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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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Category Archives: ALBUM REVIEWS
Album review: LETTUCE – Cook
(Lettuce Records) [Release date 03.12.25] As we mentioned in earlier reviews U.S. jazz-funksters Lettuce are firmly rooted in the late-sixties/seventies when artists such as James Brown/Maceo Parker and Tower of Power held sway. With the popularity of disco in the … Continue reading
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Tagged album, Cook, funk, jazz funk, Lettuce, R&B, review
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Album review : THE MEL OUTSIDER REFORMATION – Mel Goes Funky
Planet Records UK [Release date : 26.09.25] The 8 piece Mel Outsider Reformation is one of the most potent and original big band outfits in the UK. Their music is riff driven, exhilarative and has a jam like quality. It’s … Continue reading
Album review : STRYPER – The Greatest Gift Of All
Frontiers Music [Release date : 21.11.25] The Greatest Gift Of All is Stryper’s 16th studio album. The line up remains Michael Sweet, Robert Sweet, Oz Fox and Perry Richardson, solid for 8 years now. When we reviewed their last two … Continue reading
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Tagged Christmas, classic metal, festive, Frontiers Music, Gene Krupa, hard rock, Michael Sweet, review, Silent Night, Stryper
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Album review : TREAT – The Wild Card
Frontiers Music [Release date : 21.11.25] Wild Card is Swedish melodic rock band, Treat’s 10th studio album since the debut in 1985. They’ve enjoyed the same line up since reforming 20 years ago. There’s not a moment here that isn’t … Continue reading
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Tagged Brother Firetribe, Classic Melodic Rock, Frontiers Music, Poodles, review, Treat, WET, Wild Card
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Album review : URIAH HEEP – The Shadow And The Wind: 1973-74 (5 CD Boxset)
Cherry Red [Release date 28.11.25] CD1: Live 1973 CD2: US Radio Show plus Radio shows, Mixes for radio, Love Machine Rock’n’Roll Medley CD3 : Sweet Freedom +5 bonus (1973) CD4: Wonderworld +6 bonus (1974) CD5 : Live At Shepperton Another … Continue reading
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Tagged 1974, Cherry Red, classic rock, Donald Guarisco, Malcolm Dome, review, Sweet Freedom, Uriah Heep, Wonderworld
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Album review : THE BLUES BROTHERS – The Lost Recordings (blue vinyl)
Z2Comics [Release date : 21.11.25] “From The Vaults Of John Belushi Comes 13 Unreleased Live Performances of THE BLUES BROTHERS” An apocryphal tale you might think, but apparently the tapes referenced were found by his late wife, Judy Belushi, in … Continue reading
Album review : CASSIDY PARIS – Bittersweet
Frontiers Music [Release date : 21.11.25] Bittersweet is Australian songbird, Cassidy Paris’s second long player on the Frontiers Music label, a follow up to the debut, New Sensation. Paris was “discovered” in her youth, and subsequently mentored, by Paul (Danger … Continue reading
Album review : SPIRIT – Sea Dream (4CD Expanded and Remastered boxset)
Cherry Red [Release date : 28.11.25] Californian band, Spirit, blossomed in the fertile fields of psychedelic rock. They came together in 1967, the year of “The Summer Of Love”, a year later they released their self titled debut. Its febrile … Continue reading
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Tagged expanded, live, posthumous, Randy California, remastered, review, rock, Sea Dream, Spirit, studio
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Album review : CHEAP TRICK – All Washed Up
BMG [Release date 14.11.25] Cheap Trick’s best since Rockford. Some people thought it was all over, thus the tongue-in-cheek title. It’s no exaggeration to call this 40 minute album’s worth of expertly crafted songs a heavy hitting tour de force. … Continue reading
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Tagged All Washed Up, Cheap Trick, Daxx, melodic rock, review, Rick Nielsen, Robin Zander, Tom Petersen
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Album review : TOKYO BLADE – Beware The Blade – Classic, Rare and Unreleased, 4 CD Boxset
Cherry Red [Release date : 21.11.25] A 4CD boxset of the best of Tokyo Blade’s 14 albums (and more). It’s not called a “Best Of”, but that’s what it is. CD1 : selections from Midnight Rendezvous (1984) and Night Of … Continue reading
Album review: MEN WITHOUT HATS – On The Moon
Website [Release date 14.11.25] Men Without Hats, perhaps best known by many for their 1982 hit ‘The Safety Dance’, first formed back in 1977, split in 1993, before returning briefly in 2002-03 and returned full time in 2010. Since then, … Continue reading
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Tagged 80's music, album, electro pop, melodic, Men Without Hats, New Wave, On the Moon, pop, review, synth pop, synthwave
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Album review: JAN AKKERMAN – My Focus Live Under The Rainbow
Music Theories Recordings [Release date: 12.12.25] Possibly missed by some, Jan Akkerman played a short series of dates in the UK in February 2025. Fortunately this rare excursion has been captured on a new live album. It seems that Akkerman … Continue reading
Album review: D’ERCOLE – Reactance Theory
Rock Company [Release date 05.11.25] It’s album number eleven from D’Ercole and lost count of the number of albums featuring the talented & never seemingly out of the studio Phil Vincent! Joining him are the D’Ercole stalwarts – drummer B.F. D’Ercole, … Continue reading
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Tagged album, D'Ercole, hard rock, melodic hard rock, melodic rock, Phil Vincent, Reactance Theory, review, rock, Vince O'Regan
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Album review: DRINK THE SEA – S/t
Website [Release date 03.10.25] It may seem an alien concept for some people, but being in a globally huge band can be tough going at times, the machine utterly taking over your life. Former R.E.M. guitarist Peter Buck has always … Continue reading
Album review: SMITH & LIDDLE – Songs For The Desert
Legere Recordings [Release date 31.10.25] There must be something in the air at the moment, or at least this year. We’ve had excellent albums from Morganway, First Time Flyers, and now Smith & Liddle. The connecting theme is melodic classic pop … Continue reading
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Tagged album, AOR, classic rock, pop rock, review, singer songwriter, Smith & Little, Songs For The Desert
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Album review : HELL IN THE CLUB – The Joker In The Pack
Frontiers Music [Release date 7.11.25] The Hell In The Club line up comprised originally of ex-members of better named bands, like Elvenking (Dave Moras), Secret Sphere (Andrea Buratto) and Wrathchild (Andrea Piccardi). Of course the HITC band name is old … Continue reading
Album review: ASH WING – s/t
White Knight Records [Release date 07.11.25] This album is one of several that arrived at GRTR! Towers without an accompanying press release. Perhaps this is a new trend: get the journos to do the work. Again, from the Rob Reed … Continue reading
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Tagged album, Ash Wing, neo prog, Peter Jones, prog, Progressive Rock, review, Rob Reed
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Album review: CHIMPAN A – Music Is Art Vol.1
Tigermoth Records [Release date 29.08.25] Chimpan A’s debut album was quite a revelation and one of the best low key releases of 2006. (We only got to hear of it some time later). This off-on project is essentially Mike Oldfield … Continue reading
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Tagged album, ambient, chill-out, Chimpan A, Christine Booth, classic rock, groove, Magenta, Music Is Art Vol.1, review, Rob Reed, Steve Balsamo
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Album review : RONNIE ROMERO – Backbone
Frontiers Music [Release date 24.10.25] Over the last ten years, stints with pre-eminent rock artists like Schenker and Vandenberg, plus spells with Rainbow and Sunstorm have tended to overshadow Ronnie Romero’s solo stuff. When he released Raised on Radio (2022) … Continue reading
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Tagged album, Backbone, Frontiers Music, Jose Rubio, Rainbow, review, Ronnie Romero, Schenker, Sunstorm, Vandenberg
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Album review: KYLE CAREY – The Last Bough
Bandcamp [Release date 01.09.25] Gaelic Americana – that’s what this artist plays. Never heard of it? No neither had I, and although it could be a bit of a gimmick, it’s actually not. It’s a vocation for this artist, who spent … Continue reading
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Tagged album, folk, Gaelic Americana, Kyle Carey, review, The Last Bough, traditional music
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Album review : DEFECTO – Echoes Of Isolation
Frontiers Music [Release date 31.10.25] Strongly encouraged by famed producer, Flemming (Rainbow/ Metallica/ Pretty Maids/ Blind Guardian) Rasmussen, Danish singer/ guitarist/ songwriter, Nicklas Sonne put Defecto together in 2011. Echoes of Isolation is their fourth studio album, and the band … Continue reading
Album review : SHIRAZ LANE – In Vertigo
Frontiers Music [Release date 24.10.25] Finnish rock band Shiraz Lane have been a going concern for ten years now. In Vertigo is their 6th album, with a smattering of EPs released in between. It’s described by the label as “an … Continue reading
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Tagged album, Alexander Kronlund, HEAT, In Vertigo, Max Martin, Per Aldaheim, Reckless Love, review, Santa Cruz, Shiraz Lane
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News: Albums of the Month (July – September 2025)
A quarterly feature highlighting album releases rated highly by the GRTR! review team and worthy of your investigation. We try and pick out a cross-section of albums that reflect the range of genres reviewed at the website. The star rating … Continue reading
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Tagged 2025, albums of the month, Americana, August, blues rock, classic rock, hard rock, July, melodic rock, metal, Progressive Rock, roots, September
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Album review : LEAH MARTIN-BROWN – Love & Other Crimes
Frontiers Music [Release date 24.10.25] Australian born, but now resident in Europe via the USA, amazingly gifted singer Leah Martin-Brown releases her debut album on Frontiers Music this month. She’s got a lot going for her before we hear a … Continue reading
Album review: LAURA COX – Trouble Coming
earMusic [Release date 31.10.25] Album number four from Anglo-French guitarist and singer Laura Cox, who first came to wider attention via her YouTube channel in 2008. The album was mixed and engineered by Jean-Marc Pelatan, with tracks mastered by Ted Jensen … Continue reading
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Tagged album, blues rock, guitarist, Laura Cox, melodic, review, rock, Trouble Coming
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