We know that 2020 was a bad year for many reasons but in the music world it was certainly an annus horribilis for Uriah Heep fans. The sad deaths of Lee Kerslake and Ken Hensley within a couple of months of each other left Mick Box as the last man standing from the classic line-up...
Lee Kerslake – Eleventeen (Cherry Red Records)
We are used to pampered artists complaining about taking a long time to write an album due to writer’s block, tiring tours, and myriad other narcissistic excuses, and so the naked honesty from Kerslake in the sleeve notes of this album is startling: ‘It’s been a little over three years to record and finish it,..
Fraternity (featuring Bon Scott) – Seasons Of Change – The Complete Recordings 1970-1974 (Cherry Red)
Fraternity are best remembered in the UK as the band Bon Scott fronted after leaving 1960s band The Valentines, and before joining AC/DC. Which is all very well, but it doesn’t do Fraternity anything like justice. For one thing, they were nothing like AC/DC in sound or content, being much more melodically ambitious, and also,..
Manowar – Black Wind Fire And Steel: The Atlantic Albums 1987-1992 (Cherry Red Records)
All three albums contain classic metal material and show the band’s uncanny and unique ability to effortlessly switch between light and shade, and between anger and pathos. Manowar burst onto the scene in 1982 with their brand of powerful heavy metal. If anything set them apart from other bands it was their lyrics which focused..
Oh! You Pretty Things: Glam Queens And Street Urchins (1970-76) (Cherry Red)
Prolific label Cherry Red Records are currently outdoing themselves with their output of classic and rare vintage boxed sets – search for the New Wave Of British Heavy Metal, Pub-Rock, Back Street Crawler and Fraternity reviews on this website for starters. This latest 3-CD boxed set, complete with 40-page booklet insert, strives to document the..
Death Angel – The Enigma Years (1987 – 1990) (Cherry Red Records/HNE Recordings)
The San Francisco Bay Area thrash scene from the 1980s remains one of the most colourful and potent genres in metal history. Naturally, it was fuelled by the music but was also driven by fan tape trading and a brotherhood between the bands and a united relationship between musicians and fans. Even now during its..
Heavy Pettin – Best Of Heavy Pettin (Wreckords/Cherry Red)
Now, this 'Best Of' set is a real treat for fans of high quality hard rock as it used to be played in the '70s and '80s. Many of you of a certain age should remember Heavy Pettin, a hard working journeyman rock band which was formed in Glasgow in 1981. You can perhaps get..
SLAUGHTER AND THE DOGS – Do It Dog Style 3CD Set (Cherry Red / Captain Oi!)
The album opens with with two authentic slices of ripped-jeans, glue-and-speed teenage punk thunder... Ah, classic first-generation UK punk! For those of us who were in our teens at the time, this sort of thing is invariably fantastic nostalgia, evoking memories of a time which was genuinely exciting to be a part of. Even though..
SURRENDER TO THE RHYTHM: THE LONDON PUB-ROCK SCENE OF THE SEVENTIES (Grapefruit/Cherry Red)
You couldn't hide behind a lengthy guitar solo or a cape if you were on stage at The Hope And Anchor in 1975. You had to play good songs and play them well. Pub Rock. That's a term which I'm sure we've all heard bandied about on many occasions, but it's one which is far..
SHAPE OF THE RAIN – Riley, Riley, Wood & Waggett: Deluxe Edition (Cherry Red / Grapefruit)
Shape Of The Rain. If you are immediately asking ‘who?’, then you are in good company, as I have to confess they are a band who had eluded me as well until this release appeared. In actual fact they were a band formed in Yorkshire around the mid to late ‘60s, who did the hard..