he’s ready to write the band’s biography… Barnsley born … Continue reading
Posted in ALL POSTS, FEATURES, What a Band/Artist means to me...
Tagged albums, Biff Byford, heavy metal, heavy rock, history, Paul Quinn, review, Saxon
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Feature: Gigs of the Millennium – BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN
For many years Andy Nathan was a non-believer of the Boss and his enduring influence in rock music. All that was to change, finally, on a summer’s night in June 2012… Of the hundreds of bands I’ve been lucky to … Continue reading
Posted in FEATURES, Gigs of the Millennium
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Feature: Albums that time forgot – HUGHES THRALL
Epic [1982] Often cited by musos as a favourite album, ‘Hughes/Thrall’ was released in 1982. By all accounts Glenn Hughes (bass and vocals in MK III and IV Deep Purple) ‘stole’ guitarist Pat Thrall after seeing him play with Pat … Continue reading
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Tagged album, Glenn Hughes, hard rock, Hughes Thrall, Pat Thrall, review
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Feature: Albums that time forgot – IOMMI – Fused (Tony Iommi/Glenn Hughes)
Sanctuary [2005] In 2005 Tony Iommi and Glenn Hughes collaborated on the album ‘Fused’. It was Iommi’s second solo album. The pair had worked together on ‘Seventh Star’ in 1986, with drummer Kenny Aronoff, and this was originally destined to … Continue reading
Posted in Albums that time forgot, ALL POSTS, FEATURES
Tagged album, Black Sabbath, Bob Marlette, Fused, Glenn Hughes, heavy rock, Iommi, Kenny Aronoff, metal, review, Tony Iommi
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Feature: Albums that time forgot – ELEKTRADRIVE – Living 4
Valery Records (2009) Elektradrive is one of the more significant Hard Rock/AOR bands to emerge from Italy. At the very start, in 1983, the name of the band was Overdrive and they had a four-piece line up without keyboards; after … Continue reading
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Tagged album, AOR, Elektradrive, hard rock, Italian, Italy, Living 4, melodic rock, review
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Feature: Albums that time forgot – SARAYA – When The Blackbird Sings
Polygram (1991) There was a lot happening at the turn of the eighties and a glut of excellent CDs (and bands) that were destined for obscurity. We’ll feature some in this series, but these were good times for melodic hard … Continue reading
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Feature: Albums that time forgot – CHIMPAN A
F2 Music (2006) Chimpan A, released in 2006, was a project featuring Rob Reed (better known for his work in the prog-rock band Magenta), and two members of country rock band The Storys: Rob Thompson (guitar) and Steve Balsamo (vocals). … Continue reading
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Tagged album, ambient, chill, Chimpan A, Christina Booth, electronica, Magenta, Progressive Rock, review, Rob Reed, Steve Balsamo
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Feature: Albums that time forgot – SHADOW KING
Atlantic (1991) Shadow King was Lou Gramm’s first foray in a band format since his departure from Foreigner in April 1991. The charismatic vocalist had been working on songs with Bruce Turgon for a third solo album and these developed … Continue reading
Posted in Albums that time forgot, ALL POSTS, FEATURES
Tagged album, Bruce Turgon, Foreigner, hard rock, Lou Gramm, review, Shadow King, Vivian Campbell
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Feature: Bands that time forgot… LOVE AND MONEY (James Grant)
Love And Money formed out of Glasgow-based ‘Friends Again’ in the early eighties and whilst their debut album ‘All You Need is…’ hinted at the funky tunesmithery to come it wasn’t until 1988′s Strange Kind Of Love that the band … Continue reading
Posted in ALL POSTS, Bands that time forgot, FEATURES
Tagged feature, introduction, James Grant, Love And Money, pop rock, review, singer, songwriter
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