City Hall, Newcastle Thursday 20th October 2016 The mighty Newcastle City Hall, once the domain for all measure of bands and a regular hunting ground for the avid concert goer, especially this one. Sadly, in more recent times the venue has…
View More The Musical BoxMonth: October 2016
Colosseum – Live
When Colosseum played their final gig on 28th February 2015 at Shepherd’s Bush Empire they brought to a close the career of one of the first and most influential U.K. jazz rock bands. Fittingly, the line up that played the…
View More Colosseum – LiveRick Wakeman – Fields of Green
Rick Wakeman has had a somewhat prolific career. A quick trip to Progarchives shows that he was producing more music in the 1990s than in any other decade, a staggering 37 studio albums and 9 live albums. With such a…
View More Rick Wakeman – Fields of GreenThe Gasoline Band – The Gasoline Band
Esoteric must have really reached into the depths of obscurity to find this record lying around, but the result is worth it. To experience concisely written, expertly artistic big-band style jazz-fusion, look no further than this ten-strong outfit who have…
View More The Gasoline Band – The Gasoline BandRoger Ruskin Spear – Electric Shocks / Unusual
If you’re ready to leave the distressing real world of Brexit and Trump-mania behind, then join me in this bizarre alternate comedy universe where everything is hunky-doodle, concocted by a madman from the Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band in the early…
View More Roger Ruskin Spear – Electric Shocks / UnusualCirculine – Counterpoint
“Modern cinematic prog” reads the blurb on Circuline’s website, and they’re not wrong. This one has been kicking around on the review pile for too long now. It immediately struck me as a good album but I just couldn’t get…
View More Circuline – CounterpointCaligula’s Horse – Bloom
Bloom is the third album from Caligula’s Horse and it is the first that I have heard in full. Caligula’s Horse are primarily a Prog metal band who hail from Australia’s Gold Coast, Brisbane to be precise, but unlike many…
View More Caligula’s Horse – BloomSphelm – These Roots Know No Boundaries
Marvellously expressive, this is an album where the music almost becomes secondary to the swirling and gentle atmosphere it weaves around itself. An intriguing mixture of electronics and guitars in open and other odd tunings, one imagines Nick Drake would…
View More Sphelm – These Roots Know No BoundariesKyros – Vox Humana
It feels like only yesterday I saw Synaesthesia tumble onto the stage at the Boerderij in Zoetermeer for their very first gig. Wait, no it doesn’t, it’s been bloody ages! Synaesthesia, er… Kyros are finally back with a second album…
View More Kyros – Vox HumanaKatatonia with Vola and Agent Fresco
O2 Shepherd’s Bush Empire, London Friday 21st October 2016 This is my first visit to the Shepherd’s Bush Empire and I absolutely love it. Built in 1903 as a music hall, it became the BBC Television Theatre in 1953 and…
View More Katatonia with Vola and Agent Fresco