VARIOUS ARTISTS – Kimono My House: 50 Years Later

Posted on April 26, 2024 by Real Gone

From the label that brought you 50^th Anniversary tribute albums covering Alice Cooper’s classic ‘Killer’, Bowie’s absolutely legendary ‘Ziggy Stardust’, and Budgie’s oft-overlooked ‘Never Turn Your Back On A Friend’, comes something way more…outlandish. Bringing together various acts from the rock and metal underground, ‘Kimono My House: 50 Years Later’ re-imagines the 1974 Sparks album. As you might expect, the results are mixed. As you’ve probably already guessed, very few of the bands have been brave (or should that be foolhardy?) enough to imitate Russ Mael’s legendary falsetto. It remains unclear whether any of the musicians have taken the method route and grown toothbrush moustaches to enhance their involvement. What we have here – somewhat against the odds – is a very interesting record.

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THE REAL GONE SINGLES BAR #49

Posted on April 25, 2024 by Real Gone

Welcome back to the Real Gone Singles Bar, the place where we explore the various individual mp3s that have landed in our inbox over the previous few weeks. Usually, we aim to make the Singles Bar as varied as possible but, due to timings and submissions, this selection is rather more rock based. We hope you’re on board with that, especially given the amount of rock music that gets covered elsewhere on the site. An effort has been made, however, to try and bring an interesting variety within those rocky singles, which hopefully gives this SB a typically eclectic feel. This week, we’d like to welcome back Pollyanna Blue, but also draw your attention to a brilliantly haunting track from Lisa Cuthbert. Elsewhere, you’ll find shoegaze inspired noise, a brilliant cover tune, and a couple of singer songwriters… Until next time, we hope this keeps you entertained!

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ACCEPT – Humanoid

Posted on April 24, 2024 by Real Gone

In many ways, you have to hand it to Accept. In the metaphorical race for the German hard rock and metal prize, they’ve spent literally a whole career in the shadow of Scorpions. Outside of their home country, they’re rarely name checked as an all-time favourite band, and they’ve constantly trucked on, often biting a collective thumb at the fickle finger of musical fashion. They’ve gone through many line up changes, but they’ve survived when many have fallen. What’s more, as late as 2021, they managed to deliver a career highlight with ‘Too Mean To Die’, a hulking mass of riffs that married their love of 80s metal with a really solid sounding production job. In terms of “late career” albums, it was a genuine winner. You can love them, you can hate them – but you can’t keep Accept down. When on form, they mean business.

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WARHORSE – Warhorse

Posted on April 23, 2024 by Real Gone

Between 1967 and 1969, the original Deep Purple released a trio of excellent albums. Those records mixed elements of 60s pop with rock guitar, experimented with psychedelia, and even explored avenues of orchestral rock. The huge proto-metal work of the band’s next incarnation – makers of the classics ‘Black Night’, ‘Smoke On The Water’ and ‘Highway Star’ – has long overshadowed the earlier Purple outings, but tracks like ‘Shield’ and ‘Chasing Shadows’ provided a massive showcase for Ritchie Blackmore’s distinctive guitar work and things to come, whilst the epic ‘April’ proved this was a band with bigger ideas than most, and their ability for making other peoples’ material their own was almost as impressive.

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Watch: New video for Set Feux’s ‘Let Them Stare’

Posted on April 23, 2024 by Real Gone

Set Frux released their self titled debut album on April 19th. The record’s blend of pop, light electronica, indie and dream pop creates a hazy listen, which is perfectly suited to a soundtrack of escapism. Diana Planche’s sense of melody is strong throughout, and although the band’s arrangements often have a retro quality, their songs play brilliantly in the present.

As part of the record’s ongoing promotion, Set Feux have created a video for one of the album’s stand out cuts, ‘Let Them Stare’.

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