Between the release of The Beach Boys ‘Pet Sounds’ in May 1966 and the first Woodstock Festival in August 1969, the American rock and pop scenes went into overdrive. With the groundbreaking ‘God Only Knows’, Brian Wilson had shown how grand “pop” could be in the hands of a master; the birth of psychedelia meant that garage rock grew into something much bigger and more interesting than a selection bands churning out variants of ‘Louie Louie’, and the blues morphed into sprawling jams which birthed a generation of guitar heroes. A prolonged period of experimentation arguably reached its peak in 1968, with The Byrds releasing their last works with David Crosby (at least for a time), Moby Grape issuing a double LP (‘Wow/Grape Jam’), the arrival of Spirit’s debut (helmed by the fantastic ‘Fresh-Garbage’), The Velvet Underground’s ‘White Light/White Heat’ proving their Warhol overseen debut wasn’t just some arty fluke, and the Grateful Dead issuing their show piece ‘Dark Star’ as a single. Even Simon & Garfunkel got a little out there on their fourth LP ‘Bookends’, with their masterful folk-pop joined by the vaguely psychy ‘Punky’s Dilemma’, and feeling brave enough to include Art’s audio verité ‘Voices of Old People’ as a key album track.
OCTAVIAN WINTERS – Nebula / Velveteen (Mark Pistel Remix)
Following a run of enjoyable digital singles, Octavian Winters released their debut EP ‘The Line Or Curve’ in October 2023. Rounding up the band’s previously available tracks and premiering the excellent ‘Velveteen’, its five songs explored an old school goth sound, but by blending that with a much tougher post-punk influence, the release shared a superbly dark mood laced with very strong melodies throughout. One of the EP’s highlights, ‘Surreal’ managed to bring the cold brilliance of ‘Faith’ era Cure into the realms of the more modern, potentially making it amenable to fans of bands like Lacuna Coil, and the combination of Jay Denton’s huge bass melodies and Ria Aursjoen’s soaring 80s vocals resulted in something atmospheric. With slow but wondrous melodies underscored by ringing guitar, it showed how classic 80s goth rock riffs and melodies could sound just as thrilling forty years on.
REAL GONE GOES OUT: Electric Six – The Booking Hall, Dover, Kent 10/7/2024
Dover is hardly the rock ‘n’ roll epicentre of the South East, but that hasn’t stopped Detroit’s Electric Six making a return visit to The Booking Hall. When Dick Valentine and his cohorts visited back in June 2022, their gig was a sell out, and the enthusiastic crowd were given a night to remember. Tonight’s show is also, unsurprisingly, a sell out, but looking around the room, there are obvious gaps. There’s a feeling that a few ticket holders have opted to stay at home and watch the England team in the semi finals of the Euros. It’s a case of unfortunate timing, and its obviously a factor that’s very much on Valentine’s unique mind.
THE REAL GONE SINGLES BAR #60
Welcome back to the Singles Bar, the place where we explore some of the individual tracks that have landed in our inbox over the previous few weeks. This time around, we’ve mixed the familiar with the new, to bring you something that sounds like a superb tribute to AM radio pop, some contemporary rock sounds, a feel good pop track, a re-working of an old dance classic and more besides. As always, we hope you like what you hear, and discover something new!
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ROSALIE JAMES – Full Of Chemicals
Singer songwriter Rosalie James began her musical career in earnest in the summer of 2023. Over the following year, she received a surprising amount of attention. Not only from BBC Radio in her native Cornwall, but also from farther afield. Her first couple of singles, ‘Girl I Was’ (released in April) and the brilliant ‘Soft Target’ (released in June) were well received via various online outlets, and showed off her great talent for a pop rock sound and personal lyric. Both tracks felt very different from each other in such a way that it piqued interest for the promised forthcoming album.