“Nothing Art-I-Ficial: Poly Styrene: 1957-2011”

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Often seen to be a figure who ushered in punk feminism, Poly Styrene (aka Marianne Joan Elliott-Said) has lost her battle with cancer. She revealed she had been diagnosed and had been receiving treatment for her illness in February 2011.

Styrene will be best remembered for her work with X-Ray Spex, a band whose debut album ‘Germ Free Adolescents’ (released in 1978) is seen as one of the greatest albums to stem from the British punk movement. The album was preceded by a single, ‘Oh Bondage! Up Yours’ (arguable the band’s best known track, although it was not included on the original album release). The album itself spawned three other singles – ‘Identity’, ‘The Day The World Turned Day-Glo’ and ‘Germ Free Adolescents’, all of which were successful, breaking into the UK Top 40 singles chart. The band broke up prematurely, after Styrene suffered hallucinations on stage. She was originally misdiagnosed with schizophrenia, but was much later diagnosed as being bi-polar. The band reformed seventeen years later and released a second album, which was not a commercial success.

Outside of X-Ray Spex, Poly Styrene stayed largely out of the spotlight, but released solo material sporadically, none of which ever gained the level of success achieved by X-Ray Spex. Her last work ‘Generation Indigo’ was released on March 28th 2011.

Poly Styrene remembered in video:

 

X-Ray Spex – Identity (promo video)

X-Ray Spex – Art-I-Ficial (Old Grey Whistle Test)

Oh Bondage! Up Yours! (Punk In London documentary)

Poly Styrene – Virtual Boyfriend (official promo video, 2011)

Poly Styrene talks about her 2011 album, Generation Indigo

April 2011

THE FALLEN DRAKES – Death Of An Actress EP

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drakesFormed in 2009, the Dublin quintet The Fallen Drakes may not break any new musical ground with ‘Death Of An Actress’, but thanks to an easily accessibly sound combined with top notch production from U2 and Kasabian producer Ger McDonnell, their EP is still a strong debut. Musically, it finds a space at the soft end of stadium rock, lighter than U2, but with a quality that’s often reminiscent of Coldplay and Snow Patrol.

During the opening number, ‘Masquerade’, Brian McGovern’s vocals are solid, but the best moments are provided by Michal Bartolen’s lead guitar work, which utilises a ringing tone and a delay. Things toughen up slightly near the song’s close, but without losing any of the commercial impact. ‘Don’t Cry’ is noticeably weaker at first, but the upfront guitar sound gives the number a great momentum; Hyder Ali’s bass work is punchy throughout, providing a great counterpart to Nabil Ali’s drumming which, as with the previous number, relies a great deal on hi-hat and sharp snare work. After a few plays, ‘Don’t Cry’ sounds equally as strong; a number which presents The Fallen Drakes in good form, with top performances from all concerned.

‘Lights On’ presents The Fallen Drakes at their punchiest. The guitars take on a more angular approach, before bouncy, bass dominated verses become reminiscent of The Kaiser Cheifs and Frankie & The Heartstrings. The musical performances are okay – Hyder Ali turns in a couple of simple but effective bass runs – but a chorus which relies far too much on one line shows the song writing here is in need of sharpening. ‘Love Again’ takes a similar approach to alternative rock/pop demonstrated during ‘Don’t Cry’, but ups the stakes, giving The Fallen Drakes a tougher sound. Michel Bartolen’s lead guitar work maintains a strong presence, while Nabil Ali drumming leans farther in a rock direction, favouring a pounding approach with fewer quirks and intricacies.

Despite their very generic approach, The Fallen Drakes brand of jangly, guitar-based rock/pop is very professional and often enjoyable. You can stream the EP from the widget below or download it for FREE here!

April 2011

“Easter Exclusive from Real Gone!: Free Unreleased Power Pop!”

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There’s a special giveaway at REAL GONE to celebrate this Easter weekend. To say thank you to all our regular supporters over the past year or so, we’re offering a few unreleased power pop gems.

FREE legal mps from Mark Bacino, Mick Terry and Edward O’Connell, never before available anywhere!!!

First up is a demo from Mark Bacino; a track recorded during the ‘Million Dollar Milkshake’ sessions. Mark has three superb albums out at the time of writing, but any new bits are always welcomed! Download ‘So Does Mary (demo)’ here.

Edward O’Connell has kindly offered a stripped back, alternate version of ‘I Heard It Go’, a track featured in its original form on his excellent ‘Our Little Secret’. Grab it here!

Finally, Mick Terry has given us three demos to share. Each of these tracks can be heard in their finished versions on his debut disc ‘The Grown Ups’, which is well worth checking out.
‘Hoxton Song (boggia)’ ‘The Usher’s Tale (2009 demo)’ ‘Ringing Like a Bell (demo edit)’

REAL GONE would like to say a big thank you to Mark, Edward and Mick for giving these tracks so they can be shared with you all. If you like these songs, please take the time to visit each of the musicians at their respective websites (links below) to say hello – and maybe consider buying their albums if you haven’t already.

What do you mean “but I don’t like power pop”?!

Okay then. Here’s something for the rest of you.
Here’s the legendary Tom Jones, celebrating the resurrection of Jesus through the medium of dance:

www.markbacino.com
www.edwardoconnell.com
www.mickterry.co.uk

April 2011

SHADOWMAN – Watching Over You

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shadowmanFor those unfamiliar, Shadowman presents the union of four musicians already very well known on the UK rock circuit. The band combines the talents of FM vocalist Steve Overland and Heartland guitarist Steve Morris with the Thunder rhythm section – Chris Childs and Gary ‘Harry’ James on bass and drums respectively. Their fourth album, ‘Watching Over You’ sounds exactly as you’d expect for an album featuring those musicians, though that’s not necessarily a bad thing.

The album begins with ‘Across The Universe’, which is a decent mid paced rocker. Its opening bars centre around a powerful drum arrangement from James, before settling into a punchy groove. Surprisingly, it’s not especially reliant on guitar riffs (though Morris throws in fills wherever he can); the main groove of the number is provided by a clavichord funkiness, which naturally gives things a 70s edge. An organ solo paves the way for Morris to deliver an understated guitar solo full of multi-tracked qualities. It’s a strong opening track, certainly. ‘Renegades’ swiftly follows and here Shadowman adopt a more straight ahead hard rock approach, where Morris gets to play the kind of riffs and solos he’d denied himself during the opener. Even though Overland’s vocals are strong and some other elements are enjoyable, it’s a noticeably weaker number in terms of song writing.

The first of the album’s truly standout moments is ‘Cry’, a huge bluesy power ballad. The vocals are strong, presenting Overland in good form, but it’s the other musicians whom really stand out, especially Steve Morris, whose guitar work is top-notch throughout, particularly both guitar solos which have a great tone. The second of these, coming at the close of the number is very subtle, as Morris lays down vibrato-edged notes sparingly over some excellent clean rhythms work. On the quiet moments, it’s also worth listening out for a few great bass runs from Childs – though due to the production values, he’s far too low in the mix.

With a shift away from hard rock towards the more AOR sound of the early FM albums, the semi-acoustic ‘Whatever It Takes’ has all the hallmarks of radio-friendly rock. The chorus is one of the album’s strongest despite having a very much by numbers quality and the use of backing vocals is effective. For the last chorus, Overland’s voice sings a lead over his own harmony vocals to predictable – yet still pleasing effect. ‘Whatever It Takes’ follows suit and even though it doesn’t offer any great musical difference, it’s a great example of melodic rock being played well with all of the necessary ingredients firmly in place. The pairing of FM’s Steve Overland and Heartland’s Steve Morris rarely sounds stronger than it does on these numbers. More semi-acoustic vibes provide the heart of ‘Heaven Waits’, but this time there’s a slightly darker tone which occasionally leans towards an eastern musical motif without embracing it fully. By the time Morris breaks into an almost Brian May inspired solo that’s full of chorus pedals, it’s obvious this number is a winner.

‘Are You Ready’ is a great mid-paced rocker, full of harmonies on its chorus. While the band sound great on this style of Bad Company inspired hard rock, there’s a gut feeling that says no matter how good Steve Overland’s delivery is here, Thunder’s Danny Bowes would absolutely wipe the floor with him vocally. A Thunder-esque vibe also runs through the swaggering rocker ‘Waiting For a Miracle’, a number which features a solid performance from Overland, a strong chorus and an another old fashioned organ solo.

While most of ‘Watching Over You’s twelve melodic rock songs are of a good quality – and certainly feature the musicians playing to their strengths – the album is let down somewhat by a thin, extremely trebly production sound. Throughout most of the disc, especially on the rockier numbers, most of Chris Childs’s bass playing barely registers, being drowned out by loud rhythm guitars and Overland’s equally loud vocal. However, if you’ve picked up the previous Shadowman albums prior to this one, you’ll certainly want this one too, although first time listeners may be wise to check out 2008’s slightly fuller sounding ‘Ghost in the Mirror’ first.

[You can catch Gary and Chris performing with Thunder at their one-off reunion at the High Voltage festival, Victoria Park, London – July 24th 2011]

April 2011

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KING KOBRA – King Kobra

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KK2011For some people, Carmine Appice will be most famous through his work with Vanilla Fudge, followed by a shortlived Blind Faith-eque collaboration with Jeff Beck (a collaboration which, aside from not being especially good, also featured Vanilla Fudge’s bassist Tim Bogert). For others – and mostly those whose musical tastes favour a more metallic approach – Carmine will be known as the older brother of Dio/Black Sabbath drummer Vinny Appice and founder of the cult melodic metal outfit King Kobra.

King Kobra’s first two albums -‘Ready to Strike’ and ‘Thrill of a Lifetime’- are cult classics. Granted, they’re a little hit and miss, but the great moments on both albums are among the best that 80s melodic metal has to offer. This is, in no small part, due to the then unknown Mark Free being the featured vocalist on both albums; a performer whom would go on to become one of the melodic rock scene’s best-loved voices, achieving greater accolades with cult AOR bands Signal and Unruly Child. Sadly, by the time King Kobra issued their third album a couple of years later – the appropriately titled ‘III’ – bassist Johnny Rod had joined W.A.S.P., Mark Free had moved on, King Kobra’s sound had toughened up…and new vocalist Johnny Edwards just wasn’t up to the job. [Edwards would face a similarly hard task replacing Lou Gramm in Foreigner a couple of years later]. King Kobra threw in the towel after that third album, with Appice joining ex-Thin Lizzy guitarist John Sykes to form Blue Murder. Appice left Blue Murder in 1992 to move on to other projects.

Thirteen years after King Kobra’s third album, Appice resurrected the band name and released ‘Hollywood Trash’ – a King Kobra album in name only, with Appice being the sole original member. For this third incarnation of King Kobra, Kelly Keeling was enlisted on vocals (a man, whom coincidentally, had also been Blue Murder’s frontman sometime after Appice’s departure). While ‘Hollywood Trash’s material was patchy and had the audio quality of something recorded in a shed, Keeling did his best to deliver decent vocal performances. The end result, unsurprisingly, wasn’t really any better than ‘King Kobra III’; it seemed that no matter how hard they tried, this band were never going to match their early days with Mark Free.

A decade later, King Kobra announced they were to make a comeback. With Appice gathering together most of the original line-up (excluding Mark Free, now Marcie), it would certainly be seen as a step in the right direction. The resulting self-titled album – their first to be released on Frontiers Records – is marginally better than the worst bits of ‘King Kobra III’ and better sounding than ‘Hollywood Trash’, but in reality, that’s not difficult.

The riffs are chunky and the choruses are suitably big and the energy on show could possibly equal parts of ‘Ready To Strike’, but the album lets itself down with average song writing, full of absolutely brazen clichés. Their attempt at making a deliberately feel-good record is hampered throughout by an average vocal performance, courtesy of ex-Rough Cutt/Quiet Riot man Paul Shortino. A quick look at the track-listing ought to give you some indication of where the disc is headed: ‘Tear Down The Walls’, ‘Turn Up The Good Times’, ‘Screamin’ For More’, ‘This Is How We Roll’ – and even worse – ‘Rock This House’.

On the plus side, the band turns in some solid, if predictable, musical performances. A few of David Michael-Philips’s guitar solos really hit the spot and, naturally, Appice’s hard rock drum style is great throughout. It seems a shame that the decent moments are often let down by Shortino’s slightly rough delivery and even rougher lyrical content. ‘Top of the World’ is helped by some solid harmony vocals and a cracking guitar solo, only then to be let down by a lazy one-line hook, but even so, it at least hints at the better material from King Kobra’s early albums, while the Whitesnake-with-an-average vocalist approach of ‘You Make It Easy’ surprises with the inclusion of a nifty acoustic guitar solo.

The best track on offer is certainly ‘We Got a Fever’, where King Kobra attempt to put away their “rock clichés 101” bible and mix their brand of hard rock with a gentle bluesy tone. The slower, slightly more brooding feel allows David Michael-Phillips and Mick Sweda an opportunity for their playing to stretch slightly beyond King Kobra’s usual melodic metal confines, and the end result is far more sympathetic to Paul Shortino’s vocal style. Even though the big ballad ‘Tears Turn To Rain’ is an improvement over most of the material here, any passion it could have had gets flattened by Shortino’s approach – his husky tones are really at odds with the kind of huge, effortless delivery it really needed.

While some will praise this return of King Kobra after a decade away, this release is little more than okay at best, while at worst, it could possibly rival Paul Sabu’s 1995 outing ‘In Dreams’ as one of the most embarrassing, clichéd offerings imaginable. If you’re an undemanding rock fan who’s never really let go of the past, you may still be happy to “tear down the walls” or “turn up the good times”, but for everyone else, this album is about as fresh as Carmine Appice’s leather trousers from 1989.

April 2011