Originally released in 2008, The Broken Hearted Bride saw a reunion of the Strawbs line-up which had recorded albums like Hero & Heroine and Ghosts, both of which did well in the US, and reawakened interest in the band. It’s been unavailable in recent years but has now been remastered, reissued and includes previously unreleased..
STEPPENWOLF – Magic Carpet Ride: The Dunhill/ABC Years 1967-1971 (Esoteric / Cherry Red)
Don't go in expecting seven discs of Born To Be Wild riffery and 'heavy metal thunder', as that is somewhat misleading - but open your ears to some prime turn-of-the-'70s hard rock and this will indeed be a magic carpet ride. Take a trip now. With a few of these vintage bands which have had..
Breakthrough – Underground Sounds of 1971 (Esoteric / Cherry Red)
One of the perks of this job is that you get to listen to music of various types that probably wouldn’t have come across the threshold under normal conditions. It’s a further perk that you sometimes get to compare it with something else you also wouldn’t have come across in any other way. For instance,..
Anthony Phillips – Archive Collection Volume I & Volume II (Esoteric)
A walloping 101 tracks and a wealth of previously unheard gems from Ant's attic... As an admirer and fan of Anthony Phillips' music for 35 years now, it's brought me genuine joy to see so much of it thrust back into the spotlight thanks to Esoteric's tireless reissue campaign. Under the watchful eye of official..
Affinity – Affinity (Expanded and remastered) (Esoteric)
Christmas has come early this year with the arrival of Affinity, the sumptuous and expansive boxed set celebrating the English quintet's eponymous 1970 release. It's the latest restoration project in Esoteric's impressive series of reissues, and one of the most comprehensive to date. Although some old-timers may be fortunate enough to have the original Affinity..
BE BOP DELUXE – Live! In The Air Age (Esoteric / Cherry Red)
Be Bop Deluxe brought their relatively short but extremely notable career to an end only a year after this 1977 live recording, recorded during their UK tour earlier that year, disbanding after the following Drastic Plastic release. To the casual listener, and indeed to many fans who had not had the opportunity to see the..
Banquet – Underground Sounds of 1969 (Esoteric / Cherry Red)
When you think about it, all mainstream trends in music and elsewhere must have had small beginnings – each journey starts with a single step, as they say. It’s strange to think that the ‘70s megastars of rock and prog, bands like Yes, Genesis, Deep Purple and Procol Harum, were considered ‘underground’ when they emerged...
RARE BIRD – Beautiful Scarlet: The Recordings 1969-75 (Esoteric/Cherry Red)
There have been quite a few bands over the years who have been the subject of heated debate as to whether they should have changed their name following a particularly abrupt change in style and/or personnel. Marillion being one obvious example, but the likes of Black Sabbath, Genesis and Yes have all at one time..
OPEN ROAD – Windy Daze: Expanded (Esoteric / Cherry Red)
...a pattern soon emerges of a melodic sound with great vocal harmonies and a bed of acoustic 12-string guitars, married to an often effectively prog-rock approach Another discovery unearthed by Esoteric here - but in this case, even if you haven't heard of the band in question, they didn't arrive from nowhere. On the contrary,..
DUFFY – SCRUFFY DUFFY (Esoteric / Cherry Red)
[St Johns] is pretty much the sound you would expect if Ian Anderson had elected to split Jethro Tull after Aqualung and join Uriah Heep instead. Another day, another Esoteric reissue from a band I'd never heard of! This one is baffling, however, as a good proportion of this album is right in the wheelhouse..