More Thin Lizzy deluxe reissues to be released in February

2011 has been a good year for Thin Lizzy fans, with various deluxe reissues bringing new life to the band’s classic back catalogue.  The year saw deluxe and expanded reissues of ‘Jailbreak’, ‘Johnny The Fox’, ‘Bad Reputation’, ‘Live & Dangerous’, ‘Black Rose’ and ‘Chinatown’.

The end of the year also saw the release of a seven disc (6CD+1DVD) box set of the band’s extant BBC recordings.  It was not complete, however, since Lizzy’s 1983 performance at the Reading Festival was conspicuously absent.  The gig was previously issued by a BBC subsidiary in the mid 90s, but for whatever reason, they chose not to include it as part of an otherwise unmissable set.

The band’s 1974 and 1975 releases ‘Nightlife’ and ‘Fighting’ seemed to be overlooked – an odd move in the case of the latter – but there’s some great news.  Both albums will be reissued as 2CD deluxe sets on February 27th 2012.  As yet, no tracklistings have been announced.

Following those, it is likely 1981’s ‘Renegade’ and 1983’s ‘Thunder & Lightning’ will receive deluxe treatment – making a complete set of expanded studio albums – but this is not yet confirmed.  The absent Reading Festival ’83 appearance would make a perfect bonus disc for ‘Thunder & Lightning’ after all.

THOMAS KING – Last Night Living EP

Austrian born singer-songwriter Thomas King relocated to Los Angeles in search of his musical dream.  His first release, the 2010 EP ‘High On Life’ attracted some good press from various independent music websites.  King maintains the momentum with 2011’s ‘Last Night Living EP’ by picking up where he left off, resulting in four studio-honed pop tunes.  On paper, well crafted pop with a knowhow of the recording studio seems like a winning formula, but in reality, the studio trickery quashes most of what could be great about King’s material.

Nearly everything on this EP sounds like it’s under a metallic, fake sheen.  In the case of the throwaway but catchy ‘Round Again’, this is an approach which just about works, since the main chorus line adopts a simple, chantable ‘whoah’ in a way which screams Europop.  Similarly, ‘Stay With Me’ bounces merrily under a barrage of keyboards which nod to The Killers and so many other eighties revivalists.  On both these numbers, there are plenty of elements just tailor made for radio play and King’s knack for a chorus manages to shine from beneath the studio filters.

In terms of studio tweaking, he pushes his luck just too far with the title cut, as his voice is subjected to extreme levels of auto-tune.  No doubt this is for stylistic effect, but it doesn’t make it in any way enjoyable.  Even the most disposable of pop should be able to stand proudly without sounding like Cher’s ‘Believe’;  countless bands managed it throughout the 80s, after all – even the campest of Euro-poppers.  Attempting to get past the robotic vocal ugliness, there’s a one-two robotic beat which goes nowhere until the chorus where, unbelievably things get worse.  Swamped with the levels of auto-tune best reserved for r ‘n’ b trash, King delivers a chorus which is stupidly repetitive to the point of annoyance.

The best of these four cuts – without question – is ‘It Starts Tonight’ which fuses choppy new-wave guitars, a wash of keyboards and a catchy hook.  Sounding more like something from California delivered in 1987 (with another hint of the early twenty-first century thrown in for good measure) as opposed to Euro-pop, this shows Thomas King at his best.  Although still radio-friendly in the extreme, he needs to embrace this slightly tougher edge more often; those extra layers of guitar – and (very slightly) less vocal filtering really helps to give his song writing a lift.  The end result could stand proudly among similar post-millennial pop-rock workouts.

There are some good moments here – at least from a song-writing perspective – there’s absolutely no denying that ‘It Starts Tonight’ has a fantastic hook with the ability to stick, potentially in the long-term.  However, an over-reliance of that autotune knob – even if just for dramatic effect –is not only horribly distracting, but for your average adult pop-rock fan, it’s hugely unwelcome.  Yes, this is an artist who can write a chorus, but for best results, those choruses need to be delivered with some real human emotion – for King and his studio honed sound, there’s barely anything approaching such old fashioned luxury.

December 2011

Posted in pop

Vince Neil to quit Mötley Crüe?

In an interview with the Los Angeles Sun newspaper, long-serving Mötley Crüe frontman Vince Neil has made suggestions that he may quit the band sometime in the near future.

He told the newspaper he is “seriously contemplating a split from the band after their run of concerts at the Joint in the Hard Rock Hotel from February 3 to February 19, 2012.” He added, “There are so many opportunities that are in front of me that I’m really excited about. I just don’t want to look back later in life and regret that I didn’t pursue them.

“I’m just not sure I can give these opportunities the time and effort I’ll need to and continue with the band. It’s been a great ride, and I’ve enjoyed every second of it, but being out here relaxing in this beautiful place has given me the chance to reflect on what direction I want the rest of my life to take. I’m really giving it a lot of thought.” [Source: Blabbermouth]

Neil left the band previously in 1992 before returning five years later. In his absence, Mötley Crüe recorded a flop album (self-titled) vith vocalist John Corabi, previously of The Scream (and leter to team up with ex-KISS man Bruce Kulick in The Union). While this Mötley Crüe record isn’t very well thought of among fans, it was home to one storming single, ‘Hooligan’s Holiday’. During this period, Vince Neil released a couple of great solo records, 1993’s ‘Exposed’ and 1995’s hugely underrated ‘Carved In Stone’.

Mötley Crüe have recently visited the UK as part of a double-headline stint with Def Leppard.

Korn announce UK dates for 2012

To promote the release of their 2011 dubstep project ‘The Path To Totality’, Korn return to the UK next March for a short run of live dates.

Fans wishing to experience Jonathan Davis and crew’s experiments with alt-metal and dubstep can see Korn at the following venues in March and April 2012:

London O2 Academy Brixton (March 25)
Birmingham O2 Academy (26)
Manchester Academy (28)
Glasgow O2 Academy (29)
Bristol O2 Academy (April 3)

Watch the complete 90 minute launch gig for ‘The Path To Totality’ here.

Real Gone’s end of year round up: 2011

Time goes so quickly, doesn’t it? It seems only a few weeks ago we were here last, looking at the year’s best music. 2010 was pretty good, but 2011 has been much better. So many great records, but Real Gone’s favourite was without a shadow of doubt the big studio comeback from prog-rock legends Yes.

YES – Fly From Here

Their first new studio material in a decade, it was so good to have Yes back. The album featured some of their best recordings since 1994’s ‘Talk’, while frontman Benoit David proved you don’t need Jon Anderson on board to make a decent Yes record. The whole of ‘Fly From Here’ stomps over the band’s last three studio records featuring Anderson…and then some. And to think another reviewer said the band were bereft of ideas and had to resort to scraping the bottom of the barrel with Buggles leftovers. About 50% of ‘Fly From Here’ had roots in some unfinished business, ‘tis true enough, but neither Yes nor Buggles could find a suitable use for those pieces of music back then. Now, it’s a different story: now the fit together wonderfully and surprisingly naturally. In short, ‘Fly From Here’ is bloody superb. [Review here]

DEAD EXS – Ressurection

Discovered absolutely by accident. The debut release by New York garage-blues duo The Dead Exs is raw, fairly raucous and comes with absolutely no pretence. Recorded live in the studio with a couple of microphones, the energy in the duo’s material really comes across. If you have a liking for garage-based noises, you could do a whole lot worse than buy this record. If you haven’t already, go and do it now. [Review here]

DEVIN TOWNSEND – Ghost

You never know what you’re getting with Devin Townsend. You’re just as likely to get a complex progressive metal release – or something atmospheric – as you are to spend an hour with him shouting over pneumatic sounding extremities. However, despite his liking of progressive metal and rock, he’s never delved into atmospheric music to such levels as this before. ‘Ghost’ – the fourth album from the Devin Townsend Project – revels in acoustic guitars, flutes and soft voices, creating a new age/prog masterpiece. The album would have almost certainly found a spot in Real Gone’s end of year favourites, but after an absolutely gorgeous live show at London’s Union Chapel, there was no questioning ‘Ghost’s absolute brilliance. [Review here]

POWERMAN 5000 – Copies, Clones & Replicants

Poor Powerman 5000 seem to find it difficult getting good press. The band – fronted by Rob Zombie’s little bro, Spider One – often seem dogged by lacklustre reviews. Their 2011 release ‘Copies, Clones and Replicants’ didn’t break the trend and gathered some particularly scathing comments online. Ignore them: this album is fabulous! Spider One and his crew turn their hand to the covers album with ease, putting their own stamp on tunes by Devo, M, INXS, The Cars and more, with brilliant results. Should a covers album deserve a place among the year’s best musical achievements? If it’s as good as this…absolutely. [Review here]

MUTINY MUTINY – Constellation

Grinding. More grinding. Discordant guitars. Throbbing basslines. Ever wondered what would happen if a band took the best elements of Melvins, Slint and Sonic Youth and then dished them back up with a bit of their own style? Wonder no more! While most of the alternative press were busy fawning over Yuck throughout 2011, Seattle’s Mutiny Mutiny were the year’s true heroes with regard to nineties revivalism. For those who still hanker after the spirit of the nineties festival circuit, ‘Constellation’ is not to be missed. [Review here]

Okay, those were the five unmissable albums, but naturally, there was a truckload of other great releases throughout the year. After a six year hiatus, Jane’s Addiction returned with ‘The Great Escape Artist’, a record which was disappointing at first, but repeated listens uncovered subtle depths. Although the album was severly lacking Dave Navarro’s huge overdriven guitars, the album was still much better than most alternative bands could hope for… New Jane’s Addiction material is always welcome, no matter how long it takes. French punks The Black Stout released their debut EP, which combined the sounds of Rancid, The Distillers and a couple of other disctinctive influences, resulting in something special. A second release – an eight song vinyl – is promised for 2012. Another covers album, the appropriately titled ‘Covers’ by Holmes showcased some great musical taste and a sense for reinvention, while Scandinavians Team Me released an absolutely fantastic EP full of songs which showed a strong love of The Flaming Lips and Polyphonic Spree. Since old-school rock and AOR is very important to Real Gone, there have been various melodic rock discs reviewed, but none were as fine as the 2011 release from ex-Virginia wolf man Chris Ousey. While 98% of the best AOR/melodic rock was released in 1985/1987-89, this was a release which proved there’s still some great stuff out there…

As always, as well as discovering lots of new bands and music, there have been the omnipresent old favourites as well as the reappearance of things from the past. With the amount of good power pop circulating this year, we’ve also found ourselves enjoying ELO. Since an increased tolerance of bearded Brummies wasn’t actually that high on the agenda, this comes a surprise. It’s either the fault of Daniel Tashian and The Silver Seas, or those guys from Farrah. Either way, ‘Out of The Blue’ has found its way back on the semi-regular playlist for the first time since the early 80s.

Aside from lots of great music, 2011 saw big changes at Real Gone, as we moved from being a regular blog to a fully-fledged website. With the move came two important changes: the addition of a news column and a live archive. The news column is important and somewhat of a necessity, but the live archive is just a bit of fun… There are so many great live shows uploaded to YouTube and the like, it seemed to make sense to try and round a few of them up. Y’know, Real Gone does the leg-work, so you don’t have to…or something. The beginning of the year also saw Real Gone being quoted in Classic Rock Magazine, so here’s hoping for more – and greater recognition – in 2012!

A big thank you goes out to the various bands who’ve found Real Gone this year and sent us stuff for review, with a particular shout out for The Dead Exs who helped Real Gone host our first ever prize giveaway. Thanks also to the various labels who’ve sent stuff out and the promotions companies who tirelessly plug away – the guys at Planetary have pointed more than a few interesting bits this way over the course of 2011. Thanks also to the various Twitter folk who’ve helped spread the word by re-tweeting various links and stuff – a quick tweet can sometimes go a very long way! Lastly, a huge thank you to Colin at InkaDesign who provided invaluable help with the big move and various changes this year.