Author Archives: Real Gone

THE REAL GONE SINGLES BAR #69

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Welcome back to the Real Gone Singles Bar, the place where we explore some of the individual tracks that have landed in our inbox over the past few weeks. This time, we have what we believe is one of our most adventurous selections to date. We’ve brought together a couple of downbeat songwriters, a slab of soul with a very dark and arty core, a couple of great rock tracks, and even a track that blends a singer songwriter’s personal side with an almost prog rock grandness. As always, we hope you find something new to enjoy!

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SILVER DOLLAR ROOM – Gilded Echoes

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Scottish rockers Silver Dollar room aren’t afraid of going retro on their debut album ‘Gilded Echoes’. By taking influence from a wealth of classic rock bands and mixing in strong elements of a post-grunge sound, they’ve created a ten song release that’s riff heavy, but also very accessible. Naturally, there are times when the influences shine perhaps a little too brightly, but that never stops the songs being enjoyable – and it’s always clear that this band more than knows their way around a decent hook.

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FIND ME – Nightbound

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Eleven years after the release of their well received ‘Wings of Love’ album, the bulk of Find Me’s ‘Nightbound’ sees the much loved AOR band often sticking to a tried and tested brand of melodic rock. A couple of tracks deviate from the formula to explore different avenues of classic rock, but it’s fair to say that this fifth album plays very much to the fan. Drawing influence from bands like Survivor – whose Jim Peterik scores co-writing credits – and more modern melodic rock bands like Lionheart, the material has no real care for fashion, but what it does, it does brilliantly. So much of the strength in the band’s sound is due to vocalist Robbie LaBlanc (sometime of Blanc Faces) who possesses one of the best melodic rock voices of his generation. When you have someone like Robbie on board, capable of summoning the power of Joe Lynn Turner circa 1985 and the huge melodic sounds of a peak Dave Bickler or Steve Overland, there’s little point in trying to branch out or add new twists to a classic rock backdrop – his huge voice handles the 80s influenced sounds so perfectly.

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Listen: The Red Crow return with a new track ‘Haunted Eyes’

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Formed in Brazil in 2013, The Red Crow gradually carved out a place among the cult bands on the expansive desert rock and stoner metal scene over the next few years. The band could’ve reached it’s end when founding member Christiano Vieira relocated to Portugal in 2022, but deciding he had more to give, he retained the old name and assembled a new band.

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THE HALF-CUBES – My Girl / Someday

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This two track release from The Half-Cubes is, in power pop terms, pure gold. Its pedigree is assured thanks to two different aspects. Firstly, as their name suggests, this band are made up from half of power pop legends The Flashcubes and, secondly, the tracks featured are both re-workings of classics from the Eric Carmen catalogue. Although neither track has been drastically rethought, both sound great with a brighter production sound than Carmen’s original recordings were ever afforded. ‘My Girl’, in particular, plays like a genre classic for 2024, despite its mid 70s vintage.

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