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Latest Album Reviews
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Latest Gig Reviews
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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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Gig review: ELLES BAILEY- Islington Assembly Hall, London, 2 November 2024
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Featured Album Reviews
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Album review: NORMAN BEAKER – Running Down The Clock
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Album review: RYAN McGARVEY – Heavy Hearted
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Album review: GARY MOORE – Blues And Beyond
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Album review: THE ALARM – Strength (30th anniversary)
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Album review: MIKE ROSS – The Clovis Limit, Pt 2
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Album review: RICKY WARWICK – When Patsy Cline Was Crazy (And Guy Mitchell Sang The Blues) / Hearts On Trees
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Author Archives: GRTR! HQ
Album review: MANDOKI SOULMATES – A Memory Of Our Future
Red Rock Music/Inside Out Music [Release date 10.05.24] I think it fair to say that Leslie Mandoki doesn’t do things half-arsed. Several years ago a couple of reissues were accompanied by an expansive press kit, a real thick tome that … Continue reading
Album review: THESE WICKED RIVERS – Force Of Nature
Fat Earth Records [Released date 01.03.24] This is a perfectly formed second album from Derby’s finest. Formed in 2014, the band combine elements of southern, classic and heavy rock. The title track is a great calling card and guaranteed to … Continue reading
Posted in ALBUM REVIEWS, ALBUM REVIEWS (Mobile), ALL POSTS
Tagged album, classic rock, Force Of Nature, heavy rock, review, southern rock, These Wicked Rivers
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Album review: MARISA AND THE MOTHS – What Doesn’t Kill You
Tonesick Records [Release date 03.05.24] I first became aware of Marisa And The Moths during Lockdown and they ultimately produced some excellent stripped back versions of their songs, not least a truly wonderful version of ‘Choke’. At that time they … Continue reading
Posted in ALBUM REVIEWS, ALBUM REVIEWS (Mobile), ALL POSTS
Tagged album, hard rock, heavy rock, Marisa And The Moths, review, What Doesn't Kill You
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Album review: ATTIC THEORY – What We Fear The Most
ThunderGun Records [Release date 26.04.24] It shows an album’s strength when four tracks are pre-released as “singles”. There could have been more. The debut album from this Liverpool band is a great example of burgeoning home grown talent in 2024. … Continue reading
Posted in ALBUM REVIEWS, ALBUM REVIEWS (Mobile), ALL POSTS
Tagged album, Attic Theory, hard rock, heavy rock, review, What We Fear The Most
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Book review: On track…OASIS, NEIL YOUNG, AC/DC, PROCOL HARUM (every album, every song)
Sonicbond Publishing www.sonicbondpublishing.com [Publication dates 26.01.24*, 29.02.24**, 05.04.24***, 10.05.24****] The wide spread of the On Track… series is confirmed by Paul Tornbohm’s dissection of Carpenters*. Surveying the pop duo’s output from 1969, Tornbohm approaches his task from the viewpoint of a … Continue reading
Posted in ALL POSTS, BOOK REVIEWS
Tagged AC/DC, book, Brit Pop, Carpenters, classic rock, hard rock, INXS, Neil Young, Oasis, On Track, pop, pop rock, Procol Harum, review
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Album review: SHADES OF PLATO – Blackout
Platonic Arrangements [Release date 20.06.24] shadesofplato1.bandcamp.com/ Any album with a song title ‘Bacteria With Shoes’ demands attention. And you’ll find it on the third album from gothic rockers Shades Of Plato. By their own admission this album predicts a post-pandemic apocalypse … Continue reading
Posted in ALBUM REVIEWS, ALBUM REVIEWS (Mobile), ALL POSTS
Tagged album, Blackout, hard rock, New Wave, prog, review, Shades Of Plato
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Album review: VARIOUS – Reimagining The Court Of The Crimson King
Purple Pyramid Records [Release date 19.04.24] King Crimson’s 1969 album is one of the most significant and influential prog albums and here gets a fresh coat of paint courtesy of a stellar gathering of prog and fusion A listers. And, … Continue reading
Posted in ALBUM REVIEWS, ALBUM REVIEWS (Mobile), ALL POSTS
Tagged Alan Davey, album, Arthur Brown, Brian Auger, James LaBrie, Joe Lynn Turner, King Crimson, Mel Collins, Paul Rudolph, prog, Progressive Rock, Reimagining The Court Of The Crimson King, review, Steve Hillage, Todd Rundgren
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Book review: On track…MAGNUM – every album, every song – by Matthew Taylor
Sonicbond Publishing [Publication date 26.04.24] The merits of these “On track…” books lie in the authors’ comprehensive trawling of sources as much as subjective opinion. Matthew Taylor’s expose of Magnum drives a balance between the two. He has used a … Continue reading
Posted in ALL POSTS, BOOK REVIEWS
Tagged Bob Catley, book, hard rock, Magnum, Mark Stanway, melodic rock, On Track, review, Tony Clarkin
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Album review: LEE AARON – Tattoo Me
Metalville [Release date 26.04.24] Lee Aaron is probably at that stage of life where she doesn’t have to please anyone. She still makes relevant albums and if her previous ‘Elevate’ was not quite up to ‘Radio On!’ (in 2021) they … Continue reading
Posted in ALBUM REVIEWS, ALBUM REVIEWS (Mobile), ALL POSTS
Tagged album, classic rock, cover versions, Covers, hard rock, Lee Aaron, review, Tattoo Me
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Feature: Rock: Rewired – STEVE MARRIOTT Part 2 (Peter Frampton interview)
In the second part of our Steve Marriott feature, Iain McGonigal chatted to Peter Frampton in 2017 about their relationship, Humble Pie, and beyond… Sadly, Steve Marriott only lived for three and a half months of 1991. During this time, … Continue reading
Posted in ALL POSTS, FEATURES, Rock: Rewired
Tagged blues rock, classic rock, feature, hard rock, Humble Pie, interview, Peter Frampton, Steve Marriott, The Herd
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Feature: Rock: Rewired – STEVE MARRIOTT (Part 1)
In his show on Get Ready to ROCK! Radio on Sunday 21 April David Randall played a selection of tracks celebrating Steve Marriott. It’s 33 years since the sad passing of Steve Marriott (20 April 1991). Here Iain McGonigal recalls … Continue reading
Posted in ALL POSTS, FEATURES, Rock: Rewired
Tagged blues rock, classic rock, feature, hard rock, Humble Pie, Steve Marriott, The Official Receivers, The Small Faces
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Album review: 25 YARD SCREAMER – The Memory Cheats (The Pictures Within 2023)
White Knight Records [Release date 24.01.24] 25yardscreamer.bandcamp.com/music 25 Yard Screamer, who we first reviewed back in 2005, are now typical of those solid bands who feed the gnarly backbone of prog rock without being touched by wider success or recognition. … Continue reading
Posted in ALBUM REVIEWS, ALBUM REVIEWS (Mobile), ALL POSTS
Tagged 25 Yard Screamer, album, prog, prog rock, Progressive Rock, review, The Pictures Within
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Album review: A TREEHOUSE WAIT – Kaleidoscope
Volkoren [Release date 25.05.24] Singer songwriter Jenny Gajicki and producer Emil Sydhage have come together again for this latest piece of Scandi Noir (their debut ‘Interlude’ was in 2016). Jenny has a vocal delivery not dissimilar to the late Dolores … Continue reading
Posted in ALBUM REVIEWS, ALBUM REVIEWS (Mobile), ALL POSTS
Tagged A Treehouse Wait, album, alt rock, electronica, indie, indie pop, Kaleidoscope, review
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Album review: EMERSON, LAKE & POWELL – Complete Collection
Spirit of Unicorn Music [Release date 12.04.24] Emerson Lake & Palmer had imploded by the mid-eighties and the age of prog and pomp ceremony was seemingly over. In the late seventies there had been a last flourish of excess with … Continue reading
Album review: THUNDER – The Magnificent Seventh, Robert Johnson’s Tombstone, Bang! (reissues)
BMG [Release date 04.04.24] The latest batch of Thunder reissues span the years 2005-2008. All are available on vinyl for the first time. In 2005 the band released their seventh studio album called, appropriately enough, ‘The Magnificent Seventh’. It was … Continue reading
Album review: PROG COLLECTIVE – Dark Encounters
Purple Pyramid/Cleopatra Records [Release date 29.03.24] If this is “dark prog” then dark prog sounds to me like jazz/rock fusion. Once you are past the descriptors, a look at the cast list suggests this might be a rather tasty fusion … Continue reading
Gig review: 10cc – Bristol Beacon, 7 March 2024
David Randall chatted to Graham Gouldman about his career. First broadcast on Get Ready to ROCK! Radio, 12 August 2018. I worked out it’s nearly fifty years since I last saw 10cc live, and this was at the height of … Continue reading
Posted in ALL POSTS, GIG REVIEWS, INTERVIEWS, Radio interview
Tagged 10CC, 7 March 2024, Bristol Beacon, gig, Graham Gouldman, pop, pop rock, review
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Album review: SAMI YAFFA – Satan’s Helpers War Lazer Eyes And The Money Pig Circus
Livewire/Cargo [Release date 08.03.24] Friends will tell you that I am a huge fan of the Stones, Guns N’ Roses, Motley Crue or Def Leppard, and they are right, but for me there is one band that will always remain … Continue reading
Gig review: FRASER ANDERSON/EMILY FRASER – Junction 3, Cambridge, 24 February 2024
Continuing my February foray to Cambridge’s acoustic gig offerings, the intimate club surroundings of Junction 3 – where the popular New Routes event has its home – hosts some of the very best acoustic and electric talent in the folk … Continue reading
Posted in ALL POSTS, GIG REVIEWS
Tagged 24 February 2024, acoustic, Cambridge, Emily Fraser, Fraser Anderson, gig, Junction 3, review, singer, songwriter
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Gig review: CONSTANT FOLLOWER – Anglia Ruskin University, Cambridge, 22 February 2024
For those seeking refuge from a harsh world outside, there was no better place than Cambridge, its gleaming spires, ancient waterway, historic places of learning and the constant ring of bicycle bells in the town centre suddenly the epicentre of … Continue reading
Posted in ALL POSTS, GIG REVIEWS
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Album review: RAFAEL RIQUENI – Versatae
Cleopatra Records [Release date 16.02.24] ‘Versatae’ marks something of a departure for the master flamenco guitar player who is held in the same esteem as players like Paco Pena and Paco de Lucia. Rafael Riqueni has lent his skills to … Continue reading
Posted in ALBUM REVIEWS, ALBUM REVIEWS (Mobile), ALL POSTS
Tagged acoustic, album, flamenco, guitar, Rafael Riqueni, review, Versatae
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Album review: BENJAMIN CROFT – We Are Here To Help
Galactic Receiver [Release date 03.05.24] www.benjamincroftmusic.com You could be forgiven thinking that Benjamin Croft is the latest U.S. fusion export. But Benjamin is British and this is his third solo album. He has worked in the States but relocated to … Continue reading