Lockdown is a journey, to each of us their own, where we go, what we do, some constructive, but sadly for others a destructive journey as all that they believed important is dashed on the rocks. But not Richard Barbieri,…
View More Richard Barbieri – Under A Spell
Ken Hensley holds a special place in my musical upbringing. My first ever rock concert was in 1973 at Bournemouth Winter Gardens, and the band on stage that night was Uriah Heep. They were at the height of their powers,…
View More Ken Hensley – My Book Of Answers
“We have long found our sound”, says Mark Jansen, “but within that sound, there is lots of room for evolution. We always try to reinvent ourselves, to bring in refreshing elements.” I admire the clarity of vision that Mark (founder,…
View More Epica – Ωmega
A six-disc repackaging of the Drastic Plastic album from 1978, discs 1 to 4 available for review, so only the 5.1 mix and video content missing. Nostalgia aside, I have enjoyed my revisit to Bill Nelson’s Be Bop Deluxe beyond…
View More Be Bop Deluxe – Drastic Plastic Deluxe Box Set
The Residents – more a concept than a band, at least in the early days, when their carefully constructed mythology based around an obscurantist cult of anonymity was enough to arouse the curiosity of many a passing left-field inclined listener.…
View More The Residents – Freak Show: pREServed Edition
There comes a time when new musical directions can speak to you, in my later years I have been drawn to the more challenging aspects where having to invest time in what I am listening to reaps huge rewards. The…
View More Schnellertollermeier – 5
In this update we feature: • Opal Ocean – The Hadal Zone • morrum – Death Of Amazement • Eyot – 557799 • Violent Silence – Twilight Furies • Secret North Ox – Deadwood Oscillations • Shining Pyramid – Tree…
View More A Different Aspect #54
One of the best things about reviewing music is that something can be thrown my way that I might otherwise not have come across. This happened recently, when I was offered Aborym’s latest album, Hostile. I knew of the band,…
View More Aborym – Hostile
It is not possible to be aware of everything going down in the wonderful world of niche music, even if you are part of (or incarcerated in, come to think of it!) a fine institution like TPA, where our metaphorical…
View More Cesarians – Rachel Frieda
We’ve all bought albums for the cover, only to find that the cover is great but the contents are not. Fortunately, that is not the case with Stewart Clark’s Let’s Go There. It’s a 36-minute gem, every track fits into…
View More Stewart Clark – Let’s Go There