THE REAL GONE SINGLES BAR #6

Welcome back to the Real Gone Singles Bar, the place where we explore some of the individual MP3s that have landed in our inbox over the previous few weeks. This visit brings the usual variety, from the expected rock and metal tunes, to some old style garage rock, another singer songwriter, and even some westcoast AOR/yacht rock gold. There’s something in here for most Real Gone supporters to latch onto – as always, hopefully, you’ll find something that inspires you to explore further.

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Sun On The Edge Of Time: A Real Gone 2019 Playlist

It’s long been a tradition at Real Gone that we bring you an easily digestible reminder of some of the year’s best new music as December starts to draw to a close. This year, we’ve got some great stuff to share with you – it’s probably our most varied selection yet!

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Real Gone’s End of Year Round-Up, 2019

It’s been a great year at Real Gone. Not only did the website celebrate its tenth birthday, but we got more requests and submissions for review than ever! This year, everything felt like it had truly come together and paved the way for the next phase of the website’s lifespan.

This year, Real Gone received hundreds upon hundreds of review items and digital streams. Obviously, there isn’t enough time to review everything…but from the mountain of stuff we got to listen to and review, there was a lot of great music.

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STATE COWS – Challenges

State Cows have been making excellent westcoast/yacht rock music since 2010. Always unashamed in their retro-ness, the band have delighted fans across the world with various self-penned homages to Toto, Steely Dan and late 70s Doobie Brothers. There’s nothing obviously original about the Cows’ choice of style, but there’s no denying they do it better than most…and even after so many years, the fact that this most American of sounds was perfected somewhere in Sweden is a fact that still amazes.

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STATE COWS – Stealing The Show EP

In 2011, something unexpected happened. The most perfect homage to American westcoast pop sounds appeared in the shape of a debut album by a band named State Cows. Bits of Toto, Airplay, Maxus and pretty much everything with that vibe from 1978-81 was reborn in an almost flawless contemporary recording. It was almost impossible to tell whether the recordings had been sitting in a vault since 1980. Even more unbelieveable, these wondrous American sounds were recreated in a much less sunny Sweden. For westcost lovers, tracks like ‘New York Town’ and the wryly humorous ‘Stella By The Barlight’ became fast and firm favourites. Two years on, the aptly named ‘The Second One’ brought more of the same, but was perhaps a little weaker in places. Not that State Cows had lost their knack for retro sounds – the songs were very strong; it was more that element of surprise was gone.

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