What does it sound like?:

This two cd set is the seventh in the Tour Box series, although this one represents and celebrates the tour that never was, Covid causing the hopefully temporary postponement of the 2020 dates until next year. Coming in the usual digipack format with a superb twenty eight page booklet with contributions from Robert Fripp and Crimson historian Sid Smith, the music is, as usual, a collection of live material and studio cuts from over the years, many of which are appearing on cd for the first time. Among the treasures on the first disc are in concert performances ranging from 1973 right up to last year, with one of my personal favourites, Fracture, standing out, alongside a 1974 studio Starless. It’s also pleasing that two isolated sections of the playing of the late Bill Rieflin on The Letters has been included. The second disc features a mixture of pieces played occasionally by the current line up of the band, along with a selection of pieces that were left incomplete or were developed in different ways by the band or Fripp, and thus never made it on to a studio album, This approach ties in » Continue Reading.

What does it sound like?:

Over the past couple of decades, Iron Maiden have followed a distinct pattern – release a new studio album, embark on a world tour, then document said tour for posterity with a live recording. This, however, is actually the band’s second live effort since their last studio outing on 2015’s Book of Souls. Recorded in late 2019 in Mexico City on their currently Covid paused Legacy of the Beast tour, it is, need I say, a double cd, capturing the live Maiden experience in all its glory. Although the song selections run the full gamut of their forty year history, the majority of the material comes from the first three albums featuring Bruce Dickinson, with a couple of songs from the Blaze Bayley years (excellent renditions of The Clansman and Sign of the Cross) thrown in for good measure, and just one from the Di’Anno era. There is quite a bit of overlap between this set and the Live After Death, Flight 666 and Rock in Rio albums, with only one song, 2006’s For The Greater Good of God, making its debut here. The band is in first class form, with the triple guitar » Continue Reading.

What does it sound like?:

Anthony Phillips must be one of the most prolific artists of recent years, and now we have a new five cd set. Well, new in the sense that it brings back into print the long unavailable four original Missing Links sets, now in remastered form, while in the process adding a new fifth disc of previously unreleased material. Running parallel to his career as a conventional solo artist, Phillips has been a prolific composer of mainly instrumental ‘library music’ for TV and films, which is the focus of this comprehensive set, although it does also throw in a selection of rare archive recordings from 1979 onwards. The music itself, well played as it is, doesn’t really evolve much over the decades covered by this set, as you’d expect from what is essentially intended as a background to accompany tv pictures. There’s also a lengthy extensive essay by archivist Jon Dann who helped put this box together, which sheds some light as to the original intentions for these brief guitar and piano led pieces. Pleasant enough listening, but this set is really aimed at the hardest of the hardcore fans rather than the casual listener.

» Continue Reading.

What does it sound like?:

This is the second release from Jarrett’s 2016 European shows, following on from the 2019 Munich set, and indeed there are some musical cross references to that performance in this series of free form pieces arranged in suite like form plus a couple of crowd pleasing encores. As usual, he is on top form, starting at quite a frenetic pace in part I before things gradually slow down for parts II – IV, the timbre of the music being almost contemporary classical rather than traditional jazz. For me though, the second half of the show is where things really start to take off as parts V – XII cover the full range of Jarrett’s repertoire from boogie/swing through to serene, almost romantic, balladry and on to some rolling blues vamps. The encores are a somewhat melancholic It’s a Lonesome Old Town and a rather more radiant performance of Answer Me – no time it seems for Somewhere Over The Rainbow on this occasion. A very enjoyable set for fans – Keith Jarrett never fails to surprise and amaze me with his dexterity and spontaneous inventiveness, and he certainly doesn’t disappoint here, although there’s perhaps » Continue Reading.

What does it sound like?:

I have to confess I wasn’t aware Black Sabbath bassist and sometime lyricist Geezer Butler had released any solo albums, let alone three of them! Nevertheless, here they are, all reissued for your listening pleasure. First up is 1995’s Plastic Planet, originally issued under the band name g/z/r, and featuring Fear Factory vocalist Burton C Bell. That gives a clue as to what this sounds like, metal with an industrial sound that was very much in vogue at the time. One good thing is that Butler’s bass work really stands out, emphasising its importance to the Sabbath sound. The follow up, Black Science, appeared two years later, with a new singer, Clark Brown, who I have to say is completely unknown to me. Although the album has a similar alternate/nu-metal sound to its predecessor, I find his vocals rather shouty for want of a better word. Nonetheless, there are a couple of songs that do stand out above the others, Man In A Suitcase and Among The Cybermen, both about growing up to a background of sixties TV shows. The final instalment didn’t appear until 2005, with Geezer having been otherwise engaged on the » Continue Reading.

What does it sound like?:

If ever there was an album that defined a whole genre, this is it. Now given a fiftieth anniversary makeover, this is quite simply an awesome album, groundbreaking at the time of its original release and still standing up in the present day. The term ‘heavy metal’ hadn’t been invented at that time of course, but this album is a prime example with its crunching hard rock riffs. The original album has been remastered here, and comes alongside the 1974 quad mix, appearing on vinyl for the first time. The real treasures though are two live sets from 1970, recorded in Montreux and Brussels. Spread over three LPs, and again previously unreleased on vinyl they showcase the band in all their majesty in their early days. It’s a shame the set lists are almost identical, but the Brussels show adds a great Black Sabbath and, less essentially, Rat Salad. You also get a replica 1971 tour book, together with a poster and there’s even a nice forty page book thrown in as well. The downside is that this is quite a pricey set, but on the upside you get to hear stone cold classics » Continue Reading.

What does it sound like?:

This 2cd/dvd set showcases the band’s 2019 residency at Planet Hollywood in Las Vegas. This is a show with a difference as the first half is mainly devoted to some of their less performed material, such as Die Hard The Hunter, Too Late for Love and Switch 625. Inevitably these days, there’s an acoustic segment on a separate stage, enabling the band to showcase power ballads like Two Steps Behind and Have Yoy Ever Needed Someone, before they move into greatest hits mode for the rest of the evening, finishing with a great run of half a dozen or so of their best known crowd pleasing songs. The vociferous crowd are intent on having a good time, and seem as familiar with the deeper cuts as they are with the obvious choices, while the production is spectacular, especially for a relatively small venue such as this one. A good time was had by all!

What does it all *mean*?

A really enjoyable couple of hours spent in the company of one of Sheffield’s finest exports. They know exactly what their audience want, and make sure they deliver the goods.

Goes well with…

Hot dogs and Bud.

Release » Continue Reading.

What does it sound like?:

This is by no means the first Ian Dury compilation on the block, but this new three cd set has at least been put together in conjunction with his estate. It’s certainly comprehensive, covering even the less commercially successful period towards the latter end of his career as well as the well-documented glory days. A major plus point is that it includes all the singles he released, plus the cream of the B sides, together with a generous chunk of his best album, New Boots and Panties. Alongside this are some prime selections of Kilburn and the High Roads material, Rough Kids, Billy Bentley and the like. Incidentally, let’s not forget either the key role The Blockheads themselves played in Dury’s success, superb musicianship and the perfect foil for his inimitable lyrics. There are also some lovely poignant memories from latter day occasional vocalist for that band Phil Jupitus in the sleeve notes, which round off the package perfectly. Overall you have to say that this set contains pretty much all the Ian Dury you could ever need, and really you’d have to be a total blockhead not to enjoy these songs.

What does » Continue Reading.

What does it sound like?:

This is the final studio album by Fish, as he gradually slips into a well earned retirement from the music business. There will still hopefully be some live shows at some point in the next year, presumably followed eventually by a live album, but as far as new material goes, this is it. After a somewhat up and down solo career, he has produced his best and most consistent work since his 1990 debut Vigil In A Wilderness Of Mirrors. Indeed, he’s managed to end his career on something of a prolonged high after his previous two excellent records, Thirteenth Star and Feast Of Consequences, showed he was on his way back to his very best. This two cd set is one where the lyrics perhaps carry more weight than the music, covering deeply personal issues such as the death of his father, his mother slowly slipping into the clutches of dementia and his own serious health problems. The lead off single Man With A Stick was voted Planet Rock single of the year by its listeners in 2019, but for me it is surpassed by a more recent single, Garden Of Remembrance, which » Continue Reading.

What does it sound like?:

Roger Waters’ Us and Them tour traversed the globe over 2017-18, this particular show being filmed in Amsterdam in the summer of 2018. It’s a combination of the old Pink Floyd favourites from DSOTM, WYWH, Animals and The Wall combined with a handful of songs from his last album, 2017’s Is This The Life We Really Want. As you’d expect, Waters has assembled a cast of top of the range musicians for his band, and a huge amount of money, reputedly four million dollars, was spent on the spectacular stage set, sound, lights and visuals, all of which are absolutely state of the art. Waters politics aren’t everyone’s cup of tea, but he certainly puts his views over with conviction and really wears his heart on his sleeve. Many will probably have watched this show when it was broadcast on Sky Arts last weekend – the DVD adds an interesting but all too brief behind the scenes documentary, appropriately entitled A Fleeting Glimpse, plus two further songs from the show, Smell The Roses and, inevitably, Comfortably Numb. It’s a shame they couldn’t fit Smell The Roses into the main body of the film/album as » Continue Reading.

What does it sound like?:

I think it’s fair to say that Steel Wheels was something of a return to form for The Stones after a few pretty patchy and generally underwhelming albums in the eighties. Indeed, I’d go as far as to say it’s among the best of their latter era releases to date. It was, of course, followed by the inevitable US tour, one that was to be Bill Wyman’s last stand with the band. This set was recorded on the penultimate night of a three night residency in Atlantic City, New Jersey in December 1989, the closing dates of a tour that had lasted for sixty shows across the stadiums of North America – in fact, the convention centre this was filmed at was the smallest venue they played, with a capacity of only 16,000. The event was broadcast at the time on pay per view TV, but the footage has now been restored and the sound remixed and remastered. The Stones hadn’t performed live in the States since 1981, so expectations were off the scale and the band duly delivered, giving a high energy show combined with a spectacular backdrop of stage set and lights, » Continue Reading.