As a slight annex built on to their ongoing Strawbs reissue campaign, Esoteric have unearthed this 1972 solo album by Strawb Supremo Dave Cousins, so named because he did, in fact, record it in two weeks in the Summer of 1972, in between the Strawbs albums Grave New World and Bursting At The Seams. Although..
RPWL – Live From Outer Space (Gentle Art Of Music)
Tight-as-a-drum ensemble playing, even when embarking on lengthy instrumental sojourns This all started, of course, with Pink Floyd. Back in 1997 German proggers RPWL (the initials of the four band members) came together as a Floyd tribute band, and a very, very good one. Within a couple of years, however, they had outgrown the limitations..
STEVE HILLAGE / GONG – Liverpool O2 Academy, 23 Nov 2019
Everyone with an interest knows the Steve Hillage story by now. After a few years following his departure from Gong when he effectively had the mantle of ‘aging hippie saviour’ thrust upon him, he abruptly walked away from a style of music which he was quietly revolutionising, and disappeared into the world of trance music..
Midnight Prey – Uncertain Times (Dying Victims Productions)
Dying Victims Productions are the proud presenters of this debut album by Midnight Fury, with "Uncertain Times" being highly anticipated on the band's home turf of Germany. Described as playing “honest rock music on real instruments”, Midnight Prey are a trio soaked in the best old-school traditions of classic rock and like nothing better than..
Van Alen – String Theory
Van Alen has been a guitarist for over 20 years now, starting when he was 14 and having had professional training while still in his teens in order to be able to play like his idols Slash, Steve Vai and Yngwie Malmsteen. So he was a relatively “driven” youngster, keen to understand the theory, structure..
Wolf Jaw – The Heart Won’t Listen (Listenable Records)
Wolf Jaw may be a new name, but the Midlands power trio started life as the Bad Flowers, bringing out an EP under that name in 2016 and a debut album, Starting Gun, in January 2018. Based in Cannock, Staffordshire, the home town of Deep Purple's Glenn Hughes and no more than a stone’s throw..
Sun Of The Dying – The Earth Is Silent (AOP Records)
It’s raining heavily all day, so this was the best choice for a review. It is always good to be pleasantly surprised with a band you have not been familiar with. Such is the case with the Spanish doom/death metallers Sun Of The Dying, whose second full length The Earth Is Silent drops at the..
Imperial Jade – On The Rise (Listenable Records)
If you were expecting some kind of Euro-rock hybrid, with a hint of flamenco or paella-heavy lyrical content, think again... Imperial Jade are a Spanish hard rock band who released their debut album in 2015, and whose second album On The Rise was originally released in Spain only. Fortunately for the world at large, On..
Derek Shulman: Un-boxing The Giant
For the majority of their career, Gentle Giant was that rarest of breeds: uniquely challenging, singularly unlike any other rock band, with no hit singles or radio airplay, or anything approaching 'danceable'. Yet they garnered and cultivated a fiercely loyal, almost ravenous core of fans and admirers. These listeners weren't content to settle for standard..
Infringement – Alienism (Crime Records)
This lot got together one cold November evening in Oslo in 2015, them being Norwegian, the plan being (as with all of us?!) to guzzle whiskey and contemplate forming a band. Infringement was formed shortly after and their debut album Transition released in 2017. This was a concept album exploring the development of a single..