Category Archives: ALL POSTS

Gig review: STONEDEAF FESTIVAL – Newark Showground, 24 August 2019

Stonedeaf - 24 August 2019

Bank holiday weekends have their good and bad points. On the good side you get a long weekend to do whatever takes your fancy, hopefully in fantastic weather and with great musical accompaniment. On the bad side however,  you get … Continue reading

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Album review: ROBERT RANDOLPH & THE FAMILY BAND – Brighter Days

Robert Randolph - Brighter Days

This interview with Robert Randolph was first broadcast on Get Ready to ROCK! Radio on 1 September 2019.  Robert discusses the new album with Pete Feenstra (32:23) Provogue Records   [Release date: 23.08.2019] Robert Randolph is a man on a … Continue reading

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Album review: THE PORTRAITS – For Our Times

THE PORTRAITS - For Our Times

www.theportraitsmusic.com [Release date 25.10.19] The musical landscape has changed significantly since the release of Counterbalance (2012) – the last outing by The Portraits – Somerset based husband and wife duo Jeremy and Lorraine Millington. For Our Times sees the duo … Continue reading

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Quick plays: ROBERT TEPPER, JEREMY IVEY, INTO THE UNKNOWN

ROBERT TEPPER - Better Than The Rest

ROBERT TEPPER Better Than The Rest AOR Heaven [Release date 27.09.19] Robert Tepper is best known for his song ‘No Easy Way Out’, which was the theme to ‘Rocky IV’ and has been subsequently released in various dance remix guises, … Continue reading

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Gig review: THE FAIRIES ON MY ROOF FESTIVAL – Papa Groove, Le Puridier (Rouffignac), SW France, 31 August 2019

Fairies On My Roof

Somewhere along the way the true spirit of Woodstock almost got lost in the corporate shuffle and the passing of 50 years. But on a magical day in deepest Dordogne in South West France, the Des Fées Sur Mon Toit … Continue reading

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Album review: BLACKRAIN – Dying Breed

BLACKRAIN - Dying Breed

Steamhammer/SPV [Release date 13.09.19] “Dying Breed” is the sixth album from French band Blackrain, and really is an album of two parts for me. The first five songs are sleazy rock that, although it lacks that Scandinavian feel it can … Continue reading

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Album review: FAITHSEDGE – Bleed For Passion

FAITHSEDGE - Bleed For Passion

Scarlet Records [Release date 26.07.19] ”Bleed For Passion” is the new album from Faithsedge, the band comprising of former Dokken guitarist Alex De Rosso, Timothy Gaines (formerly of Stryper) on bass, drummer Matt Starr (Ace Frehley/Mr Big) and vocalist Giancarlo … Continue reading

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Album review: THE FLUFFY JACKETS – Something From Nothing

THE FLUFFY JACKETS - Something From Nothing

Cargo Records [Release date 16.08.19] Second album from this bluesy melodic rock group, and it follows on nicely from their debut, the acclaimed ‘Fighting Demons’. Again featuring guitarist Manny Charlton (also dobro, best known as a founder member and chief … Continue reading

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Gig review: DANNY VAUGHN – Eleven, Stoke, 29 August 2019

Eleven has been going a couple of years now and although it is a converted warehouse, it has that rock club/gig venue vibe that suggests it has been here a lot longer. Excellent sound on the night too, plus a … Continue reading

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Gig review: BEAUTIFUL DAYS FESTIVAL – Escot Park, Devon, 16-18 August 2019

Beautiful Days festival, in it’s 17th year, is held in the grounds of Escot Park in Devon and is a festival I’ve attended every year since 2011, with good reason.  Founded by punk folk rockers, Levellers, they always offer a high calibre line-up.  A smorgasbord … Continue reading

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Album Review: DIANA REIN – Queen Of My Castle

Diana Rein - Queen Of My Castle

Gulf Coast Records   [Release date: 21.06.2019] Diana Rein’s 3rd album, ‘Queen Of My Castle’ is easily her best album so far. Together with her kick-ass band which is driven relentlessly by her drummer/producer/writer Michael Leasure, she’s pushed out of … Continue reading

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Gig review: DEF LEPPARD – Zappo’s Theater, Planet Hollywood, Las Vegas, USA, 14 August 2019

DEF LEPPARD- Zappo

Las Vegas used to be the place where musicians were put out to pasture- the white suited Elvis and other stars to be filed under ‘oldies’. My partner grew up in the area and apparently in the eighties the big … Continue reading

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News: MARGATE RHYTHM & ROCK, 6-8 September 2019 with headliners LINDISFARNE, WILKO JOHNSON & STEVE HARLEY

WILKO JOHNSON BAND – Royal Albert Hall, London, 26 September 2017

This preview was first broadcast on Get Ready to ROCK! Radio on Sunday 25 August featuring two of the bands appearing at the three-day Margate event: Curved Air and Man. (12:16) Margate Rhythm & Rock 2019 takes place 6th – … Continue reading

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Album review: SPREAD EAGLE – Subway To The Stars

SPREAD EAGLE - Subway To The Stars

Frontiers [Release date 09.08.19] Those lovely people at Frontiers have treated us to another fine slab of late 80’s/early 90’s rock, the spotlight this time falling on New York’s Spread Eagle. Not so much of a comebaclk in this case … Continue reading

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Album review: SOLEIL MOON – Warrior

SOLEIL MOON - Warrior

Frontiers [Release date 09.08.19] Soleil Moon formed as a collaboration between singer Larry King (Michael Thompson Band) and keyboardist John Blasucci (Dennis De Young) back in 1999 and have released two albums to date, both of which any self-respecting AOR … Continue reading

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Album review: ROXY BLUE – Roxy Blue

ROXY BLUE - Roxy Blue

Frontiers [Release date 09.08.19] Coming a mere 25 years since their debut album (“Want Some”), Roxy Blue are back with a brand new album, very good it is too, and with the exception of guitarist Jeffrey Wade Caughron, the band … Continue reading

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Backstage Hero: RICK PALIN

Rick Palin runs Skyfire Promotions and is organising another Cancer On The Rocks festival later this year on the 23 and 24 November at the Bush Hall, London. He gives us the lowdown on Cancer On The Rocks, why Gene … Continue reading

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Album review: THE MEMBERS – Version

THE MEMBERS - Version

Cleopatra Records [Release date 16.08.19] I can’t say I know a lot about punk rock mavericks The Members, beyond a vague recollection of their 1979 hit single ‘The Sound Of The Suburbs’, my allegiances back in the 1970′s being firmly … Continue reading

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Quick plays: VISIONATICA, ARDOURS

VISIONATICA - Enigma Fire

VISIONATICA Enigma Fire (Frontiers) [Release date 12.07.19] You have to ask yourself, on occasions, where has originality gone? Visionatica, a[nother] female fronted symphonic metal band, this time, from Nuremberg, failed to make much of a global ‘splash’ with their 2016 … Continue reading

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Quick plays: DUFFY & BIRD, DREW HOLCOMB, TIM GRIMM, BOB BRADSHAW, 3TIMES7

DUFFY & BIRD - Spirit Level

DUFFY & BIRD Spirit Level [Release date 20.09.19] You can’t go wrong with a voice and an acoustic guitar.  That is, if you’ve a decent singer, a decent song, and decent player.  It’s a formula as old as the hills. … Continue reading

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Album review: BERLIN – Transcendance

BERLIN - Transcendance

Cleopatra Records [Release date 16.08.19] OK, hands up who can name a Berlin number other than ‘Take My Breath Away’?  I certainly can’t, and I used to have a vinyl copy of their 1984 album Love Life.  But to be … Continue reading

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Gig review: PETER FRAMPTON – Red Rocks Amphitheater, Colorado, USA, 31 July 2019

PETER FRAMPTON- Red Rocks Amphitheater, Colorado, USA, 31 July 2019

2019 has been a year of the farewells of many of the legends of classic rock. Already this year, I’ve seen UFO, Lynyrd Skynyrd and Kiss perform for (presumably) the final time in the UK and do their legacy proud. … Continue reading

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Album review: STATUS QUO – Backbone

STATUS QUO – Backbone

earMusic [Release date 06.09.19] On the release day of this album I will be avoiding social media at all costs. The luddites and trolls will be out in force to decry this album as a travesty and a slur on the Quo legacy, produced, … Continue reading

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Gig review: RUNRIG – The Last Dance DVD World Premiere – Royal Concert Hall, Glasgow – 17 August 2019

Exactly one year ago to the day I and around 25,000 other Runrig fans descended on the City Park in my home town of Stirling to witness the band’s final show. After 45 years the guys had decided that retirement beckoned but not without one last … Continue reading

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Album review: SUPERSONIC BLUES MACHINE – Road Chronicles: Live!

Supersonic Blues Machine - Road Chronicles: Live!

Provogue [Release date 12.07.19] Supersonic Blues Machine ‘Road Chronicles: Live!’, is snapshot of an evolving band on one night at the end of a 10 date European run of dates, rather than the culmination of a lengthy tour as in … Continue reading

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