Author Archives: andynathan

Album review: ONE DESIRE – One Night Only- Live in Helsinki (CD/DVD)

Posted on June 27, 2021 by andynathan
ONE DESIRE- One Night Only- Live in Helsinki (CD/DVD)

Frontiers Records (Release Date 11.06.21) In normal times, it might seem vainglorious for a band to issue a live CD and DVD just two albums into their career. However, in these strange times it is easy to empathise with One … Continue reading →

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Album review: TOTO – With A Little Help From My Friends

Posted on June 22, 2021 by andynathan
TOTO- With A Little Help From My Friends

The Players Club/Mascot Label Group (Release Date 25.06.21) Last November Toto broadcast a live stream from California, which in the absence of concerts was the only way to introduce to the wider world their new line up in which Steve … Continue reading →

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Gig review: PAPA GEORGE AND VAL COWELL- Cabbage Patch, Twickenham, 28 May 2021

Posted on June 3, 2021 by andynathan
PAPA GEORGE AND VAL COWELL- Cabbage Patch, Twickenham, 28 May 2021

A return to normality for gigging is a long way off, just witness the continuing cancellation or postponements of shows into 2022. However at least lockdown has lifted enough for a few socially distanced shows to resume. Last autumn I … Continue reading →

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Gig review: JIM KIRKPATRICK- The Cavern, Raynes Park, London, 20 May 2021

Posted on May 27, 2021 by andynathan
JIM KIRKPATRICK- The Cavern, Raynes Park, London, 20 May 2021

If 2020 was a desert for live music, the road out of lockdown in 2021 has been an even longer and gloomier slog. Down in South West London, Cavern owner Noel Nevin has been fighting the good fight to stay … Continue reading →

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Album review: MARK SPIRO- Traveling Cowboys

Posted on May 24, 2021 by andynathan
MARK SPIRO - Traveling Cowboys

Frontiers Records (Release Date 07.05.21) Best known as a writer for Cheap Trick, Giant, Bad English and others, Mark Spiro’s career has significantly picked up after a dormant few years. Less than a year after the ’2+2= 5‘ triple anthology … Continue reading →

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Album review: LEVARA – s/t

Posted on May 12, 2021 by andynathan
LEVARA- s/t

Mascot Records [Release Date 14.05.21] So there was an American, an Englishman and a Frenchman…. no, not a set up to one of the world’s oldest forms of joke, but the line up of hotly tipped new melodic rockers Levara. … Continue reading →

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Album review: ROBBIE LaBLANC – Double Trouble

Posted on April 14, 2021 by andynathan
ROBBIE LaBLANC- Double Trouble

Escape Music (Release date 16.04.21) Robbie LaBlanc is not only one of the melodic rock world’s most admired singers, but increasingly its most prolific. It’s only a few months since I reviewed the East Temple Avenue album he lent his … Continue reading →

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Album review: FM – Tough It Out Live

Posted on April 13, 2021 by andynathan
FM Tough It Out Live

Frontiers Records (Release date 09.04.21) It already seems a long time ago but one of the gig highlights of the winter before the pandemic struck was the Big-Three-O tour in which FM, together with Dan Reed Network and Gun, celebrated … Continue reading →

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Album review: GARY HUGHES – Decades

Posted on March 31, 2021 by andynathan
GARY HUGHES- Decades

Frontiers Records [Release Date 12.03.21] With Gary Hughes having just released his first solo album in a long while, the simultaneous release of this generous 29 track double compilation is very timely as an opportunity to discover (or rediscover) the … Continue reading →

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Album review: A RISING FORCE – Undertow

Posted on March 29, 2021 by andynathan
A RISING FORCE--Undertow

HighVolMusic [Release Date 07.05.21] A Rising Force brings together several seasoned Minnesota musicians in a new band. They include guitarist Leni DiMancari, who was an original member of Hericane Alice but is better known, at least to me, as the … Continue reading →

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Album review: CHEZ KANE

Posted on March 29, 2021 by andynathan
CHEZ KANE- S/T

Frontiers Records [Release Date 12.03.21] Chez Kane is one of three sisters fronting Kane’d, who have gained a reputation pre-pandemic as an enjoyable live act. This is her debut solo album, though equal uncredited billing goes to Danny Rexon, lead … Continue reading →

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Album review: GARY HUGHES – Waterside

Posted on March 29, 2021 by andynathan
GARY HUGHES- Waterside

Frontiers Records [Release Date 12.03.21] It’s been a relatively quiet period for Gary Hughes,  the usually prolific Ten mainman- over two years since Ten’s last album but a whopping  14 since his last album under his own name. Now, on … Continue reading →

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Album review: TOUCH – Tomorrow Never Comes

Posted on March 14, 2021 by andynathan
TOUCH-Tomorrow Never Comes

Escape Music [Release Date 26.03.21] Here’s a reunion few ever expected to see. Touch are most famous to the wider world as the band that opened the first ever Monsters of Rock at Download in 1980. Many years later I … Continue reading →

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Album review: STEPHEN CRANE- Kicks

Posted on March 12, 2021 by andynathan
STEPHEN CRANE- Kicks

AOR Heaven (Release Date 26.03.21) The rock world is littered with hard luck stories of people failed by the record industry. One such is Stephen Crane. Already a seasoned figure on the Texas music scene, he was signed to MCA … Continue reading →

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Album review: PARIS- 50/50

Posted on March 12, 2021 by andynathan
Paris- 50/50

AOR Heaven (Release Date 26.03.21) France is hardly a hotbed of melodic rock but Paris, essentially the duo of Frederic Dechevanne and Sebastien Montet with some guest musicians, have now released three albums. They  follow in a distinguished line of … Continue reading →

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Album review: WINDING ROAD- s/t

Posted on March 9, 2021 by andynathan
WINDING ROAD- s/t

AOR Heaven [Release Date 26.03.21] The thriving Scandinavian melodic rock scene is not just one for young bucks. Winding Road are a new band in which three musicians with a long list of credits in their native Sweden have come … Continue reading →

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Album review: INGLORIOUS- We Will Ride

Posted on February 8, 2021 by andynathan
INGLORIOUS- We Will Ride

Frontiers Records [Release Date 12.02.21] It has been a rocky road for Inglorious since they burst onto the scene as one of the great hopes of classic rock. For a while their huge potential, not least in the powerful vocals … Continue reading →

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Album review: W.E.T. – Retransmission

Posted on January 29, 2021 by andynathan
W.E.T. - Retransmission

Frontiers Records (Release Date 22.01.21) Of all the melodic rock supergroups assembled, usually on the Frontiers roster, W.E.T. have proved to have staying power.  This fourth studio release  comes a relatively recent three years after its predecessor ‘Earthrage’, which is … Continue reading →

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Album review: PALACE- Rock And Roll Radio

Posted on December 21, 2020 by andynathan
PALACE- Rock and Roll Radio

Frontiers Records [Release date 04.12.20] Michael Palace, a man with multiple performing and writing credits to his name, is now onto the third album from his own project. 2016’s ‘Master of the Universe’ was mainstream melodic hard rock, but is … Continue reading →

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Album review: EAST TEMPLE AVENUE – Both Sides of Midnight

Posted on December 20, 2020 by andynathan
EAST TEMPLE AVENUE- Both Sides of Midnight

AOR Heaven (Release Date 27.11.20) East Temple Avenue sees Australian songwriter Darren Phillips, whose project under his own name featured a star studded cast, join forces for a whole album with Robbie Le Blanc, the Blanc Faces singer whose combination … Continue reading →

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Album review: JEFF SCOTT SOTO – Wide Awake (In My Dreamland)

Posted on November 25, 2020 by andynathan
JEFF SCOTT SOTO- Wide Awake In My Dreamland

Frontiers Records [Release Date 6.11.20] After going in a more modern metal direction with his Soto project and fronting prog rock supergroup Sons of Apollo, the latest album from the ever prolific Jeff Scott Soto sees him return to the … Continue reading →

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Album review: ECLIPSE – Viva La Victouria (CD/DVD)

Posted on November 24, 2020 by andynathan
ECLIPSE- Viva La Victouria (CD/DVD)

Frontiers Records [Release Date 6.11.20] This package of goodies from Eclipse is very timely, as their last album ‘Paradigm’ rather got swamped in the rush of autumn 2019 releases, then after gearing up for a huge tour, it never reached … Continue reading →

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Book Review: ON TRACK (every album, every song…) – IRON MAIDEN (by Steve Pilkington) and THIN LIZZY (by Graeme Stroud)

Posted on November 20, 2020 by andynathan
ON TRACK (every album, every song...)- IRON MAIDEN (by Steve Pilkington) and THIN LIZZY (by Graeme Stroud)

Sonic Bond Publishing The ‘On Track’ series is a new one to me, but glancing at GRTR!’s recent book reviews it seems to be a rapidly growing collection. While more critically acclaimed artists such as the Beatles and Bruce Springsteen … Continue reading →

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Album review: ALIEN – Into the Future

Posted on November 9, 2020 by andynathan
ALIEN- Into the Future

AOR Heaven [Release Date 27.11.20] One of the original wave of Scandi AOR bands at the end of the eighties, Alien’s return with their original line up was one of the stories of the early 2010’s. They followed up two … Continue reading →

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Album review: PRIDE OF LIONS – Lion Heart

Posted on October 28, 2020 by andynathan
Pride Of Lions- Lionheart

Frontiers Records [Release Date 09.10.20] Approaching 70, maestro songwriter and Survivor founder member Jim Peterik is showing no signs of slowing down. After last year’s World Stage release with a star studded casts of guest vocalists, and co-writing much of … Continue reading →

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