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HOT NEW REVIEWS
VARIOUS
ARTISTS 'KRAUT! DIE INNOVATIVEN JAHRE DES KRAUTROCK 1968-1979 TEIL 1 UND 2: DER
NORDEN UND DIE MITTE' (BEAR FAMILY RECORDS/GERMANY IMPORT)
Back in the 1970s
Krautrock became a household term to indicate new German Rockbands playing
their own kind of mixture of classic late 1960s Psychedelic Bluesrock, 1970s
Progressive Rock and 1970s Hardrock, with some electronic influences as well.
Countless bands emerged from everywhere in Germany and quite a few became
really popular through the years in especially the USA and Japan. The sound of
some bands even influenced established musicians like DAVID BOWIE and
eventually Krautrock became the most influential music sound ever out of
Germany. KRAFTWERK, CAN and TANGERINE DREAM are probably some of the best known
acts, all influencing mainly the Electronic Music genre, but there were many more
bands that rocked just a bit more and those 'forgotten' bands have now found a
special place on this beautiful CD set released on BEAR FAMILY RECORDS. The
diversity in the sound of the included Krautrockbands is also remarkable,
because one can easily label some as pure Progressive Rock, but on the other
hand you can also find bands that were going for either a 1960s CREAM/JIMI
HENDRIX kinda heavy blues direction or acts that followed the URIAH HEEP/DEEP
PURPLE type of Classic 1970s Hardrock direction, but some of the bands were
also not shy to add influences from Soul, Disco and even Jazz into their sound.
The CDs we received are part 1 and part 2, splitted into a North German and Central
Germany section. Both parts are packed seperately in a lovely designed 2-CD set
package with extensive liner notes of more than 100 pages. This alone makes it
a must-have package, so you can learn all about German Rock from the 1970s,
because each and every featured band of the 47 bands that are included in
total, they are all desribed and reviewed in full detail, so basically this set
can easily be seen as the ultimate Krautrock encyclopedia with 2 CDs
accompanied that features the best song of each featured band. I think even the
most fanatic 70s rockfan will be surprised to hear bands that were unfamiliar
until now. The 4 CDs in total here are a great combination of better-known
bands of mainly the 1970s Progrockscene and a lot of underground bands that
never had their breakthrough and had to wait 50 years before one of their songs
was heard again. If we have a glance at the bands which are probably more
known, we need to add NEKTAR (of whom we reviewed many re-issued CDs many years
ago), LUCIFER'S FRIEND (featuring JOHN LAWTON, ex-URIAH HEEP), NOVALIS, RAMSES,
JANE, ELOY (probably the biggest German Progrockband ever!), EPITAPH, FAITHFUL
BREATH, WALLENSTEIN, TRIUMVIRAT and such. These are all great established
bands, but most of them sadly had their fame and fortune in the 1970s before
either disappearing or continue on low profile. However, almost all of them
reached a cult status in the musicworld and many of their records are quite
wanted nowadays. If we take a step into the more obscure bands that are
included here we can discover a wealthy collection on these 4 CDs, with many rare
bands of whom it will be very hard to find their original album releases. This
makes this amazing collection such a unique document, because it leaves you
breathless to hear such lovely unknown 1970s German bands like TOMORROW'S GIFT,
IKARUS, PASSPORT, PELL MELL, SPERMULL, STREETMARK, GOMORRHA, CRAVINKEL, XHOL
CARAVAN (a band that almost sounds like a pure groovy Soul-Rockband like we
nowadays hear it in bands like THE BLACK PUMAS, but these guys were doing it
already back in 1969!). These CDs tell a story that should never be forgotten,
because it documents in the smallest detail a perfect overview of the lively
German rockscene almost 50 years ago. Do not miss one of the finest
compilations of 2020 and hopefully we will be able to also review the 2 other
CD packages (The South and Berlin) to complete this beautiful journey of German
music history. Available through: www.bear-family.com
(Points:
9.0 out of 10)
SUPERTHOUSAND
'#TRNSIT' (INDEPENDENT/GERMANY IMPORT)
Formed in 2012, the
German band SUPERTHOUSAND releases it's 3rd album titled #trnsit and without a
doubt, we are dealing here with a high quality band that brings very impressive
crystal clear melodic progressive rock that fits somewhere between PINKJ FLOYD,
RPWL, AIRBAG, MARILLION and RIVERSIDE. The 6 included songs are calmer and
built around some beautiful melodies. The threesome consists of Lars Dreier,
Dominik Mertens and Markus Missbrandt, and they released their debut back in
2013 which was titled Universe-reverse, followed up by Voyage in 2016 and now
there is the sensational #trnsit. I can honestly say that they truly deliver
here an absolute gem of a classic progrock record that will appeal to any fan
of the genre. The titletrack Transit and also Albatross are real must-hear
songs for the fans of aforementioned bands and especially classic PINK FLOYD is
a clear comparison. This is the way we want to hear our progrock, which not
only sounds modern and very diverse, but is also a mixture of instrumental
passages and beautiful vocal melodies. SUBSIGNAL and RPWL are the leading bands
in the current German Progrockscene, which seems to develop a real big movement
nowadays, not seen since the 1970s Krautrock days, and SUPERTHOUSAND can easily
be added here. Do not miss this sensational band, more info at: https://www.superthousand.de
(Points:
8.7 out of 10)
CHIMPAN
A 'THE EMPATHY MACHINE' (TIGERMOTH RECORDS/NINETEEN 73 PROMOTION/UK IMPORT)
The empathy machine is the 2nd album of CHIMPAN A , a duo formed around vocalist Steve Balsamo (JESUS CHRIST SUPERSTAR, ERIC WOOLFSON) and multi-instrumentalist Robert Reed (MAGENTA). It took them 14 years to release a follow-up to their debut, but meanwhile they have both been very busy with all their other bands/projects. Other involved musicians on this new album are Tony Dallas: spoken word / Rosalie Deighton, Christina Booth, Kirstie Roberts: vocals / Shan Cothi: soprano vocal / Rachel Mari Kimba: cello and Steve Roberts: Live drums. The included music is Progressive Rock, but then slightly different than the standard progrock, because CHIMPAN A adds a lot of modern pop influences and goes a bit further than just being a little experimental. Don’t let this scare you off, because there is enough melody in there to keep up the interest for the proggies who also want to hear interesting melodies and not too much improvisation and complexity. In fact, the music sounds like an updated modern version of ALAN PARSONS PROJECT, with a bit of let’s say PORCUPINE TREE, although it all sounds quite poppy as well, because the rock element is a little less prominent. 7 lengthy tracks are included, of which the absolute highlight is the beautiful Scream, a song with a brilliant chorus that really sticks in your head, sorta what PINK FLOYD could have sounded like if they were still making new music. It’s a very enjoyable record that is as mentioned prog with a different clear modern touch. I also really would like to invite you to listen a few times before making a judgement, as it contains a lot of surprises you can only hear when listening multiple times. More info at: https://magenta.bandcamp.com/album/chimpan-a-the-empathy-machine
(Points: 8.5 out of 10)
SIRKIS BIALAS IQ 'OUR NEW EARTH' (MOONJUNE RECORDS/UK IMPORT)
Out of London comes SIRKIS BIALAS IQ, which is a band formed in 2014 and they have already released quite a few albums, so meanwhile are getting more exposure. Their latest album is titled Our new earth and features calmer experimental European Jazz/Progressive Rock with influences from World Music. The band is formed around ASAF SIRKIS: drums, konnakol, Manjira, SYLVIA BIALAS: voice, waterphone, konnakol, FRANK HARRISON: piano, keyboards and KEVIN GLASGOW: six string electric bass. When listening to the 2 CDs of the album it is clear that this is quite experimental and very atmospheric, especially the way Sylvia is singing is something you love or hate. I do feel that they have something really interesting to offer here and it is recommended if you want to explore something new. It’s quite hard to exactly describe their music, so it’s best to check for yourself at: https://asafsirkis-moonjune.bandcamp.com/album/our-new-earth-hd
(Points: 7.8 out of 10)
SETH POWER 'SOUVENIR' (TOUCAN COVE ENTERTAINMENT/USA IMPORT)
The first thing I thought when hearing the first couple of seconds of the album Souvenir from Brandon, Mississippi, USA native SETH POWER was that I felt like I was listening to JOHN MAYER. Seth has a similar voice and vibe like John, which is blues influenced, but with a sorta R&B thing going as well. Seth has been making a name these past few years as a singer/songwriter and now with this full-length CD Souvenir he should be able to gain a lot more attention for sure. 14 songs can be found on his album and besides Seth on guitar and vocals, there are quite a few additional musicians, whom give it a real full sound. It is a little poppy and very radio/song orientated, so my only advice would be to Seth to rock a little more next time, because he has been influenced by Bluesrockers, but somehow that isn’t heard here. The music is as mentioned very poppy close to modern radio R&B with just a slight light bluesy guitar lick here and there. JOHN MAYER is a major artist in doing this and Seth nicely follows his footsteps, so let’s hope a future album will bring an own identity. I am convinced that Seth has all it takes to become a bigger artist in the future, which can clearly be heard on this CD. Fingers crossed that such a talent will be able to show his skills in the future also live on stage, so for now check out more info at: http://sethpowermusic.com
(Points: 8.0 out of 10)
MARYNKA 'RED MOON' (ORPHONO RECORDS/ITS ALL HAPPENING)
Marynka is an Amsterdam based Russian musician who recorded her album Red moon in just one night during a lunar eclipse on July 27, 2018. Basically what we get to hear is beautiful romantic piano music, spread on 13 songs. Marynka is clearly a gifted musician who can play the piano like the best and the fact this album was recorded in one night makes it very special. It was captured by eight microphones that were set up by producer and engineer ATTIE BAUW. I have not seen his name appear a lot lately, but this Dutch producer has worked with all the great names in music business and even worked with JUDAS PRIEST on their classic Painkiller album and so he knows when he smells talent in each and every genre. Marynka’s album is instrumental piano music, really beautiful from the beginning until the end. Available through her own website at: https://www.marynkanicolai.com
(Points: 8.1 out of 10)
NJET NJET 9 'III' (ECLIPSE MUSIC/XANGO MUSIC)
Out of Helsinki, Finland comes a mini big band, whom recently released their 3rd album III. Musically speaking they are playing a sorta instrumental Free-Jazz style that also has slight Soul influences during the couple of songs that feature vocals. The band’s line up consists of Martti Vesala - trumpet, Mikko Haanpää - trombone, Linda Fredriksson - sax, flute, Ville Vannemaa - sax, flute, Pekka Seppänen - sax, flute, clarinet, Ville Kyttälä - keyboards, Veikki Virkajärvi - guitar, Heikki Laine – bass and Eeti Nieminen – drums, and together they make really fun ‘melodic’ Jazz that is clearly focus on melodies. It’s not the complex or outta-control kinda Jazz like some would think of when hearing the Jazz word, because NJET NJET is very melodic and as already mentioned during the song Come together, we can hear strong vocals of guest singer Kaisa Saino, who gives this song a great melodic relaxing R&B/old school Soul vibe. Definitely a recommended album to check out at: https://suomijazz.com/levyarviot/2020/06/njet-njet-9-iii/
(Points: 8.3 out of 10)
GUNASH
'GREAT EXPECTATIONS' (GO DOWN RECORDS/ITALY IMPORT)
Now here we have a
very interesting band, because guesting on their album is Rami Jaffee (FOO
FIGHTERS) who plays keyboards. GUNASH is coming out of Italy and their album
Great expectations is from 2017. It's their 2nd album and musically it is a
very strong mixture of
melodic stoner rock, doom metal, classic rock and some 90s alt/grunge rock,
with howver very impressive melodic vocals. 11 songs are included and the best
ones are Mirror (excellent catchy chorus, midtempo melodic heavy rock),
Mean (uptempo melodic heavy rock/stoner riffs), Stray dog (excellent 80s
uptempo classic heavy rock like pure 70s SCORPIONS somehow, really cool tune)
and The killing silence (semi melodic classic rock ish ballad with a sorta
SOUNDGARDEN/ALICE IN CHAINS touch and a Doom ending). Concluded, a nice
adventure and hopefully they will release one day a follow-up. More info on
this impressive band at: https://www.godownrecords.com/gunash
(Points:
8.4 out of 10)
PATER NEMBROT 'NUSUN' (GO DOWN RECORDS/ITALY IMPORT)
PATER NEMBROT comes
out of Italy,. was formed back in 2003 and released 3 albums so far, of which
Nusun is the latest, dating back to 2016. The band's line up consists of
Philip Leonardi (Filippo Leonardi) - guitar, vocals, Ramona March
(Ramona Marchi) - guitar, Jack Pasghin (Giacomo Faedi) - bass and Clarence
Casoni (Giulio Casoni) - drums. The vocalwork is very strong, although their
music is mostly based on instrumental heavy slow fuzz Doom guitar riffs,
but when there's a melodic chorus kicking in such as during
Stitch, it sounds quite good actually. There's also room for calmer piano
parts, such as can be heard during the start of Architeuthis, while
there's also great Progrock parts during the song Overwhelmed. An
interesting mixture here, although I really think the band can release an even
stronger record if they are able to use the best of
their skills. Check it out for yourself at: https://pater-nembrot.bandcamp.com/
(Points:
7.8 out of 10)
LAZERTUTH
'LEON VINYL RECORD' (HOUSE OF WATTS RECORDS/USA IMPORT)
Out of Massachusetts, USA comes the
sensational Progressive Rockband LAZERTUTH. I was not familiar with their work
before, but I am very impressed when listening to this sensational 2020 album
of them called Leon. They were kind enough to sent me the vinyl record version
of this new album and I must say that we have a true winner for the progfans
out there. This is superb high quality Progressive Rock that ticks all the
boxes, including strong vocals, a tight progrock rhythm bass/drums section,
soaring guitars/riffs, massive keys and this is all packed in a perfect mix of
memorable vocals/melodies and instrumental passages. They remind me quite a bit
of the mighty SPOCK'S BEARD, especially during the wonderful opening song White
hot chariot. This 11 minutes couting classic epic Progrock song contains about
everything you need to include in a sensational legendary Progsong, so all the
fans out there that admire bands like PORCUPINE TREE, SPOCK'S BEARD, RUSH and
such, you must absolutely not miss this band! LAZERTUTH's line up consists of Ethan
Weiss - Keyboards, Mark Arruda - Guitar, Vocals, Kevin Fernandes - Bass, Vocals
and James Boyer - Drums. Together the 4 musicians came up with this excellent
sound that here and there shows an own face, especially when hearing the 15
minutes counting Of the same design, which is divided in 4 parts. This song
reveals some very interesting slightly experimental 70s instrumental
Prog/Krautrock influences during the part Night ruins that might even surprise
the CAN/KLAUS SCHULZE/TANGERINE DREAM fans out there. The part Daybreakers is
showing the band's love for classic uptempo mid 1970s Symphonic Melodic
PompRock with it's cheerful keys and a killer (short) melodic vocal line,
almost makes me think of a faster version of STYX and ROADMASTER. The final
song on the album is the 10 minutes counting The rider, another prog winner for
the fans of SPOCK'S BEARD, TRANSATLANTIC and such. I must admit that it's been
a long time ago that I enjoyed listening to a new record by an unknown band so
much as to this new album of LAZERTUTH. I truly hope this will become their
breakthrough in at least the Prog community, because they absolutely deserve
it. This is of such a level that every Progfan needs to hear this a.s.a.p.
LAZERTUTH is a highly recommended fantastic American Progrockband and hopefully
we will also be able to hear and review their earlier albums as well.
Meanwhile, you can check them out at: https://lazertuth.bandcamp.com/
BREATHLESS
'VARIOUS ALBUMS' (TENOR VOSSA RECORDS/UK IMPORT)
Not to be confused
with the legendary AOR/Poprockband of the same name that was active in the USA
during the late 70s/early 80s. Actually I was even unfamiliar with the British
BREATHLESS before I received 3 of their albums which have been re-issued onto
CD by TENOR VOSSA RECORDS. The band was formed in 1983 by Dominic Appleton
(vocals, keyboards), Gary Mundy (guitar), Ari Neufeld (bass) and Tristram
Latimer Sayer (drums). Dominic is clearly the most important person here,
because his voice makes BREATHLESS standout between the rest. It is quite
interesting to see the band slightly changing their sound through the years,
because the albums I received are from 1986 (The glass bead game), 1999 (Blue
moon) and 2012 (Green to blue), so there's 13 years between the original
recordings of the albums. They released more records by the way, but these 3
come in beautiful packaging, with bonustracks included as well, which makes
them interesting for the fans. Anyway, in the 1980s the band had a sorta Gothic
meets New Wave ish rocking sound, while the 1990s saw them changing a bit more
towards a heavier Altrock ish sound, but also going for a very dark
experimental slow sound. However, it's their Green to blue album from 2012 that
really grabbed me, because this Post-Progressive Rock with haunting melodies,
done in a very slow dark melancholic sound that does have some similarities to
PORCUPINE TREE and STEVEN WILSON and even OPETH. However, when you hear the
beauitful melodies of Next time you feel, a stunning tune, it is clear that
BREATHLESS has an own face that will appeal to fans of various genres, kinda
like a mix between Indie, Gothic, Dreampop, Post-Rock, New Wave, Doom and
Progrock. Throw it all together and you have the BREATHLESS sound! I spent
quite a few hours listening to these albums and I am really surprised that this
band never broke through unlike so many other bands that followed the same
sorta path. Dominic's voice is surely one you can listen to for a long time
because it is quite unique and very pleasant to listen to. Don't expect any
happy or uptempo tunes, as BREATHLESS take things very slow and melancholic on
each and every release. Perhaps their 1980s releases were a bit more uptempo
and friendlier, but as the years progressed the album definitely released their
finest work in 2012 with the aforementioned Green to blue. I am safe to say
that album should be in the hands of at least every Progrockfan out there,
because it can easily compete with acts like RIVERSIDE, OPETH, STEVEN WILSON,
PORCUPINE TREE, BLACKFIELD and yes even PINK FLOYD (!), etc. as this is modern
prog the way it is still played and that is also something to mention here.
BREATHLESS' albums are timeless and never sound dated and doesn't that make you
a legendary band! I recommend you to check them out a.s.a.p.! A follow-up to
this sensational album should be out sometime in 2021. More info at: http://tenorvossa.co.uk/
(Points:
8.7 out of 10)
LOVE
AND WAR 'EDGE OF THE WORLD' (INDEPENDENT/USA IMPORT)
All the way from
Houston, Texas comes this awesome classic 80s (US) Melodic Metal/Hardrock
sounding band called LOVE AND WAR, which was formed back in 2000 by guitarist/songwriter
John Adams and vocalist Jeff Vandenberghe. The duo has been making music
together since 1982, so now almost 40 years later they are still together and
their band LOVE AND WAR is completed by bassist Ray Soliz and drummer Donnie
Bragg. They did release an album before
Edge of the world, but this went unnoticed I am afraid. Anyway, their new
record will reach more people I think, because it is a pretty good solid
release that contains quality Metal. 9 songs are included and basically every
song reminds me of some 80s Classic Metalband. For instance opener We all fall
down is the kind of uptempo guitar shredding Melodic Metal like FIFTH ANGEL and
HEIR APPARANT did back in the day, while following track Start believin' is a
mix of ACCEPT and JUDAS PRIEST in their classic 80s period, with just a little
bit of SKID ROW added for fun. Also next track Mercenary man continues that
cool 80s Metal guitar sound and has once again clear similarities to JUDAS
PREST and also should appeal to fans of PRIMAL FEAR. The ttletrack Edge of the
world has some lovely classy guitar riffs, a very strong chorus and once again
it nails the 1985 melodic metal sound just perfectly! From the other songs I
would like to point out the midtempo Final destination and closing track Southside
Johnny (a pure late 1980s groovy semi Hair Metal tune that sounds like the
perfect cross between late 80s Y & T and late 80s SKID ROW). Definitely a
big recommendation if you remember the days when guitar shredding, fists in the
air, gang vocal choruses and high pitched metal screams were the most important
ingredients of the true metalsound! More info at: https://www.love-and-war.com/
(Points:
8.2 out of 10)
DAXX
& ROXANE 'DAXX & ROXANE' (INDEPENDENT/UK IMPORT)
And here we have a sensational band from
Montreux, Switzerland called DAXX & ROXANE, whom are based in London, UK.
They were formed back in 2009, released their debut in 2017 and are now shakin'
the rockworld with their excellent new album, which seems to be self titled.
Their line-up consists of Simon Golaz - Rythm Guitar, Cédric Pfister - Vocals /
Bass, Luca Senaldi - Drums and Cal Wymann - Lead Guitar, and together they play
a very strong high class mixture of 1970s Classic Rock and 1980s Kick-Ass
Hardrock/Hair Metal, with influences from all the legendary bands, such as LED
ZEPPELIN, MOTLEY CRUE, AC/DC, DEEP PURPLE and countless more. They know how to
play their tunes, with some serious guitarwork and vocally, Cedric has a
fantastic voice and he could well be the next Rock God with such a throat! 11
songs are included in total, starting with the kick-ass uptempo Classic Rocker
Fast lane, which is followed by the groovy Strange woman and then back to
straight-forward kick-ass uptempo Classic Hardrock again with the fantastic
catchy Without you that also has a very slight 80s Hair Metal/Glamrock touch. After
another uptempo crackin' classic rocker (Broken), the band slows things down
with calmer instrumental Dawn and the lovely semi melodic rockballad Heal that
feels like a late 80s intelligent Power Poser Ballad, but then done like TESLA,
LILLIAN AXE and AEROSMITH melted together and yes it includes a guitar solo of
course. Give it time is a midtempo rocker that is a strong mixture of VAN HALEN
and TESLA. Someone I love follows and is another kick-ass uptempo Poser Metal
tune in the good old late 1980s MOTLEY CRUE/POISON style, including a deadly
catchy chorus to sing-a-long to for days and days. Get to it has some classic
THIN LIZZY ish guitars mixed with AC/DC straight-ahead Classic Hardrock,
although the 80s chorus reveals their love for VAN HALEN as well. Back door man
is groovier and harkens back to the 1970s with a lot of LED ZEPPELIN influences
and closing track Sugar rush is a clear AC/DC influenced straight-ahead
Hardrocking tune. It's a bandname you will not forget very quickly and also
musically speaking DAXX & ROXANE should find it's way to all the fans of
both Classic Rock and Hair Metal, because they mix both rockstyles just
perfectly! Check them out at: https://www.daxxroxane.com/
(Points:
8.7 out of 10)
NDV
'INVISIBLE' (ENGLISH ELECTRIC RECORDINGS/RSK ENTERTAINMENT/SWEETWATER
STUDIOS/REDS AND PR/UK IMPORT)
NDV stands for NICK
D'VIRGILIO, a Californian drummer, singer, piano/keyboard and guitarplayer who
is best known for being in one of the greatest progbands of all times, SPOCK'S
BEARD. I was lucky enough to catch one of the live performances of this band
and until this day I have to say it was one of the finest I ever witnessed!
Fast forward, because Nick eventually left the band for a while during the
2010s, did some other projects and also played in several other bands (MYSTERY,
TEARS FOR FEARS, BIG BIG TRAIN...), but returned to SPOCK'S BEARD thankfully.
However, he continues to do other music related adventures as well, such as
this new solo-album Invisible he released under the moniker NDV. He gathered a
very impressive list of guest musicians for this album, such as CARL VERHEYEN
(SUPERTRAMP), JONAS REINGOLD (THE FLOWER KINGS), JORDAN RUDESS (DREAM THEATER),
PAUL GILBERT (MR. BIG), TONY LEVIN (KING CRIMSON), JEM GODFREY (FROST*), RICK
NIELSEN (CHEAP TRICK) and even recorded the album with a full orchestra at the
famous Abbey Road Studios in London, UK. Invisible is a very diverse album that
is not only focusing on Progrock, because there are also multiple other music
styles to be heard. It's quite a lengthy album, with in total 14 songs included.
After the intro, we get to hear a beautiful calm ballad ish song, which is the
titletrack. Turn your life around brings the rock forward and is a lovely
Progressive Rocker in the classic SPOCK'S BEARD style, with nice breaks and a
lovely melodic chorus. A change in style follows in I'm gone, a funky tune that
has 70s and 80s influences, kinda like PRINCE a bit. After the quite original
cover of the American traditional Money (That's what I want) and the smooth
jazzy Waiting for no one, it's full Progrock during the fantastic Snake oil
salesman. Also next track Where's the passion has some nice bombastic Progrock
KANSAS ish similarities. It is for me personally crystal clear that when Nick
goes for that classic proggy sound, he sounds at his best, but let's not forget
to mention his amazing drum skills all throughout the album. That is what he is
best known for of course, although he can also sing very well and this album
Invisible is definitely song based and not based around his drumming. However,
some of his drumming talents can best be heard during the heaviest song on the
album, the Progmetal piece Mercy. Overcome is a nice theatrical bombastic
proggy piece, while In my bones is a rather complex mixture of jazz, fusion
rock and progrock. The final 3 songs of this epic adventure of Nick's new album
are a progdream; Wrong place, wrong time (excellent Progressive Rocker), Not my
time to say goodbye (lovely midtempo melodic AOR/Pomprock ish tune a la KANSAS
again) and I know the way (very strong uptempo melodic progrock). Concluded,
Nick has released a very diverse album, which still however has a lot of
material that will please the fans of SPOCK'S BEARD, yet this is more song
based and not so much on instrumental complex passages. It shows however the incredible
talent of multi-instrumentalist/singer/songwriter NICK D'VIRGILIO, who together
with a lot of well-known guest musicians has recorded a highly recommended
album! More info at: https://www.nickdvirgilio.com/
(Points:
8.7 out of 10)
SKAM
'THE AMAZING MEMOIRS OF GEOFFREY GODDARD' (INDEPENDENT/UK IMPORT)
Out of Leicester, UK comes the interesting
band SKAM, whom released this 3rd album The amazing memoirs of Geoffrey Goddard
back in 2017. Somehow we missed this album, which is a pity, because it is a
very impressive album, but as the band was kind enough to sent it, here's the
review. The story of a pilot is fictional and told throughout each and every of
the 12 included tracks and also explained in the massive booklet that comes
with the CD. SKAM consists of Steve Hill - Guitars - Lead Vocals, Matt Gilmore-
Bass - Backing Vocals and Neal Hill - Drums - Backing Vocals. The music of SKAM
is classic melodic hardrock based and they are doing things at a very high
level. Opener Between the eyes is a very strong high class midtempo melodic
rocker and so is the uptempo melodic rocker Iron cross. It gets a bit groovier
on the next couple of tracks, with some SKID ROW meets TYKETTO meets SKINTRADE
meets HAREM SCAREM (especially the catchy Take it or leave it) ish Melodic
Hardrock tunes, but the quality remains very high. In fact, this is a highly
recommended Melodic Hardrockalbum in the style of the afformentioned bands,
including top-notch musicianship, excellent vocals, a massive production/sound
and some killer tunes with memorable melodic choruses. They also have some
modern (melodic) heavy rock influences of the VOLBEAT, FOO FIGHTERS, ALTER
BRIDGE, SHINEDOWN kind in songs like Peace of mind, Two worlds and Believe, so
from start to finish there is a lot to enjoy here, combining the best of
classic and modern Melodic Hard/Heavy Rock. Reommended band for sure! More info
at: https://www.skamuk.com/
(Points:
8.6 out of 10)
EPIC
TANTRUM 'ABANDONED/IN THE STRANGER'S ROOM' (ET PRODUCTIONS/CHIPSTER PR/USA
IMPORT)
Not a single, but an
impressive double album is marking the debut of the Syracuse, New York based
band EPIC TANTRUM. Without a doubt, it is a lovely impressive debut that is
recommended to all the Progrockfans out there. The band consists of 4 members,
whose names are shortened to their first name, so it's Peter on guitar, vocals,
Paul on guuitar, vocals and keys, Greg on bass and vocals and Z on drums. The
albums they created is musically speaking quite superb actually, because right
from the start we are hearing Progressive Rock of the highest level. Although
influenced by legendary established (prog) rockbands such as RUSH, STEELY DAN,
PORCUPINE TREE, MARILLION, GENESIS, KING CRIMSON and such, EPIC TANTRUM somehow
has an own kinda prog style that should appeal to loads of people. A few of the
featured songs feature very good guest vocals by MATTHIESON BYER and SARAH
PARKER ADA, but it seems like the vocals are also shared among the bandmembers,
which means we are hearing a diversity in the singing department. Instrumental
this is intelligent progrock, with quite some impressive improvisations. If we
have a look at the highlights of their Abandoned album I need to mention opener
Don't bother (superb high quality Melodic Progrocker with great female guest
vocals), Outside the whire, Letting go and the titletrack Abandoned, all being
very good melodic progrockers. The 2nd CD is In the stranger's room, which was
recorded live and features songs from the Abandoned album, but also demos and
unreleased songs that didn't make the Abandoned CD. Check for yourself all on
this band at: https://epictantrum.com/
(Points:
8.4 out of 10)
DAVID
KUHN 'STRONG ALONE, UNSTOPPABLE TOGETHER' (INDEPENDENT/USA IMPORT)
Rather quickly another
new album of DAVID KUHN arrives and I must say that this new record Strong
alone, unstoppable together is a very enjoyable smooth classic
aor/westcoast/pop affair in the late 1970s/early 1980s style, sometimes
reminding of STEELY DAN, but perhaps a bit more polished in the style of BILLY
JOEL and even 80s JOE ANDERSON (YES) due to the light mid 1980s Symphonic Pop
influences in songs like Don't give up and The day will come. 5 songs are
included and David's vocals are quite excellent and so are all of the songs,
especially the uptempo Force of nature that has some slight STING influences.
Although it is all a matter of time and money, I am safe to say that David will
one day release a sensational full-length release and hopefully this will be
done on classic Vinyl, because he definitely derserves it. For now, check out more
info at: www.davidkuhnsongs.com
(Points: 8.3 out of 10)
STEVE
KILBEY AND GARETH KOCH ‘CHRYSE PLANITIA/SONGS FROM ANOTHER LIFE: MUSIC OF
ANTIQUITY (FOGHORN RECORDS/AUSTRALIA IMPORT)
2 CDs released around
the same time from this duo STEVE KILBEY and GARETH KOCH, 2
multi-instrumentalists/singer/songwriters. Steve is best known as the frontman
of the legendary Rockband THE CHURCH, while guitarist GARETH KOCH is a solo
musician, who also was part of several bands and projects. Together they
recorded recently Songs from another life, which is a concept album, inspired
by ancient civilizations such as Rome, Byzantium and Nineveh. Musically this is
also something completely different than THE CHURCH for example, as we are here
entering the World Music format with music that is indeed sounding like ancient
music. The other album the pair recorded is Chryse planitia, which contains
musically that is close to THE CHURCH, because this is 80s Indiepop based, in a
very British kinda direction and reminding me of THE SMITHS and THE WATERBOYS,
with as best songs uptempo pieces like Thylacine and Fallen crown. It all
sounds a bit dark, melancholic, with also depressing vocals, but for fans of
aforementioned bands it is definitely recommended! More info at: https://garethkoch.bandcamp.com/album/chryse-planitia-cd
(Points:
8.0 out of 10)
JOHN
KENNEDY ‘RAINING TREASURES (AUSTRALIAN INDIE GOLD COVERS VOLUME 1 + SECOND BEST
GREATEST BITS VOLUME 2’ (FOGHORN RECORDS/AUSTRALIA IMPORT)
The British born but
Australian settled vocalist/guitarist JOHN KENNEDY has already a long career
behind him so far, starting in 1980, so it’s already 40 years in the music business
for him. However, I am not so sure if anyone outside Australia is really
familiar with his music, but I could be wrong here, because personally this is
my first introduction to his music. I received 2 albums of him, both were
released in the past few years, and they give a nice overview of his music,
because both are more or less a reflection of 40 years music. Raining treasures
is a sorta tribute John has done to the classic Australian Indie Rocksongs from
especially the 1980s. It is a great adventure through a world of Aussie hits
that are for us less familiar, but are nevertheless very interesting to listen
to. John has a voice that fits somewhere between ELVIS and ELVIS COSTELLO,
while the music on the album is Indiepop meets Powerpop, sometimes rockier and
at other times calmer, but most of them at a sorta R.E.M. kinda level. Although
I am not always familiar with the original versions and some bands are quite
unknown, the covers done here make you really interested for sure in checking
out such great powerpop anthems like Refugee (THE APARTMENTS) and When the
birdmen fly (THE FUN THINGS), but Michael also does covers of bands that are a
little more familiar outside Australia such as THE TRIFFIDS, HOODOO GURUS, THE
GO-BETWEENS, THE HARD ONES and such. The other album is called Second Best –
Greatest Bits Vol.2, which is the follow-up to this first greatest hits, which
was a collection of songs taken from vinyl singles and albums of bands he was
in during the 1980s (JFK and The CUBAN CRISIS, LOVE GONE WRONG and THE
HONEYMOONERS). On this second volume the focus is his solo-period from 1993
onwards, where in total 16 songs have been selected. Basically it gave me a
good idea of John’s music, which is happy and quite friendly light pop/rock
that sounds like the earlier mentioned mix of R.E.M. and ELVIS COSTELLO, so a
bit Alternative quirky Powerpop with melodic choruses. Highlights are uptempo
pieces like Is this not Paris? (a duet with MEGAN HOWARD, a bit in the style of
the classic Candy song from IGGY POP), From St. Peters to Kings Cross, Sun king
rising and Someone’s dad. I hope I can explore more of John’s musical past in
the future, because these 2 albums gave me a good first impression. Check it
out for yourself at: http://johnfranciskennedy.com.au
(Points:
8.0 out of 10)
BIG
MERINO ‘SUBURBAN WILDLIFE/SWEET LITTLE ANGEL’ (FOGHORN RECORDS/AUSTRALIA
IMPORT)
The Sydney, Australia
based band BIG MERINO is outside Australia probably not so well-known, which is
a pity, because their 2 albums both sound very good actually. The music is a
nice mixture of various styles, such as Soul, Blues, Rock, Poprock, Westcoast
and such, not far away from bands like THE DAWES, HUSKY, THE JAYHAWKS, VENICE
although I also must think of JACKSON BROWNE and TOM PETTY here and there. On
the other hand, BIG MERINO has a sort of own face actually that will mostly
appeal to the fans of real music. It’s melodic, a little calm sometimes, but
when rocking out a little harder, such as during the great uptempo Melodic
Powerpoprocker I lay me down on their 2020 album Sweet little angel, the band
actually sounds like a cross between TY SEGALL and BRENDAN BENSON. They sound
so melodic due to the fact that BIG MERINO is a vocal harmony-driven band,
which consists of Stuart Davis (lead vocals/guitar), Alex Craig (lead guitar),
Peter Richardson (bass) and Colin Sevitt (drums). The result is a fresh
sounding band that could easily score radio hits with their catchy material. Their
debut Suburban wildlife from 2018 already showed they were keen on coming up
with catchy melodic tunes and new album Sweet little angel follows that style
and has as highlights the groovy summer friendly aor/pop/rock/westcoast ish
songs This song and Hummingbird that would make VENICE jealous! There’s
actually a lot of diversity going on here, with rockier tunes like the
aforementioned I lay me down, calmer almost acoustic tingled moments (Sweet
little angel), a bluesy ballad (I watched the light) and quite a lot
Westcoast/Poprock friendly material, with as best ones the 2 mentioned
highlights. This band is definitely interesting to check out if you’re into
bands like THE DAWES, VENICE, JACKSON BROWNE, HUSKY… More info at: https://bigmerinoband.com.au/MUSIC.html
(Points:
8.2 out of 10)
GRAHAM
GOULDMAN ‘MODESTY FORBIDS’ (ROSALA RECORDS/FOGHORN RECORDS/AUSTRALIA IMPORT)
Sometimes the music
world surprises you with something unexpected, because the new album of the
legendary GRAHAM GOULDMAN reached me all the way from Australia. Graham is of
course known for writing countless hits in especially the 1960s, 1970s and
1980s. A lot of these songs you still hear nowadays multiple times a week, such
as the ones he wrote for THE YARDBIRDS, THE HOLLIES and also his own bands 10CC
and WAX. Anyway, back to 2020, the Manchester born
singer/songwriter/bassist/guitarist makes a remarkable return with a new
solo-album titled Modesty forbids. In the early days he was very inspired by
THE BEATLES melodies and eventually he got to play with RINGO STARR, who now
guests on Graham’s new solo-album Modesty forbids. This album is definitely the
best THE BEATLES influenced album in ages and one that would make PAUL MCARTNEY
very jealous, because he isn’t able to write such great material anymore! This
is an excellent album with classic Pop melodies like it was done in the period
1967-1985, coming across like a mixture of the melodies that started with THE BEATLES
in the mid-60s, continued with 10CC in the 1970s and ended in the mid-80s with
Graham’s own band WAX. If we work our way through the 11 tracks included here,
we can give you a very detailed view on the included music on Modesty forbids.
Opener Standing Next To Me is the song that features Ringo on drums and
basically this is classic midtempo 70s Poprock, which reminds me of the best
days of 10CC, ALAN PARSONS PROJECT and of course THE BEATLES. There are
actually a lot of hidden tributes and messages throughout the album to THE
BEATLES, so the spirit of the most influential band ever is hearable all over
here. Up next is That's Love Right There, which is the only real departure from
the rest of the album, because this is a jazzy 50s mood affair, but done very
well! Back to classic BEATLES influenced melodic powerpop with All Around The
World. The midtempo It's Not You It's Me is a bit Americana ish that somehow
reminds me of the Dutch band VOLTAGE, but as probably nobody outside The
Netherlands knows them I might as well say perhaps TOM PETTY. What Time Won't
Heal speeds up the tempo a bit and is a melancholic uptempo westcoast ish
pop/rocker with even a catchy AORish chorus like the early 80s sound of AMERICA
and RUSS BALLARD. The calmer semi-ballad Different Times follows and it’s back
to THE BEATLES again with Wake Up Dreamer. Russian Doll is a calmer
instrumental piece, while Hangin' By A Thread is one of the best songs on the
album, because this is a lovely summer friendly midtempo Westcoast/Pop/Rocksong
like the best of AMERICA and TOM PETTY. The calmer Waited All My Life For You
takes us back to mid-1960s THE BEATLES again and closing track New Star is an
even calmer acoustic piece. Concluded, it is quite diverse musically speaking
and reveals a lot of past influences, but that’s not really strange for a
legend such as GRAHAM GOULDMAN, who wrote and recorded so many classic tunes
that next to THE BEATLES influenced millions of people and created a lot of
memories for many more. If your heart is close to classic 70s pop/rock, then
this is your album for sure, but on the other hand it doesn’t sound dated at
all actually. In fact, it easily blows away the PAUL MCCARTNEY albums from the
past few years. Check out all info on Graham at: https://grahamgouldman.info/
(Points:
8.5 out of 10)
THE
MEZCALTONES ‘MEXICAN HILLBILLY SURF MUSIC’ (FOGHORN RECORDS/AUSTRALIA IMPORT)
QUENTIN TARANTINO’s movies are filled with
this kind of music, which is a mix of Rocka/Hillbilly, Blues, Surfrock, Country
and a touch of Psychedelic Garage Pop/Rock, with the performers mostly adopting
a somewhat bizarre look that usually makes you think of Spanish/Mexican Texas
based Cowboys. THE MEZCALTONES however are coming out of Sydney, Australia!
They were formed in 2013 around Col Padre (also known as Don Too), Filthy Lucre
– Bass, Don Juan – Drums, Mimi - Percussion, Dance, Vocals, Neralita -
Guitar/Bass and Shango – Guitar, and this 3rd album Mexican
Hillbilly Surf Music contains some great music that is actually more diverse
than I expected. Especially during the awesome uptempo Country/Rockabilly
rockers such as Lonesome On'ry & Mean, Don't Worry Baby (LOS LOBOS cover),
Motorcycle Girl and Six Days on the Road, they sound very tight and come across
like a mix between ZZ TOP, THE DEAD SOUTH and SEASICK STEVE. The band also
slows the tempo down here and there, such as during the bluesy Dancin’, the
polished radio-ready uptempo rootsy rocker Ellie, the album’s finest song, which
is the midtempo bluesy rocker make ends meet and they also go for pure
instrumental Surf music a la THE SHADOWS (Hillbilly surf rage). The band mixes
a lot of styles and are not just a Rockabilly/Country band, because they rock
harder with a dirty mean raw edge to it most of the time, while the vocals are
very strong and there are quite a lot of catchy tunes actually. Check them out
for yourself at: https://the-mezcaltones.com/
(Points:
8.3 out of 10)
ALCATRAZZ
'BORN INNOCENT' (SILVER LINING MUSIC/UK IMPORT)
Island in the sun, Since you've been gone,
All night long and Night games are the 4 songs I will always remember when
hearing the name GRAHAM BONNET. He sang with RAINBOW and ALCATRAZZ in the 1970s
and 1980s and recorded a bunch of great memorable albums, and despite he always
continued to record and perform, he never achieved the success of his early
days when he was in aforementioned bands with such legendary guitarists like
YNGWIE MALMSTEEN, STEVE VAI and RITCHIE BLACKMORE. In 2020 he makes a return as
singer with ALCATRAZZ, which he actually already did back in 2009 and 2017, but
it took a while to get everyone really on board to record a new album, such as Jimmy
Waldo - keyboards, backing vocals and Gary Shea - bass, backing vocals. Now 3/5
of the original line-up are back on track and joining them are guitarist JOE
STUMP (who also has done a lot of recording and performing in the past) and
drummer Mark Benquechea. However, there are also guest appearances by a long
list of legendary musicians, such as guitarists CHRIS IMPELLITTERI, STEVE VAI,
the late BOB KULICK, DARIO MOLLO and many more others. All together they
created a very strong Classic Hardrockalbum with flashy guitarsolos and the
characteristic vocals of Graham, who still sounds as good as he did 40 years
ago. I am safe to say that this album
will easily find it's way to the fans of RAINBOW and ALCATRAZZ. The material is
a mix of uptempo, faster uptempo and midtempo tunes, with a PRETTY MAIDS' ish
melodic heavy rocker like London 1666 here and a touch of ACCEPT/SINNER in
Dirty like the city, but most of all it sounds like classic GRAHAM BONNET
fronted RAINBOW and ALCATRAZZ in great uptempo Hardrocksongs like Polar bear, I
am the king, Paper flags (DIO ish) and the midtempo We still remember. A very
nice return from an iconic legendary singer, so don't miss it if you love
classic Hardrock in the vein of RAINBOW, AXEL RUDI PELL, DIO, ALCATRAZZ... More
info at: https://www.alcatrazzofficial.com/
(Points:
8.4 out of 10)
LYNNE
JACKAMAN 'ONE SHOT' (INDEPENDENT/UK IMPORT)
I reviewed the band
SAINT JUDE almost 10 years ago and there was a lot of excitement going on
around this sensational act and their lead singer LYNNE JACKAMANN, but somehow
a full-length follow-up never happened. Lynne went solo and released a few
EP's, but is now making her official solo-debut with this full-length album One
shot. She did record the album in Alabama in 2017, but I would still call this
her first official full-length album. It's filled with superb high class
typical modern female fronted retro bluesy soulful rock like we also know it
from BETH HART, SARI SCHORR, ANA POPOVIC, SAMANTHA FISH, JOSS STONE etc. Lynne
however stands out between the countless others in this immense genre, because
her voice is really amazing, so emotional and clearly deeply rooted in the
classic Soul/R&B, just listen to On your own for example and you will
definitely be impressed. The music is also not that far away from for example
MARCUS KING or YOLA, whom are currently very popular. other highlights are the
groovy rockers I'll allow you and
Nothing but my records on, the smooth One shot and the potential
radiohit Red house. This is a glorious album that should appeal to anyone who
likes a singer with a lot of soul and of course BETH HART and YOLA are nice
comparisons, but Lynne has got an own identity and to give her a push into the
right direction, such comparisons should give her the attention she absolutely
deserves. Check out more at: https://lynnejackamanmusic.com
(Points:
8.3 out of 10)
DIZZY
BOX NINE 'FASTER THAN ANTICIPATION VINYL RECORD' (TRUENO RECORDS/USA IMPORT)
DIZZY BOX NINE are
coming out of the Los Angeles, California area and they have already released a
couple of albums since their formation in 2016. Faster than anticipation was
released on the 3rd of July 2020, so a real corona record I think and the band
was kind enough to sent me the vinyl record version of this new album, which by
the way is the band's 3rd record. The band's line up consists of singer-guitarist
Randy Ludwig, guitarist Tony Robles and drummer Ryan Gio, and together the
threesome come up with a classic Californian melodic poprockalbum filled with
happy radiofriendly uptempo tunes with catchy hooks and melodic choruses. It
has a lot of similarities to classic THE CARS (Near you) and even RICK
SPRINGFIELD (Phone bill) ish Powerpop, yet also with a slight 90s Punkpop touch
of the GREENDAY/CLICK FIVE kind and a tiny bit of classic late 1970s THE BOYS
(Friday night) can also be heard. I think DIZZY BOX NINE fits in nicely between
those 4 mentioned acts, and perhaps THE RAMONES should also be mentioned here.
The band balances between early 80s catchy Poprock/Powerpop and mid 90s
Punkpop, and as mentioned almost all 12 included songs are uptempo and based around
a catchy hook/chorus, so don't expect much diversity, but for this kind of
music that isn't necessary, because it's the music that counts, which in this
case sounds really good and is highly recommended to fans of any of the
aforementioned acts. More info at: http://www.dizzyboxnine.com/
(Points:
8.3 out of 10)
MARHOLD
'A HOMEMADE WORLD' (MARHOLD RECORDS/SWISS IMPORT)
Formed all the way
back in 2008, the Swiss band MARHOLD has so far released 4 EP CDs, but with A
homemade world they have released their first official full-length album.
Without any doubts, this is a superstrong high quality album that balances
nicely between Progressive Rock, Progmetal and Melodic Heavy Rock. The line-up
of MARHOLD consists of Aleksandra Poraszka - Vocals, Violin, Marc-Alain Gertsch
- Guitars, Vocals, Sarah Zaugg - Bass and Philip Feller - Drums. 12 songs are
on the album, which is by the way a concept record, so it connects each and
every song to each other in order to tell a story. The artwork of the CD is
absolutely stunning and if we focus on the first couple of tracks, songs like
Homemade and Our mind have beautiful calmer parts, while the songs develop into
big sounding Melodic Heavy Rockers, sounding quite sensational actually with
really superb vocals of Aleksandra. As the album continues, it is clear the
band is also keen on going into a pure Heavy Rock/Metal direction, but thankfully
always keeps true to the melodic side of life. In fact, this is a very diverse
album, because they jump from Melodic Progrock (such as the aforementioned
songs) to almost APOCALYPTICA ish uptempo Sympho Instrumental Metal
(Hymenoptera) to quite aggressive Power Metal (Power of nature) and within the
songs themselves there is a lot of variety too, which makes this band a highly
recommended one to check out a.s.a.p. Other highlights are Icy sun, Trapped and
the ballad The always spinning wheel. If you want to hear a strong powerful
band with a massive sounding melodic prog/heavy rock/metal sound and
sensational female vocals, then look no further than this lengthy debut album
of the Swiss band MARHOLD! More at: https://www.marhold.ch/
(Points:
8.6 out of 10)
SCOPE
'SCOPE/SCOPE 2' (SIREENA/SHACK MEDIA/GERMANY IMPORT)
In the 1970s The Netherlands was a very
important country to look for original new bands that were adventurous in their
music approach, because countless new bands emerged from everywhere in our
small country. The success of bands like FOCUS, SUPERSISTER, SHOCKING BLUE,
EARTH & FIRE, KAYAK and a dozen more triggered the idea of young musicians
whom wanted to follow their footsteps. I have not experienced this period in
time of music history myself, but I can only imagine it must have been a great
time to discover so many new interesting bands. Actually it was throughout the
whole of Europe an exciting time to learn about all these new bands, which
happened after the big invasion of British and American bands in the late 1960s
and early 1970s. Progressive Rock and Jazz/Fusion was at its peak and this gave
birth to a lot of new bands being signed to the major labels and now 50 years
later it seems like a lot of them never got the attention they should have
gotten back then, but that happened of course because of the enormous amount of
new releases. SCOPE from The Netherlands is a good example, because they were
one of them 50 years ago. Formed in the city of Zwolle back in 1969, they
existed until 1976, releasing 2 albums in that short period, both of them
released on the major label WEA/Atlantic Records. SCOPE was an original
instrumental band formed by Henk Zomer (drums) and Rik Elings (keyboards,
flute), with various line-ups throughout the 1970s. The music was a mix of
Progrock, Jazz and Fusion, and anything in between. They created a vibrant and
exciting sound that balanced nicely between these 3 genres, and it can all be
heard on the 2 albums they released. Both these albums have now for the first
time been re-issued onto CD, packaged very nicely by SIREENA RECORDS, along
with extensive liner notes and bonus material. The original vinyl records from
the early 1970s are harder to get, so these CD re-issues are definitely worth
checking out, because the included songs are of a very high level. There is a
slight difference between the 2 albums musically speaking, because their debut
from 1973 was a mix of complex Progrock and smooth Jazz/Fusion, while Scope 2
saw the band introduce influences from Symphonic Rock and Funk into their prog/jazzrocksound.
Their debut album starts with 2 very interesting complex jazz meets prog pieces
titled Watch Your Step and Can You Follow Me. Things slow down a bit with
Kayakokolishi, which is a calmer relaxing song that feels like a cool summer
breeze and with Description, they bring us awesome prog/jazz melodies and the
lengthy Walpurgis Night is pure progrock. Chewing Gum Telegram is simply
beautiful and very melodic, while the 2 bonustracks on this 1st re-ssue
are the pre-SCOPE (back then under the bandname STRANGE POWER) songs Tenderfoot
and Spring, both more straight-ahead songs that might as well be labelled as
classic rock/psychrock, so a bit different than their prog/jazz/fusion material
on their official albums. SCOPE 2 from 1975 saw the band going into slightly
different directions as mentioned, which was a little less complex and proggy
than the first album, now really adopting a sound of the mid-1970s. The Flute
and Synths/Keys became a little more prominent and if we have a look at the
best songs, we can conclude it was a step forward musically speaking. The music
became mostly relaxing 70s fusion/jazz and calmer less prog orientated, with a
funky bass in a song like Frisky Frog Funk and pure Symphorock of the 1970s can
be heard in Big Ferro that reminds me of YES, NEKTAR, ELOY and such. Of course
the band still had references to prog/jazzrock in a song like Shuffle Funk Dog,
but overall this album showed a clear love for the mid-1970s popularity of the
Sympho and Funkgenres. The band’s evolution from 1969 until 1976 can be heard
very clearly on these 2 excellent new CD re-issues, so anyone who wants to hear
another lost band from the 1970s, check them out now, because these 2 SCOPE
albums are very impressive records that definitely stood the test of time, and
thanks to SIREENA RECORDS easier to get now and sounding better than ever! More
info at: http://www.sireena.de/cat-s.html#SIR2211
(Points:
8.6 out of 10)
THE
ELECTRIC FAMILY 'ECHOES DON'T LIE' (SIREENA/SHACK MEDIA/GERMANY IMPORT)
Actually I was
not familiar with the German band THE ELECTRIC FAMILY, so Echoes don’t lie is
my introduction to them. It’s already the 7th album of a band
which was formed in the 1990s by SIREENA RECORDS owner Tom "The Perc " Redecker - vocals, guitar, keys, who
gathered a bunch of musicians around him (Rolf Kirschbaum - guitar, vocals,
Harry Payuta - bass, sitar, vocals, Hanno Janssen – drums, Anders Becker – keys
and Steff Ulrich – drums) and welcomes a lot of guest musicians through the
years from the legendary 1970s Krautrockbands, such as AMON DUUL, GROBSCHNITT
as well as a lot of other bands from diverse genres, even DIE ARZTE! The band’s
music is therefore not necessarily Kraut/Progrock only, because If we go
through the 11 tracks on this new album we discover a lot. The lead vocals are
quite special in a way that it takes some time to get used to, sorta like NEIL
YOUNG, BOB DYLAN or LOU REED. The material is mostly calmer, slowtempo and
rocks a bit here and there, although most of the time it has that 1970s sound
which is balancing somewhere between prog, kraut, blues, singer/songwriter
roots and psychedelic pop/rock, with a guitarsolo here and there. The best
songs are What Is In Your Head, Fred 2 (PINK FLOYD ish), Cutflowers and Another
Giant Leap (slow rootsy rock, LOU REED ish), Look (70s based PINK FLOYD proggy
tune) and Strange things (another PINK FLOYDish slow progrocksong, very 1970s).
The band goes a bit more experimental on songs like Mini Mini (uptempo dark
gritty rockier, like IGGY POP) and Echo Room (VELVET UNDERGROUND ish psychedelic pop/rock, including
world music (Indian) influences, semi-instrumental and very interesting tune,
with almost DAVID BOWIE kinda vocals and some speaking vocal parts as
well). In the end, THE ELECTRIC FAMILY has an own identity and Echoes
don’t lie is a very nice record after all. It needs a few more
spins before getting the picture, but in case you’re looking for something
original that mixes all kinds of 70s music in the style of aforementioned acts,
then check out THE ELECTRIC FAMILY at: https://www.electric-family.de/
(Points:
8.1 out of 10)
RUBBER
TEA 'INFUSION' (SIREENA/SHACK MEDIA/GERMANY IMPORT)
Out of Bremen, Germany
comes RUBBER TEA, a band formed around 6 young musicians (Vanessa Gross
(vocals, alto sax, tenor sax, flute), Lennart Hinz (vocals, Moog & Arturia
synthesizers, Hammond organ, Fender Rhodes, Sequential Circuits Multi Track,
Feurich grand piano, 12-string guitar, mellotron, Korg vocoder, FX pedals),
David Errzman (fretless bass, sitar, FX pedals), Jonas Roustai (electric
guitar, acoustic guitar, 12-string guitar, FX pedals), Maik Scheling (electric
guitar, FX pedals) and Henri Pink (drums, cowbell, djembe, congas, pans and
pots, shaker, bells, Roland SPD-SX)) in 2017. They are now making their debut
with this excellent full-length record Infusion. The artwork is stunning, very
well done and thankfully also the music is really impressive and as expected
with such album covers, it is in the 1970s Prog/Psychedelic Rock direction. The
only pity might be the short playing time of around 35 minutes, spread over 7
songs. On the other hand, this is high quality 70s Progrock with a
mixture of (strong) female vocals and instrumental passages, a bit like
CAMEL/RENAISSANCE, but then with a psychedelic rock touch. When the vocals
join, it sounds very warm and beautiful, while the instrumental calmer passages
makes you dream away to PINK FLOYD’s classic moments. The best songs are On
Misty Mountains (lovely calmer Prog), The traitor (even a bit late 1960s
Psychedelic JEFFERSON AIRPLANE ish, very strong song, with lovely 70s prog
guitarsolo) and In Weeping Waters (light jazzy touch). They are clearly focused
on bringing that 1970s sound when there was room for a lot of long instrumental
passages in each and every song on an album, such as can be heard during the
closing track American dream, which has snippets of Trump speeches and is the
most proggy song on the album. Altogether, this is a really great new band and
definitely highly recommended to fans of that relaxing 70s progrocksound,
although also fans of KARNATAKA, MOSTLY AUTUMN and such will like this a lot,
but RUBBER TEA has actually already created a sorta own face on this first
album, because they are a little edgier than most of the aforementioned bands.
Check them out at: https://rubbertea.bandcamp.com/releases
(Points:
8.5 out of 10)
RICHARD
DAVIES & THE DISSIDENTS 'HUMAN TRAFFIC' (BUCKETFULL OF BRAINS/MULE
FREEDOM/UK IMPORT)
Singer/songwriter/guitarist
RICHARD DAVIES already has had a long career behind him in the bands TINY
MONROE and THE SNAKES, with whom he released albums and had some success in
homeland UK during the 1990s and 2000s. However, Richard went solo eventually
and Human traffic is his starting point. The included music is classic American
orientated Americana/Westcoast/Heartland-Poprock like normally only the
American can make them, but now Londoner RICHARD DAVIES is delivering the goods
at a very high level here. He is helped by Nick Beere - Guitar & Vocals, Tim
Emery - Bass Guitar, Neil Scully - Keyboards, Chris Cannon - Drums and Millie
Carmichael - Backing Vocals. There are only 9 songs on the album, which makes
it rather short when you learn that most of them are short uptempo pieces, but
who cares if it is done really well. Way of the wild is a timeless relaxing Americana
Poprock tune like the late TOM PETTY could make 'em back in the late 80s, while
the rockier 21st century man and Heartbeat smile are almost early 80s sounding
Powerpoprockers like TOM PETTY did as well in his early days, although it also
reminds me a bit of SOUTHSIDE JOHNY, TOMMY TUTUNE and JOHN COUGAR. Another
highlight is the BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN working-class uptempo melancholic pop/rocker
Echo road, with even a great melodic guitarsolo. Recommended album for sure,
check out more at: https://www.facebook.com/richarddaviesandthedissidents/
(Points:
8.5 out of 10)
LAKVAR 'SABOTAGE
AND TRADITION' (INDEPENDENT/GERMANY IMPORT)
LAKVAR is a
Contemporary Folk Music group settled in Germany, founded by
Hungarian-Bulgarian singer Hajnalka Péter and Georgian composer and guitarist
Zura Dzagnidze. Besides these 2 very talented main members of the band, there
is also a list of other involved musicians, such as Hungarian Jazz bass player
Péter Papesch, Bulgarian-Turkish percussionist Tayfun Ates, German Jazz violin
player Florian Vogel, Italian drummer Santino Scavelli and Lithuanian accordion
player Aleksejs Maslakovs. Together they play a very interesting mixture of
many music styles and in the 25 years as a reviewer I haven't heard such a
unique mixture of styles as on this LAKVAR album! Without a doubt, this is of a
very high level and a pleasure to listen to! 9 songs are on Sabotage and
tradition, which has been released independently. Opener Csubri is
groundbreaking actually, because this is actually pure Progressive Rock, but
then packed in a sorta Gypsy Folk sound with also Middle Eastern influences and
both male (Zura) and female vocals (Hajnalka). Following track Dilmano dilbero
continues this path, although here Hajnalka is singing and she is going into an
almost screaming direction towards the end of the song, quite aggressive and
heavy tune actually! Hajnal comes is a bit more laid-back with a traditional
Middle Eastern sound and some really nice melodies and cool guitarplaying.
Kezes is really slowing things down to an acoustic piece that sounds really
sweet and beautiful and also Devoiko devoiko follows that path with the acoustic
guitar and the lovely singing voice of Hajnalka. Rozsa is a very relaxing song
with a sorta Jazzy mood and lovely vocals in an almost SADE style. Sabotage is a
bit more uptempo and could be a sorta NINA HAGEN ish song, but then in a Gypsy
Folksound, so quite aggressive in the vocal department compared to the previous
3 calmer songs. Gergelem is a real traditional song, Acapella and sounding like
it was sung in the Medieaval times in the beginning, but develops into an
uptempo typical Romanian/Turkish kinda Gypsy direction. The album closes with
Zuhanni kezd az ejsaka, a very nice calmer song with Zura singing. It's a very
diverse album that combines Eastern, Western and Middle East music to one
exciting style. Check it out for yourself at: https://lakvar.bandcamp.com/album/sabotage-and-tradition
and https://lakvar.com/
(Points:
8.3 out of 10)
JOACHIM
NORDLUNDS DREAMS OF AVALON 'BEYOND THE DREAM' METALVILLE/THE ROCK/ROUGH TRADE)
Sweden and AOR/Melodic
Rock have been friends for a long time now. It all actually started with ABBA
(yes, that band!), EUROPE and YNGWIE MALMSTEEN in the 1980s, which mixed
together became known as the Swedish AOR/Melodic Rocksound that has brought us
countless bands the past 35 years. In the 1980s the number of bands was
incredible and they all brought us high quality material. Especially bands like
TALISMAN, TREAT and TALK OF THE TOWN released timeless classics back in the
glorious years of this genre. The 1990s saw the Swedish musicians moving on to
do a lot of different rock and metalstyles, but since H.E.A.T. brokethrough 10
years ago, Sweden has produced more new AOR/Melodic Rockbands than the amount
of water we used during the heatwave of this summer! JOACHIM NORDLUND is a
Swedish multi-instrumentalist/singer/songwriter/producer, who is best known as
the man behind ASTRAL DOORS. Surprisingly he is also an AOR/Melodic Rockfan
like probably everyone in Sweden is, and he now has his own solo project
entitled JOACHIM NORDLUNDS DREAMS OF AVALON and the debut album is titled
Beyond the dream. The included music is high class typical Swedish AOR/Melodic
Rock, which is very radiofriendly, catchy harmonyvocal chorus driven and mostly
uptempo in the style of aforementioned bands TALISMAN, TALK OF THE TOWN and
TREAT, but also like the whole new generation of bands like H.E.A.T., LAST
AUTUMN'S DREAM, ART NATION, ONE DESIRE, WORK OF ART, CARE OF NIGHT, etc. It
might not be really original and the lyrics are very cliche tingled, the result
is nevertheless very impressive and dangerously close to the perfection of
those other bands. Joachim himself handles almost everything except for the
drums, which are done by Sven S. Danielsson. Joachim himself sings quite well
actually, reminding me a bit of JEFF SCOTT SOTO somehow. 11 songs are included,
and as mentioned most of them are catchy uptempo AOR/Melodic Rockers, with as
highlights Young wild hearts, Under the gun, Run for cover and On the run. However,
I also need to mention the lovely midtempo Into the night, which sounds like a
cross between ZENO, ZERO, FRONTLINE and FAIR WARNING, so a bit akin to classic
early 90s German AOR/Melodic Rock, and this might perhaps be the best song on
the whole album! Concluded, the sound is huge and fans of AOR/Melodic Rock will
be dancing all night to this glorious album that might secretly take a place in
the top 10 of best albums of 2020 in this genre! More info at: https://www.facebook.com/dreamsofavalonsweden
(Points:
8.7 out of 10)
PAUL J.
BOLGER ' PAUL J. BOLGER ' (WOLFE ISLAND RECORDS/MULE FREEDOM/UK IMPORT)
Paul J Bolger is a busy man, because the Waterford, Ireland based
musician is also Art Director and currently working on the forthcoming animated
Riverdance movie. In between he also has a solo career going on and he did
release some music in the past, but it took a while to really record something
new. His new same titled album is a mix of old and new songs, and he had a handful
of demos of them, which he used while working with producer Hugh Christopher
Brown on Wolfe Island, Ontario, Canada, with as result this album. He has a
very good voice and it’s a pity he splits his time with his other work, because
otherwise we could hear much more of him musically speaking I think. There is a
good mix of styles here as well, some Country, Blues, Singer/Songwriter, Rootsy
Americana and even a bit of Southern Rock, all can be heard on the 8 songs.
Swim, Pillarstone and Two Wrongs are the best ones, with some similarities to
TOM PETTY/RYAN ADAMS, but then again a bit more traditional. The final 3 songs
brings the mood to a more Country/Singer/Songwriter direction with the acoustic
tingled All Those Things, Unkind and I Believe. It’s a melting pot with
different faces and PAUL J. BOLGER is definitely a recommended artist to check
out at: https://www.pauljbolger.com/pages/pjb
(Points:
8.1 out of 10)
FOLK
DEVILS 'FOREVER EP' (OPTIC NERVE RECORDINGS/MULE FREEDOM/UK IMPORT)
I am not familiar with
the London based band FOLK DEVILS, but they were active in the 1980s with
several singles and demos, which were released on CD for the first time a few
years ago. Now they are back with brand-new recordings released as the Forever
EP CD. 3 songs are included and it’s the first new material of the band after
33 years! Their line-up consists of Mark Whiteley - Bass, Backing Vocals, Kris
Jozajtis – Guitars, Dave Hodgson – Vocals, John Hamilton – Drums and Nick Clift
– Guitars, and together they create a dirty mean sorta Blues/Garage Rock Meets
Stoner Rock meets Punk attitude sound. It sounds very raw and basically a
must-hear for the fans of non-commercial rock and roll like it was also done in
the late 1960s. Check them out at: https://folkdevils.bandcamp.com/album/forever-ep
(Points:
8.0 out of 10)
TORCH
'REIGNITED' (METALVILLE/THE ROCK/ROUGH TRADE)
Way back in the early
1980s there were countless Metalbands active all over the USA, Canada, UK and
Europe, and TORCH was one of them. They were a Swedish band that was only
active between 1981 and 1986, but they were still able to release a couple of
albums, which gave them a legacy that eventually resulted in a sort of comeback
throughout the 2000s, with performances and a CD filled with re-recorded songs
and a couple of new tracks. However, the real wait for new music is now over,
because TORCH has released a follow-up to their final album Elektrikiss from
1984. The band’s current line-up consists of lead vocalist Dan Dark, guitarists
Chris J First and Håkky, bassist Ian Greg and drummer Steve Streaker and the
included music here is basically true 1980s Teutonic Metal like we know if from
bands like ACCEPT, SINNER, UDO, SAXON and such. Especially those 4 songs
(Knuckle duster, Collateral damage, All Metal, no rust and Feed the flame) are
pure headbangers with the fists in the air and a clear return to the days when
ACCEPT was the main Metal act in especially Germany. A song like In the dead of
night is a little more melodic, kinda like SAXON, but basically every song of
the 9 included are True Metal! Recommended to fans who long back to the
mid-1980s when this kind of Metal ruled among the young musicfans! More info
at: http://www.torch-official.com/
(Points:
8.1 out of 10)
BLACK
BANK FOLK 'RISING/LAST STAR FALL' (FOR FOLK SAKE RECORDS/NORTHERN IRELAND IMPORT)
BLACK BANK FOLK is a Dublin based band and
they were kind enough to send me their 2 albums they released since 2016. The
debut album Rising is an original concept album about the Easter rising, which
is one of the most important events of history in Ireland. They got a lot of
attention during the time of release of this album back in 2016, as it was
exactly 100 years after this took place in the streets of Dublin. In fact, 2
members of the band, John (bass, guitar, vocals) and Mark Colbert (drums) are
grand-nephews of executed rebel leader, Con Colbert, so this makes it quite an
interesting album to check out. The rest of the band consists of Gavin Glass on
harmonium and piano, Sinéad Hussey on fiddle, Seán McKeon on uilleann pipes and
vocalist James Sheeran. The music is a mix of Rock and Folk, so you could call
it Celtic Rock, yet the vocals are sorta close to a Popmusic way of singing,
making it all sound very enjoyable and actually suitable for radio airplay. BIG
COUNTRY comes to mind here and there, but BLACK BANK FOLK are more traditional
Irish of course. The debut album Rising is closer to the traditional Irish
Folkrocksound than the more Pop orientated follow-up Last star fall. Also the
songs on Rising sound darker and sad, sometimes even depressing, which is of
course also due to the fact it handles here a tough subject. Last star fall was
released last year and this is a much happier and radio friendlier album with
really great vocals and some very melodic songs. From the 10 included songs, I need
to mention Washed away, Black dog and Port of Aden, which are all very strong
mid-tempo Celtic-Rock based tunes, with even some prog elements too and as
already mentioned, excellent crystal clear vocals of James. These songs built
the perfect bridge between Folk, Melodic Rock and Prog, sounding modern and
very melodic. The absolute highlight is Candle in the cave, a surprisingly
great semi AOR/Poprocker that suddenly sounds a bit like VENICE, very
impressive for sure! At first sight you might expect the typical THE DUBLINERS
ish classic Irish Folk here, but BLACK BANK FOLK are definitely more going for
a combination of Folk and Melodic Rock, which works really well, especially on
their 2019 album Last star fall. More info at: https://blackbankfolk.com/bio/
(Points:
8.3 out of 10)
MIKE
HATFIELD 'ROCK N ROLL SHOW' (INDEPENDENT/USA IMPORT)
Out of the small town
of Hopkins in the US state of Michigan comes MIKE HATFIELD, a singer/songwriter/guitarist
who is singing and playing in the classic American tradition of American
singer/songwriters who rock. He gathered a band arpound him and released a very
strong EP titled Rock n roll show, which contains 4 songs in total. Opener
California is classic American groovy soul-blues injected Rock and Roll like
classic BLACK CROWES, with a slight sorta Rootsy rock and roll touch like TOM
PETTY or even RYAN ADAMS. Next up is the coll straight/ahead uptempo classic
Hardrocker Bleed that has an AC/DC beat with an almost 1980s type of Hair Metal
chorus a la MOTLEY CRUE! The other 2 songs (Rock n Roll show and You don't
know) follow a bit this style as well, reminding me of a cross between KIX and
DIRTY LOOKS, with the final song You don't know featuring a real hammond solo. Concluded,
this is a really cool little all American rock and roll EP and hopefully in the
neat future will hear much more of Mike! Meanwhile, check him out at: https://mikehatfieldmusic.com/
(Points:
8.2 out of 10)
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