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Album review: ROBERT REED – Sanctuary IV
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Album review: LAURENCE JONES – On My Own
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Album review : FREDDIE AND THE DREAMERS – You Were Made For Me, The Complete Recordings, 1963-70
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Album review: PHIL THORNALLEY – Stacked
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Album review: AMY HOPWOOD – Gone to Flowers
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Album review: SEAN TAYLOR – First Light
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Author Archives: brianmc
Album review : HELLOWEEN – Giants And Monsters
Reigning Phoenix Music [Release date 29.08.25] The Magnificent Seven : Daniel Löble (drums), Markus Grosskopf (bass), Sascha Gerstner (guitars), Kai Hansen (guitars, vocals) Michael Weikath (guitars), Michael Kiske (vocals), Andi Deris (vocals). The longer gap between Helloween albums again seems … Continue reading
Album review : YESTERDAY & TODAY – S/T and Struck Down (Remasters)
Rock Candy Records [Release date 18.07.25] 1972 : In the days before they abbreviated to Y&T, they called themselves Yesterday & Today, after the Beatles’ latest US album release of the time, allegedly. The band line up got shuffled a … Continue reading
Posted in ALBUM REVIEWS, ALBUM REVIEWS (Mobile), ALL POSTS
Tagged Cream, Dave Meniketti, hard rock, review, Rock Candy Records, Struck Down, UFO, Y&T, Yesterday & Today
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Album review : KIX – Kool Atomic Kix (8 CD Boxset)
Cherry Red [Release date : 25.07.25] Something of a pop metal institution, KIX, the band, the brand, retired gracefully from the musicbiz in 2023, more than forty long years after the self titled debut album hit the streets. CD1 : … Continue reading
Album review : JIMMY WEBB – A Life In Words And Music (7 CD Boxset)
Cherry Red [Release date : 25.07.25] By the time Jimmy Webb got to Phoenix he had won every conceivable music award, he’d written hit after hit after hit, most notably for The Fifth Dimension, Richard Harris, Linda Ronstadt, Glen Campbell … Continue reading
Album review : ENUFF Z’NUFF – Extra Cherries
Cleopatra [Release date : 25.07.25] Enuff Z’Nuff have released 6 albums in the last ten years. The latest, Extra Cherries is the 20th since the 1989 debut. The band, plagued by illness, worn down by constant touring, has seen members … Continue reading
Album review : CATS IN SPACE – Chapter 1 (Remastered 4 CD boxset)
Cherry Red [Release date 25.07.25] Now out of print, CIS’s first 4 sold out album releases have been dusted down and polished up by Cherry Red Records’ Tech experts. Chapter 1 is a 4CD clamshell, containing : CD1 : Too … Continue reading
Posted in ALBUM REVIEWS, ALBUM REVIEWS (Mobile), ALL POSTS, Reissues
Tagged 10CC, Cats In Space, Daytrip to Narnia, Greg Hart, Mick Wilson, power pop, review, Scarecrow, Too Many Gods
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Album review : HONEYMOON SUITE – Wake Me When The Sun Goes Down
Frontiers Music [Release date : 25.07.25] Words to live your life by. As one who frequently mainlines on the band’s uncut 2006 Anthology, Feel It Again, a new Honeymoon Suite album is cause for celebration. Previous album, Alive was the … Continue reading
Posted in ALBUM REVIEWS, ALBUM REVIEWS (Mobile), ALL POSTS
Tagged Alive, Clifton Hill, Covid, Derry Grehan, Desmond Child, Honeymoon Suite, Johnny Dee, melodic rock, Mike Krompass, Mutt Lange, review
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Album review : SEALS & CROFTS – Gold and Rainbows – The Warner Bros Years 1969-78 (5-CD Boxset)
Cherry Red [Release date : 18.07.25] Harmony rock and pop duo Seals and Croft’s biggest hit single came early on in their career. 1972’s ‘Summer Breeze’ (later covered by the Isley Brothers) was the title track from the duo’s fourth … Continue reading
Album review : V/A – American Power Pop 1980-89 (3-CD Boxset)
Cherry Red [Release date : 18.07.25] Almost 80 tracks over 3 CDs…the third and final volume of Eighties’ American Power Pop will be released on the Cherry Red label later this month. Once again it’s a treasure trove of material. … Continue reading
Album review : DEGREED – The Leftovers
Frontiers [Release date 18.07.25] Only a year after their last full length studio album, Public Address, Degreed now release The Leftovers, a 9 track EP. The title is self explanatory, but there’s a negative connotation there, hinting that these tracks … Continue reading
Posted in ALBUM REVIEWS, ALBUM REVIEWS (Mobile), ALL POSTS
Tagged Alexi Laiho, American AOR, Degreed, Johnny Hates Jazz, melodic rock, Public Address, review, synthwave
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Album review – DOUBLE VISION – S/T
Frontiers Music [Release date : 11.07.25] For many years, Double Vision were a Foreigner covers band, as the band name might suggest. They’ve now been given the opportunity by the Frontiers’ label to make their own way. It’s fronted by … Continue reading
Posted in ALBUM REVIEWS, ALBUM REVIEWS (Mobile), ALL POSTS
Tagged Chandler Mogel, Double Vision, Foreigner, Frontiers Music, melodic rock, Mick Jones, review
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Album review : LAGUNA – The Ghost Of Katrina
Frontiers Music [Release date : 11.07.25] A choir and a spoken word intro, in Spanish, introduces us to Mexico’s rock festival junkies, Laguna. And that’s the thing about putting the miles in. You learn what works and what doesn’t. Then … Continue reading
Posted in ALBUM REVIEWS, ALBUM REVIEWS (Mobile), ALL POSTS
Tagged AOR, Bon Jovi, Frontiers Music, Jimmy Westerlund, Laguna, melodic rock, Mexico, One Desire, review
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Album review : ETERNAL IDOL – Behind A Vision
Frontiers Music [Release date : 11.07.25] Eternal Idol have had a brand refresh. Behind A Vision is a more considered album, incomparably better written and better acted out than Renaissance (2020), the band’s second and most recent album. And again, … Continue reading
Album review : GIRLSCHOOL – Running Wild – Live in London 1984 (CD & DVD)
Cherry Red [Release date : 11.07.25] We’ve said it before (and will no doubt say it again), Girlschool experienced their share of heartache… label let downs, revolving door membership issues, conflicting views on musical direction and the struggles to sustain … Continue reading
Album review : JACK BRUCE – Harmony Row (Expanded 2 CD : 2 Blu-ray Boxset edition)
Cherry Red [Release date : 27.06.25] Glasgow boy Jack Bruce was brought up on Harmony Row, a mile long stretch of tenements in Govan, on the south bank of the Clyde. They’re gone now of course, as is Bruce, god … Continue reading
Posted in ALBUM REVIEWS, ALBUM REVIEWS (Mobile), ALL POSTS, Reissues
Tagged Blu-ray, Chris Spedding, Cream, Glasgow, Govan, Harmony Row, Jack Bruce, John Marshall, Pete Brown, review, Stephen W Taylor, Surround Sound
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Album review : LYNYRD SKYNYRD – Celebrating 50 Years: Live At The Ryman (CD & DVD)
Frontiers Music [Release date : 27.06.25] “Celebrating 50 Years – Live At The Ryman”, a live album and DVD capturing Lynyrd Skynyrd’s historic 50th-anniversary concert at Nashville’s legendary venue in 2022 is due out on 27 June. The fact that … Continue reading
Album review : VENOM – Blackened Priests (3 CD Boxset)
Dissonance [Release date 27.06.25] CD1: Prime Evil 1989 CD2: Temple Of Ice 1991 (plus EP Tear Your Soul) CD3: Waste Land 1992 Formed in England’s industrial North East in 1979, there was none heavier, none more extreme and indeed none … Continue reading
Album review : AFTER THE FIRE – Bright Lights 1974-1982
Cherry Red [Release date 20.06.25] Bright Lights indeed. After The Fire were (and still are) a British band who formed in 1972, who went on to release five albums between 1978 – 1982. CD1: Signs Of Change (1978) CD2: Early … Continue reading
Posted in ALBUM REVIEWS, ALBUM REVIEWS (Mobile), Reissues
Tagged After The Fire, AOR, Billboard Charts, boxset, Bright Lights, ELP, Genesis, New Wave, progrock, review
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Album review : SIGNUM REGIS – Eyes Of Power (2025 remix/remaster)
Beyond The Storm Productions [07.06.25] Eyes Of Power is a 2010 album recorded by the Slovak Power Metal band, Signum Regis, recently remixed and remastered. It’s the third from a 13 album back catalogue to undergo a retooling job. Again, … Continue reading
Album review : INSANIA – The Great Apocalypse
Frontiers Music [Release date 13.06.25] Naming your album The Great Apocalypse leaves Insania with a lot to live up to. Still, there’s nothing wrong with ambition, naked or otherwise. It’s an interesting album, advertised as power metal. In fact the … Continue reading
Album review : LEVERAGE – Gravity
Frontiers Music [Release date 20.06.25] When we reviewed Leverage’s 2021 album, Above The Beyond, we said: “It’s perhaps best described as heavy rock with stunning melodies and a penchant for unconventional song structures, and indeed, challenging lyrical themes.” It would … Continue reading
Posted in ALBUM REVIEWS, ALBUM REVIEWS (Mobile), ALL POSTS
Tagged Blue Murder, Finnish, Frontiers, GRAVITY, heavy rock, Kimmo Blom, Leverage, Magnum, Paulo Ribaldini, review, Tuomas Hekkinen
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Album review : FAIRYLAND – The Story Remains
Frontiers [Release date : 13.06.25] The Story Remains is the fifth album from Fairyland, the best French Symphonic Metal band since Manigance. The death of founder Phillipe Giordana in 2022 – in the middle of writing and recording the new … Continue reading
Album review : INGLORIOUS – V
Frontiers Music [Release date 06.06.25] Inglorious’s unimaginatively titled fifth album sees bassman Colin Parkinson and singer Nathan James back together. (They resolved their differences over a pint, where else?) Joining them in this new iteration of the band are guitarist, … Continue reading
Album review : GORGUTS – Considered Dead / Erosion Of Sanity (2CDs w/bonus tracks)
Cherry Red [Release date : 13.06.25] Got to hand it to Cherry Red. Few labels are resurrecting the past glories of Metal like they are. Most who do aim for mainstream stuff, bands in the public eye, in the media. But … Continue reading
Album review : RENAISSANCE – Running Hard – The Albums 1974-76 (4 CDs)
Cherry Red [Release date: 30.05.25] This 4 CD Renaissance boxset comprises: CD1 : Turn Of The Cards (1974) CD2 : Scheherazade And Other Stories (1975) CD3 : Live At Carnegie Hall Part 1 (1976) CD3 : Live At Carnegie Hall … Continue reading
