Real Gone’s end of year round up, 2014

Given the position Real Gone finds itself in at the end of our fifth year online, it might seemed clichéd to say it, but ever year seems to get better and better.  It’s been another brilliant year for discovering new music – particularly releases from underground and DIY bands, but also for discs from a couple of old favourites.  Culled from hundreds of albums to grace our stereo this year, presented below is a quick look at ten of our favourite releases, as well as a round-up of the more notable of the rest.

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Idiots & Idols (A Real Gone Sampler)

2014 was an absolutely great year for music from DIY bands or releases distributed through independent labels. There was so much great music this year that Real Gone found that just one free sampler just wasn’t enough!

A free sampler containing tracks from ten different metal bands can be found here.  For those who’d like a few free gems from other genres – rock, pop, punk etc – in ‘Idiots & Idols’ we’ve got a similarly top-notch collection for you!

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ROXIE 77 – The Ameriswede EP

ameriswedeRyan Roxie has been an important figure on the hard rock/glam rock scene since the mid eighties.  He first became a cult figure as a member of Candy, a power pop band he joined just before their demise and whose sole album – ‘Whatever Happened To Fun’ – was given a belated CD release in 2012 (stick with your vinyl though – the “remastered” CD sounds genuinely horrible). As Candy morphed into the underrated Electric Angels in 1990 he remained as guitarist, before forming the cheekily titled Dad’s Porno Mag – a Cheap Trick/Enuff Z’Nuff hybrid with some great tunes – nearer the end of the decade.  A huge chunk of his work in the noughties and beyond has been devoted to his own bands Roxie 77 and Casablanca, as well as time spent with the Alice Cooper band.  Following the release of Casablanca’s second album ‘Riding a Black Swan’ – a really solid hard rock affair – Roxie resurrected the long-rested Roxie 77  to record a single.  The writing sessions were fruitful and what was intended as a single quickly became a six track EP.  ‘Ameriswede’ is the result – and it’s a corker.

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