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Upcoming Gigs & Albums
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Album review: ROBERT REED – Sanctuary IV
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Album review: LAURENCE JONES – On My Own
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Album review : FREDDIE AND THE DREAMERS – You Were Made For Me, The Complete Recordings, 1963-70
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Album review: PHIL THORNALLEY – Stacked
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Album review: AMY HOPWOOD – Gone to Flowers
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Album review: SEAN TAYLOR – First Light
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Latest Gig Reviews
GRTR! Greats
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Category Archives: ALL POSTS
Gig review: WISHBONE ASH – Islington Academy, London, 5 October 2023
Wishbone Ash’s autumn tour with its London date at the Islington Academy has been a fixture on the gig calendar for many years, and more often than not these days seems to mark a significant milestone. I was one of … Continue reading
Posted in ALL POSTS, GIG REVIEWS
Tagged 5 October 2023, Andy Powell, Bob Skeat, gig, Islington Academy, Live Dates, London, Mark Abrahams, Mike Truscott, Wishbone Ash
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Album review: LONG ROAD HOME – Are We Invisible?
Self Release [Release date 31.10.23] ‘Are We Invisible?’ is a promising debut album by Long Road Home, a new British guitar and keyboard driven veteran rock-blues band, with bluesy, proggy, AOR and occasional southern rock influences. They don’t so much … Continue reading
Posted in ALBUM REVIEWS, ALBUM REVIEWS (Mobile), ALL POSTS
Tagged album, AOR, Are We Invisible?, Billy Gibbins, blues, boogie, Dave Norman, Deep Purple, Derek White, Ian Salisbury, Lee Morell, Long Road Home, Mike Sebbage, Procol Harum, review, Robin Trower, rock, Scott Hunter, southern rock, Steve Summers, ZZ Top
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Album review: THUNDER – The Thrill Of It All, Giving The Game Away, Shooting At The Sun (Reissues)
WIN These reissues! Click or tap here! BMG [Release date 20.10.23] As our retrospective feature in ‘The GRTR! Grotto’ series attests Thunder have firmly entrenched themselves with fans in the millennium, in spite of a couple of stop-starts. It’s fair … Continue reading
Album review : NITRATE – Feel The Heat
Frontiers [Release date : 23.09.23] Nitrate’s founding member and bassist, Nick Hogg has again opted for vocalist Alexander Strandell and the Martin (Vega) brothers (who also produce) to round out the band on his latest, (and fourth) album, Feel The … Continue reading
Posted in ALBUM REVIEWS, ALBUM REVIEWS (Mobile), ALL POSTS
Tagged Alexander Strandell, AOR, Danger Danger, Glen Frey, Heart, Issa, John Waite, Martin Brothers, New Wave, Nick Hogg, Nitrate, Paul Laine, review, Vega
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Album review: TREVOR RABIN – Rio
InsideOut Music [Release date 06.10.23] Rio is the first vocal led album Trevor Rabin has released since ‘Can’t Look Away’ in 1989. He has been busy in the interim with both solo instrumental releases and he has also become a … Continue reading
Posted in ALBUM REVIEWS, ALBUM REVIEWS (Mobile), ALL POSTS
Tagged 6th Oct 2023, album, Big Mistake, country, Insideout Music, National Treasure, Oklahoma, Owner Of A Lonely Heart, progressive, Push, review, Rio, rock, Trevor Rabin, Yes
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Gig review: BLACK STONE CHERRY – Islington Assembly Hall, 29 September 2023
Black Stone Cherry have for the last decade been big enough to headline arenas in the UK- in contrast to their still middle ranking status back home. The Kentucky foursome are constantly on tour here and must be up there … Continue reading
Posted in ALL POSTS, GIG REVIEWS
Tagged Ben Wells, Black Stone Cherry, Chris Robertson, gig, John Fred Young, southern rock, Steve Jewell
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Album review : KINGS CROWN – Closer To The Truth
Frontiers [Release date : 13.10.23] Melodic Hard Rock’s European union of British vocalist, Lee (Shy/Sweet) Small and Swedish Guitarist Martin (Gypsy Rose/Phenomena) Kronlund looks like being a huge success. Small’s voice is the kind of thing which prompts awe not … Continue reading
Posted in ALBUM REVIEWS, ALBUM REVIEWS (Mobile), ALL POSTS
Tagged album, Anders Skoog, Frontiers, Glenn Hughes, Kings Crown, Lee Small, Martin Kronlund, melodic hard rock, Phenomena, review, Seventies Rock, Shy, Sweet
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Quick plays: HASSAN BIN RASHID, LOUIS DE BERNIERES, RYAN YOUNG
HASSAN BIN RASHID My 21 Grams [Release date 06.10.23] Not everyday you get offered to review an album by a proper prince, in this case Bahraini Prince, Hassan bin Rashid. ‘My 21 Grams’ is his fifth studio album as he … Continue reading
Posted in ALBUM REVIEWS, ALBUM REVIEWS (Mobile), ALL POSTS, Quick Plays
Tagged alternative, folk, Hassan bin Rashid, Louis de Bernieres, melodic, My 21 Grams, Pearl Jam, pop, Quick Play, review, rock, Ryan Young
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Album review: GARRET T. WILLIE – Same Pain
Self release [Release date 15.09.23] Canadian rock bluer Garret T. Willie has a wise head on young shoulders and it goes some way to explaining his song craft. His 7 studio cuts co-written with bassist Parker Bossley are full of … Continue reading
Album review: BLACKLIST UNION – Letters From The Psych Ward
Cargo Records [Release date 15.09.23] Big, slick, dark and dirty, “Letters From The Psych Ward” is the latest album from Blacklist Union, the band’s sixth, and first for eight years. The album embraces decades of musical influences and therefore sounds modern … Continue reading
Posted in ALBUM REVIEWS, ALBUM REVIEWS (Mobile), ALL POSTS
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Album review: WARD KNUTUR TOWNES – Unanswered
Betty Beetroot Records [Release date 06.10.23] Ward Knutur Townes found their sound when the world fell silent in 2020. These three singer-songwriters, (Lucy Ward, Svavar Knutur and Adyn Townes) were selected to take part in a virtual global music sharing experiment … Continue reading
Posted in ALBUM REVIEWS, ALBUM REVIEWS (Mobile), ALL POSTS
Tagged Adyn Townes, album, alt folk, folk, Lucy Ward, melodic, review, Svavar Knutur, Unanswered, Ward Knutur Townes
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Gig review: KATRINA LESKANICH- Half Moon, Putney, London, 28 September 2023
Now only really remembered for two major singles, in the second half of the eighties Katrina and the Waves were one of my guilty pleasures. Their sixties inspired guitar based sound stood out among the then dominant synthesisers in the … Continue reading
Posted in ALL POSTS, GIG REVIEWS
Tagged Darren Loveday, gig, Half Moo, Katrina and the Waves, Katrina Leskanich, Nicki French, pop rock, power pop
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Book review: Decades – MANFRED MANN’S EARTH BAND in the 1970s by John Van der Kiste
SonicBond Publishing [Publication date: 27.01.23] After seeing the Earth Band live this Summer and being very pleasantly surprised, I found this book in my pile of review material and so I’m following up that excellent gig in Budapest with a … Continue reading
Posted in ALL POSTS, BOOK REVIEWS
Tagged 1970's, book, Manfred Mann, Manfred Mann's Earth Band, prog, review, Sonicbond
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Album review: IMPELLITTERI – The Complete Beast 1987-2009 (6 CD Boxset)
Cherry Red [Release date: 06.10.23] Every Impellitteri album from 1988 to 2009. Nine in all, and the band’s 2 EPs. Plus a score of bonus tracks. All shoehorned into 6 jampacked CDs. (Such was the weight of heavy metal contained … Continue reading
Album review: IRON SAVIOR – Firestar
AFM Records [Release date 06.10.23] Iron Savior’s 2020 album, Skycrest, signalled a new era of Power Metal. Three years later, the voyage of the mothership has apparently been sidelined temporarily, to allow a celebration of Teutonic and indeed, in places, … Continue reading
Album review: SKAGARACK- Heart and Soul
Thunderstruck Records (Release date 25.08.23) Skagarack were, alongside Fate, the Danish standard bearers in the original Scandinavian melodic rock explosion of the late eighties. I was a big fan, seeing them at the old Marquee and even picking up albums … Continue reading
Posted in ALBUM REVIEWS, ALBUM REVIEWS (Mobile), ALL POSTS
Tagged album, AOR, Jan Petersen, melodic rock, Skagarack, TORBEN SCHMIDT
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Gig review: ROMEO’S DAUGHTER – The Garage, Highbury, London, 23 September 2023
With good timing, as their new album ‘Slipstream’ has just been released, Romeo’s Daughter played their first show in London since the pandemic. Indeed much of the pre show talk evolved around who had retained their tickets from an original … Continue reading
Posted in ALL POSTS, GIG REVIEWS
Tagged AOR, Craig Joiner, gig, Highbury, Leigh Matty, melodic rock, Romeo's Daughter, Sweet Crisis, The Garage
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Album review: WINGER – Chapter One Atlantic Years 1988-1993
Atlantic/BMG [Release date: 17.11.23] It had to happen. The boxed Winger story from 1988 to 1993 and “the only remasters approved by Kip Winger.” As ever, it doesn’t help those who have already indulged in previous vinyl or CD although … Continue reading
Gig review: HOUND – Here We Aren’t, Peterborough, 27 September 2023
An enigma, wrapped up in neon-bright packaging, Cambridgeshire punk pop metal quintet Hound are all dangerous curves, big riffs and uncontrolled energy. The fact they’re playing what must rank as one of the tiniest venues in the country, the whole … Continue reading
Posted in ALL POSTS, GIG REVIEWS
Tagged gig, Here We Aren’t, HOUND, melodic, Peterborough, Punk Metal, punk pop, review, Wednesday 27 September 2023
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EP review: TOM WEBBER – The RAK Tracks
Website [Release date 29.09.23] Recorded at the legendary RAK Studios, Tom Webber takes another step up in his musical travels and more importantly, the musical depth and production that comes with recording at such a famous studio. If you though … Continue reading
Posted in ALL POSTS, Single and EP reviews
Tagged Didcot, EP, indie, Maya Lane, pop, RAK studios, RAK Tracks, review, rock 'n' roll, singer songwriter, The Korgis, Tom Webber
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News: BERNIE MARSDEN, THE KINKS, PALLAS (October 2023)
Alkaline Trio release their latest album, ‘Blood, Hair And Eyeballs’, on January 26 via Rise Records. The Beatles release ‘Now And Then’ on November 2, and it is being advertised as the final ‘new’ Beatles song ever. Black Sabbath release a … Continue reading
Posted in 20th Anniversary 2003-2023, Album News, ALL POSTS, Band Entrees & Exits, Books, Festivals & Large Events, Gigs and Tour News, NEWS, PledgeMusic/Kickstarter Campaigns, PURE METAL (All posts), Pure Metal/Interviews, Re-issues/special editions, RIP
Tagged albums, Bernie Marsden, blues, blues rock, classic rock, folk, gigs, metal, news, Pallas, prog rock, Re-issues/special editions, RIP, The Kinks
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Album review: CLIVE CARROLL – The Abbot – Clive Carroll plays the music of John Renbourn
www.clivecarroll.co.uk [Release date 02.10.23] I have a confession to make. In the early 1970s I was heavily into “early music” and for a time performed in a duo recreating the dance music of the medieval minstrels. That band’s demise was … Continue reading
Album review: SCREAMING EAGLES – High Class Rock ‘N’ Roll
FTF Records [Release date 06.10.23] Screaming Eagles hail from Northern Ireland and this is their sophomore album. The debut came out in 2013 which begs the question what have they been doing since? Notwithstanding the two year hiatus that is … Continue reading
Posted in ALBUM REVIEWS, ALBUM REVIEWS (Mobile), ALL POSTS
Tagged album, heavy rock, High Class Rock 'N' Roll, review, Screaming Eagles
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Album review : THE RUNAWAYS – Neon Angels On The Road To Ruin (5 CD boxset)
Cherry Red [Release date : 29.09.23] An all female rock band is rare. A successful all female rock band is even rarer. US band, The Runaways, Cherie Currie, Joan Jett, Lita Ford, Sandy West and Jackie Fox, broke through the … Continue reading
Gig review: ROB TOGNONI – 100 Club, London, 26 September 2023
Rob Tognoni typifies the spirit of old school rock and roll. It isn’t the fact that he and his band have just driven 16 hours from the Orkney Festival in the highlands of Scotland to the heart of London, or … Continue reading
Posted in ALL POSTS, GIG REVIEWS
Tagged 100 Club, AC/DC, Australian, Back To The One, BBC, blues, Gaz Rackham, gig, live, Miguel Montalban, Mike Helier, review, Rob Tognoni, rock, Steve Braithwaite, Wilko Johnson
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