Montrose were formed in 1973 when hot shot American session guitarist Ronnie Montrose quit the Edgar Winter Group and teamed up with Sam Hagar (as he was then known) and drummer Denny Carmassi, who had been playing together in cover…
View More Montrose – I Got The Fire: Complete Recordings 1973-1976Author: Graham Thomas
Flamborough Head – Jumping The Milestone
It’s rather nice to welcome Flamborough Head back with this new album, Jumping The Milestone. The last album, Lost In Time was released nine years ago. In the intervening years, the band have undergone line-up changes, and were of course…
View More Flamborough Head – Jumping The MilestonePhi Yaan-Zek – Interdimensional Garden Party
It’s been four years since the last album of new music from Phi Yaan-Zek, 2018’s seminal Reality is My Plaything, which was a cosmic stew of complex and avant garde absurdity, and amazing guitar playing. I’m pleased to report that…
View More Phi Yaan-Zek – Interdimensional Garden PartyVersa – A Voyage / A Destination
This album from Canadian band Versa, A Voyage / A Destination, is their third (and first for a decade) but the first I have heard, and I suspect I’m not alone in being new to them. Approaching the album with…
View More Versa – A Voyage / A DestinationDjam Karet – Island in the Red Night Sky
New music from Djam Karet is always a cause for celebration, and given the numerous other projects Gayle Ellett has on the go at the moment, (The Electromags, Kelp Dwellers, etc.), they perhaps aren’t as frequent as they once were.…
View More Djam Karet – Island in the Red Night SkyDerek Sherinian – Vortex
An erupting bubble of synths, an assertive nimble keyboard riff with a touch of funk, some power chords, some more layered keys as we romp away… yes, it’s the latest Derek Sherinian album, Vortex. His style is instantly familiar, as…
View More Derek Sherinian – VortexBabe Ruth – Darker Than Blue: The Harvest Years 1972-1975
Babe Ruth began life in 1972 as Shacklock, named after Alan Shacklock, the creative driving force behind the band. He was a gifted guitarist, composer and arranger who trained at the Royal Academy no less, and a young talent which…
View More Babe Ruth – Darker Than Blue: The Harvest Years 1972-1975Mahogany Frog – Faust
The Canadian experimental noise merchants return with a soundtrack to the classic 1926 silent film Faust directed by F.W. Murnau. It tells the legendary tale of temptation, corruption and redemption, and Mahogany Frog certainly succeed in producing a soundtrack which…
View More Mahogany Frog – FaustRyo Okumoto – The Myth of the Mostrophus
Ryo Okumoto, keyboard wizard in Spock’s Beard, appears to have got bored with the hiatus that his main band seem to be on, and so has decided to form his own version of the band and record an album. Well,…
View More Ryo Okumoto – The Myth of the MostrophusCharlie Griffiths – Tiktaalika
The Tiktaalik, discovered in the Canadian Arctic in 2004 by fossil hunters, was a freshwater fish living around 375 million years ago in the Devonian period, but bearing many characteristics found in four-legged land animals that would follow. It is…
View More Charlie Griffiths – Tiktaalika