Throughout the late 60s and early 70s, the landscape of rock music shifted. Over the course of five or six years, psychedelia gave way to hard rock, and a heavier approach to both blues and rock gave birth to a sound that would eventually be considered the birth of heavy metal. ‘We’re An American Band’, a 3CD set from Cherry Red’s retro subsidiary Grapefruit Records, charts these musical changes on the US rock scene, bringing together various key tracks and fantastic album cuts. In doing so, it ventures far deeper than your average compilation, despite presenting several very familiar names.
Category Archives: Album & EP Reviews
KEELEY – Floating Above Everything Else
Following two excellent EP releases, Keeley released the equally strong ‘Drawn To The Flame’ mini album in 2022. The seven tracks on that disc cemented Keeley’s place within the shoegaze and dreampop scene, but also suggested their were bigger things to come.
THE REAL GONE SINGLES BAR #4
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. There has been absolutely no shortage of single tracks coming our way, and this time, our selection brings you a whole world of greatness. From retro rock to heavy synth based electronica, this visit to the bar has something for a broad audience. As always, we hope that some of these tunes will lead to further exploration.
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THE FIERCE AND THE DEAD – News From The Invisible World
With every new album from The Fierce And The Dead, there have been changes to the band’s sound. The now classic ‘Spooky Action’ took the experimentation of their earlier ‘If It Carries On Like This, We’re Moving To Morecambe’ and added extra layers. On tunes like the title cut and the now classic ‘Ark’, the lighter guitar tones from Matt Stevens gave the material a quality that was pleasingly playful. A few years down the line, the band’s breakthrough album ‘The Euphoric’ was heavier in places, but in others, sounded more accessible and tuneful than The Fierce And The Dead had ever been before, without losing too much of their recognisable sound.
STARDUST – Kingdom Of Illusion
When Stardust released their debut album in 2020, it came as a pleasant surprise. ‘Highway To Heartbreak’ arrived amongst a glut of average melodic rock discs, and by comparison, Stardust sounded far more enthused. Their overall sound had a little more punch than most, and in the song writing department, their gifts for penning big, old school choruses in the AOR tradition were huge. It was the kind of album that suggested a bright future, even for a band trading in sounds from yesteryear.