Come hither as – forsooth! – here be a new and contemporaneous collection of long-since unheard sounds from ye olde and venerable Gryphon! And Gadzooks, ’tis worth a groat or two of your hard-earned! Known for their generally acoustic sound,…
View More Gryphon – Get Out of My Father’s Car!
The whole world is turned upside down and the pandemic has had a huge impact on the world of entertainment as well. Much has changed since I last spoke to Greg Spawton, founder, composer and bassist of Big Big Train,…
View More Greg Spawton – Big Big Train
Hackney Empire, London Saturday 2nd November 2019 The last leg of the Grand Tour For the third consecutive time I could count myself among the small group of fortunate people who were about to experience a live performance by British…
View More Big Big Train / Sweet Billy Pilgrim
Big Big Train have recently added a new chapter to their ever increasing arsenal of video releases. The title of the new live album is Empire. Surely no coincidence: of course the title refers to the location of the recording,…
View More Big Big Train – Empire
Drawn from the small but vibrant Scandinavian alt-avant-jazz and avant-rock scenes, and comprising members from Fire!, Møster, Fire! Orchestra, Ultralyd and other bands, musical terrorists The End, the finality of whose name is rather fitting in these dystopian times, present…
View More The End – Allt Är Intet
Although Live at ProgDreams VIII is an audio and video release, this review concentrates on the audio. While I could easily use the excuse that this is because I have only the audio for review, the truth is I probably…
View More IT – Live at ProgDreams VIII
Earlier this year, Mattias Olsson released a beautifully emotional and deeply personal album called Tom & Tiger, inspired in large part by the passing of his friend Tom Doncourt. Keyboardist Doncourt will be known to many as an integral part…
View More Tom Doncourt & Mattias Olsson’s Cathedral
Long Island finger-style guitarist Mark Vickness’ first solo offering, Places, emerged in 2017. Featuring eight, self-penned, instrumental tunes, and inspired by the places he had visited over the years, turned out to be a thoroughly enjoyable album and a perfect…
View More Mark Vickness – Interconnected
In 2019 I had the unexpected pleasure of reviewing The Rising by Tony Lowe’s ESP Project: unexpected because at the time, I knew nothing of the band or its history, but a delightful pleasure because I quickly fell in love…
View More ESP Project – Phenomena
What a conundrum Peter Jones is, seemingly capable of turning his hand to a variety of musical styles with intuitive ease and aplomb, whether as a solo artist or with Red Bazar, or the legendary Camel, amongst other collaborations. The…
View More Tiger Moth Tales – The Whispering Of The World