The Fierce And The Dead’s upcoming album, ‘News From The Invisible World’, marks a massive musical shift for the band. Their riff based skills are still very much evident, but on their fourth full length release, they’ve augmented their chunky sound with a full array of vocals.
Author Archives: Real Gone
THE REAL GONE SINGLES BAR #6
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. This visit brings the usual variety, from the expected rock and metal tunes, to some old style garage rock, another singer songwriter, and even some westcoast AOR/yacht rock gold. There’s something in here for most Real Gone supporters to latch onto – as always, hopefully, you’ll find something that inspires you to explore further.
*
BIG BIG TRAIN – Ingenious Devices
Apart from the mighty Yes, few prog bands have a musical history as complicated as Big Big Train. Their 2023 incarnation features just one original member – band founder Gregory Spawton – but even bis role on board the prog rock locomotive has changed over the years. He’s transitioned from guitar based duties to playing bass and bass pedals, making him very much the anchor when it comes to live performance. The band weren’t always about performing in front of an audience, of course; for decades, they were notoriously gig-shy and it was only after the arrival of vocalist David Longdon in 2009 that BBT started to think very seriously about the possibility of returning to the stage.
VARIOUS ARTISTS – Round And Round: Progressive Sounds Of 1974
1973 was something of a banner year for progressive rock. That year, Pink Floyd released their billion selling ‘Dark Side of The Moon’; Genesis released a career best with ‘Selling England By The Pound’; a double whammy from Gong – ‘Flying Teapot’ and ‘Angels Egg’ – cemented their place in the psych-prog underground; both King Crimson and Emerson, Lake & Palmer released albums that would go on to become fan favourites, and Mike Oldfield became an instant national treasure with his ‘Tubular Bells’, despite his Piltdown Man scaring the shite out of a generation of small children.
MELVINS – At The Stake: Atlantic Recordings 1993-1995
After Geffen Records scored an unexpected commercial and financial success with Nirvana’s ‘Nevermind’ album in 1991, other major labels began to scour the Seattle area, convinced that the city and its surrounding towns would result in a similar brand of ‘Teen Spirit’. By 1993, around the time that Seattle Fever had reached its peak, pretty much every band who’d been name checked by Kurt Cobain or other important figures had made the leap from indie cool to bigger things. Even supposed second division acts like Tad found themselves signed to major contracts. Looking back, it could be argued that a lot of these bands didn’t quite have the impact the labels had desired, but these major deals certainly elevated their profiles.