UNDERRATED, IGNORED, CONSIDERED IRRELEVANT AND ALL THE REST OF IT A CONVERSATION WITH MARK BURGESS OF THE CHAMELEONS The Chameleons formed in Greater Manchester in 1981, and at the time, the line-up included Mark Burgess (vocals, bass), Reg [...]
ROCK ME GENTLY: THE SONG ABSOLUTELY NOBODY WANTED TO SIGN, PRODUCE, OR PLAY ON THE RADIO A CONVERSATION WITH ANDY KIM 1974, the year that pop music and AM radio were still king. The four former Beatles were all riding high in the charts, Disco [...]
BENJAMIN RUSSELL AND GREG FRASER GHOST PARTICLES (MESSAGES FROM RUDE VAN STEENES) TCBE RECORDS This EP began life as a collaboration between Greg Fraser and Rude Van Steenes who sadly passed away before the project was complete. With complete [...]
PIG RED ROOM METROPOLIS RECORDS Raymond Watts returns with his PIG moniker. This is another album full of strong opinions, lyrics, music and melodies. While the music certainly leans toward the heavy, angry, grinding electronic music. It is full [...]
THE PLEASURE DOME LIMINAL SPACE HOUND GAWD! RECORDS The Pleasure Dome formed in 2019 in Bristol in the U.K. For a three-piece band, they certainly make a strong and loud noise. They have a distinct post-punk punk sound full of energy, grinding [...]
VARIOUS ARTISTS YESTERDAY’S FAVOURITE (A TRIBUTE TO TALK TALK) COITUS INTERRUPTUS PRODUCTIONS There are some artists in rock history that seem almost sacred and as such other bands have been reluctant to cover their songs. Bands like Joy [...]
VARIOUS ARTISTS PUNK FLOYD – A TRIBUTE TO PINK FLOYD CLEOPATRA RECORDS When Dirk McQuickly left The Rutles, he formed The Punk Floyd. This album, Punk Floyd – A Tribute To Pink Floyd, is not the long lost album by that band, but rather punk [...]
JOE MATERA – LOUDER THAN WORDS: BEYOND THE BACKSTAGE PASS EMPIRE PUBLICATIONS BOOK REVIEW BY AARON BADGLEY Joe Matera has had a very diverse and interesting career in music. The Italian-Australian musician, who is based in Australia, not [...]
STEPHEN SANCHEZ ANGEL FACE (CLUB DELUXE) MERCURY RECORDS/REPUBLIC RECORDS/UNIVERSAL MUSIC In 2023 I reviewed Stephen Sanchez’s debut album, Angel Face for Spill Magazine. Although I did not include it in the original review, I do recall thinking [...]
GOSPELBEACH WIGGLE YOUR FINGERS CURATION RECORDS Gospelbeach is a band out of Los Angeles. Wiggle Your Fingers is an incredibly well-produced and well-written album that is full of strong melodies, fantastic lyrics, and spirit. Although they are [...]
BILLY MORRISON THE MORRISON PROJECT TLG/ZOID/VIRGIN MUSIC GROUP Many will know the name Billy Morrison as Billy Idol’s rhythm guitarist for the past 15 years. However, there is a great deal more to this artist than being a member of a band. He [...]
BRIAN ENO ENO (ORIGINAL MOTION PICTURE SOUNDTRACK) UNIVERSAL MUSIC/UMC Eno (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack), as the title suggests, is the official soundtrack to the 2024 Gary Hustwit documentary Eno. Brian Eno has been making music since [...]
VARIOUS ARTISTS REIMAGINING THE COURT OF THE CRIMSON KING CLEOPATRA RECORDS Tribute albums are always a tricky thing. When artists cover a much-loved album, there are some very high expectations for the covers. Recording a tribute album with [...]
BONNIE TYLER IN BERLIN earMUSIC Bonnie Tyler made her recording debut in 1977 with the album The World Starts Tonight. But it was her second album, 1978’s Natural Force, which was released as It’s A Heartache in North America, that made her a [...]
UB40 UB45 SRG RECORDS/UNIVERSAL UB40 formed in 1978, with the Campbell Brothers, Ali and Robin, being two of the founding members. To say their history is nothing short of fascinating does not do their story justice. The By 1980 the band was [...]
ALLEY OF THE DOLLS URETHANE INDEPENDENT Alley Of The Dolls are cousins Jacob Stephenson and Adam Pickering. They make a huge sound for just a duo. Their sound is heavy, with lots of guitars and a powerful rhythm section. Yet, as heavy as the [...]
TORN BOYS 1983 INDEPENDENT PROJECT RECORDS This is a very interesting album that has shades of the “what could have been” vibe, as it is not an album per se, but a collection of songs by a band that seemed to have a brief blast in the music [...]
EMERSON, LAKE & POWELL COMPLETE COLLECTION SPIRIT OF UNICORN MUSIC/CHERRY RED RECORDS Emerson, Lake & Palmer (ELP) formed in 1970 when Keith Emerson (keyboards), Greg Lake (bass, guitar) and Carl Palmer (drums) came together to form a [...]
BLUE ÖYSTER CULT GHOST STORIES FRONTIERS MUSIC One has to love and respect Blue Öyster Cult. When they decided to assemble and release an album of tracks recorded for but left off their albums from 1978 to 1983 (with one exception of “If I Fell” [...]
IT IS NOT AN 80s REVIVAL THING, IT IS THREE WORKING ARTISTS A CONVERSATION WITH NEVILLE KEIGHLEY OF BELOUIS SOME In 1985, a new artist, Belouis Some made his debut with the album Some People. In fact, however, for the first album, Belouis Some [...]
VIVA LA REVOLUCIÓN DE ROXY A CONVERSATION WITH PHIL MANZANERA Phil Manzanera should need no introduction. Besides being the guitarist for Roxy Music, he has established himself as a solo artist, as a member of 801, The Explorers, Quiet Sun, [...]
ECHOES FROM FORGOTTEN HEARTS A CONVERSATION WITH ALEXANDER JULIEN OF VISION ETERNEL Vision Eternel made its debut in 2007 and quickly established itself as a melogaze band. Although the band was established in Edison, NJ, Vision Eternel [...]
THE MAD MILE SKYLINER INDEPENDENT The Mad Mile has made their debut with their EP Skyliner. The band consists of Adam Pickering (of Alley Of The Dolls) and Matthew Goodbody. Both Pickering and Goodbody have worked together in the band General [...]
VARIOUS ARTISTS MOVING AWAY FROM THE PULSEBEAT: POST-PUNK BRITAIN 1977-1981 CHERRY RED RECORDS When ‘punk rock’ exploded on the scene in 1976, the bands (and fans) had to know that there would be a ‘best before’ date on that music. It either [...]
