JACK RUSSELL’S GREAT WHITE – He Saw It Comin’

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6PAN1T-C PSDIn the latter part of the twentieth century, Great White made a big impression with their brand of hard rock. Adding a bluesy edge or a slightly glammy sensibility to plenty of crunch, the LA band really showed their teeth on their big selling ‘Twice Shy’ and ‘Hooked’ albums in the early 90s and even their lesser known later works had plenty to recommend them.

Russell’s 2002 solo release ‘For You’ found the vocalist branching out and experimenting with a couple of softer styles in places, but was an equally strong demonstration of his talents. Beyond that, Great White worked hard but often failed to reach the same heights and their career was somewhat marred by in-fighting and legal battles over the band name. Great White (fronted by ex-XYZ man Terry Ilous) released the surprisingly good ‘Elation’ in 2012, while Jack Russell’s Great White continued to ply their trade on the live circuit, eventually – and some would say belatedly – releasing ‘He Saw It Coming’ in 2017.

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PRIDE OF LIONS – Fearless

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POLF2017Jim Peterik is a legend. His work on various Survivor albums cements his place in the melodic rock history books, regardless of anything he has written or recorded since the 80s. Tracks like ‘American Heartbeat’, ‘Jackie Don’t Go’, ‘I Can’t Hold Back’ and ‘Poor Man’s Son’ are stone cold classics…and of course, it would take a hard heart not to be amused by the ‘Eye of The Tiger’ video with Survivor attempting to look tough whilst stomping through a warehouse.

Peterik’s post-Survivor projects have, understandably, been less high profile. After all, how can you follow a million selling rock band, radio play and worldwide number one singles?

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WORRY DOLLS – Go Get Gone

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go get gone lpOn the first two Worry Dolls releases, Rosie Jones and Zoe Nichol promised great things. On a pair of self-financed EPs, the duo sounded absolutely captivating with their abilities to write narrative driven songs and perform close harmonies. Hard graft on the live circuit saw them share stages with Cara Dillon, Rachel Sermanni and the legendary Joan Armatrading, as well as many others. Their first full length release promised a much deeper voyage into country music and ‘Go Get Gone’ does not disappoint.

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THE MURDER OF MY SWEET – Echoes Of The Aftermath

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murderDespite claiming to draw influences from early Queen, ELO and Genesis, on their 2015 LP ‘Beth Out of Hell‘, The Murder of My Sweet came across as a really overbearing, second rate Nightwish. The album introduced listeners to a concept about a love affair between good and evil; a theatrical narrative made the material harder to digest than it already would have been…and in terms of both good taste and sanity, a children’s choir was the final straw. In short, ‘Beth Out of Hell’ was an egotistical, bloated effort that once heard (and once was enough) had the potential to cause long term mental trauma.

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Listen to a new track from Tokyo Tea Room

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In 2016, Kent based psych/dreampop band Tokyo Tea Room made underground waves with their live shows and debut cassette.  Drawing influence from lots of early 90s artists, their sound showed great promise, with vocalist Beth Plumb’s angelic vocal style in sharp contrast to the drone of the guitar lines.  In a handful of tracks, the band set themselves up as one to watch – a rival to Ireland’s Elastic Sleep for dreampop/shoegaze goodness.

At the beginning of 2017, a new track began to circulate.  This, too, very much cements TTR’s place as bright lights on an underground scene.  You can hear ‘World’s Away’ in full via the Soundcloud link provided below.   [Watch the video clip for ‘Sleep’ here.]