Tag Archives: feature

Feature: The GRTR! Grotto of Greatness – WALTER TROUT (May 2023)

The GRTR! Grotto of Greatness

Photo: John Bull/Rockrpix Walter Trout has consolidated his solo career, overcome major health issues, and remained relevant at the forefront of blues rock… Damn right Walter’s got the blues! But he’s thrown out the clichés, blown away the cobwebs, and … Continue reading

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Feature: The GRTR! Grotto of Greatness – JOE BONAMASSA (April 2023)

The GRTR! Grotto of Greatness

Photo: Simon Dunkerley Bonamassa brings the blues to a new generation, at least until 2039… “Let’s start by doctoring the immortal phrase, ‘He came, he saw, (he blinked twice, took a deep breath), and conquered”! Joe Bonamassa and his gifted … Continue reading

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News: JOE BONAMASSA enters The GRTR! Grotto of Greatness in April 2023

The GRTR! Grotto of Greatness

The latest inductee to “The GRTR! Grotto of Greatness” is blues/rock guitarist Joe Bonamassa. A major retrospective feature charting Bonamassa’s rise and rise in the millennium will be published on 1 April by rock website Get Ready to ROCK! and … Continue reading

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Feature: The GRTR! Grotto of Greatness – CHANTEL McGREGOR (February 2023)

The GRTR! Grotto of Greatness

Chantel’s down to earth Yorkshire lass delivery has endeared her to fans as much as her musicianship… Photo: David Randall Yorkshire singer/songwriter/guitarist Chantel McGregor first came to our attention in May 2010 when Pete Feenstra reviewed her debut London gig … Continue reading

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Feature: GRTR!@20 Anniversary – Waking The Witch

GRTR!@20

Jason Ritchie charts the rise and demise of a favourite band… Waking The Witch initially consisted of Rachel Goodwin, Patsy Matheson, Jools Parker, and Michelle Plum, with Becky Mills replacing Plum in 2005, all of whom also worked as solo … Continue reading

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Feature: GRTR!@20 – The Rising Stars Revisited – The Album

Get Ready to ROCK! - The Rising Stars

In 2007 Get Ready to ROCK! produced a CD showcasing 16 upcoming artists who had featured in early album and gig reviews.  The album was sold at the fledgling Cambridge Rock Festival that summer when we promoted a “Rising Stars” … Continue reading

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Feature: An introduction to Christmas (rock) Music

Jethro Tull - The Christmas Album

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

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Feature: Call Collect – An introduction to GIANT

Giant 1989

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

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

The Storm - 1991

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

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News: SLIM CHANCE The Phoenix Tapes, track by track (May 2021)

slim chance the phoenix tapes

THE PHOENIX TAPES is a collection of fourteen previously unreleased tracks recorded by Slim Chance since its reincarnation some 10 years ago. Originally posted as a series on YouTube in the last part of 2020 to raise spirits in lockdown, … Continue reading

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

JAMES LABRIE - Elements Of Persuasion

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

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

DON DOKKEN - Up From The Ashes

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

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

CODE OF SILENCE - Dark Skies Over Babylon

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

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Feature: Albums that time forgot … BLACKTHORNE – Afterlife

BLACKTHORNE - Afterlife

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

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Feature: Call Collect – An introduction to STEVE HACKETT

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

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Feature: Gigs of the Millennium – JOE BONAMASSA

Joe Bonamassa - The Cavern, Liverpool, 27 June 2016

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

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Feature: Gigs of the Millennium – Steve Tilston, Argent, Camel, The Tubes

Fee Waybill - 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

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Feature: Call Collect – An introduction to ROY BUCHANAN

Roy Buchanan - Alligator Records pubilicity photo, 1985

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

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Feature: Albums that time forgot – NOTHING BY CHANCE – Ghosts Of Love

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

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Feature: What FREEDOM CALL mean to me

Freedom Call

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

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Feature: Music Industry v Covid 19

Whitesnake - DOWNLOAD FESTIVAL, Donington Park, Leicestershire, 14-15 June 2019

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

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Feature: Bands that time forgot – BAD COMPANY (1986-1996)

Bad Company in 1995

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

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Feature: Bands that time forgot – CELTUS

Celtus in 1997

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

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Feature: Albums that time forgot – 21 GUNS – Nothing’s Real

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

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Feature: What FREE mean to me…

Free

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

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