Category Archives: FEATURES

A selection of interviews and longer articles including updated archive material

Feature: GRTR!@20 Anniversary – Singer Songwriter – Primer

Posted on October 31, 2022 by GRTR! HQ

Singer-songwriter editor Pete Whalley gives his considered view on 20 years of the genre with the emphasis on female performers … Long considered a ‘folk’ rooted domain, the boundaries of the singer songwriter genre have blurred over the GRTR! decades, … Continue reading →

Posted in FEATURES, GRTR!@20, The Primer | Tagged 2003-2023, anniversary, classic rock, Eleanor McEvoy, Hannah Aldridge, Judie Tzuke, Missy Higgins, primer, singer, songwriter, summary, Thea Gilmore, Tina Dico | Leave a comment

Feature: GRTR!@20 Anniversary – Melodic Rock – Primer

Posted on October 31, 2022 by GRTR! HQ

Melodic Rock Editor Andy Nathan witnesses the melodic revival… When GRTR! started in late-2002 traditional melodic rock and AOR was still in something of a prolonged hangover from the years of grunge which swept away the genre, and indeed much … Continue reading →

Posted in FEATURES, GRTR!@20, The Primer | Tagged anniversary, AOR, Def Leppard, Europe, Firefest, FM, Foreigner, H.E.A.T., Journey, melodic hard rock, melodic rock, primer, summary, Whitesnake | Leave a comment

Feature: GRTR!@20 Anniversary – Still Rocking – Primer

Posted on October 31, 2022 by GRTR! HQ

Who remembers MySpace? By 2010 social media had taken over as the main online marketing tool for bands. Managing Editor David Randall surveys two decades of rock which brought great opportunity but also riven by world recession and pandemic… By … Continue reading →

Posted in FEATURES, GRTR!@20, The Primer | Tagged 2003-2023, anniversary, history, rock music, summary, survey | Leave a comment

Feature: Magnum Month @GRTR! – What Magnum Means To Me

Posted on March 21, 2022 by GRTR! HQ

Introduction The Studio Albums The Live Albums Singles Reissues Collections Memorabilia What Magnum Means To Me… As part of our month long promotion “Magnum Month @GRTR!” in March 2022 we invited fan recollections and stories. Some have followed the band … Continue reading →

Posted in ALL POSTS, FEATURES, Magnum Month @GRTR! (March 2022), What a Band/Artist means to me... | Tagged classic rock, fans, Magnum, melodic rock, recollections | Leave a comment

Feature: MAGNUM Month @GRTR! – Singles

Posted on March 18, 2022 by GRTR! HQ

Introduction The Studio Albums The Live Albums Singles Reissues Collections Memorabilia What Magnum Means To Me… Magnum in the Millennium Since the late 1990s the number of physical singles released by Magnum – and indeed many artists – has diminished, … Continue reading →

Posted in ALL POSTS, FEATURES, Magnum Month @GRTR! (March 2022) | Tagged Magnum, melodic rock, singles | Leave a comment

Feature: MAGNUM Month @GRTR! – Memorabilia

Posted on March 1, 2022 by GRTR! HQ

Magnum in the Millennium Introduction The Studio Albums The Live Albums Singles Reissues Collections Memorabilia What Magnum Means To Me… Magnum are a highly collectible band, as you might expect with their ascendancy in the 1980s coinciding with a burgeoning … Continue reading →

Posted in ALL POSTS, FEATURES, Magnum Month @GRTR! (March 2022) | Tagged classic rock, Magnum, melodic rock, memorabilia, merchandise, pomp rock | Leave a comment

Feature: MAGNUM Month @GRTR! – Collections

Posted on March 1, 2022 by GRTR! HQ

Magnum in the Millennium Introduction The Studio Albums The Live Albums Singles Reissues Collections Memorabilia What Magnum Means To Me… WHAT MAGNUM MEANS TO ME … Sweep away almost 40 blurry years of rock/metal memories and I see a picture … Continue reading →

Posted in ALL POSTS, FEATURES, Magnum Month @GRTR! (March 2022) | Tagged album, anthology, Bob Catley, classic rock, collection, compilation, Magnum, melodic rock, pomp rock, review, Tony Clarkin | Leave a comment

Feature: MAGNUM Month @GRTR! – Reissues

Posted on March 1, 2022 by GRTR! HQ

Magnum in the Millennium Introduction The Studio Albums The Live Albums Singles Reissues Collections Memorabilia What Magnum Means To Me… WHAT MAGNUM MEANS TO ME … When I was a teenager, probably about 13 or 14, and getting into rock … Continue reading →

Posted in ALL POSTS, FEATURES, Magnum Month @GRTR! (March 2022) | Tagged album, Bob Catley, classic rock, Magnum, melodic rock, pomp rock, reissue, review, Tony Clarkin | Leave a comment

Feature: MAGNUM Month @GRTR! – Live

Posted on March 1, 2022 by GRTR! HQ

Magnum in the Millennium Introduction The Studio Albums The Live Albums Singles Reissues Collections Memorabilia What Magnum Means To Me… WHAT MAGNUM MEANS TO ME … My own history with Magnum begins in the spring of 1985. I’d been getting … Continue reading →

Posted in ALL POSTS, FEATURES, Magnum Month @GRTR! (March 2022) | Tagged album, Bob Catley, classic rock, live, Magnum, melodic rock, pomp rock, review, Tony Clarkin | Leave a comment

Feature: MAGNUM Month @GRTR! – The Studio Albums

Posted on March 1, 2022 by GRTR! HQ

Magnum in the Millennium Introduction The Studio Albums The Live Albums Singles Reissues Collections Memorabilia What Magnum Means To Me… WHAT MAGNUM MEANS TO ME… I first came across Magnum by chance as they opened the Monsters Of Rock bill … Continue reading →

Posted in ALL POSTS, FEATURES, Magnum Month @GRTR! (March 2022) | Tagged album, Bob Catley, classic rock, Magnum, melodic rock, pomp rock, review, Tony Clarkin | Leave a comment

Feature: Call Collect – An introduction to Christmas (rock) Music

Posted on December 4, 2021 by GRTR! HQ

Christmas comes but once a year, and with it the usual mixed bag of toons. But not for us the familiar stylings of ‘Do They Know It’s Christmas’ or ‘Merry Xmas Everybody’. We like to dig deep, a bit like … Continue reading →

Posted in ALL POSTS, Call Collect, FEATURES | Tagged Alan Davey, album, carols, Christmas, feature, Hawkestrel, Hawkwind, instrumental, Jethro Tull, playlist, review, Rick Wakeman, Thea Gilmore, Thijs van Leer, Xmas | Leave a comment

Feature: Call Collect – An introduction to GIANT

Posted on November 20, 2021 by GRTR! HQ

Giant are rightly revered in melodic rock circles, another of those bands who for a short period at the turn of the 1980s delivered two of the finest albums in the genre. The band formed in 1987 after the two … Continue reading →

Posted in ALL POSTS, Call Collect, FEATURES | Tagged Dan Huff, feature, Giant, hard rock, melodic rock, review | Leave a comment

Feature: Albums that time forgot…CALVERT FLEMING PROJECT – Shotgun Pixie

Posted on September 23, 2021 by petefeenstra

Amazing Radio 2021 ‘Shotgun Pixie’ is the ultimate album that time forgot, except it’s not been forgotten. This post psychedelic gem of an album by Ohio guitarist Jimmy Fleming and Robert Calvert’s grand daughter Maya Calvert is very much available … Continue reading →

Posted in ALBUM REVIEWS, ALBUM REVIEWS (Mobile), Albums that time forgot, ALL POSTS | Tagged album, Artie Kornfeld, Calvert Fleming Project, Chad Stout, Dan Smart, guitar, Hawklords, Hawkwind, Jerry Garcia, Jimmy Fleming, Keith Richard, Led Zeppelin, Matt Moon, Maya Calvert, Michael Moorcock, Nik Turner, Paul Kossoff, poetry, review, Robert Calvert, Rolling Stones, Sandy Denny, Shotgun Pixie, The Allman Brothers, Uncle Mont’s Quandary | Leave a comment

Feature: Albums that time forgot…THE STORM (Gregg Rolie, Ross Valory, Steve Smith)

Posted on September 13, 2021 by GRTR! HQ

Interscope/Atlantic 1991 The Storm is very much a case of “what we did in our down time”. With Journey on hiatus in the late eighties Neal Schon formed Bad English then Hardline (debut album Double Eclipse in 1992) whilst Journey … Continue reading →

Posted in Albums that time forgot, ALL POSTS, FEATURES | Tagged album, AOR, feature, Gregg Rolie, Josh Ramos, Journey, Kevin Chalfant, melodic rock, review, Ross Valory, Steve Smith, the Storm | Leave a comment

Feature: Collectible Collections – FAMILY – Old Songs New Songs (The Definitive Box Set)

Posted on March 10, 2021 by GRTR! HQ

Mystic MYSCD191 (2005) Don McKay and Martin Darvill at Mystic have done a great service to the name and legacy of Family and Roger Chapman. ‘Old Songs New Songs – The Definitive Box’ is their latest offering and, as the … Continue reading →

Posted in Collectible Collections, FEATURES | Tagged album, anthology, box set, Charlie Whitney, classic rock, collection, compilation, Family, music, Old Songs New Songs, prog, Progressive Rock, R&B, review, Roger Chapman | Leave a comment

Feature: Collectible Collections – CAMEL – Rainbow’s End An Anthology 1973-1985

Posted on March 10, 2021 by GRTR! HQ

Universal/Decca 532 938-3 (2010) My biggest regret in terms of live music is failing to get my arse over to Liverpool to see Camel performing at the Lomax, a smallish venue, in October 2000*. It may well have been the … Continue reading →

Posted in ALL POSTS, Collectible Collections, FEATURES | Tagged album, Andy Latimer, anthology, Camel, classic rock, collection, compilation, music, Pete Bardens, prog, Progressive Rock, Rainbow's End An Anthology 1973-1985, review, Richard Sinclair | Leave a comment

Feature: Collectible Collections – MANFRED MANN’S EARTH BAND – 40th Anniversary Box Set

Posted on February 20, 2021 by GRTR! HQ

Pete Feenstra chatted to Manfred Mann for Get Ready to ROCK! Radio with tracks from Manfred Mann’s Earth Band. First broadcast 23 February 2021. Creature Music (2011) The rather large parcel dropped off at GRTR! Towers was like Christmas come … Continue reading →

Posted in ALL POSTS, Collectible Collections, FEATURES, INTERVIEWS, Radio interview | Tagged 40th anniversary, album, AOR, box set, Chris Thompson, classic rock, interview, Manfred Mann, Manfred Mann's Earth Band, Mick Rogers, Progressive Rock, review, Robert Hart | Leave a comment

Feature: Albums that time forgot … NATIVE CAIN – The Primitive Soul

Posted on December 26, 2020 by GRTR! HQ

ProActive (1999) Chatting to Pete Feenstra for Get Ready to ROCK! Radio in 2020 vocalist/songwriter Lee Small commented about his love of Glenn Hughes. And it is Hughes vocal influence that permeates the 1999 album ‘The Primitive Soul’. Small has … Continue reading →

Posted in Albums that time forgot, ALL POSTS, FEATURES, INTERVIEWS, Radio interview | Leave a comment

Feature: Albums that time forgot…EUROPE – Secret Society

Posted on October 13, 2020 by GRTR! HQ

Sanctuary (2006) Back in 2007 my fellow GRTR! reviewer and pal Pete Whalley, and my aspiring guitar hero son Ben, made our way through a February snowstorm to Liverpool Academy. It was a fairly low key gig for the Swedish … Continue reading →

Posted in Albums that time forgot, ALL POSTS, FEATURES, INTERVIEWS, Radio interview | Leave a comment

Feature: Albums that time forgot…JAMES LABRIE – Elements Of Persuasion

Posted on October 10, 2020 by GRTR! HQ

InsideOut (2005) For many band members, the band becomes all consuming. It means, as a result of the constant cycle of touring, writing and recording, they can’t deliver their own solo album. There are 15 years between John Petrucci’s first … Continue reading →

Posted in Albums that time forgot, ALL POSTS, FEATURES | Tagged album, Dream Theater, Elements Of Persuasion, feature, heavy metal, James LaBrie, Marco Sfogli, Matt Guillory, Mike Mangini, nu-metal, progressive metal, review | Leave a comment

Feature: Albums that time forgot…DON DOKKEN – Up From The Ashes

Posted on October 10, 2020 by GRTR! HQ

Geffen Records (1990) At the turn of the 1980′s there was a last hurrah for the genre that had sometimes been called glam metal, or more specifically hair metal. Bolstered by albums such as Whitesnake (1987) and Winger (1988) the … Continue reading →

Posted in Albums that time forgot, ALL POSTS, FEATURES | Tagged album, Billy White, Don Dokken, feature, hair metal, hard rock, interview, John Norum, melodic, review, Up From The Ashes | Leave a comment

Feature: Albums that time forgot … CODE OF SILENCE – Dark Skies Over Babylon

Posted on September 1, 2020 by GRTR! HQ

Mausoleum Records (Europe) Rubicon (Japan) (2013) Described by GRTR! reviewer Alan Jones as ‘a truly genre-bending tour de force, which, whilst having melodic metal at its heart, makes frequent forays into the diverse worlds of progressive rock, heavy metal, shred … Continue reading →

Posted in Albums that time forgot, ALL POSTS, FEATURES | Tagged album, Ben Randall, classic rock, Code Of Silence, Dark Skies Over Babylon, Eden's Curse, feature, Gus Monsanto, John Clelland, Mausoleum Records, melodic, metal, Paul Logue, review, Scott McLean | Leave a comment

Feature: Albums that time forgot … BLACKTHORNE – Afterlife

Posted on August 12, 2020 by GRTR! HQ

Music For Nations (1993) Graham Bonnet’s career started in the late 1960s with a conventional pop approach and early solo albums. It was only in 1979 when he came to Ritchie Blackmore’s attention as a potential frontman of Rainbow (replacing … Continue reading →

Posted in Albums that time forgot, ALL POSTS, FEATURES, INTERVIEWS, Radio interview | Tagged Afterlife, album, Alcatrazz, Blackthorne, feature, Graham Bonnet, heavy metal, heavy rock, Jimmy Waldo, review | Leave a comment

Feature: Gigs of the Millennium – ROCK FEST 2003, Wisconsin, USA

Posted on July 30, 2020 by andynathan

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 | Leave a comment

Feature: Call Collect – An introduction to STEVE HACKETT

Posted on June 29, 2020 by GRTR! HQ

Steve Hackett Liverpool Philharmonic Hall 7th May 2017 photo Steve Goudie 27

Alan Jones and David Randall chart the rise and revival of progmeister par excellence, Steve Hackett When we reviewed the Steve Hackett gig in October 2013 following the release of the second Genesis Revisited album, Pete Whalley summed things up. … Continue reading →