Album Reviews
SCARLET REBELS – ‘SHOW YOUR COLOURS’
AUGUST ALBUM OF THE MONTH No modest calling card here. No vague promise of hope for the future, no nonchalant call for this being an act to watch for an unspecified, future rainy day. Here is music fit for stadiums. Having recently seen a few artists play Wembley Stadium, I …
EMPYRE – SELF AWARE
JULY ALBUM OF THE MONTH With ‘Self Aware’ a new sun rises on a new rock Empire. A fresh counterpoint to an ageing rock scene – a genre that is seen by many to cling to past glory days, where the legends are getting older and where some of the …
The Swamp Born Assassins – Dead Man’s Train
June Album Of The Month 2019 has been the toughest year yet when it comes to me picking just one album to review each month. May and June see so many great and varied albums being released. Set against some well-produced and well-promoted albums, for June I’ve decided to go …
Quireboys – ‘Amazing Disgrace’
May Album Of The Month With hindsight, it’s no surprise the sunshine returned last Friday. As I aired a new Guy Griffin interview and fired songs from ‘Amazing Disgrace’ across the airwaves, it was clear in an instant that we had our rock n roll soundtrack for the summer. Ironic …
MELISSA ETHERIDGE – THE MEDICINE SHOW
APRIL ALBUM OF THE MONTH Good music cheers up your day; great music has timely social relevance. At a time of national anxiety – with political division, economic uncertainty and a wellbeing timebomb that needs to be tackled – Melissa touches on topical issues but, unlike protest albums that meet …
AT THE SUN – ‘LEAVE BEFORE THE LIGHT’
March Album Of The Month For lovers of the classic rock revival, At The Sun’s debut album is powerful, concentrated and exciting. It is essential listening for 2019. I’m refraining from a track-by-track review this month because the album’s strength is in the collection of songs. There are those albums …
WILLE & THE BANDITS: ‘PATHS’
February Album Of The Month So many people say (or think) the music business is run from London. Labels are there, national media are there, bands often tend to gravitate there – and, of course, the place is over-run with heaps of cappuccino-carrying marketing people rushing in and out of …
DeeVer – You Need This
January Album Of The Month A New Year is a time of re-birth and for new discoveries for us all. And no better way to start a forward-looking agenda on new rock for 2019 than with the bold, confident debut from DeeVer – an album that is youthful in spirit, …
DAN REED NETWORK – ‘ORIGINS’
DECEMBER ALBUM OF THE MONTH Dan Reed Network’s new album is the perfect album of the month to close 2018. It’s been an uncertain year, too many people selling fear, divisions more pronounced – and somehow a time when it seems to be becoming acceptable to say unacceptable things. With …
THE VIRGINMARYS – NORTHERN SUN SESSIONS
NOVEMBER ALBUM OF THE MONTH For those that think the best we can hope for from young guitar bands is to recreate the glories of a bygone age – stop, and think again. With ‘Northern Sun Sessions,’ The Virginmarys land guitar music firmly in the contemporary with the release of …
SARI SCHORR: ‘NEVER SAY NEVER’
OCTOBER ALBUM OF THE MONTH I have to confess, I’m not really an ardent blues person; I don’t own any corduroy trousers, nor do I drink artisan real ale! But whilst good music pushes genre boundaries – great music blows them away in an open-plan world, where music can be …
RAINBREAKERS: FACE TO FACE
SEPTEMBER ALBUM OF THE MONTH “Turn it up! Turn it up!” When you’re having a first listen to a promo of a new album in the office and the people around you tell you to turn up the volume, you know you’re listening to a good album. The Rainbreakers debut …