Tag Archives: aor

THE REAL GONE SINGLES BAR #148

Posted on by
Reply

With new tracks from a couple of the indie scene’s UK/Irish leading lights and a Bristol based guitar driven band who’ve already attained cult status, this visit to the Singles Bar feels rather weighted towards jangly material and swirly shoegaze sounds, but with a very retro sounding track that fuses blues rock with prog flourishes and a dreamy number from a French singer-songwriter, there’s a sharp contrast too, helping to keep the usual love of shining a light upon the most cult of artists. Bolstered by an unexpected reissue from the 80s and a lo-fi workout that could split opinion, it’s certainly an interesting selection this time around. As always, of course, we hope you find something new to enjoy!

*

Continue reading →

THE REAL GONE SINGLES BAR #140

Posted on by

Welcome back to the Real Gone Singles Bar, the place where we explore some of the more interesting tracks that have been submitted over the previous few weeks. This time around, there’s some perfect dream pop/indie sounds, a huge stoner friendly piece of deep psych with a heavy edge, some AOR, a superb track with a jazz influenced vocal…and more besides. As always, we hope you find something new to enjoy!

*

Continue reading →

THE BIG DEAL – Electrified

Posted on by

Serbian band The Big Deal released a very confident debut in 2022’s ‘First Bite’. Although their music wasn’t particularly original, the album’s best tracks showcased talented musicians, capable of sharing a huge sound, and whose brand of melodic rock and metal consistently hit the mark with strong callbacks to Pretty Maids and other Euro fare.

Following the album’s release, guitarist Srdjan Brankovic made a great contribution to Ronnie Romero’s ‘Raised On Radio’, but then seemed to disappear. Considering he guested on a number of albums up to this point, his relative quietness came as a surprise, but his fans will certainly welcome his return here, and find plenty to enjoy within his work on this second release from The Big Deal. Much like before, the best material places Brankovic’s guitar playing rather highly in the end mix, but there’s very much the feeling that this is a genuine band project, rather than merely just being the Srdjan show with a few in-house hired hands.

Continue reading →

MAGNUM – Live At KK’s Steel Mill

Posted on by

In January 2024, much loved British rockers Magnum released their twenty third studio album ‘Here Comes The Rain’. The record captured a typical sound for the veteran band, but mixed the huge pomp sounds of later releases like ‘The Serpent Rings’ with more of the commercial AOR elements of their late 80s work, making it feel a little more well rounded than some of the latter day Magnum releases. The record, although hugely enjoyable, was surrounded by sadness: just a few days before release, founding guitarist and songwriter Tony Clarkin passed away, effectively making ‘Rain’ a poignant swansong.

The deluxe edition of the album was packaged with a full length live DVD – ‘Live At KK’s Steel Mill’ – featuring what was to be Clarkin’s final gig with the band. Fans, naturally, loved this show, but many hoped for an audio release to fill out their already extensive collections. In January 2025, they would get their wish.

Continue reading →

SUNSTORM – Restless Fight

Posted on by

When Joe Lynn Turner left Sunstorm it was truly the end of an era. The arrival of the always busy Ronnie Romero allowed the band to explore a harder sound on 2021’s ‘Afterlife’ and 2022’s ‘Brothers In Arms’, but they essentially sounded like a different band. They were still capable of enjoyable tunes, but for those who’d enjoyed hearing Joe belt out classic AOR tunes like ‘Gina’ (originally recorded by Michael Bolton before he turned his back on rock music in favour of an easy listening crowd) and ‘You Wouldn’t Know Love’ (a staple from Cher’s rock period), the “new” Sunstorm might not have always hit the mark.

The band’s eighth studio album ‘Restless Fight’ could easily have had its name inspired by Sunstorm’s inner turmoil. The only musician on this record to have appeared on a prior Sunstorm disc is Romero – the golden boy of the Frontiers Records stable – who with three years loyal service can now consider himself a Sunstorm veteran. Everyone else has been a member of this band since 2023. The record label obviously considers the Sunstorm name to be of some bankable value, even if, on paper, this seems a little too close to “Rod Evans’ New Deep Purple” for comfort. Moving on from any quibbles as to how this could possibly be anything more than another Ronnie Romero album, on its own terms, most of ‘Restless Fight’ is actually great. Far better than it had any real right to be.

Continue reading →