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Upcoming Gigs & Albums
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Gig review: BRAVE RIVAL – The Stables, Milton Keynes, 14 March 2026
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Gig review: A VERY SPECIAL EVENING OF MOTT THE HOOPLE – Riverside Studios, London, 27 February 2026
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Gig review: EMERALD MOON – Le Marquee, Peyrignac, Dordogne, SW France, 7 March 2026
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Gig review: MILKFEST, Indigo2, London, 1 March 2026
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GRTR! Greats
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Author Archives: andynathan
Film review: PHIL LYNOTT – Songs For While I’m Away
Break Out/ Eagle Rock Productions [Release Date 30.10.20] Autumn 2020 is one of those times when the Thin Lizzy legacy is getting one of its periodic dusting downs. Alongside a bumper budget compilation and a 6 CD box set of … Continue reading
Posted in ALL POSTS, DVD REVIEWS, FILM REVIEWS
Tagged DVD, film, hard rock, Phil Lynott, review, Songs For While I'm Away, Thin Lizzy
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Gig review: MARK MORRISS- Cabbage Patch, Twickenham, 3 October 2020
Perhaps it wasn’t quite squarely in GRTR’s ballpark, but the last time bands with guitars dominated the charts, possibly forever, was when Britpop ruled. Led by the likes of Blur, Oasis and Pulp, the movement defined the sound and style … Continue reading
Posted in ALL POSTS, GIG REVIEWS
Tagged Britpop, gig, Mark Morriss, singer songwriter, the Bluetones
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Gig review: GARY FLETCHER AND NICK RITCHIE – Cabbage Patch, Twickenham, 2 October 2020
Of course it’s trivial compared to those who have lost loved ones or their own livelihoods, but one of the biggest effects of the Coronavirus pandemic has been cutting live music dead in its tracks. Having been to over 80 … Continue reading
Posted in ALL POSTS, GIG REVIEWS
Tagged blues, Blues Band, Eel Pie, Gary Fletcher, gig, Nick Ritchie, singer songwriter
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Album review: BROTHER FIRETRIBE – Feel The Burn
Odyssey Music (Release Date 18.09.20) With the release of their first album back in 2006, Brother Firetribe (alongside the Poodles and WigWam) kick started the Scandinavian-led revival of melodic rock that is thriving to this day. Since then the only … Continue reading
Posted in ALBUM REVIEWS, ALBUM REVIEWS (Mobile), ALL POSTS
Tagged album, AOR, Brother Firetribe, melodic rock, Pekka Ansiu Heino, review
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Album review: PERFECT PLAN- Time For A Miracle
Frontiers Records [Release Date 04.09.20] Perfect Plan’s self titled debut was one of the revelations of 2018, these seasoned Swedes emerging from nowhere with a high quality mix of hard rock and AOR. After keeping the pot boiling nicely with … Continue reading
Posted in ALBUM REVIEWS, ALBUM REVIEWS (Mobile), ALL POSTS
Tagged album, AOR, Kent Hilli, melodic rock, Perfect Plan
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Album review: HELL IN THE CLUB – Hell of Fame
Frontiers Records [Release Date 04.09.20] Hell in the Club, whose latest album is remarkably their fifth, are one of the few bands on Frontiers Records huge roster that are actually from their native Italy- even if band members have adopted … Continue reading
Posted in ALBUM REVIEWS, ALBUM REVIEWS (Mobile), ALL POSTS
Tagged album, glam rock, Hell In The Club, sleaze rock
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Album review: TWISTER- Cursed and Corrected
Off Yer Rocka Recordings: Release Date 13.11.20 Young North-Easterners Twister looked to have been building a name for themselves prior to lockdown with some high profile support slots and winning a Hard Rock Hell Battle of the Bands competition, so … Continue reading
Posted in ALBUM REVIEWS, ALBUM REVIEWS (Mobile), ALL POSTS
Tagged album, New Wave of Classic Rock, Stevie Stoker, Twister
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Album review: FORTUNE- The Gun’s Still Smoking Live (CD/DVD)
Frontiers Records (Release Date 07.08.20) One of the most heart-warming and unexpected comebacks of the last few years has been that of cult eighties AOR sters Fortune. It’s fair to say their comeback in 2016 at Rockingham Festival stole the … Continue reading
Posted in ALBUM REVIEWS, ALBUM REVIEWS (Mobile), ALL POSTS, DVD REVIEWS
Tagged album, AOR, Fortune. live album, Larry Greene, Mark Nilan, melodic rock, Richard Fortune, Ricky Rat
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Feature: Gigs of the Millennium – ROCK FEST 2003, Wisconsin, USA
Andy Nathan has caused much teeth-gnashing and fist-clenching amongst the GRTR! team with his enviable sorties to the States sometimes taking in a couple of festivals in one visit. These include Summerfest and Moondance Jam. Here he recounts a particularly … Continue reading
Posted in ALL POSTS, FEATURES, Gigs of the Millennium
Tagged .38 Special, 2003, Alice Cooper, Boston, Def Leppard, Dokken, Eddie Money, festival, Firehouse, gig, gig of the millennium, Grand Funk Railroad, Heart, Jackyl, Loverboy, Lynyrd Skynyrd, melodic rock, Night Ranger, Rick Springfield, Rock Fest, Sammy Hagar, Twisted Sister, Whitesnake, Wisconsin
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Album review: TOKYO MOTOR FIST – Lions
Frontiers Records (Release Date 10.07.20) Tokyo Motor Fist’s second album is one of the most hotly anticipated melodic rock releases of the year. The 2017 debut of this East Coast supergroup was among the best of the year, while the … Continue reading
Posted in ALBUM REVIEWS, ALBUM REVIEWS (Mobile), ALL POSTS
Tagged album, Danger Danger, Lions, melodic rock, review, Steve Brown, Ted Poley, Tokyo Motor Fist, Trixter
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Album review: MARK SPIRO- 2+2=5: Best of + Rarities
Frontiers Records (Release Date 10.07.20) Mark Spiro is probably best known as one of those outside collaborators who in the late eighties and early nineties sprinkled their songwriting gold dust to give the added touches that turned potential singles into … Continue reading
Album review: KANSAS – The Absence of Presence
Inside Out Records [Release Date 17.07.20] Kansas are an object lesson in regeneration and renewal for veteran bands. Having been around since 1974, many feared for their future when lead singer Steve Walsh retired in 2014, but continuing with a … Continue reading
Posted in ALBUM REVIEWS, ALBUM REVIEWS (Mobile), ALL POSTS
Tagged album, AOR, Kansas, Phil Ehart, Progressive Rock, Richard Williams, Ronnie Platt, Tom Brislin, Zak Rizvi
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Feature: Albums that time forgot – RANSOM – Trouble In Paradise
MTM (1997) As alternative sounds ruled the roost in the nineties, musical styles that had ruled the previous decade were out of fashion and none more so than the melodic rock/AOR scene which was driven completely underground. In pre-Facebook, YouTube … Continue reading
Posted in Albums that time forgot, ALL POSTS, FEATURES
Tagged AOR, Don Cromwell, Eddie Money, melodic rock, Ransom, Tommy Girvin, Trouble In Paradise
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Album review: BAD TOUCH – Kiss The Sky
Marshall Records [Release Date 19.06.20] For Norfolk classic rockers Bad Touch, a fourth album in five years, not to mention incessant touring, is testament to their hard work. It deserves to pay off, being their most accomplished to date. They … Continue reading
Posted in ALBUM REVIEWS, ALBUM REVIEWS (Mobile), ALL POSTS
Tagged album, Bad Touch, blues rock, review, Rob Glendinning, Stevie Westwood
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Album review: VANDENBERG – 2020
Mascot Records [Release Date 29.05.20] Best known for a long if chequered stint in Whitesnake, before that guitarist Adrian Vandenberg led his own band through three albums in the eighties. Now he has revived the name and iconic logo, though … Continue reading
Posted in ALBUM REVIEWS, ALBUM REVIEWS (Mobile), ALL POSTS
Tagged Adrian Vandenberg, album, melodic rock, review, Ronnie Romero, Vandenberg, Whitesnake
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Album review: ONE DESIRE – Midnight Empire
Frontiers Records (Release date 22.05.20) Three years ago young Finns One Desire suddenly emerged with a very impressive first album which made many people’s end of year melodic rock lists. It has taken a long time but they hope to … Continue reading
Posted in ALBUM REVIEWS, ALBUM REVIEWS (Mobile), ALL POSTS
Tagged album, Andre Linman, AOR, Jimmy Westerlund, melodic rock, One Desire
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Album review: DENNIS DE YOUNG – 26 East, Volume 1
Frontiers Records (Release Date 22.05.20) This album marks a welcome rock comeback for former Styx singer Dennis De Young. For much of the time either side of his departure from the band he seemed more interested in Broadway inspired or … Continue reading
Posted in ALBUM REVIEWS, ALBUM REVIEWS (Mobile), ALL POSTS
Tagged album, AOR, Dennis De Young, Jim Peterik, Julian Lennon, melodic rock, Styx
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Album review: FM – Synchronized
Frontiers Records [Release Date 22.05.20] It’s now a whole decade since FM returned to stay with their comeback album ‘Metropolis’. Though from time to time they look back, rerecording ‘Indiscreet’ and most recently celebrating ‘Tough It Out’s anniversary on the … Continue reading
Posted in ALBUM REVIEWS, ALBUM REVIEWS (Mobile), ALL POSTS
Tagged album, AOR, FM, Jem Davis, Jim Kirkpatrick, melodic rock, Steve Overland
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Album review: VEGA – Grit Your Teeth
Frontiers [Release date 12.06.20] Vega have made a series of quality albums in the 2010’s, deserving full credit for perseverance as, despite dynamic live shows, they have yet to break into the big time for reasons unknown. Their sixth album … Continue reading
Posted in ALBUM REVIEWS, ALBUM REVIEWS (Mobile), ALL POSTS
Tagged album, Grit Your Teeth, James Martin, Marcus Thurston, melodic rock, Nick Workman, Tom Martin, Vega
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Album review: CHAMPLIN WILLIAMS FRIESTEDT – 2
Black Lodge [Release Date 15.05.20] In that genre of the softest and smoothest AOR given the shorthand ‘West coast’, CWF are something of a superstar collaboration. Former Chicago singer and keyboard player Bill Champlin and Joseph Williams, singer with Toto … Continue reading
Posted in ALBUM REVIEWS, ALBUM REVIEWS (Mobile), ALL POSTS
Tagged album, AOR, Champlin Williams Friestedt, Chicago, CWF, Michael McDonald, soft rock, Toto, West Coast
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Album review: ROBERT JON & THE WRECK – Last Light On The Highway
Release Date 08.05.20 Robert Jon and the Wreck were an entirely unknown name to me until last year’s Ramblin’ Man Fair. I didn’t actually see their performance but a pair of writing Daves, Classic Rock’s Ling and my GRTR! reviewing … Continue reading
Album review: THE NIGHT FLIGHT ORCHESTRA – Aeromantic
Nuclear Blast [Release Date 28.02.20] One of the unlikeliest phenomena in the rock world in recent times have been the Night Flight Orchestra, their reputation and exposure growing over what is now a five album career. Many artists have drawn … Continue reading
Posted in ALBUM REVIEWS, ALBUM REVIEWS (Mobile), ALL POSTS
Tagged Aeromantic, album, AOR, Arch Enemy, Bjorn Strid, Night Flight Orchestra, soft rock, Soilwork
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Gig review: PAUL CARRACK – London Palladium, 14 March 2020
He may not be the household name his talent deserves, but after being a founder member of Ace, singing on some of Squeeze and Mike and the Mechanics best loved hits, and a respected session musician with a long list … Continue reading
Posted in ALL POSTS, GIG REVIEWS
Tagged Amy Meehan, Andy Staves, blue-eyed soul, gig, Mike And The Mechanics, Paul Carrack, Steve Beighton
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Gig review: ROMEO’S DAUGHTER – Nells Jazz and Blues, West Kensington, London, 29 February 2020
February 29th in a leap year is, by tradition, the one day where a woman can propose to a man. So there was a neat symmetry that a rare gigging opportunity on this day was for a band both named … Continue reading
Posted in ALL POSTS, GIG REVIEWS
Tagged Andy Wells, AOR, Craig Joiner, gig, Leigh Matty, melodic rock, Romeo's Daughter, Steve Drennan
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Gig review: MYKE GRAY featuring Kim Jennett – Camden Underworld, London, 23 February 2020
I’ve been an admirer over the years of Myke Gray’s very fluent, technically accomplished guitar playing style, particularly so as he has always been complemented by powerful, bluesy vocalists, be it in Jagged Edge, Skin or Red White and Blues. … Continue reading
Posted in ALL POSTS, GIG REVIEWS
Tagged Colin Parkinson, gig, Glenn Quinn, Kim Jennett, Myke Gray, Neil Ogden, Skin
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