John Dunbar is a busy man. Between the beginning of 2020 and the end of 2023, he released two solo albums filled with retro pop, another two as a member of The John Sally Ride – a similar sounding pop outfit fond of humorous song titles (‘See Emily Work’, ‘Sheena Is A Prog Rocker’, ‘I Won’t Let Failure Go To My Head’) – and two more as Elvis Eno, exploring more experimental lo-fi work. Despite six albums and a bunch of one off singles appearing within a four year period, chances are, his name still isn’t familiar to you.
Author Archives: Real Gone
Listen: A Phone Call From Oliver Reed (A Real Gone Sampler 2023)
The year end “sampler” has long been one of our year end traditions at Real Gone. Although in recent years, the sampler has taken the form of an online stream as opposed to a traditional download, we’ve continued to receive good feedback about the annual project, and still managed to introduce people to things they missed throughout the previous twelve months.
THE REAL GONE SINGLES BAR #32
Welcome back to the Real Gone Singles Bar, the place where we dip into the various individual tracks and mp3s that have landed in our inbox over the previous few weeks. As 2023 draws to a close, the tunes are still coming. This week, we’ve got a second track from a great singer songwriter, a couple of strong pop punk bits, and the return of the legendary Michael Des Barres. It’s a slightly rockier selection this time around, but we hope you’ll find something of interest.
Do you have a new or recent single you feel would be suitable for inclusion in a future Singles Bar? We’re always on the lookout for new material, so please don’t hesitate to get in touch via the contact button at the top of our home page!
*
The Real Gone End of Year Round-Up 2023
We seem to say it every December, but this year has gone so quickly. We’ve fit a lot into twelve months, of course. Over the last twelve months, Real Gone has picked up a truckload of new followers and regular visitors; we’ve discovered new bands, reconnected with a couple of familiar faces, and given more column inches to old favourites.
*
GUIDED BY VOICES – Nowhere To Go But Up
In February 2020, Guided By Voices released their thirtieth full length album, ‘Surrender Your Poppy Field’. At the point where it appeared on record shop shelves, it was seen as just another album from the ever prolific Robert Pollard. At the time, nobody really knew it would be vastly overlooked due to the world grinding to a halt a few weeks later. As it turned out, though, the disc was far from the band’s best. It boasted a grand opening track, and shared a couple of other fine tunes within its thirty nine minutes, but in terms of exciting GBV fare, it seemed rather lacklustre compared to 2018’s ‘Space Gun’ and 2019’s ‘Warp & Woof’ and ‘Sweating The Plague’.