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Upcoming Gigs & Albums
Latest Album Reviews
Latest Gig Reviews
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Gig review: GRAHAM GOULDMAN – Cadogan Hall, London, 20 March 2025
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Gig review: THE DARKNESS – G Live, Guildford, 11 March 2025
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Gig review: FISH – O2 Academy, Glasgow, 9 March 2025
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Gig review: WILL WILDE- 100 Club, London, 4 March 2025
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Gig review: URIAH HEEP – London Palladium, 26 February 2025
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Gig review: THE VAPORS Album Launch – The Water Rats, London, 27 February 2025
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Featured Album Reviews
Features
Interviews
Single & EP Reviews
DVD Reviews
Book Reviews
News
Author Archives: GRTR! HQ
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
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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
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Tagged 25 Yard Screamer, album, prog, prog rock, Progressive Rock, review, The Pictures Within
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EP review: ASHEN REACH, DEADAUDIOSAINTS, GEOFF CARNE
ASHEN REACH The Fear EP [Release date: 22.03.24] www.ashenreach.co.uk Liverpool-based Ashen Reach released their debut ‘Homecoming’ in late 2020 and since that time have appeared at numerous festivals in the UK including Steelhouse and Planet Rockstock. The EP is characterised … Continue reading
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
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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
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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
Gig review: SOUTH OF SALEM – The Tivoli, Buckley, North Wales, 9 February 2024
South Of Salem could be construed as “old school” in 2024. Admittedly there’s nothing cutting edge in their Goth-inspired metal delivery but – by goodness – they deliver. We’ve been exposed to a series of singles from the band in … Continue reading
Posted in ALL POSTS, GIG REVIEWS
Tagged 9 February 2024, Buckley, gig, goth, horror, metal, North Wales, review, South Of Salem, The Tivoli
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Album review: SOUTH OF SALEM – Death Of The Party
Spider Party Records [Release date 19.01.24] Back “in the day” UK national radio would ensure that if a band crafted three or four minute ear candy there was a good chance it would be playlisted. Back then – 1970s and … Continue reading
Posted in ALBUM REVIEWS, ALBUM REVIEWS (Mobile), ALL POSTS
Tagged album, Death Of The Party, heavy rock, review, South Of Salem
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News: Albums Of The Month (October – December 2023)
HANFORD FLYOVER Source (Fruits De Mer Records) There are several bands operating in the psych/blues rock space and female fronted such as Dead Feathers and Blues Pills, and even label mate Crystal Jacqueline. But Hanford Flyover are less late sixties Jefferson … Continue reading
Posted in ALBUM REVIEWS, ALBUM REVIEWS (Mobile), Albums of the Month, ALL POSTS
Tagged 2023, albums of the month, Ann Wilson, blues rock, Care of Night, December, Hanford Flyover, instrumental, melodic rock, November, October, prog, progressive, Robin Trower, rock, Sari Schorr, Trevor Rabin, Tripsitter, Will Pike
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Album review: TEMPEST – Tempest/Living In Fear (Remaster)
BGO Records www.bgo-records.com [Release date 06.10.23] The two albums released by Tempest in 1973/4 marked a musical departure for jazz rock drummer Jon Hiseman who – at the time – was best known for his work with Colosseum and to … Continue reading
Posted in ALBUM REVIEWS, ALBUM REVIEWS (Mobile), ALL POSTS, Reissues
Tagged Alan Holdsworth, album, classic rock, Colosseum, Jazz rock, Jon Hiseman, Living In Fear, Mark Clarke, Paul Williams, review, Tempest
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Album review: ATOMIC ROOSTER – Made In England/Nice ‘N’ Greasy (Remaster)
BGO Records www.bgo-records.com [Release date 06.10.23] The reconfigured Atomic Rooster have been a staple of many prog and classic rock festivals since 2016 when they received Vincent Crane widow’s blessing. Carrying the band’s flame are sometime members vocalist Pete French … Continue reading
Posted in ALBUM REVIEWS, ALBUM REVIEWS (Mobile), ALL POSTS, Reissues
Tagged album, Atomic Rooster, classic rock, funk, Made In England, Nice 'N' Greasy, prog, progressive, reissue, review, Vincent Crane
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Album review: PALADIN – Paladin/Charge! (Remaster)
BGO Records www.bgo-records.com [Release date 13.10.23] I have to say that I’ve only known Paladin from digging through crates of vinyl at record fairs and noting the Roger Dean artwork. It all looked a bit prog. Now the band’s only … Continue reading
Posted in ALBUM REVIEWS, ALBUM REVIEWS (Mobile), ALL POSTS, Reissues
Tagged album, Charge!, classic rock, Paladin, prog, Progressive Rock, review
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Album review: JEFF AUG – Kiss Of The Liquid Moon
Heavy Progressive Records [Release date 01.02.24] You can’t help thinking – listening to this seventh solo album from acoustic guitarist Jeff Aug – “when is he going to break into ‘Classical Gas’?” Just like that classic acoustic piece, ‘Kiss Of … Continue reading
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Tagged acoustic, guitar, intsrumental, Jeff Aug, Kiss Of The Liquid Moon
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