Author Archives: Real Gone

THE 3 CLUBMEN – The 3 Clubmen EP

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XTC’s Andy Partridge is a legend of the alternative music scene. From his former band’s early punk beginnings, through their angular post-punk and dub experiments and, latterly, into a world of epic pop-rock, Partridge’s unique voice always shone through. In terms of grasping off-kilter melodies and making them truly work, he shared a unique talent.

Since the demise of XTC, new music from Andy has been rare, but often very welcome, and this EP from The 3 Clubmen – teaming Partridge with Lighterthief’s Stu Rowe and inventive guitarist Jen Olive – is no exception. It’s a true collaboration, too, giving all three musicians equal space within the arrangements, and feels like something that pushes their artistic agenda into new territory.

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THE REAL GONE SINGLES BAR #12

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Welcome back to the Real Gone Singles Bar, the place where we explore some of the individual MP3s that have landed in our inbox over the previous few weeks. In this instalment, we bring you another fine selection, ranging from retro sounds to punk to singer-songwriter fare and even a little rap. As always, the Singles Bar has been a great place to share things a little out of our usual remit, but also celebrate a few upcoming releases from the kind of bands people might expect to see featured at our site. This twelfth Singles Bar is one of our most varied to date, but hopefully people will still find plenty of new music to enjoy, and follow up a couple of the featured artists.

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The Last Waltz: Alternative footage from the classic show

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The Band’s Robbie Robertson left the world today. He was a true legend, and along with Gram Parsons, Chris Hillman and Bernie Leadon, a man who could probably claim to have laid the foundations for country rock. The Band’s rootsy sound and image was completely out of step with the psychedelic scene in which they first found fame, but Robertson’s songwriting – along with that of bandmates Rick Danko and Richard Manuel – had a timeless quality that will outlive everyone. His songs had heart, and often a massive sense of narrative, and his gift for a great melody carried right through a career spanning several decades.

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PROTON PACKS – The Concept Of Infinity / Psychokenesis

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In 2018, Italian punks Proton Packs contributed a couple of tracks to an excellent split EP with fellow Italians The Livermores which acted as a superb primer for both bands. The Livermores had already started to gain traction with their Ramones obsessed sound, but for a lot of people in the UK and the US, that split provided a superb introduction to their space-obsessed friends.

Throughout the tricky years that followed, Proton Packs weren’t especially prolific by “usual” punk band standards, but they trucked on, and their subsequent full length release ‘Paradox’ cemented their obsessions with old Ramones riffs, b movies and cheap sci-fi. It was a great record; however, it still wasn’t enough for them to get the regular name checks alongside The Apers, The Manges and Mega they so deserved.

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KING KOBRA – We Are Warriors

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When it comes to consistency and quality, a new record from King Kobra doesn’t come with any guarantees. Their 1984 debut is a fun melodic metal affair, and its timely delivered follow up ‘Thrill of A Lifetime’ is a decent melodic rock LP, but beyond that, their catalogue is largely pretty bad. 1988’s ‘King Kobra III’ is loaded with tuneless metal fare that’s blighted further by terrible vocals from Johnny Edwards (a poor substitute for the absent Mark Free), and the band’s first two reunion albums (2011’s ‘King Kobra’ and 2013’s ‘King Kobra II’) are heavily weighted towards party metal workouts full of really embarrassing and clichéd lyrics.

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