‘Heaven & Earth’, the twenty first studio album from Yes, seemed to spend most of its natural life lurking under a cloud of negativity. The last recording to feature founding member Chris Squire and the first to feature vocalist Jon Davison, it was criticised for “not being proggy enough”, “sounding like a lightweight Yes tribute band” and worse. None of the criticism was especially warranted. ‘Heaven & Earth’ featured some lovely sounds; tunes that featured lots of Yes hallmarks blending with a few poppy flourishes to create an almost spiritual and reflective piece.
Monthly Archives: September 2021
RITCHIE BLACKMORE’S RAINBOW – Memories In Rock II
When Ritchie Blackmore announced his intentions to return to rock music with a reformed Rainbow in 2015, understandably, the press and the fans got excited. At that time, it had been a couple of decades since the legendary guitarist had recorded anything resembling the hard rock music that had given him worldwide fame. Since calling time on a new version of Rainbow in the mid 90s, he’d been more interested in medieval and folk styles – something which brought him cult success with his partner Candace Night, resulting in eight albums under the Blackmore’s Night banner. Some fans enjoyed this new phase in his career; others hoped he’d return to his roots. With each passing year, that seemed unlikely, so it’s no wonder the decision to resurrect Rainbow got almost everyone all agog.
Listen: Miss Georgia Peach shares free download of solo material
The past year has been pretty kind to Miss Georgia Peach. Her early work with The Short Fuses gained a reissue, the 2018 EP from Beebe Gallini reached a new audience thanks to being picked up by the folks at Rum Bar Records, and she’s also found time to record a new full length with the band (the equally excellent ‘Pandemos’).
On top of that, she’s also dipped back into the archives for a couple of solo tunes which are now being offered as a download on a “pay what you want basis” (which, obviously, can be a free download if you’re that way inclined). Genre-wise, they’re not in the same ball park as Beebe Gallini, but both tracks serve up a familiar vocal and that will certainly be enough for a lot of people to (re)approach these recordings with a keen interest.
Legendary Springsteen ‘No Nukes’ film to be released for the first time in November
A 90 minute running time might seem short for one his live shows compared to the regular standard that’s been set by Bruce Springsteen over the years, but for the 1979 ‘No Nukes’ concert, performed at Madison Square Garden in front of a packed house, it’s very much a case of quality over quantity.
Although it has spent many years on the shelf, the show is an important one, in that it showcases the classic line-up of the E Street Band at the peak of their powers, somewhere between the well documented ‘Darkness’ shows and the release of the well-loved double LP ‘The River’.
TRUMBITEN – Out EP
Trumbiten’s ‘Emotions’ EP (released in the spring of 2021) presented a huge step forward for the Swedish father/son metal duo. They’d previously entertained their audience with some well chosen covers, but this release marked the debut of their own self-penned works, and its three tracks more than delivered in terms of both riffs and hooks. Their decision to take a few old fashioned metal traits and mix them with sounds befitting of bands like In Flames also suggested that, unlike some DIY metal bands, they had tastes that weren’t purely stuck in the 1980s.