1992 saw the launch of Now & Then Records, a small independent label specialising in melodic rock. Although the UK label’s time was brief, over the course of their lifespan, the label released the best AOR of the era. Gaining the rights to a few tapes that had otherwise sat gathering dust in record company vaults, they released records by Jeff Cannata, Mark Free and Takara, a band fronted by the now legendary Jeff Scott Soto. Among the label’s other early releases was the Crown of Thorns debut, a band uniting singer-songwriter Jean Beauvoir previously of Voodoo X and the Plasmatics with guitarist/songwriter Micki Free, previously of the rather more unlikely Shalamar. One of the all-time great debuts of rock, the record brought killer melodic rock track after killer melodic rock track in a way that few had managed since 1987, and choruses that represent the finest AOR melodies. Decades on, ‘Crown of Thorns’ is a recording that never pales in its appeal.
Tag Archives: hard rock
CROWSAW – Karma EP
In 2014 UK rockers Crowsaw released ‘Smoke & Mirrors’, a blues-edged collection of songs which was well received in some quarters. For those expecting them to pick up where they left off and build upon their cult following, 2015’s ‘Karma’ may come as a bit of a surprise. Rethinking their game plan, the band have taken their melodic vocal and riff-based sound, dispensed with pretty much any Hendrix and Cry Of Love influences and heavied up the guitars about seventy percent. There’s a huge amount of rock at the core of the material – as is only natural – but all previous blues influences have been thrown out of the window in favour of channelling a defiant metallic crunch.
LEVEL 10 – Chapter One
Making their debut in 2015, the (mostly) European metal band Level 10 features a few familiar faces. While not quite stepping up to the true supergroup mantle, with its coming together of members from Symphony X, Masterplan, Primal Fear and Sinner, the band includes personnel that should be more than familiar to hard rock fans.
Yngwie Malmsteen box set imminent
February 2015 sees the release of ‘Now Your Ships Are Burned’, a four CD anthology of work recorded by Swedish guitarist Yngwie Malmsteen. The set covers his years with Polydor Records from 1984-1990.
The set will be a domestic budget priced reissue of the previously Japanese only collection which included the first six albums. Like similar sets from Saxon (‘The Carrere Years’) and Tangerine Dream (‘The Virgin Years’), the length of the albums is such that six releases can easily be condensed into a 4CD package.
RATED X – Rated X
Put together at the suggestion of Frontiers Records as a classic rock vehicle to display the talents of legendary rock vocalist Joe Lynn Turner, Rated X is a heavy rock supergroup whose sound is – somewhat unsurprisingly – heavily indebted to Rainbow and mid-80s Deep Purple. As an ex-member of Rainbow, Turner is one of a few who can lay claim to this classic rock sound as being partly his own. Perhaps more importantly, he’s also one of a few veteran rock singers who’s still capable of lending some decent vocal chops to most projects when called upon to do so. Just one listen to the Sunstorm albums confirms his place as one of the all-time greats, so the record label’s faith in his abilities – even at the age of 63 at the time of this band’s formation – is justified.