Had forgotten about Real Life. Travelling Man is indeed an excreble rehash of Waterfront and Ghostrider is a similarly empty vessel. Only song worth a listen is Rivers Of Ice which apparently they didn’t write. […]

As disappointing as Street Fighting Years is/was it is by no means the wet lettuce that is Neapolis. And Good News From The Next World is pretty dire as well.

Let’s face it: after New Gold Dream it has been […]

Certainly not a Dawes cognoscenti .. in fact only listened to the album on the strength of niallb’s review. Have to say: I love it. I think the songs are very well written and the lyrics interesting and […]

Saw them live at the Hammersmith Odeon with school friend Max Richter (yes .. that one 😲) in December 1982. Think they were supporting the album ‘Till Deaf Do Us Part’. They were magnificent. Cannot recall the so […]

Saw Jeff Wayne’s War Of The Worlds tour about 7-8 years ago. Was surprised to see such luminaries as Herbie Flowers, Justin Hayward, Chris Spedding and Chris Thompson (Manfred Mann) on the same stage. Was actually […]

Michael Schenker is a name not bandied about too much these days. As an adolescent I thought he was the bees knees and saw the first couple of incarnations of The Michael Schenker Group before inexplicably turning […]

Guthrie Govan’s solo on Steven Wilson’s Regret #9 isn’t too shabby. Must admit, I prefer Mr Govan reined in rather than give too much scope to noodle as he does with his own band, The Aristocrats. Gets to the […]

Looks fab. No scratch plate .. but then who would want one with all that lovely wood in place? Would commission a luthier to make one tomorrow, but as I play with all the finesse of Ranulph Fiennes after a […]

Quite so Dr V. For the most part I like instruments to be in tune and timing to be there or thereabouts. Associates took a slightly different view and their work is all the better for it. Songs like Bap De La Bap […]

Maybe it will be played backwards?

Nice tune, good vibe. So what was that ‘All For One’ bollocks about then?

Empires and Dance will come as a bit of a disappointment to you then Colin (early Simple Minds had a distinct lack of Whoa-oah, Whoa-oahs). Post 1985 there are probably more than you can shake a stick at. The real […]

You could try contacting the folks here:

They have a pretty good reputation.

Have seen them loads of times and they usually deliver in spades. Have only witnessed them dial in a performance once and that was at Wembley Arena on their Graffiti Soul tour (I think). The audience were just not […]

Don’t think it killed them per se but seriously messed with their mojo. They have produced the odd decent track since 1985 but consistency has deserted them. And having Mick MacNeil leave after the 1989 Street […]

Quite right. Had my epiphany about band t-shirts a couple of years ago. Was in Dallas on business and went to a Wall-Mart at the weekend to kill a couple of hours with a colleague (well .. it is pretty boring in […]

Saw him at The Stables in Milton Keynes a couple of years ago. Comfortably one of the worst gigs I’ve been to there. Wildly uneven set, mumbled reminiscences of days of yore from an old geezer who should know […]

Max was one of my best friends at school between the ages of 13 – 17. I would often stay round his house as his entire family were warm, welcoming sorts and I didn’t much like being round mine at that age (who […]

That’s rather tasty. Always had a soft spot for Suede. Weathered the storm of Bernard Butler leaving and after throwing in the towel in 2003 have come back strong. Their set at Glastonbury earlier this year was fab too.

What a beautiful little vignette. And spot on, might I add? Jeff isn’t the only artist to have such a ‘box’. In fact, they’re all the rage so I’m led to believe .. and so much easier than trying to write […]