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Author Archives: brianmc
Album review : ROSE TATTOO – The albums 1981-84 (4 CD boxset)
Cherry Red [Release date : 20.02.26] Rose Tattoo. Now, there was a band. Still is, in fact. Fiftieth anniversary this year. Only man left standing from the original lineup is loud and fearless vocalist, Angry Anderson. When it all began … Continue reading
Posted in ALBUM REVIEWS, ALBUM REVIEWS (Mobile), ALL POSTS, Box sets, Reissues
Tagged AC/DC, Angry Anderson, Australia, boxset, Cherry Red, George Young, Harry Vanda, review, Rose Tattoo, The albums 1981-84
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Album review : TRANSATLANTIC RADIO – Midnight Transmission
Frontiers Music [Release date : 20.02.26] Swedish émigré and fully fledged Angeleno since the nineties, bass playing Victor Broden is a Grammy winning musician and producer. He moved to LA on a wing and prayer, with the echoes of the AOR … Continue reading
Posted in ALBUM REVIEWS, ALBUM REVIEWS (Mobile), ALL POSTS
Tagged AOR, Chris Reeve, Filter, Frontiers, melodic rock, review, Ricky Martin, RJ Ronquillo, Santana, Transatlantic Radio, Victor Broden
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Album review : TEMPLE BALLS – s/t
Frontiers Music [Release date : 13.02.26] Some of us have lived a sheltered life. Apparently “temple balls” are “one of the oldest varieties of medical marijuana”. Not a lot of people know that. And so a self titled release at … Continue reading
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Tagged Frontiers Music, Medical Marijuana, review, Temple Balls
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Album review : This Can’t Be Today – American Psychedelia and The Paisley Underground 1977-88
Cherry Red [Release date : 13.02.26] In the sixties, the term “Underground Music” bubbled up to the surface. It became associated with the counterculture and psychedelia, as teens and twenties began to find their voice, in life and in music, … Continue reading
Album review : AUSTEN STARR – I Am The Enemy
Frontiers Music [Release date : 13.02.26] The label have teamed new kid on the block, vocalist Austen Starr, with Joel (Revolution Saints/ Whitesnake) Hoekstra, and together they’ve written a bunch of edgy rock songs that allow both talents to shine. … Continue reading
Album review : WILD HORSES – Standing Our Ground (6 CD Boxset)
Cherry Red [Release date 13.02.26] The two Wild Horses’ studio albums were arguably the last gasp of seventies’ hard rock before it went under. Glaswegian forces of nature, Brian Robertson and Jimmy Bain, guitar and bass (and vocals), had jumped … Continue reading
Posted in ALBUM REVIEWS, ALBUM REVIEWS (Mobile), ALL POSTS, Reissues
Tagged boxset, Brian Robertson, hard rock, Jimmy Bain, Phil Lynott, Rainbow, review, Thin Lizzie, Wild Horses
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Album review : FREDDIE AND THE DREAMERS – You Were Made For Me, The Complete Recordings, 1963-70
Cherry Red [Release date: 30.01.26] The Complete Recordings’ Boxset is a feat of logistics and research in itself, for which it deserves 5 stars, never mind the music. 136 tracks, 5 CDs. In the “Swinging Sixties” Manchester band Freddie And … Continue reading
Album review : ANDREW GOLD – Lonely Boy – The Asylum Years Anthology (6 CDs + DVD)
Esoteric Recordings / Cherry Red [Release date : 30.01.26] Andrew Gold was one of the finest musicians and songwriters to emerge from the Los Angeles music scene in the mid 70s. Most will remember him as being one half of … Continue reading
Posted in ALBUM REVIEWS, ALBUM REVIEWS (Mobile), ALL POSTS
Tagged 10CC, Andrew Gold, boxset, Cherry Red, Graham Gouldman, Linda Ronstadt, Neil Sedaka, review, The Beatles, The Eagles, Wax
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Album review : MCAULEY SCHENKER GROUP – Bad Boys, The MSG Story 1987-92 (4 CD boxset)
Cherry Red [Release date 30.01.26] Axeman Michael Schenker’s considerable CV has been well documented over the years and it’s clearly delineated in these liner notes. Brief version: between 1972 and 1984 he cycled through The Scorpions, UFO and MSG Version … Continue reading
Posted in ALBUM REVIEWS, ALBUM REVIEWS (Mobile), ALL POSTS, Reissues
Tagged Cherry Red, Frank Filipetti, hard rock, Michael Schenker, MSG, Perfect Timing, review, Robin McAuley, Save Yourself, Scorpions, UFO
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Album review : FRANCIS ROSSI – The Accidental
earMUSIC [Release date : 30.1.26] Francis Rossi’s fifth solo album, The Accidental, sees him reconnecting with the bricks and mortar foundation that underpinned Quo’s music over the years. It’s a recording studio free-for-all eventually shaped by a longing for simple, … Continue reading
Album review : EDDIE AND THE HOT RODS – Teenage Depression & Life On The Line (2CD set)
Cherry Red [Release date 23.01.26] So much crammed into these “two CD” reissues from punk/ new wave/ R’n’B legends Eddie and The Hot Rods’. So much history here. Of the band, of the nascent sound of Punk. Of the talent … Continue reading
Album review : AUTUMN’S CHILD – Melody Lane
Pride & Joy Music [Release date 23.01.26] Mikael Erlandsson: 9 solo albums, 17 albums with Last Autumn’s Dream, 10 collaborations (with Tom Galley, Tommy Denander and others). Melody Lane is his 6th (since 2019) with Autumn’s Child, his fourth on … Continue reading
Album review : SO HIGH I’VE BEEN European Rock Anthology 1967-73 (V/A 3CDs)
Cherry Red [Release date 16.01.26] Time was you could tell a friend that John Peel likes this band. They would either shy away like you’ve got the plague, or embrace the band like an old friend. There was no middle … Continue reading
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Album review : ROB MORATTI – Sovereign
Frontiers [Release date: 12.12.25] Rob Moratti’s all star cast is arguably more famous than he is : Joel Hoekstra, Tony Franklin, Felix Borg, Fredrik Bergh and Pete Alpenborg. Alpenborg’s written stuff for Harry Hess, Robin McAuley, Kee Marcello, Tommy Heart … Continue reading
Posted in ALBUM REVIEWS, ALBUM REVIEWS (Mobile), ALL POSTS
Tagged Epica, Fredric Bergh, Frontiers, Joel Hoekstra, melodic rock, Pete Alpenborg, review, Rob Moratti, Sovereign
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Album review : BRAZEN ABBOT – Live And Learn and Guilty As Sin (CD reissues)
Frontiers [Release date : 12.12.25] Classically trained Bulgarian multi-instrumentalist, Nikolo Kotzev founded Brazen Abbot in 1995. He could play every stringed instrument known to rock’n’roll mankind, but needed a singer. Over these two reissues, released simultaneously, the cream of European … Continue reading
Album review : GRAHAM BONNET – Lost In Hollywood Again (Live)
Frontiers Music [Release date 12.12.25] Old Rock Stars never die, and judging by Lost In Hollywood Again, they never fade away either. A 77 year old Graham Bonnet is testament to that. Recorded in the legendary Whisky A Go Go, … Continue reading
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Tagged Frontiers Music, Graham Bonnet, live, Lost In Hollywood, Rainbow, review, Schenker, Sunset Strip, Whisky A Go Go
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JIM PETERIK AND WORLD STAGE – River of Song – The Power Of Duets, Volume 1
Frontiers Music [Release date : 12.12.25] Guitarist, vocalist and songwriter, Jim Peterik led his own band, The Ides Of March, prior to forming Survivor in 1978. His subsequent history is well documented on Wiki. River of Song is his third … Continue reading
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Album review : JIMI JAMISON – 1998 Live Hits
Frontiers Music [Release date 12.12.25] A live Nashville gig in 1998 from the late Jimi Jamison, who died in 2014, aged 63. Survivor’s fifth album, Vital Signs (1984), the first with Jamison on board as the band’s vocalist, was a … Continue reading
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Tagged Jimi Jamison, Nashville, review, Survivor, Too Hot To Sleep, Vital Signs, When Seconds Count
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Album review : KEITH WEST – Cross That Bridge, The Anthology 1965-99 (2 CDs)
Strawberry Music [Release date 5.12.25] Like most musicians, Keith West’s life as a professional musician began inauspiciously. His career cycled through several bands in the early sixties, including most notably, Four Plus One and The In Crowd, before settling on … Continue reading
Album review : COUSINS & WILLOUGHBY – The Bridge
Witchwood Records [Release date 28.11.25] Brian Willoughby, a sought after session guitarist, worked with many musicians, most notably Dave Cousins and Mary Hopkins, ultimately joining Cousins in the Strawbs. The Bridge, a collaboration between Cousins and Willoughby, was recorded in … Continue reading
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Tagged Blue Weaver, Cousins, Mary Hopkins, review, Roberto Cacciapaglia, The Bridge, The Strawbs, Venice, Willoughby, Witchwood
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Album review : WITH A LITTLE HELP FROM MY FRIENDS – Covers of The Beatles 1967-70
Cherry Red [Release date [28.11.25] The Beatles are the gift to the music world that just keeps on giving. It’s a neat twist that the band who made their name initially by doing cover versions on stage in Germany in … Continue reading
Album review : LYNCH MOB – Dancing With The Devil
Frontiers [Release date 28.11.25] Now white haired and bearded, Septuagenarian Lynch had said a few years back that he would soon be retiring the Lynch Mob name, due to its racist connotations. And so, Dancing With The Devil, the second … Continue reading
Album review : STRYPER – The Greatest Gift Of All
Frontiers Music [Release date : 21.11.25] The Greatest Gift Of All is Stryper’s 16th studio album. The line up remains Michael Sweet, Robert Sweet, Oz Fox and Perry Richardson, solid for 8 years now. When we reviewed their last two … Continue reading
Posted in ALBUM REVIEWS, ALBUM REVIEWS (Mobile), ALL POSTS
Tagged Christmas, classic metal, festive, Frontiers Music, Gene Krupa, hard rock, Michael Sweet, review, Silent Night, Stryper
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Album review : TREAT – The Wild Card
Frontiers Music [Release date : 21.11.25] Wild Card is Swedish melodic rock band, Treat’s 10th studio album since the debut in 1985. They’ve enjoyed the same line up since reforming 20 years ago. There’s not a moment here that isn’t … Continue reading
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Tagged Brother Firetribe, Classic Melodic Rock, Frontiers Music, Poodles, review, Treat, WET, Wild Card
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Album review : URIAH HEEP – The Shadow And The Wind: 1973-74 (5 CD Boxset)
Cherry Red [Release date 28.11.25] CD1: Live 1973 CD2: US Radio Show plus Radio shows, Mixes for radio, Love Machine Rock’n’Roll Medley CD3 : Sweet Freedom +5 bonus (1973) CD4: Wonderworld +6 bonus (1974) CD5 : Live At Shepperton Another … Continue reading
Posted in ALBUM REVIEWS, ALBUM REVIEWS (Mobile), ALL POSTS
Tagged 1974, Cherry Red, classic rock, Donald Guarisco, Malcolm Dome, review, Sweet Freedom, Uriah Heep, Wonderworld
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