Shannon Smith’s solo recording career – following an EP recorded with Helen Townsend – got off to a great start, since his debut single ‘Dance The Night Away’ was an insanely catchy slab of pop. Its jaunty rhythms gave a vague nod to the mighty Jellyfish and a simple wordless hook ensured that pretty much anyone who heard it would love it. The mood was perfect for a song sharing the feelings that come with having a marriage proposal accepted.
Author Archives: Real Gone
THE REAL GONE SINGLES BAR #39
Welcome back to the Real Gone Singles Bar, the place where we explore the individual mp3s that have landed in our inbox over the past few weeks. As usual, there has been a bumper crop. This week, we bring you a singer songwriter who uses low key electronica to their advantage, some massive sounding post rock, the son of a Beatle, a throwback to the 90s (in the best possible way), and more besides. Dive in… It’s all good!
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HONEYMOON SUITE – Alive
The first three Honeymoon Suite albums are an essential part of any decent melodic rock/AOR album collection. Songs like ‘New Girl Now’, ‘Feel It Again’, ‘Bad Attitude’ and ‘Lookin’ Out For Number One’ should have made them as big as Journey and Survivor, but outside of the US and Canada, the band never achieved any more than cult status. Any relative lack of success elsewhere wasn’t for the want of trying, however. Millions of people have actually heard Honeymoon Suite without realising it, since their ‘Lethal Weapon’ appeared on the soundtrack of the film of the same name in 1987. Unfortunately, the end credits failed to mention this…robbing the band of some very easy publicity.
MAGEN TRACY AND THE MISSED CONNECTIONS – At My Age EP
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n terms of unexpectedly mixed moods, the opening of the title track from Magen Tracy’s ‘At My Age’ digital EP really makes an impression. The intro shares a bright sounding guitar riff, cast from some classic rock pop sounds, which almost immediately brings an expectation of a similarly perky vocal. Instead, the listener is greeted with a much deeper tone, and an almost dour melody where Tracy appears to be channelling Marianne Faithfull circa 1979.
UPON STONE – Dead Mother Moon
San Fernando’s Upon Stone broke onto the metal scene in 2021 with a well crafted EP, ‘Sky, Sword and Specter’. Its four tracks blended old school death metal with a pinch of hardcore, and when slowing down, the best material wasn’t shy in sharing a few (very welcome) trad metal traits. Assuming you could make it past a rather abrasive vocal, the music pulled from various sources to create an extreme metal release that actually felt really well balanced.