Posted in Cd Reviews

On the 7th May, Universal is re-issuing 4 classic albums from The Small Faces which were originally released btween 1965 and 1969 – Small Faces, Immediate, From the beginning & Ogdens nut gone flake. The albums are being released as deluxe editions, and as with the other albums Universal have released as deluxe editions recently then there are plenty of extras.

Surviving Small Faces members Kenney Jones and Ian “Mac” McLagan have been involved in overseing and approving these new editions, including the re-mastering and artwork. All related non-album singles and alternate versions of the album session recordings, many of which are previously unreleased or released for the first time on CD, have also been added...

Posted in Cd Reviews

The compilation album Northern soul: 20 Original Classics, was released in July 2010, and now the team behind it are back with a second volume of Northern soul classics.

The tracks have been compiled by Johnny Chandler, with sleevenotes by Paolo Hewitt author of books on Oasis, The Jam, Small Faces and The Beatles.

The album is slightly surprising – but in a good way. While there are some household names included – The Supremes, Dusty Springfield, Ray Charles & The Temptations, the tracks chosen arent the ones you’d expect. Usually you’d expect a bunch of their hit singles but instead the album opts for lesser known gems from the back catalogue of these artists...

Posted in Cd Reviews

The Cult are due to release their new album ”Choice of Weapon” on 21st May. The album is being produced by Bob Rock who produced previous albums by The Cult – Sonic Temple, The Cult and Beyond Good and Evil.

Ahead of the album release, the band have released two singles so far – ”Lucifer” and ”For the animals”.

As a fan of The Cult since the ”Love” album then I’ve been looking forward to the new album, but also wondering if it will live up to hopes and expectations. Well after listening to these two singles I can definitely say that I really can’t wait for the album.

Both the songs are excellent – The Cult on top form...

Posted in Cd Reviews

American rock band Counting Crows have sold over twenty million albums in their twenty year career, and are about to release their first album for over four years – ”Underwater sunshine”. The album is their first independant release, and they’ve chosen to do something a little bit different. Rather than just writing a new album, they’ve decided to let their love of music loose and have chosen to release an album of cover versions of songs they love. Singer /songwriter Adam Duritz says ”If you wonder why we didnt just write our own record, it’s simply because we wanted to do THIS one. We now have the creative freedom to release albums like this and offer our fans more music than ever”

The songs come from a very diverse range of bands both young and old, well known and obscure...

Posted in Cd Reviews

The band name Luley may not be familiar, but it is the band of a man with a great track record – Klaus Luley. In the early 80s he was the front man of German melodic rock band Tokya. Following the demise of Tokyo he formed the band Craaft and again enjoyed considerable success in the melodic rock field, including touring with bands including Queen, Bon Jovi, Meat Loaf, Level 42 and Rod Stewart. As a songwriter he’s written songs for a number of artists including Meat loaf and has been found in sudio vocal sessions with artists including Donna Summer and Jennifer Rush.

His new album includes ten new songs as well as a remake of a song by his old band Tokyo, their hit single and self titled song, Tokyo.

There’s plenty of of great guitar work on the album, particularly on ”Take me today”, ...

Posted in Interviews

Festivalphoto: Your debut album, Many Fish To Fry, is due out at the beginning of April. Can you tell us a bit about the album?

Jake: First albums are a bit like the first question of an interview or the first time you meet someone. You don’t know each other yet and just want to introduce yourself and hopefully make a connection. If you get a little space and encouragement you splurge out every corner of your brain with each other, and that’s kind of what I’ve done with Many Fish To Fry. I’m pleased it’s made so many connections cos it’s allowed me to meet so many people, do so many gigs and generally make the world feel a little smaller for me. That was probably the biggest reason I wanted to make it in the first place so…. result.

Festivalphoto: Was making the album a long...

Posted in Cd Reviews

This DVD/Blu-ray release is a live concert. Filmed at the historic Genessee theatre in Waukegan, Illinois the concert includes songs from Ringo’s solo career as well as hits from The Beatles. 

The first thing to strike me is how young Ringo looks – he certainly doesn’t look anywhere near his real age, and is in great shape. 

For his cover of the Men at work hit ”who can it be now” Ringo takes to the drums and vocals are handled by Men at work singer Colin Hay. It’s a great performance and with Ringo on one drunkit and his drummer on another drumkit I’m amazed how well it works.

Ringo is great in concert – I must admit to being pleasntly surprised how much I enjoyed this, even though I dont know much of his solo work...

Posted in Gig/Festival Reviews

The night starts with Skam – a local three-piece band. Despite them going on stage a mere ten minutes after the doors opened, there is already a decent sized crowd. They have a classic heavy rock sound which clearly went down well and certainly impressed me. They’re fun to watch too – their bass player is very animated and moves around like ACDC guitarist Angus Young.

Next up was The Union. Their intro tape is The Strawbs song – ”Part of the Union” and as it plays the fans are clearly getting excited. I last saw the band at the High Voltage festival in 2010 and hadnt been very impressed, so didnt have very high expectations...

Posted in Press Releases

The Ready Stance (ex-Ass Pony’s / Middlemarch) release debut album Damndest, May 21st

www.readystance.com

In rock ’n’ roll some tales are just too perfect to make up. And the back story of The Ready Stance is definitely one of them. A truly perfect storm that unfolded within one square block of the historic district in Newport, Kentucky, just across the Ohio from Cincinnati.
The back story of Cincinnati band The Ready Stance qualifies as rock’n’roll fairy tale.
“I hadn’t been in a band in years but was still writing songs and jamming with friends on weekends; really just a therapeutic thing after running a manufacturing business and having a family,” recalls guitarist Wes Pence, the creative force of 1990s outfit Middlemarch...

Posted in Cd Reviews

”Holiday at Lake Bodom (15 Years of Wasted Youth)” is a new ”CD+DVD career retrospective” – in other words its a greatest hits package from Finnish metal band Children of Bodom. It’s hard to believe but its true – Children of Bodom have been with us for fifteen years. The band took their name from the infamous unsolved ’Lake Bodom Murders’, which took place in Finland in 1960, and the album title is a clear reference to this.

”15 Years of Wasted Youth is the sound of Children Of Bodom working hard, partying hard, being relentless and stubborn,” says the band’s superstar guitarist / vocalist Alexi Laiho...