Back in 2019, The Morning Line released their third album ‘North’. With its retro sound calling back to some of the 90s college rock greats, it was easy to draw parallels with the album’s best material and past classics by Buffalo Tom, Soul Asylum and Third Eye Blind. It became one of that year’s best DIY releases and gained praise from all seventeen people that actually heard it. A follow up single ‘Back On Earth’ appeared at the beginning of 2021, and although it showed off a more sedate side to the band with hints of ‘Behind The Sun’ era R.E.M. at its core, the same retro charms were more than present, cementing Stephen Smith’s reputation as a fine songwriter.
Category Archives: Album & EP Reviews
NUEVO CATECISMO CATOLICO & KURT BAKER – Quarantine Blues EP
Spanish punks Neuvo Catecismo Católico have been cranking out tunes since the early/mid 90s. Despite being fairly prolific, they’ve not always gained a huge following outside of their home country due to the core of their material not being in English, but a trawl through a sizable back catalogue presents some great music. Exploration of past works also shows a band who more than know their way around a decent melody.
Early material from The Fierce And The Dead to receive CD debut
Still riding high from the release of their acclaimed third album ‘The Euphoric’, it’s been a busy couple of years for The Fierce And The Dead. Despite the lack of gigs due to the global pandemic, the band have kept a high profile with a couple of excellent live releases (the download only ‘Show Me Devon: Live At Kozfest’ could be their best yet).
CRUZH – Tropical Thunder
Cruzh’s self titled debut album (released by Frontiers Records in 2016) included a few great choruses and a couple of impressive Def Leppard-isms, but there wasn’t always much about its blend of AOR and melodic rock that stood out in a good way. The song writing was fine without ever being outstanding, but an over reliant on shiny vocal filters and a over-compressed production job basically killed any spark the material could have had. Nevertheless, the album received really strong praise from some online sources – proof that some AOR/melodic rock blogs will heap praise on anything within their remit in a desperate attempt to keep the 80s dream alive – and that seemed to be enough for the record label to keep Cruzh on their books.
NIGHT RANGER – ATBPO
Unlike a lot of “legacy acts”, Night Ranger are one of those bands that can normally be relied upon for a decent album. Granted, they’ve rarely hit the heights of ‘Dawn Patrol’ and ‘Midnight Madness’ – the one-two punch that kick started their career back in the 80s – but the majority of the band’s best records are driven by great playing and strong song writing. Even the supposedly “non canon” ‘Feeding Off The Mojo’ (lacking founder Jack Blades and featuring a hastily put together band featuring Gary Moon) was home to a few classic tunes, and ‘Somewhere In California’ (their Frontiers Records release from 2011) showcased a band with lots more to give. In fact, it’s only really 1998’s ‘Seven’ – a heavier, Blades dominated work – that missed the mark. As albums go, it was fine enough on it’s own merits, but the slightly more aggressive tones just didn’t always feel like Night Ranger.