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Def Leppard – Diamond Star Heroes – Live From Sheffield

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What does it sound like?:

In 2023 the Leps co-headlined a global with Mötley Crüe, which stopped off in their hometown of Sheffield. A warm up gig at the 900 capacity Leadmill was staged 3 days before the full monty with Crüe at Sheffield United’s Bramhall Lane ground and approximately 39,100 more punters. The Leadmill gig was given a multi format release a year ago, and now DL return for another nibble with the stadium set.

DL gave the full 40 year anniversary box set treatment to Pyromania and there’s Las Vegas residency at Cesare’s Palace for the whole of February 2026 (it was Dean Martin the last time I went…) and a European and UK tour following a little later which seems likely to platform a new studio release – the last was “Diamond Star Halos” back in 2022.

Back to back live sets albeit a year apart is a little unusual and suggests this release is a stop gap. A few side by side listens suggest it’s the in many ways same but here and there different. The Leadmill set is shorter and has a little more rough edges, but even busking DL would be still » Continue Reading.

Shine On – The Definitive Oral History of Pink Floyd

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Author:Mark Blake

“There are three sides to every story: my side, your side and the truth. And no one is lying”. Blake kicks this oral history off with Roberts Evans line from “The Kid Stays In The Picture” and by the end of the book it’s hard to imagine a more apt quote.

“Shine On” is the latest work from this prolific music writer, whose previous subjects include The Who, Queen, Fleetwood Mac and Peter Grant. This is his 3rd Floyd related tome, after “Pigs Might Fly” and “Us And Them” which focuses on Hipgnosis, designers of many iconic album sleeves including “Dark Side Of The Moon”. This book draws on material gathered by Blake stretching back to 1992.

As someone whose record collection has largely been untroubled by Floyd, I’m some way away from the target audience of this type of book (published just head of the 50th anniversary of “Wish You Were here), but nonetheless I found it a really absorbing read. Blake has pulled off the neat trick of telling the Floyd story in a way that manages to be both detailed and snappy.

Whilst Blake has gathered a wealth of material from Waters, Gilmour, Mason and » Continue Reading.

Deep Purple – Rapture Of The Deep (20th Anniversary Edition)

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What does it sound like?:

Few bands have had as many incarnations as Purple – at the time of writing, Mark IX is going strong, with a second album planned for 2026. New guitarist Simon McBride gives the band an edge unseen since Blackmore flounced back in 1993, Steve Morse coming off the subs bench after first choice Joe Satriani was blocked by Epic Records.

“Rapture” was Morse’s 4th DP album, and heralded Mark VIII when founder member John Lord stepped down, replaced by Don Airey. At its time of recording in 2005, Purple were without a record deal, EMI having dropped the band after indifferent sales of “Abandon” and “Bananas” in 1998 and 2003. This may have contributed to Purple raising their game and this re-mix overseen by Roger Glover adds some sparkle and punch that was absent the first time round.

This 20th Anniversary edition captures the 10 rack original plus bonus tracks that appeared only in Japan (“Things I Never Said”) or on limited edition / special tour editions (“MTV”, “Junkyard Blues”, “Before Time Began”) although the London Hard Rock Café live set from 2005 that accompanied a special tour edition is absent. Along with new » Continue Reading.

Afterword NFL Fantasy League

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Anyone interested? If there are around 8 (or more) of us I can set up a league via the NFL app. Unlike the fantasy Premier League football, teams are unique – there’s a draft before the start of the season and each NFL player only features in one team.

If you’re up for it, reply below or message me.

Robin Trower – For Earth Below 50th Anniversary Box Set

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What does it sound like?:

Summer 1974 and my best mate Mark is enthusing about this guy Robin Trower and his new album “Bridge of Sighs”. He saw him on “Old Grey Whistle Test” (I didn’t). Worse, he had his own record player (I didn’t) and both of his albums (I didn’t). Obviously, I taped both albums anyway. I was killing music apparently but funds were scarce but hey I was saving up for a stereo. By the time “For Earth Below” came out a year later, I decided to invest some very precious cash in a copy, now the proud owner of a second hand music center with what turned out to be one blown speaker.

I immediately decided that “For Earth Below” was superior to “Sighs”, in retrospect mostly because I’d actually bought a copy but also because it was a little harder edged. And if you look at chart success, I wasn’t alone in my evaluation. “For Earth Below” was Trower’s third album and the first to chart in the UK. To this day it remains his most successful release.

50 years on, Trower is now 80 years old, has 33 albums to his name (excluding » Continue Reading.

Jack Bruce – Harmony Row Expanded Edition

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What does it sound like?:

Looking back on “Harmony Row” 50+ years after its release, Bruce’s work is remembered as much for its diversity and the breadth of his musicianship as it is for his (relatively speaking) brief spell in a “supergroup”. However, first released in 1971 this was Bruce’s 3rd solo effort, markedly more adventurous and jazzy than some expected, bookended by his brief spell in Tony Williams’s Lifetime and before his return to more power trio bombast with West, Bruce and Laing.

This 4 disc set includes the now fairly predictable further remaster of the original, and a new stereo mix with 4 of the 5 extra tracks first seen with the 2003 remaster. There are also 2 Blu-ray discs which offer a surround mix and then live sets from Granada TV in 1971 and Rockpalast in 1972, where the studio band of Chris Spedding on guitar and John Marshall on drums (both recently in jazz fusion outfit Nucleus) are supplemented by old mate Graham Bond and Art Themen on sax. These weren’t provided for review but can be found on YouTube on Bruce’s own channel and WDR’s Rockpalast channel.

The album defies easy categorization, weaving together » Continue Reading.

Those Damn Crows – God Shaped Hole

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What does it sound like?:

Hailing from Bridgend, this is TDC’s fourth release in a career that goes all the way back to 2014. The band are already a regular fixture at UK rock and metal shows, having featured at Download and Planet Rock events as far back as 2019 and more recently getting support slots with The Hollywood Vampires and The Go Goo Dolls.

The album opens with “Dancing With The Enemy”, squalls of feedback morphing into a pumping bass drum that drives the song along. An anthemic chorus and catchy hooks are made for the festival stage, and set a high watermark for the rest of the album.

“Glass Heart” takes things a step further, mixing grungy metal with soaring harmonies that showcase vocalist Shane Greenhall’s abilities. There’s a harder edged Linkin Park vibe and crosses over into main stream rock territory . “Fake” goes darker, with a more complex structure and despite the moody piano it’s a touch too drum dominated.

Standout track is “Dreaming” which swoops back and forth, dirty riffs contrasting with the uplifting lyrics, dropping back into what’s almost a stripped down ballad, before a cheeky key change gets everything barrelling along again.

» Continue Reading.

The Darkness – Dreams On Toast

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What does it sound like?:

Justin Hawkins loves rock’n’roll, but returns are diminishing. On “Walking Through Fire” he points out “we never stopped making hit albums, it’s just that no one buys them anymore” and “don’t even think my mum bought the last one”. He says he’s “under the moon”, but nonetheless this album is awash with the kind of enthusiasm few bands can muster 8 albums in.

They haven’t forsaken their hard rocking roots, but after the initial thrash of “Rock and Roll Party Cowboy” (where celebration and parody shake hands) and “I Hate Myself” (a vintage Quo LP played at 45 rpm) there’s a pop vibe that is one long curtsey to Queen whilst dressed as Angus Young’s schoolboy. The double track guitar on “The Longest Kiss” is Brian May all day, (someone Justin H has often cited as the reason he first picked up a guitar), and the band’s love of word play is unabated.

The opening track rhymes “cowboy” with “Tolstoy” (as well as “bok choy”) whilst “Hot On My Tail” seems to be a toe tapping sing-a-long that explains how a romantic anniversary was ruined by intestinal turbulence. “Cold Hearted Woman” is not just » Continue Reading.

Mood Machine – The Rise of Spotify and the Costs of the Perfect PLaylist

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Author:Liz Pelly

The point at which art intersects with business has always been fraught, and Liz Pelly is unequivocal in that she observes “commercialism infecting creativity”. Described in the Washington Post as “the most lucid and rigorous critic of the rot at the heart of an apparently magical service” Pelly’s book is a 288 page diatribe that sees no redeeming features in the worlds biggest streaming service.

Across 30 chapters Pelly comes out swinging, and there are several times when she connects with deserving targets. She rightly lampoons founder Daniel Ek’s claims that he was a frustrated musician on a mission to save music. Ek wanted to find an online service that would build user engagement and become a vehicle to sell advertising. Music became the focus mostly because the file sizes were manageable. That he was able to is largely because record companies, slow, complacent and luddite, failed to figure any of this out for themselves. That’s enough for Pelly to go on to dismiss any redeeming narrative about how streaming has otherwise enabled music to survive and indeed prosper given the almost fatal impact illegal downloading had.

Another deserved target is Spotify’s Discovery Mode which offers algorithmic promotion » Continue Reading.

Bryan Adams – Live At The Royal Albert Hall 2024

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What does it sound like?:

A year ago Adams released a live 3 album retrospective which pulled together “Cuts Like A Knife”, “Into The Fire” and “Waking Up The Neighbours”, recorded at the Royal Albert Hall. He broke the chronology as “Reckless” was skipped, but even before the det was released, Adams was back at the RAH to give “Reckless”, “18 ‘Til I Die” and his most recent studio release “So Happy It Hurts” the same treatment.

Available as 3 CDs or 4 LPs, there’s also a blu ray of each concert. I’ve bought a great many concert DVDs and watched them very little but, in this case, I found myself preferring them to the identical audio versions. “Reckless” is up first, and the band emerge from moody backstage monochrome onto a full colour stage, although the band are all decked out in black, white sneaker laces the only offset. Adams continues to sport a retro slicked back haircut and an equally vintage Gibson ES-295 and is in fine vocal form throughout.

Although Adams is reprising previous releases, he changes the playing order and here throws in tracks that didn’t make the original. He restores the song “Reckless” that » Continue Reading.

Truss At 10: How Not to be Prime Minister

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Author:Anthony Seldon

9 months after her role as Prime Minister came to abrupt end, Truss confronts Seldon at a Spectator summer party. “Why are you writing a book on me?” she askes forcefully. “I’m writing my own book, you know”. Truss promptly stomps off before a nonplussed Seldon could say anything beyond “I’m glad”.

Seldon has documented each PM’s reign in meticulous detail since Blair in 2004. Given that the average time PM’s have spent in office is 4 years 9 months the Truss premiership presented Seldon a challenge. Would there be a book? Maybe just a blog post or pamphlet? Undeterred by either Truss’s hostility or a tenure that failed to reach a half century of days he undertook 120 interviews, reviewed a variety of official documents, some which he admits were sourced “opaquely”. He claims 85% of the book came from in person interviews. Never one to be accused of brevity, the book is in fact it’s one of his most accessible works to date. Despite the recency of her time at No.10, there were a whole host of things I’d not read before, or forgotten.

Normally his books are chronological but with only a month and » Continue Reading.

Dave Gilmour – Luck and Strange

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What does it sound like?:

Gilmour’s fifth studio album comes after a 9 year hiatus, and a proclamation from DG that this is the best music he’s made since “Dark Side Of The Moon”. Bold. And just in case any Floyd fans still might not be paying attention, the closing track (which rather confusingly has the same title as the second track) is an instrumental that Gilmour built from a jam he recorded with the late Rick Wright back in 2006 when the latter had toured with DG.

It’s essentially a Gilmour family project – Polly Samson once again provides lyrics, whilst children Romany, Gabriel and Charlie add vocal or lyrical support – augmented by a number of top drawer session musicians that include Steve Gadd, Guy Pratt and Roger Eno. Although the opening track “Black Cat” is only a touch over 90 seconds, it’s sets the scene for nearly everything follows. Swirling, synth soundscapes a bed for DG’s trademark, often melancholy tone.

The first version of “Luck and Strange” follows, a sparse bluesy shuffle. Just as it settles into a loping groove the entire vibe is knocked sideways by DG’s vocal that is clearly well out of » Continue Reading.

ATM – Apple Devices won’t connect to new iPad

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I have a brand new iPadPro. M4 chip, running OS 17.5.1. A thing of beauty. A much diminished bank balance. And a growing sense of frustration as my Windows 11 desktop PC and the my new toy simply won’t speak to each other.

Plug the new iPad in to the PC and the PC pings in recognition, and a pop up message shows asking me what do I want to do when I connect. Clicking on it results in nothing. The iPad asks me if I trust the PC and then prompts for the pin number, which I input. And then a big nothing. Tried different USB ports on the PC and a different lead. Nada.

Tried my iPhone and my old iPad. Greeted by Apple Devices like an old friend.

What gives? Any, all ideas welcomed gratefully.

How many of these have you thrown away?

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For me it’s one. I had a car stolen on a business trip and faced having to drive back from Newcastle with only Radio 2 for company. I don’t recall where I bought them, but I acquired copies of “Nevermind” and Zappa’s “You Can’t Do This On Stage Anymore Volume xx”. Old Bill recovered the car (used in a robbery no less, finger print dust everywhere) but not the priceless Tommy Bolin bootlegs I’d been playing on the way up. I still have the Zappa tapes but “Nevermind” got binned once I had a cd version.

https://www.mentalfloss.com/posts/most-valuable-cassette-tapes-80s-90s

Jack Bruce – Songs For A Tailor

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What does it sound like?:

When Cream split up in late 1968 Atlantic Records supremo Ahmet Ertegun told Bruce the best thing he could do would be to form another trio. With “Songs For A Tailor” he proceeded to do the exact opposite.

Bruce had studied cello and composition at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music & Drama and didn’t see himself as “just” a bass player. He wanted his first album to showcase the diversity of his talents and do something much more expansive than Cream ever allowed. Although recorded after “Things We Like” it was released ahead of it in 1969 to mixed reactions – not wholly surprising given how it was far from a continuation of the Cream / power trio format.

Bruce returned to re-interpret nearly all of the songs on this album in the years that followed, and this box offers a return of a different sort. There is a remaster of the original mix, a new stereo and 5.1 mix plus (according to the press release ) 32 bonus tracks and DVD of the 1970 documentary of “Rope Ladder To The Moon”. The new mixes are by the much in demand Stephen » Continue Reading.

1967

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Author:Robyn Hitchcock

“1967” is a memoir from the “surrealist rock ‘n’ roller, iconic troubadour, guitarist, poet, painter, and performer” Robyn Hitchcock (his description). As befits someone who has always had a rather sideways take on life, the memoir addresses just one year in his life, describing his arrival at Winchester College just before his 13th birthday, “high on dread”.

It’s a transitional time for any young chap, but all the more so given he has to learn to live in the Winchester ecosystem, and while Hitchcock’s memoir is anchored by (or to) the college, he intertwines this with his discovery of music, his relationship with his parents and more fleetingly his early metamorphosis into a musician.

Hitchcock is candid about the idiosyncrasies of college life. “Winchester College equips you for Winchester College” and he makes a number of references to people who found themselves unable to attain “escape velocity”, and remained forever entwined with the place. Hitchcock describes “Notions”, the college’s own language and muses that he got off lightly as he wasn’t “beaten, sodomised, stripped, mocked or had his head shoved down the toilet bowl” (called a wash and set at my school), pondering “maybe his parents weren’t getting » Continue Reading.

ATOM – VPN Recommendations

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On July 4th I’ll be in the land of the free and the home of the brave. I’m keen to watch the election night coverage and for once the time difference works in my favour. I’d like to be able to access C4, and possibly the BBC.

The VPNs I’ve had in the past were no use (Tunnel Bear, Windscribe, PIA) so I thought I’d ask the overseas Massive if they had any recommendations.

I thank y’all.

Nigel’s been making plans – cometh the hour, cometh the reverse ferret

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He wasn’t going to stand, and then he is. Not daunted by his 7 time losing streak to date, it seems Clacton is the lucky recipient. Tice has agreed to go and sit on the subs bench for at least 5 years.

I assume our Nige has had a knock back from his orange American mate, and Reform were caught on the hop by Sunak calling an early election date.

Anyone for a milkshake?

Gimme All Your Lovin’: The Blues, Boogie, and Beard of ZZ Top’s Billy F. Gibbons

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Author:Christopher McCittrick

Now in their 55th year, ZZ Top have managed a rare feat not just of such longevity but remaining widely recognizable despite a backstory has always been a touch vague. Christopher McKittrick (whose previous work includes books on Tom Petty and The Rolling Stones) takes on the task of trying untangle fact from fiction, in a book that has Billy Gibbons as it’s center piece, but is also de facto the story of ZZ Top.

No-one could accuse McKittrick of skimping on the research. It’s a book packed with details of tour dates, concert yields, videos shot and albums recorded. Unfortunately, without the active involvement of any of the band, family those directly connected to the band, the actual insight achieved is slight. Which is not to say it wasn’t an entertaining read, as McKittrick does his best to throw as much light as he can on Gibbons and Top, but by the end I wasn’t a great deal wiser about what Gibbons was really like, leaving the more unsavory aspects of the bands career to take center stage.

A great deal of Top and it’s history / mythology was shaped by Bill Ham, Top’s manager until » Continue Reading.

Hacked

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Author:Jessica Barker

Once upon a time there were emails from officials in far off places, telling us that all sorts of riches were ours for the taking, if we’d just email back. Boutros Boutros-Ghali contacted me several times, pleading for help moving a shipment of gold, with my name on it. These days, there are text messages for parcels I didn’t order, funds at risk in bank accounts I don’t have, and even Taylor Swift tickets in local Facebook groups that will go at face value. I get regularly phished at work, my IT buddies sending out spoof after spoof to keep me on my toes.

And I never fell for one of them, until I did. A mail from a name I recognised, that I’d talked to a day or so before, asking me to check a list. They got me. An endless merry-go-round of IT “refresher” courses followed. None as insightful as reading “Hacked”.

“Hacked” walks readers through a cornucopia of online evils, from phishing to malware, spyware to deepfakes. There’s plenty of statistics, some sobering stories and lots of sensible advice. Barker details how giants like Facebook and Google have been phished, and how even the » Continue Reading.

The Trading Game

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Author:Gary Stevenson

“I was a clever, poor, ambitious kid, who just didn’t want to be poor any more.” An unusually gifted mathematician, Stevenson beats the odds first by getting into the London School of Economics, and then wins a trading game to get internship at Citibank. He has no idea what kind of job it would lead to – just that it would give him the chance to make a lot of money. And it does. Not bad for an unsuccessful grime musician (MC Gaz) who was expelled from school for drug dealing.

Ironically, it’s not Stevenson’s numeric skills that enable him to advance. Initially perplexed that he can’t understand how trading works, he quickly realises that he’s far from alone, and that many longer serving traders are as clueless as he initially is. Knowing that many interns are never offered jobs, he makes himself useful in the best way he can think of – fetching lunches, coffees, at his desk by 6am, and always ready to take note as and when a dealer decides to share a few gems of wisdom. Gems like you won’t necessarily make money by being right, but you can really cash in by being » Continue Reading.

Keanu Reeves Is Not In Love With You

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Author:Becky Holmes

It might seem surprising that that a former PR Manager living in Warwickshire would become a romantic interest for not just Keanu Reeves and Liam Neeson but also Princes Harry, Wills and even Andrew, but these were just some of the celebrity names that slid into Becky Holmes direct messages after she joined Twitter at the start of the pandemic.

Holmes found it surprising too. So much so that she decided to post her exchanges with her love struck suitors on Twitter, gathering over 150,000 followers in a matter of months. It didn’t seem to matter how absurd her answers were, the DM’s kept rolling in, even after a few of them spotted her piss taking tweets. She was even once contacted by someone claiming to be her sister. Called Becky.

Although not a victim herself, her Twitter feed led to a number of victims to get in touch, prompting Holmes to investigate further (one of the few jokes she doesn’t make at her own expense*). Given the books origins in Holmes role reversing Twitter feed, it invites us to continue to laugh at scammers getting rinsed, but there’s quite a shift in mood required when reading » Continue Reading.

1999: The Year the Record Industry Lost Control

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Author:Eamonn Forde

“The Web will be a great place to find music. It will make the music of the world more accessible” – Todd Rundgren, 1998

“We will never be in the business of making our music digital and degrading its value dramatically as long as we are continuing to sell CDs” Sir Colin Southgate, EMI CEO, 1996

For some lucky people, listening to music is all they need. Some don’t even bother to collect all the releases, like that rare Portuguese CD single with the extra hidden live tracks. A somewhat smaller number, like Eamonn Forde, and like me (I think there must be more of us) are also fascinated by the business of music. This is Forde’s third industry focused tome, having previously written about the demise of EMI (The Final days of EMI: Selling The Pig) and the management of musical estates (Leaving The Building: The Lucrative Afterlife of Music Estates). It’s a lot more of an engaging read than it sounds, honest. This time Word and Q alumni Forde has chosen 1999 as the tipping point that saw the record industry not so much disrupted, but dumped on it’s head, as the internet and digital music » Continue Reading.

You Don’t Have To Be Mad To Work Here

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Author:Benji Waterhouse

Graham thinks he’s Jesus but ends up being sectioned after nearly drowning in a swimming pool trying to walk on water. Barbara flies to the UK in a bridal gown so that she can marry Harry Styles, and it’s only the death threats made to Styles then girlfriend (Taylor Swift) that result in her sectioning. Jamal knows that the psychiatric ward is in fact a TV set because it’s so shitty and real ones would be much nicer. Damien unintentionally outs himself after drinking hand gel by announcing his illness, thereby proving himself sufficiently sane to remain at large. Benjamin senses his mental heath worsening, uncertain he’s really fit to do his job, struggling to come to terms with an attention seeking mother and an angry father. He’s also the psychiatrist responsible for treating all the preceding characters and author of this “fly on the padded wall” book.

Mental illness is no laughing matter, but for the most part Waterhouse makes himself the target of the jokes. It’s a personal book, as much about this relationship with his parents and his girlfriend as it is the people he works with or tries to heal each day. His patients » Continue Reading.