FIRST ON-LINE REVIEW When legendary singer and songwriter Gary Brooker was sat in the control room of the...
Category - Reviews Zone
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We prefer physical discs unless we have agreed to listen to your music on-line. Oh, and as for genres, we cover almost anything if it is really, really, really good. If we really dig it, we may well then grab you for a chat and a few piccies for our Features Zone or turn up at a gig to see what all the noise is about. So go on then, what are you waiting for?
This time last weekend, I was writing a review of a new Dizzy Gillespie live album, a “lost” recording from...
A massively popular singer on the Northern Soul scene, still today 13 years after his death. One of the most popular soul/R&B...
This revered soul artist is still sadly missed, some seven or so years after her death at the age of 54-years old. A lovely two...
Double-CD set by soul/pop and reggae icon, Johnny Nash covering close 15 years of recordings. This first-of-its-kind collection...
This one excited me. The first ever box set dedicated to UK new wave punk band Radio Stars. I was a fan back in the day. On 17th...
Newly re-mastered edition of the classic and highly collectable album by Little Free Rock, the UK hard rock trio from the late...
Newly re-mastered edition of “Too Many Crooks”, the 1976 album by Unicorn. Featuring a line-up of Ken Baker (guitar, keyboards...
Newly re-mastered edition of “One More Tomorrow”, the 1977 album by Unicorn. Featuring a line-up of Ken Baker (guitar...
Former prog’ rock synth’ player Tim Blake is seen as a pioneer and after he quit the band in 1975, he teamed up with...
Who remembers Gong? Prog rock pioneers from the 1970s. Formed in 1967 in Paris by Aussie Daevid Allen and Brit’ singer Gilli Smyth, who...
He’s back. Dave Hanson, Leeds-based guitar master and singer-songwriter, formerly the lead axe man for alt. folksters The Dunwells. Dave...
This record blew my socks off. Funky, groove-soaked, jazz-meets-soul-meets-funk-meets…. well; sheer talent. Channelling the...
I loved her last album and gave it a glowing review. That record and two of her songs from it, made it into my end of year “Best Of” in my...
Coco Montoya, a true blues-rock giant. Formerly a member of John Mayall’s Bluesbreakers for a decade, alongside his pal Walter Trout...
This one took me by surprise. Didn’t know the band at all; nor just what they are capable of. An outrageously stonking ‘blues and...
“Know My Name”. I didn’t. But I do now. Marty is a rock and blues guitarist, singer and songwriter of considerable talents from Atlanta...
Bumper six-disc box set, a total of 60 tracks, including three “bonus” mono singles, available on CD for the first time. Who is Rex...
What is Yorkshire famous for? Tea? Beer? Cricket? Beautiful countryside? Yummy cholestrol-bashing Sunday lunch pudding? The largest...
What can one say about jazz icon Dizzy Gillespie that has not already been said? A pioneer, an innovator, a giant as a trumpeter, composer and...
Picture the scene. Me, Little Richard and the two promoters of a historic arena tour that starred three rock and roll legends; Little...
Although he died forty years ago, at the age of 48, Matt McGinn left behind a legacy of more than 500 songs that he had written. Labelled...
This is an unusual one. A live double album taken from an astounding SIX HOUR concert by this sizzling jazz (and more), trio, recorded in...
Big fan of this cool cat. A sucker for Hammond stuff, and have seen and shot pix of a fair few of the greats over the years; Jimmy Smith, Jimmy...
Really fun album with a fabulous singer. British seven-piece band Steamchicken blend folk, jazz, gypsy-swing, reggae, blues, soul...
This one caught me by surprise. A very pleasant surprise. Never heard of the two musicians before. When I noted the instrumentation...
One of the best reggae bands to come from the UK, with a wondrous come-back album, 34 years since their debut album was released...
Debut release from quirky and unique Swedish singer songwriter Johanna Lillvik, offering five self-penned five songs that almost defy...
I am still having therapy after seeing the album cover photograph on Bob Cheevers’ 2002 release, “We Are All Naked”. Just...
In the PR paperwork that accompanies this new live album, Krissy uses a quote written by me in a review of a previous album...
* FIRST UK REVIEW * The album title made me wonder if Ms Collier was mates with Hank Marvin! Sorry, maybe that gag is well past...
The voice. The voice. No, not that TV talent show with the spinning red chairs and the mad as a box of frogs Will.i.am. No, I am...
Who invented rock and roll? Bill Hayley and his Comets? Little Richard? Chuck Berry? Jerry Lee Lewis? Elvis Presley? The list of...
It’s here. Country2Country Festival 2017; now in its fifth year. Bringing some of the biggest names in country music across...
Bill Kirchen and Austin de Lone are a force to be reckoned with. Having collaborated together on the road and as writers for more...
Ash Wilson is a UK-based singer-songwriter from Lincolnshire who knows how to inject power into a track and how to hold the...
Capturing the true spirit of New Orleans and its famed marching bands, this infectious and fun soundtrack to the summer we will...
This is a cracking release. A two-disc anthology of Chilli Willi And The Red Hot Peppers – a band who were at the centre of the so...
Hmmmm… would I enjoy an entire album where cello is mostly the main instrument – and that’s NOT a classical...
This a lovely find. Previously unreleased nine-track album recorded in New Orleans in 1991, produced by British legend Chris Barber...
I am a great admirer of Otis Taylor. A true “one off” as an artist. For some he is an acquired taste and sometimes a...
This never-before-issued live album is an absolutely sparkling gem. I cannot stop playing it. It grooves like a mutha and...
A good few years before he was recruited to play guitar on many of Motown’s big hits, Dennis Coffey was tearing up a storm in the...
Middle of the road by name, but most definitely not by nature. One of the strongest blues releases thus far in 2017 and destined for a clutch...
Nostalgia ain’t what it used to be, but this album is unashamedly retro. A hefty dollop of 1970s bluesy, rootsy, powerful...
Fabulous release from SoulMusic Records of the also fabulous Norman Connors; the American jazz drummer, composer, arranger, and...
A brilliantly inventive and soulful, not to mention funky, multi-racial US group who refused to be pigeon-holed, their music spanning...
After a successful period at Blue Note, trumpeter Donald Byrd moved over to the Elektra label in 1978. With his ensemble 125TH Street, Byrd...
Back in 1978 and the final days of the punk era, I was just starting out as a music journalist and photographer, and having been spat upon and...
First of all, let’s play a little game of word association. I say Smokie and you say: “Who the fuck is Alice?” More on that...
We are well ahead of the pack on this one and really excited about this new band……………….Four young Manchester guys, late-teenage and...
In a previous life, as a columnist on an international music magazine before launching Music Republic Magazine, and taking up the...
Fairground Attraction founder and main songwriter Mark Nevin releases his fifth solo album in March, with a six date UK tour from 17th February...
There are said to be seven wonders of the world. As a guitarist, perhaps Aussie Tommy Emmanuel is the eighth? You can be the...
The tag line; “the singer who made Sir Tom Jones cry,” is gonna follow Ms Barker around for the rest of her natural days. Was she that bad that Tom...
Beautiful, sublime and coming from deep within British newcomer Rag ‘n’ Bone Man’s soul; each of the 19 tracks on his stonking...
A quartet of talented young musicians who met at University in Newcastle on the folk degree course six years ago, have committed their musical...
Here’s an obscure one that will appeal to collectors and fans of the 1960s British pop music scene. A group that many will not have come...
Dan Clews releases his third solo album, “While Middle England Mows Its Lawn” on 31st March 2017. Dan signed to Sir George...
* FIRST UK REVIEW * One of the very best soul releases this year thus far, and for a long time, in fact. Bound to appear...
Hands up who has danced around their white handbag to the timeless 1990 Deee-Lite gem, “Groove Is In The Heart”? A smash hit around...
Double-CD extended editions of two best-selling ‘80s albums by popular US R&B band Starpoint – with nine bonus tracks. Starpoint began as a Maryland...
Whenever I read the description “Supergroup” on a project, I expect an over-hyped and mediocre affair, usually with has-been once big-name...
Long forgotten by many, this British soft rock meets country meets folk band from the 1970s were taken under the wing of...
Fans of the likes of Judas Priest and Iron Maiden will flock to this one, which offers a total of 47 cuts. Formed in 1982, Tokyo Blade dropped their self...
This man was my absolute hero back in the 1970s. I adored his guitar playing, his vocals, his song writing and his brilliant band Be Bop Deluxe...
The third and final album by this Welsh prog’ rock band, who hailed from Newport, formed in 1967 but moved to London a year later when they signed...
Newly re-mastered and expanded edition of “Rebirth”, the classic 1970 album by Welsh Progressive rock group Blonde On Blonde. Featuring a line-up of...
A pretty rare and hard to get hold of album for collectors; Austrian multi-instrumentalist and composer Gandalf, aka Heinz Strobl’s ambient...
A real gem…“I Kinda Miss You – The Anthology: Columbia Records,1973-87,” is a two disc first-of-its-kind set by the legendary Manhattans that...
Long admired by fans of Afro Funk, Matata were contemporaries of Osibisa, Cymande, Assagai and other black groups from the early 1970s...
Big Break Records presents the debut CD release of jazz-fusion funkateers Chameleon, re-mastered and re-packaged with the 12” disco...
Two cracking albums on one CD. “Night Cruiser” was originally released in 1980. The lead-off title track ‘Night Cruiser’ begins with syncopated...
One of my favourite interviews of a four decade career in journalism, was the time I spoke to bass legend Larry Graham. What a nice guy. What a player. A...
A fabulous collection here. Great band. Great singer. Superb song writing. Two discs, 40 tracks in total, including nine previously unreleased...
With Quo fans still mourning the death of Rick Parfitt, here’s a new release that Rick appears on; albeit as a backing vocalist with his partner in crime...
Record collectors who sold a kidney to get their sweaty hands on sought-after albums, singles and EPs from this Leeds post-punk explosion since the...
Atomhenge, the label home for the Hawkwind catalogue between 1975 and 1997, releases a triple CD set of all three of Hawkwind’s albums originally...
Are you ready to rock? You need to be if you are gonna spin this pure gem of a five-disc box set. Those who know Rick Derringer’s work as a guitarist will need...
It kicks off melodically and grabs the attention from the off with the commercial cut “Life Forms.” Then the lead vocal slaps you round the chops, with a...
The debut album from Manchester-based duo Alive In Theory – Kirsty Mac and Paul Ayre – has been a long time coming. The pair met a decade ago when...
The latest album by this story-telling blues and soul songstress is a sweet combination between the old and new. “People We Become” being Jo Harman’s...
Back in 2013/14, I reviewed a Birmingham-based artist’s latest album, and followed-up with a telephone interview with him for a major music...
Now this is a real blues man with a real blues voice on a real blues album! If cool, roots blues is your thang and the likes of Keb Mo, Taj Mahal and...
This five-track EP has grabbed the attention of a heck of a lot of radio DJs and producers who are showing it big love with lots of spins on blues and rock...
A 15-year hiatus has clearly re-charged the batteries of UK rock and blues outfit The Outsiders UK. Their new album “Everything’s Gone Vintage” is a...
We need more songwriters like Chris Wood. His self-produced album “So Much To Defend” wraps up modern day issues and everyday activities into well honed tales...
Mike Grogan’s third album is a another step up the ladder in strength and quality. The opener, “Show Them What Love Can Do,” is like the rest of this album; a...
The duo Dipper Malkin is John Dipper and Dave Malkin. John well known for his contribution to The English Acoustic Collective and the string quartet Methera...
Two tracks into “El Dorado” and I am hooked on the great sunshine feeling that emanates from this album – from the Spanish guitar on the...
An album recorded in Texas and marking ten years as a recording artist, “Codeine Dreams” opens proceedings with Sean’s piano skills and some mellow sax...
Alistair Anderson, a leading light in the music of Northumberland, launches a brand new band with the release of their superb debut album. Alistair Anderson...
You have probably never heard of this 21-year-old guitar player, singer and songwriter from deepest Peterborough way. Chris King Robinson. But you will………… If...
Discovered by Buddy Guy when he was eight-years-old, now 17, young Quinn has also shared the stage with Eric Clapton, Los Lobos, The Roots, Derek Trucks &...
His first album in a decade, you can tell that for Ronnie Baker Brooks, son of renowned Chicago Bluesman Lonnie Brooks, it is a labour of love. A love of the...
We have Mayall. The undisputed Godfather of British blues releases a brand new studo album, at 83-years-old but with the energy of a guy 30 years younger, and...
Quite apt that this album from this singer is on a label called Jalapeno. It’s hot stuff. Or rather this singer’s voice is. One of the best vocal performances...
If you are Jools fan, if you love the sound of the piano and you also fancy a couple of tracks of his trademark big band sound, then this is the stocking...
Philly Sound group People’s Choice, despite high acclaim within Soul, R&B, Funk and Disco circles are among the most underrated of the soul groups that...
Wow. We get a stonking 44 tracks on this double CD gem celebrating 50 years of this great R&B and soul group. The set includes all of the group’s chart hit...
Karyn White became one of the most successful international artists in R&B with this, her debut album, in 1988. A chart topper in the US R&B chart and...
A first-ever compilation of all of the recordings by Vivian Reed, cut between 1968-1971 for Epic Records. Included is Vivian’s sole self-titled Epic LP, along...
The first ever 2CD complete career retrospective of soul diva Deniece Williams, which includes all of her chart hit singles from 1976-1989. Newly re-mastered...
DVD / Blu-ray, Eagle Rock Entertainment, 2016. Running time: Approx 128 minutes. “Gregory Porter Live In Berlin”, features sixteen songs from his stellar...
