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Upcoming Gigs & Albums
Latest Album Reviews
Latest Gig Reviews
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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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Gig review: WHEN RIVERS MEET, CHANTEL MCGREGOR, XANDER AND THE PEACE PIRATES – Dingwalls, London, 7 November 2024
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Gig review: DEEP PURPLE – 02 Arena, London, 6 November 2024
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Gig review: ELLES BAILEY- Islington Assembly Hall, London, 2 November 2024
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Featured Album Reviews
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Album review: BAD TOUCH – Shake A Leg
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Album review: LAURENCE JONES – What’s It Gonna Be
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Album review: NASHER – 432-1 Open The Vein
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Album review: RYAN McGARVEY – Heavy Hearted
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Album review: THOMAS LANG – Scallywag Jaz (2 disc expanded edition)
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Album review: SAGA – Best Of – Now And Then – The Collection
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Features
Single & EP Reviews
DVD Reviews
Book Reviews
News
Features
Category Archives: FEATURES
Feature: Albums that time forgot – RANSOM – Trouble In Paradise
MTM (1997) As alternative sounds ruled the roost in the nineties, musical styles that had ruled the previous decade were out of fashion and none more so than the melodic rock/AOR scene which was driven completely underground. In pre-Facebook, YouTube … Continue reading
Posted in Albums that time forgot, ALL POSTS, FEATURES
Tagged AOR, Don Cromwell, Eddie Money, melodic rock, Ransom, Tommy Girvin, Trouble In Paradise
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Feature: Gigs of the Millennium – JOE BONAMASSA
In June 2016 Joe Bonamassa trod the boards at the venue where – nearly over 50 years earlier – the Fab Four had fired their opening salvo. This historic gig has become one of life’s highlights for GRTR! reviewer Alan … Continue reading
Posted in ALL POSTS, FEATURES, Gigs of the Millennium
Tagged 27 June 2016, blues, blues rock, feature, gig, Joe Bonamassa, Liverpool, review, The Cavern
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Feature: Gigs of the Millennium – Steve Tilston, Argent, Camel, The Tubes
David Randall surveys a near-20 year period, reflecting on what constitutes a great gig… What makes a good gig? It can often be the events surrounding it – a pre-gig meal or drink for example - your fellow gig-goer(s), the … Continue reading
Posted in ALL POSTS, FEATURES, Gigs of the Millennium
Tagged Argent, Camel, classic rock, Dan Reed Network, David Gilmour, Europe, feature, gig, hard rock, Jeff Scott Soto, melodic rock, Progressive Rock, review, Saxon, singer songwriter, Steve Lukather, Steve Tilston, The Tubes, Winger
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Feature: Call Collect – An introduction to ROY BUCHANAN
David Randall reflects on a patchy early recording career, with Telecaster Titan Roy Buchanan only realising his full potential three years before his untimely death… The story of Roy Buchanan is one of a great unsung hero, a feeling of … Continue reading
Posted in Call Collect, FEATURES
Tagged blues, blues rock, discography, feature, guitar, guitarist, interview, introduction, Roy Buchanan
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Feature: Albums that time forgot – NOTHING BY CHANCE – Ghosts Of Love
Dover/Chrysalis/Starward [1991] Bob Harris has a lot to answer for. I am sure – like many other musical insomniacs – he influenced our choice of album purchase in the early 1990s. As mentioned in despatches elsewhere, his overnight show for … Continue reading
Posted in Albums that time forgot, ALL POSTS, FEATURES
Tagged album, feature, Ghosts Of Love, Gilly darbey, John Acock, Kevin Donnelly, Nick Magnus, Nothing By Chance, pop, review, singer, soft rock, songwriter
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Feature: Albums that time forgot – MAE McKENNA – Mirage And Reality
Kadence [1991] In 1993 “old school” DJs at the BBC, such as Bob Harris and Alan Freeman, would be culled as part of a new regime at Radio 1 but that didn’t stop a “golden” period for a few years … Continue reading
Posted in Albums that time forgot, ALL POSTS, FEATURES
Tagged 1991, album, Celtic, folk, fusion, Hugh Mckenna, John Hackett, Mae McKenna, Mirage And Reality, review, singer, soft rock, songwriter, Steve Hackett
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Feature: Call Collect – An introduction to MOLLY HATCHET
Joe Geesin on southern rockers Molly Hatchet, named after a prostitute who allegedly mutilated and decapitated her clients. Things got even more horrendous as the band entered the 1990s … Molly Hatchet is a Southern Rock band from Jacksonville, Florida, … Continue reading
Posted in ALL POSTS, Call Collect, FEATURES
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Feature: What FREEDOM CALL mean to me
Joe Geesin recounts an enduring 20 year passion, cultivated after a few drinks and an introduction to the German metallers Freedom Call… After a decade of writing features and sleevenotes, (I first starting writing reviews for Record Collector magazine in … Continue reading
Posted in ALL POSTS, FEATURES, What a Band/Artist means to me...
Tagged feature, Freedom Call, German, metal, power metal, review
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Feature: Music Industry v Covid 19
Many reading this will be furloughed writes Brian McGowan… over 6 million UK jobs have been so far. Many will not. Maybe you’re working from home. Maybe you’re less fortunate. You’ll know that the music industry is an integral part … Continue reading
Posted in ALL POSTS, FEATURES
Tagged artists, bands, blues, coronnavirus, Covid 19, feature, folk, gigs, metal, music, Music industry, pop, PR, record labels, rock, tours
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Feature: Bands that time forgot – BAD COMPANY (1986-1996)
For most, Bad Company conjures up the classic seventies line-up fronted by Paul Rodgers and with Mick Ralphs, Simon Kirke and Boz Burrell. The eponymous and classic first album yielded a handful of airplay and chart hits and set the … Continue reading
Feature: Albums that time forgot – NEAL SCHON – Late Nite
Columbia [1989] Years ago there was a very good record store in the Liverpool area and with a branch in my nearby shopping bolthole Chester. Penny Lane Records yielded a fine selection of import albums at a reasonable price. It … Continue reading
Posted in Albums that time forgot, ALL POSTS, FEATURES
Tagged album, AOR, Bob Marlette, interview, Journey, Late Nite, melodic rock, Neal Schon, review, Santana, Sheryl Crow
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Feature: Bands that time forgot – CELTUS
The two brothers John and Pat McManus had previously been members of eighties Irish heavy rockers Mama’s Boys. Both were multi-instrumentalists and their desire to achieve a more atmospheric, reflective groove was partly influenced by the premature death from leukaemia … Continue reading
Posted in ALL POSTS, Bands that time forgot, FEATURES
Tagged album, Celtic, Celtus, feature, fusion, John McManus, Pat McManus, review, rock
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Feature: Albums that time forgot – 21 GUNS – Nothing’s Real
Z Records [1997] The 1990s was a hard time for melodic hard rock bands feeling the chill wind from Seattle. Joey Tempest from the band Europe told me that they also succumbed to the prevailing trend, and that when visiting … Continue reading
Posted in Albums that time forgot, ALL POSTS, FEATURES
Tagged 21 Guns, album, feature, hard rock, interview, melodic, Mike Sturgis, Nothing's Real, Phenomena II, review, Scott Gorham, Thin Lizzy
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Feature: Albums that time forgot – KEATS
EMI [1984] Released in 1984 the eponymous album by Keats might be considered as an Alan Parsons Project off-shoot. It was produced by Parsons and includes the core band members that feature on most of the Project albums, Ian Bairnson, … Continue reading
Feature: Albums that time forgot – VOODOO RAMBLE – That’s Why
Self Release [Release date 31.08.18] We’re currently in lockdown as I write this review. And having been encouraged to pen some reviews of albums that we may have missed for review – but have certainly played – there’s no better … Continue reading
Posted in Albums that time forgot, ALL POSTS, FEATURES
Tagged album, Billy F. Gibbons, blues, boogie, Boris Dugi-Novacki, Boris Zamba, Captain Beefheart, Croatia, Drago Smokrovic Smokva. The Fig, funk, Gary Moore, gospel, Hrvoje Kralj, Jethro Tull, Jimmy Page, Joe Satriani, Led Zeppelin, Little Feat, Mario Klaric, Memphis International Blues Challenge, Memphis soul, Nikola Fabijanić, review, rock, soul, southern rock, Steve Winwood, That's Why, Voodoo Ramble, Walter Trout, ZZZ Top
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Feature: Albums that time forgot – PUBLIC SYMPHONY
[2006] Public Symphony is the brainchild of TV music composer (including ‘The Travel Show’, ‘Rogue Traders’) Dobs Vye who, together with James Reynolds, released their one and only album in 2006. When reviewing the album I opined: “‘Public Symphony’ is … Continue reading
Posted in Albums that time forgot, ALL POSTS, FEATURES
Tagged album, chill-out, Dobs Vye, electronica, pop, Public Symphony, review, rock
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Feature: What FREE mean to me…
Alan Jones on a woman in a diaphanous dress, a wailing Les Paul, and a T-shirt that said it all… It could have gone either way. In the late sixties my musical experiences were limited to my mother’s meagre collection … Continue reading
Posted in ALL POSTS, FEATURES, What a Band/Artist means to me...
Tagged Andy Fraser, blues rock, feature, Free, Paul Kossoff, Paul Rodgers, review, Simon Kirke
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Feature: Albums that time forgot – DOMINICI – O3 A Trilogy (Part 3)
Inside Out [2008] Charlie Dominici may merit a mere footnote in the history of Dream Theater, the band’s original singer who was in the formative Majesty before making the band’s first album. Then in 2005 he produced the first of … Continue reading
Posted in Albums that time forgot, ALL POSTS, FEATURES
Tagged album, Brian Maillard, Charlie Dominici, Dominici, Dream Theater, interview, O3 A Trilogy, Part 3, progressive metal, review
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Feature: Call Collect: An introduction to CHRISTOPHER LEE and his music
Best known for his portrayal of Dracula in the late 1960s Hammer horror films Christopher Lee also lent his (vocal) talents to several rock albums including power metallers Rhapsody of Fire… Sir Christopher Frank Carandini Lee CBE was an actor … Continue reading
Posted in ALL POSTS, Call Collect, FEATURES
Tagged actor, album, Christopher Lee, Dracula, film, Hammer, horror, power metal, RHAPSODY OF FIRE, screen, The Wicker Man
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Feature: What SAXON mean to me…
Saxon have been a life-long passion for Joe Geesin who has followed the band since the mid-1980s. More recently he has contributed sleeve notes and curation to several re-issues. And now he’s ready to write the band’s biography… Barnsley born … Continue reading
Posted in ALL POSTS, FEATURES, What a Band/Artist means to me...
Tagged albums, Biff Byford, heavy metal, heavy rock, history, Paul Quinn, review, Saxon
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Feature: Gigs of the Millennium – BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN
For many years Andy Nathan was a non-believer of the Boss and his enduring influence in rock music. All that was to change, finally, on a summer’s night in June 2012… Of the hundreds of bands I’ve been lucky to … Continue reading
Posted in FEATURES, Gigs of the Millennium
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Feature: Albums that time forgot – HUGHES THRALL
Epic [1982] Often cited by musos as a favourite album, ‘Hughes/Thrall’ was released in 1982. By all accounts Glenn Hughes (bass and vocals in MK III and IV Deep Purple) ‘stole’ guitarist Pat Thrall after seeing him play with Pat … Continue reading
Posted in Albums that time forgot, ALL POSTS, FEATURES
Tagged album, Glenn Hughes, hard rock, Hughes Thrall, Pat Thrall, review
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Feature: Albums that time forgot – IOMMI – Fused (Tony Iommi/Glenn Hughes)
Sanctuary [2005] In 2005 Tony Iommi and Glenn Hughes collaborated on the album ‘Fused’. It was Iommi’s second solo album. The pair had worked together on ‘Seventh Star’ in 1986, with drummer Kenny Aronoff, and this was originally destined to … Continue reading
Posted in Albums that time forgot, ALL POSTS, FEATURES
Tagged album, Black Sabbath, Bob Marlette, Fused, Glenn Hughes, heavy rock, Iommi, Kenny Aronoff, metal, review, Tony Iommi
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Feature: Albums that time forgot – ELEKTRADRIVE – Living 4
Valery Records (2009) Elektradrive is one of the more significant Hard Rock/AOR bands to emerge from Italy. At the very start, in 1983, the name of the band was Overdrive and they had a four-piece line up without keyboards; after … Continue reading
Posted in Albums that time forgot, ALL POSTS, FEATURES
Tagged album, AOR, Elektradrive, hard rock, Italian, Italy, Living 4, melodic rock, review
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Feature: Albums that time forgot – JONATHAN TYLER & THE NORTHERN LIGHTS – Pardon Me
F-Stop/Atlantic [2010] I do like a good rummage through the charity and record shops bargain CDs to take a punt on an unknown album based either on the cover, band members/instruments played or song titles (the latter can be a … Continue reading
Posted in Albums that time forgot, ALL POSTS, FEATURES
Tagged album, Albums that time forgot, blues rock, feature, Jonathan Tyler, Northern Lights, Pardon Me, review, rock, southern rock
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