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Upcoming Gigs & Albums
Latest Album Reviews
Latest Gig Reviews
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Gig review: ANTHRAX – Hammersmith Apollo, London, 23 November 2024
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Gig review: BLACK STONE CHERRY – Wembley Arena, London, 23 November 2024
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Gig review: SQUEEZE – Roundhouse, London, 22 November 2024
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Gig review: CARDINAL BLACK – Sub 89, Reading, 15 November 2024
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Gig review: SUZI QUATRO – London Palladium, 13 November 2024
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Gig review: HRH XVII, Great Yarmouth, 7-9 November 2024
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Featured Album Reviews
Features
Single & EP Reviews
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Author Archives: brianmc
Album review : LINDISFARNE – Brand New Day The Mercury Years 1978-79 (3 CDs)
Cherry Red [Release date : 24.05.24] This is one of Cherry Red’s finer moments. A concise snapshot of Lindisfarne when they were at their best. CD1: Magic In The Air (1978) CD2: Back And Fourth (1978) CD3: The News (1979) … Continue reading
Posted in ALBUM REVIEWS, ALBUM REVIEWS (Mobile), ALL POSTS, Reissues
Tagged Alan Hull, Back And Forth, Fog On The Tyne, Lindisfarne, Magic In The Air, Newcastle, review, The News
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Album review: CHRIS FARLOWE – Stormy Monday – The Blues Years 1985-2008 (3CDs)
Cherry Red [Release date: 24.05.24] Born to sing the blues, Chris Farlowe recorded genre standard, ‘Stormy Monday Blues’ in 1965, to huge critical acclaim. With his band, the Thunderbirds, he became a lightning rod for blues fans, continually burning down … Continue reading
Album review : FRANCIS ROSSI & HANNAH RICKARD – We Talk Too Much (2024 vinyl version with bonus track)
earMUSIC [Release date : 03.05.24] 2014’s Aquostic (Stripped Bare) was Status Quo’s first full blown tilt at “reimagining” older material in an acoustic set up. It was a big success, commercially and critically. It led to this collaboration between Francis … Continue reading
Posted in ALBUM REVIEWS, ALBUM REVIEWS (Mobile), ALL POSTS
Tagged album, bonus track, Cheap Trick, Francis Rossi, Hannah Rickard, Jeff Lyne, review, Vinyl, We Talk Too Much
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Album review: WARHORSE – The Recordings 1970-72
Cherry Red [Release date : 26.04.24] In 1970, on leaving Deep Purple, bassist/songwriter, Nick Simper, joined Marsha Hunt’s backing band, later striking out on its own under the band name, Warhorse. In the seventies, Metal and Hard Rock blossomed in … Continue reading
Album review : WILDSTREET IV
Golden Robot Records [Release date 26.04.24] US band, Wildstreet, took note of music’s direction of travel (ie there’s no money in standing still) some years ago and have toured incessantly ever since… frequent appearances at SXSW & M3 Rock Festival, … Continue reading
Posted in ALBUM REVIEWS, ALBUM REVIEWS (Mobile), ALL POSTS
Tagged Backyard Babies, glam rock, Nikki Sixx, review, Rocklahoma, Sunset Strip, Wildstreet
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Album review : WAYSTED – Won’t Get Out Alive Volume 1 (4 CDs 1983-86)
Cherry Red [Release date: 26.04.24] CD1: Vices CD2: I Won’t Get Out Alive CD3: The Good, The Bad And The Waysted CD4: Save Your Prayers In 2019, the late great Pete Way and his band played an unannounced gig in … Continue reading
Album review : UFO – Covenant + Sharks + Live (3 CD)
Twin reissue package plus a bonus CD, from British rock legends, UFO. Covenant (2000), Sharks (2002) and Live At Blind Melons (1995). The problem with releasing a career high album like Walk On Water (1995), the band’s de facto “comeback” … Continue reading
Posted in ALBUM REVIEWS, ALBUM REVIEWS (Mobile), ALL POSTS
Tagged 3 CDs, Covenant, Live Blind Melons, Michael Schenker, New York, Phil Mogg, reissue, review, Sharks, UFO
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Single review : WILDSTREET – Heroes
Golden Robot Records [Release Date 12.04.24] US band, Wildstreet, took note of music’s direction of travel (there’s no money in standing still) some years ago and have toured incessantly ever since… frequent appearances at SXSW,and M3 Rock Festival, plus 5 … Continue reading
Posted in ALL POSTS, Single and EP reviews
Tagged EP, Eric Jayk, glam rock, review, Rocklahoma, USA, Wildstreet, Wildstreet III, Wrath Star
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Album review : THE CRYIN’ SHAMES – Please Stay, Joe Meek’s Tea Chest Tapes
Cherry Red [Release date: 12.04.24] The Cryin’ Shames were late to the Merseybeat party, and departed almost as soon as they arrived. This a 2 CD reissue of every recording made by the band in its various guises. 48 tracks … Continue reading
Single review : KURT FROLICH – Another Heartbreak
Golden Robot Records [05.04.24] Single release from Kurt Frolich, vocalist with Riley’s LA Guns. It has only a passing resemblance to the music of his parent band. Doesn’t make him a bad person, of course. In fact … The first … Continue reading
Posted in ALL POSTS, Single and EP reviews
Tagged Kurt Frolich, LA Guns, power pop, review, single, The Raspberries
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Single review : RHAPSODY OF FIRE – Brave New Hope
AFM Records [out now] Rhapsody Of Fire’s vocalist, Giacomo Voli sounds more like Brother Firetribe’s Pekka Heino every day. Or maybe it’s the other way round. Those expressive vocals, bringing a lyric to life, are hard to match. ‘Brave New … Continue reading
Album review : BLOODBOUND – The Tales Of Nosferatu – Two Decades Of Blood (CD and DVD)
AFM Records [Release date : 19.04.24] It was 20 years ago today that Swedish keyboard player Fredrik Bergh and guitarist Tomas Olsson jumped the genre ship from AOR to Power Metal. They left behind popular melodic rock band, Street Talk, … Continue reading
Album review : VAN DER GRAAF – Vital (2 CD Remaster)
Cherry Red [Release date : 29.03.24] The year after England won the world cup, English musician Chris Judge Smith took a “summer of love” trip to San Francisco’s Haight Ashbury, a pivotal point on the Flower Power map. It is … Continue reading
Album review : FIREWIND – Stand United
AFM Records [Release date : 08.03.24] 10th album from Power Metal band, Firewind. The band, Gus G, Herbie Langans, Petros Cristo and Jo Nunez have established their Power Metal credentials over and over again during the last 25 years, with … Continue reading
Album review: LILLIAN AXE – The Box Vol 2, The Quickening
Cherry Red [Release date : 29.03.24] The Quickening is the second instalment of a two part series documenting the recorded life and times of metal’s most underrated band, Lillian Axe. There are six CDs. CD1: Deep Red Shadows (2010) w/7 … Continue reading
Album review : TROJAN / TALION – The Complete Recordings 1984/90 (5 CD Boxset)
Cherry Red [Release date : 28.03.24] Boxset of remastered material from UK Thrash/Speed Metal band, Trojan, aka Talion. 5 CDs, 49 tracks. CD1: TROJAN : Chasing The Storm studio album, 1985 CD2: TROJAN : Capturing The Storm – Live At … Continue reading
Album review : LEAVES’ EYES – Myths Of Fate
AFM Records [Release date : 22.03.24] Fans of the band, or even just the genre, will know that German Symphonic Metal band, Leaves’ Eyes are totally immersed in Nordic and Celtic mythology. Pipes, fiddles, choirs, growls, all spin up through … Continue reading
Album review : VARIOUS ARTISTS – I See You Live On Love Street, Music From Laurel Canyon 1967-75 (3 CD Boxset)
Cherry Red [Release date : 22.03.24] For those geography lovers among us, LA’s Laurel Canyon Boulevard snaked up through the hills from Hollywood then down into the San Fernando Valley (as in “Valley Girls”), with little avenues branching off left … Continue reading
Album review : CRUZH – The Jungle Revolution
Frontiers [Release date : 22.03.24] Welcome to The Jungle Revolution, third album on the Frontiers label from Swedish band, Cruzh, and their second with vocalist, Alex Waghorn, winner of Idol Sweden in 2017 (singing Journey’s ‘Faithfully’). Among their admitted influences … Continue reading
Posted in ALBUM REVIEWS, ALBUM REVIEWS (Mobile), ALL POSTS
Tagged Alex Waghorn, Cruzh, eighties, FM, Idol Sweden, Journey, Jungle Revolution, melodic rock, review, Toto
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Album review : LORDS OF BLACK – Mechanics Of Predacity
Frontiers [Release date : 15.03.24] The Lords Of Black are on their sixth album now, so they must be doing something right, Mechanics… is a thematically sound treatise on the human condition, in which they“embark on a profound exploration of … Continue reading
Posted in ALBUM REVIEWS, ALBUM REVIEWS (Mobile), ALL POSTS, PURE METAL (All posts)
Tagged album, Lords Of Black, power metal, Predator, Prey, prog metal, review, Ronnie Romero, Survival
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Album review : STATUS QUO – The Early Years 1966-69 (5 CD boxset)
BMG/Sanctuary Records [Release date : 15.03.24] This 5 CD, Early Years boxset is one of the most interesting of the Status Quo back catalogue repackaging of recent times. It tracks us through the band’s startup moments in the early sixties, … Continue reading
Album review : LIPZ – Changing The Melody
Frontiers [Release date : 15.03.24] Debut album from young Swedish quartet, Lipz, in which they attempt to breathe life into a dying genre, Glam Rock. We’re told. But how do you define “Glam Rock”? Would that be the early eighties, … Continue reading
Posted in ALBUM REVIEWS, ALBUM REVIEWS (Mobile), ALL POSTS
Tagged album, Alex K Klintberg, AOR, eighties, glam rock, Lipz, Motley Crue, Poison, Pop/Rock, Ratt, review, Sunset Strip
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Album review : ALTERIUM – Of War And Flames
AFM Records [Release date : 08.03.24] Alterium is a new Italian Symphonic Metal quintet led by Nicoletta Rosellini (ex. Kalidia), a talented artist who juggles several media related careers. She also fronts Goth Metal band, Walk In The Darkness. Of … Continue reading
Album review : TURBULENCE – Binary Dream
Frontiers [Release date: 08.03.24] Third album from cutting edge Lebanese Progressive Metal band, Turbulence. Turbulence by name… this truly is a Prog Metal album for genre afficionados. We said that the band’s 2023 Frontiers debut, Frontal was “a defiantly bold … Continue reading
Posted in ALBUM REVIEWS, ALBUM REVIEWS (Mobile), ALL POSTS
Tagged album, Dream Theater, High Concept, progressive metal, review, Turbulence
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Album review : THE END MACHINE – The Quantum Phase
Frontiers [Release date: 08.03.24] Third album from George Lynch’s “new” band. (Interesting to note that Lynch has “retired” the Lynch Mob band name, admitting that the play on his surname was always “problematic,” but is now “inexcusable” because of its … Continue reading
