THE REAL GONE SINGLES BAR #49

Welcome back to the Real Gone Singles Bar, the place where we explore the various individual mp3s that have landed in our inbox over the previous few weeks. Usually, we aim to make the Singles Bar as varied as possible but, due to timings and submissions, this selection is rather more rock based. We hope you’re on board with that, especially given the amount of rock music that gets covered elsewhere on the site. An effort has been made, however, to try and bring an interesting variety within those rocky singles, which hopefully gives this SB a typically eclectic feel. This week, we’d like to welcome back Pollyanna Blue, but also draw your attention to a brilliantly haunting track from Lisa Cuthbert. Elsewhere, you’ll find shoegaze inspired noise, a brilliant cover tune, and a couple of singer songwriters… Until next time, we hope this keeps you entertained!

*

Continue reading

WARHORSE – Warhorse

Between 1967 and 1969, the original Deep Purple released a trio of excellent albums. Those records mixed elements of 60s pop with rock guitar, experimented with psychedelia, and even explored avenues of orchestral rock. The huge proto-metal work of the band’s next incarnation – makers of the classics ‘Black Night’, ‘Smoke On The Water’ and ‘Highway Star’ – has long overshadowed the earlier Purple outings, but tracks like ‘Shield’ and ‘Chasing Shadows’ provided a massive showcase for Ritchie Blackmore’s distinctive guitar work and things to come, whilst the epic ‘April’ proved this was a band with bigger ideas than most, and their ability for making other peoples’ material their own was almost as impressive.

Continue reading

HATS OFF GENTLEMEN IT’S ADEQUATE – One Word That Means The World (Arkhipov) / Music For Dancing

When approaching a fusion based style, London’s Hats Off Gentlemen It’s Adequate are rarely anything less than interesting. Since their inception, the musical duo have painted an art rock canvas that’s blended prog, pop, funk and ambient textures in a way that – for the want of an easy descriptor – sometimes makes them sound like The Pineapple Thief jamming with the rhythm section of early 80s King Crimson. At other times, you might stumble upon the atmospheres of later Talk Talk, or swathes of guitar work tipping their more than adequate hat in the direction of ‘In Absentia’ era Porcupine Tree, but almost always with the Gentlemen’s own, slightly odd, twist. Simply put, you can rely on them to tease your ears with something pleasingly complex.

Continue reading

THE REAL GONE SINGLES BAR #48

Welcome back to the Real Gone Singles Bar, the place where we explore the various individual mp3s that have landed in our inbox over the previous few weeks. This time around, we bring you a very melodic number from a sometime Ministry collaborator, a complex one man show from a British prog musician, a quick hit of country, a near flawless slice of power pop, and more besides. As always, we hope you find something new to enjoy, or something that gives you the curiosity to dig a little deeper.

*

Continue reading

PRAYING MANTIS – Defiance

With a run of enjoyable albums that began with 2015’s ‘Legacy’, Praying Mantis seemed to go from strength to strength over the following decade. Granted, a few of the tracks on that album and its successors (2018’s ‘Gravity’ and 2022’s ‘Katharsis’) were a little heavier sounding, but Chris and Tino Troy’s gifts for a strong melody continued to set the band apart from so many of the second tier acts associated with the New Wave of British Heavy Metal, and when dropping into numbers boasting more of an AOR/melodic rock hook, the band sounded as good as ever.

Continue reading