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Upcoming Gigs & Albums
Latest Album Reviews
Latest Gig Reviews
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Gig review: PAUL McCARTNEY- 02 Arena, London, 18 December 2024
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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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Author Archives: brianmc
Album review: T3NORS – Naked Soul
Frontiers [Release date: 10.02.23] So much of Frontiers’ melodic rock finds itself impervious to outside influences. There are few AOR albums from the label that have successfully taken on contemporary musical mores. The truth is – we all claim to … Continue reading
Posted in ALBUM REVIEWS, ALBUM REVIEWS (Mobile), ALL POSTS
Tagged album, AOR, Blanc Faces, Giant, Kent Hilli, melodic rock, Naked Soul, Perfect Plan, Pride of Lions, review, Robbie LeBlanc, T3NORS, Toby Hitchcock
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Album review: WIG WAM – Out Of The Dark
Frontiers [Release date 10.02.23] Hard to believe Wig Wam began strutting their Glam/Classic Rock stuff two decades ago.Their flirtation with Eurovision is well documented, but the band’s post 2014 downtime gap is not. What we do know is that the … Continue reading
Posted in ALBUM REVIEWS, ALBUM REVIEWS (Mobile), ALL POSTS
Tagged album, comeback, Eurovision, glam rock, metal, Out Of The Dark, review, Wig Wam
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Album review: WHAT A GROOVY DAY – The British Sunshine Pop Sound, 1967-72 (3 CD boxset)
Cherry Red/ Grapefruit [Release date 27.02.23] Sunshine Pop – a worldwide phenomenon, though most popular in the USA and the UK – predated the age of psychedelia only by a matter of months. Legendary but hitless sixties UK band, Tony … Continue reading
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Tagged 3 CD set, boxset, review, Sunshine Pop, The seventies, The Sixties
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Album review: RONNIE ROMERO – Raised On Heavy Radio
Frontiers Records [Release date: 27.01.23] Second “Raised On…” album from Ronnie (Rainbow, Lords Of Black, The Ferry Men) Romero. Recording cover versions of your favourite songs must be a temptation that’s impossible to resist. Many singers/bands have done it. Few … Continue reading
Posted in ALBUM REVIEWS, ALBUM REVIEWS (Mobile), ALL POSTS, PURE METAL (All posts), Pure Metal/Album reviews
Tagged album, Bad Company, Chris Caffery, Foreigner, Gus G, heavy metal, Helloween, Iron Maiden, Journey, Judas Priest, melodic rock, Nozuma Wakei, Rainbow, Raised On Heavy Radio, review, Roland Grapow, Ronnie Romero, Steve Perry, Survivor
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Album review : CROWNE – Operation Phoenix
Frontiers [elease date: 27.01.23] Second album from Crowne, a high end assembly made up of members of H.E.A.T., Art Nation, Europe, The Poodles and Dynazty. Respectively, Jona Tee, Alexander Strandell, John Leven, Christial Lundqvist and Love Magnusson. The debut didn’t … Continue reading
Album review: ARCTIC RAIN – Unity
Frontiers [Release date: 27.01.23] Arctic Rain’s declamatory melodic rock will remind you of several expert practitioners of the genre. From the Bon Jovi-esque ‘One World’, intense, in your face, with a fleeting sense of melody, and the title track, ‘Unity’, … Continue reading
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Tagged AOR, Arctic Rain, Bon Jovi, Frontiers, Graham Bonnet, Harem Scarem, melodic rock, Mr Big, review, Tobias Jonson, Unity
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Album review: GIRLSCHOOL – The School Report 1976-2008
Cherry Red/HNE [Release date: 27.01.23] Girlschool experienced their share of heartache… label let downs, revolving door membership issues, conflicting views on musical direction and the struggles to sustain their ambitions in the face of all of the above. But they soldiered … Continue reading
Album review: THE FIRST CLASS – Beach Baby – The Complete Recordings (3 CD set)
Cherry Red [release date: 27.01.23] 1974, and the first pop single to be written by Shakespeare, ‘Beach Baby’, breaks into the US and UK charts. John Carter (not that one) was born John Shakespeare. A singer, songwriter and producer who … Continue reading
Album review : HOLOCAUST – Heavy Metal Mania – The Complete Recordings, Vol 1 1980-1984 (6 CDs)
Cherry Red [Release date 27.01.23] Carrying the NWOBHM torch in Scotland since 1977, Edinburgh’s Holocaust are the genre’s archetypal survivors. They are almost literally the definition of “Metal bands who’ve flown under the radar their whole career”. Arguably, it was … Continue reading
Album review : TRAPEZE – Don’t Stop The Music – Complete Recordings Vol 1 1970-1992 (6 CD Boxset)
Cherry Red [Release date: 24.02.23] A cool, 6-CD boxset of high calibre Trapeze material. Three CDs of studio albums plus 3 CDs of live recordings, one as recent as 1992. CD1 : Trapeze (originally released 1970) The debut tends to … Continue reading
Album review: ISSA – Lights Of Japan
Frontiers [Release date: 20.01.23] Issa Oversveen is married to James Martin, ex of Vega. With his brother Tom, he’s written the bulk of the material here. And you can tell. Even with the best efforts of guitarist Simone Mularoni and … Continue reading
Album review: TEN – Something Wicked This Way Comes
Frontiers [Release date: 20.01.23] Here’s another Ten album title that will again appeal to the literati or the cinephiles among the band’s fans. It’s their sixteenth studio release since 1996. Ever present founder/ writer/ singer, Gary Hughes has gathered a … Continue reading
Album review: JD SIMO TRIO – Songs From The House Of Grease
Crows Feet Records [release date: 13.01.23] An album of cover versions is always a risk. But the concept is no stranger to JD Simo. This is the guitarist chosen by renowned Film Director, Baz Luhrman to play all the guitar … Continue reading
Album review: HEROES AND MONSTERS
Frontiers [Release date: 20.01.23] Heroes and Monsters is Todd Kerns, Stef Burns and Will Hunt. Their names will be familiar to you. They are three gifted rock’n’roll craftsmen – highly motivated musicians whose CVs in themselves make great reading. A … Continue reading
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Tagged album, Black Label Society, Evanescence, Faster Pussycat, Great White, Heroes And Monsters, Led Zeppelin, Michael Monroe, Michael Sweet, Myles Kennedy, review, Slash, Slaughter, Staind, Stef Burns, Todd Kerns, Will Hunt, Y&T
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Album review: TANGERINE DREAM – The Bootleg Box Set Vol.2 (7 CDs, Remastered)
Cherry Red [Release date 13.01.23] As the instigators of sequenced electronica, and pioneers of German ‘Kosmische’ music, Tangerine Dream have no equal. Add to that their 60 plus movie scores – cultural statements as well as music to match the … Continue reading
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Tagged album, boxset, Christopher Franke, Edgar Froese, electronica, Fassbiner, Frankfurt, Komische, live, Near Dark, new age, Newcastle, Nottingham, Peter Baumann, prog, review, Sorcerer, Tangerine Dream, Tatort series, Washington
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Album Review: LOUDON WAINWRIGHT III – 2 Classic Albums on 1 CD
Cherry Red [Release date: 13.01.23] A musical family where each member is a successful, well known artist in their own right is very rare. That’s the way it is with the Wainwrights… Loudon, daughters Martha and Lucy, son Rufus, and … Continue reading
Posted in ALBUM REVIEWS, ALBUM REVIEWS (Mobile), ALL POSTS, Reissues
Tagged 2 on 1 CD, Kate McGarrigle, Lucy, Martha, review, Rufus, singer songwriter
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Single review: REDEMPTION – I Am The Storm
AFM Records [release date 14.12.22] Led from the front by multi instrumentalist, Nick Van Dyk, LA’s Power/Prog Metal maestros, Redemption aren’t the most prolific. I Am The Storm, the album, due for release early 2023, is only the band’s third … Continue reading
Single review: ELVENKING – Rapture
AFM Records [release date: 14.12.22] ‘Rapture’ is the first trailer track / single from the forthcoming Elevenking (2023) album, Reader Of The Runes Part 2 (of 3). The band’s fascination with backing vocals that are rooted in Gregorian chants and … Continue reading
Single review : FASTER PUSSYCAT – Like A Ghost and Pirate Love (Double A-Side)
Golden Robot Records [release date: 28.11.22] If any artists can claim to have emerged as true survivors in the post grunge period, it’s Faster Pussycat. Over two million albums sold, not a world record, but a tidy number just the … Continue reading
Album review: AFTER LAPSE – Face The Storm
Frontiers [Release date : 09.12.22] Debut album from Prog Rock classicists, After Lapse. As any aficionado will tell you, Progrock bands need more time than others to tell their story. Credit to After Lapse for holding track lengths to around … Continue reading
Album review : NEVENA – Nevena
Frontiers [Release date: 09.12.22] After contributing to the Big Deal album earlier this year, with several other female singers, Nevena strikes out now as a solo performer. Her debut walks a high wire between modern pop and melodic rock, as … Continue reading
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Tagged album, AOR, Big Deal, Contemporary pop, country rock, Frontiers, Heart, melodic rock, Mike Palace, Pat Benatar, review, Serbia
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Album review : GERRY JABLONSKI and THE ELECTRIC BAND – 105
Independent [Release date: 02.12.22] Fifth album from one of the UK’s lesser known Rock’n’Blues outfits, Gerry Jablonski and The Electric Band. (Not their one hundred and fifth). Looking at the band’s incessant touring schedules, it’s a surprise they had time … Continue reading
Album review : THE WHITE BUFFALO – Year Of The Dark Horse
Snakefarm [Release date : 02.12.22] The White Buffalo (aka Jake Smith) is hard to pin down. Aged 49, and hailing from the beautiful state of Oregon, this is his eighth studio album. So sustainability is not a problem. In fact … Continue reading
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Tagged album, Americana, Brothers Osborne, country, Eric Church, folk, Jake Smith, Oregon, pop, review, rock, You Tube
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Album review: PURE ASSASSINS – Questions
Independent [release date 25.11.22] What happens when the Pure Assassins’ drum and bass hedonist picks up a guitar and embraces existentialism? It is sometimes suggested that existentialism is just this bygone cultural movement rather than an identifiable philosophical position. But … Continue reading
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Tagged album, Buster Keaton, Calyx, Chris Rush, drum and bass, Lou Reed, Raine Maida, review, Silent Movie, Velvet Underground
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Album review: TOMMY DECARLO – Dancing In The Moonlight
Frontiers [Release date: 09.12.22] Tommy DeCarlo, the singer who joined Boston in 2007, after being discovered on MySpace by Tom Scholz, is now on his second “solo” album for Frontiers. The current iteration of his studio band includes, on guitar, … Continue reading
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Tagged album, Alessandro Delvecchio, Black Crowes, Bon Jovi, Boston, Dancing In The Moonlight, David Julien, Denis DeYoung, George Clinton, GooGoo Dolls, Marti Jepsen Andersen, melodic rock, review, Styx, Tom Scholz, Tommy Decarlo, Tommy Shaw
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