What song are you listening to right now? (Page 393 of 393)

Robin George - Ace In My Hand (2014/2024 reissue)

R.C.G. Sidebotham; not a prepossessing name for a burgeoning Rock star, so just as well the lad shortened his name to just 2 of his forenames, Robin George. Sadly, he died last year and while he may not be a name on everybody's lips, he left a treasure-trove of a back-catalogue of hard and melodic rock, of this is a collection of session masters, cut between 1978 & 1982, just as the hard graft was on the verge of paying off with the "Heartline" single (heard here in a rougher form) from the "Dangerous Music" album which he toured extensively at the time.

However, despite cheekbones you could slice cheese with an jeans so tight you could tell if the change in his back-pockets was heads or tails (no mean feat with £5 notes), mainstream success was always, tantalisingly just out of reach, maybe the wrong sound at the wrong time, though a slew of latter day Swedish bands would crawl over glass for such a catalogue; or maybe he was just too pretty to be taken seriously on the rock scene.

It certainly wasn't due to lack of talent or work, he'd been playing semi-pro since he was 14. And just before his Dangerous Music album, Ted Nugent covered an earlier track, "Go Down Fighting". Always a bit more of a journeyman, even when he first got to record for himself, he was attracting some serious talent to back him; - Pino Palladino (bass), Dave Holland (drums) before Judas Priest called. During these sessions, Robin taught himself to engineer and produce, leading to working with Diamond Head, Slade, Climax Blues Band and Magnum, among many.

When he eventually got chance to tour, his band included Kex Gorin on drums & Mark Stanway (Magnum) on keys, Phil Soussan (Wildlife & later Ozzy) on bass. The link with Magnum's Mark Stanway brought an unexpected opportunity, at a recording session, Mark turned up with a mate in tow, who asked if he could fetch his bass from his car and sit in - Phil Lynott. This lead to Robin & band opening for Phil Lynott's Grand Slam project, but also being asked play in a briefly reformed Thin Lizzy along with Brian Downey: this reformed Lizzy was showcased on The Tube in what was to be Lynott's final performance before his passing.
As for who else Robin has worked with; well take a deep breath and: -

1) During the Dangerous Music tour Robin guested live with Led Zeppelin’s Jimmy Page, Simon Kirk (Free, Bad Company), Brian May (Queen) and The Who’s John Entwistle.

2)UK and European tour supporting Uli Jon Roth and REO Speedwagon with the last date being played at the legendary Hammersmith Odeon London.

3)Production and writing work with Glenn Hughes (Black Sabbath/ Deep Purple) followed, initially at Robin’s studio then at Ridge Farm where Robin was lucky enough to duet on guitar with Mel Galley (Trapeze, Whitesnake) but the album never saw the light of day apart from the track Haunted, which featured in the film Highlander 2.

4)At the same time Robin was writing with Uriah Heep’s Pete Goalby; their co-written song, Mona Lisa Smile has been recorded by Estrella, as well as writing with John Wetton (Asia, King Crimson) and Pete Wingfield (Eighteen with a Bullet).

5)Robin then formed Life with Diamond Head singer, Nick Tart and toured heavily around the UK, recording the Cocoon album over the course of a year at Robin’s Dangerous Music Studio in Shropshire. The band gained enough of a reputation to be offered several deals which sadly never came to pass, and they also recorded a number of sessions for BBC Radio One and live performances for TV shows including The James Whale Show. The re-mastered album Cocoon which also showcases previously unheard tracks was released by Angel Air in April 2010. During their career the band also featured Marshall Law drummer Lee Morris (Paradise Lost), bass player Charley Charlesworth, Hammond organist Fred Skidmore from Dexy’s Midnight Runners and ex Hooters keyboard player Bill Rudolph.

6)Robin continued writing, recording and producing albums including solo albums Rock of Ageists, Crying Diamonds and Bluesongs. He also played guitar for The Medieval Babes and Joan ov Arc; the first - all girl X-Box band.

7)Robin also teamed up with UFO bassist Pete Way. They struck up a friendship while co-producing then touring the Waysted album, Back from the Dead. They subsequently decided to form Damage Control. Joining them in the project were drummer Chris Slade (AC/DC, The Firm) and Spike (The Quireboys). They released two CD's, Damage Control and Raw. Both received many rave reviews. Raw has also been re-released by Angel Air Records.

8)Robin then produced and co-wrote an album with Birmingham Metal band, Marshall Law. The Power Game album is now available on Angel Air. Robin then played several club dates with Asia; vocalist/bassist John Wetton, Carl Palmer, Phil Manzanera and Don Airey. John asked Robin to join the band but, again, other commitments prevented him from doing so. He was soon back touring, as Robin George’s World. He also began working with Led Zeppelin’s Robert Plant; both recording and song writing. Robin’s song Red for Danger appears on Robert Plant’s Sixty-six to Timbuktu album.

And that's before we leave the decade, so there's plenty more tasty stuff in the archives, so if you're interested, swing over to Robin's website, before is disappears, or cross your fingers that those nice chaps at HNE Recordings are working on Vol II & more.

Heartline - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E_EsG5xnHKM
19 (with Phil Lynott & Brian Downey) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i56yVSAWEcs

Jethro Tull - Curious Ruminant  (2025)

Well, again, it's more an Anderson "solo" than a tub-thumping Tull, but a canny album for all that. Anderson is contemplating [his] mortality (Interim Sleep) as well as being vaguely ecological (Savannah of Paddington)and mulling Jersualem (Over Jerusalem) while wisely being non-committal. I do really like The Tipu Tree, a pean to Barcelona as Budapest was to, well, Budapest.

Overall though, while to sound is "bright", it doesn't really sparkle; it is a flute & piano album really, the lyrics are delivered more as spoken-word poems these days and the rest of the band sound pretty much "air-brushed" over old instrumental demos. Only the title track sounds like Tull of old, with new-boy Jack Clark given some elbow room on guitar.

Steven Wilson - The Overview  (2025)

Two tracks, totalling 42+ minutes, must be a prog album then. Well,  Steven Wilson has been flirting with the idea long enough, and lets face it, he's been remastering many a band and album that have done that, but still, it's a bold decision, to go further than no proggie has progged before... [Sorry, couldn't resist...]

So, what's Space-boy here come up with in his cosmic deliberations? First off, it's an album that works better as a vinyl rather than continuous CD play as "side 1" gives us a microcosm while "side 2" is the macrocosm.
Objects Outlive Us, is an outsider view, from space, of our everyday lives and echoes more bands like Camel & Nektar with multi-instrumentalism a la Mike Oldfield; while lyrics supplied by XTC's Andy Partridge stir a sort of "Eleanor Rigby" ordinariness to the section Objects: Meanwhile.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c0KhmJwJzDc

Side 2, The Overview then is a study of the macrocosm “Space is big. You just won't believe how vastly, hugely, mind-bogglingly big it is. I mean, you may think it's long way down the road to the chemist's, but that's just peanuts to space.” Though Mrs Wilson narrates the more scientific facts in a suitably cold narrative; redolent of Vangelis' "Albedo 0.39". So, combine this with some Tangerine Dream and a dash of drum&bass and essentially you have the 2nd side/track. While the 2 obviously complement, they're tracks that run together. Clever; Major Tom would heartily approve.

PS what are jaxonsaxes?

Eric Johanson - Live In Mississippi (2025)

Dropped through the door a couple of days ago; thought it was coming from RUF in Germany instead, came from the man himself in New Orleans.

Oddly for a RUF Records "Live", it's not a "Songs from The Road", so I'm guessing that Eric has more business to send our way.

Edit: - fast forward a couple of days and a couple dozen plays...
I'm guessing Biloxi; Mississippi gets pretty warm in August; then along comes Eric Johanson & band and from the sounds of this live platter, the temperature must have shot through the roof. Tight, pounding backline and that guitar: that's why Eric remains one of my few "must see" players, whether it's his own material, stuff borrowed from his mate Cyril Neville or a classic slice of Dr John. Even when eric swaps to Resonator he's still means business. You could say, in terms of guitar, that he plays a "deusy".. in fact he does, a Duesenburg Starplayer.

Galaxy Girl (live; Biloxi, Aug 2024) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A5yLtUdZjPs

Erja Lyytinen - Smell The Roses  (2025)

Don't be fooled by Erja's chic new look on the album cover; it may be a departure from the warrior queen of the previous couple of releases, but she is still on her mission to push her creative boundaries. What has changed on the album has been erja's approach to the recording; it's a lot more bare-bones than the previous couple of albums, stripping back the layers of strings, keyboards and multiple guitar overdubs. This is in response to Erja's love of vinyl from the 1960s & 70s; “While mixing the album, we used some analogue gear like a two-track tape machine to get a fat and warm sound on the album. This sound and the organic way of creating music speaks to me a lot.”

The message behind the songs on this album then is clear and straight forward, "smell the roses"; stop playing silly beggers and look around us and take in all the good. Several plays of the new album, and this is a fragrant garden of roses.  "There are songs about encountering deep sorrow, meaning getting the blues and subsequently going to hell. Topics like forgiveness, hope, lust, loss and betrayal have been inspiring my songs along with my love for nature. I wanted to add a bit of mystery to some of the songs too,” she says. “There are some puzzles you need to put together yourself.”

Smell The Roses - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lGcF_rSnwgs&t=8s
Abyss - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Baey57G_-eo
The Ring - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YPzaZUpYICI

Just as side note, toward the end of 2024, Erja took part in Finland's Masked Singer, with songs like "Master of Puppets," by Metallica, "Running up That Hill," by Kate Bush and "Hallelujah" by Jeff Buckley. The latter recorded as a single, so get diving into YouTube.
She also larked the 20th Anniversary release of her debut album Wildflower with a concert in helsinki and double, live album, 20 Years of Blues Rock.

Hawkwind - Gateshead Glass House 17th April 2025

Looked forward to this for a while, those Warriors on the Edge of Time, Hawkwind, getting downright respectable and playing The Sage (Dammit, can't get used to that name change.) Always going to be a visual as well as aural treat, but this time there was the legendry laser show...

In terms of support bands, down the years you've never known what to expect, and this year it was a Cornish six-piece Hanterhir, a sort of "underground, folk-ish band" who had a really good vibe. Thing is, I don't know if they did any sea-shanties as they sometimes lapse into their native Cornish, and until last night, I'd never heard the language spoken, live, let alone sung.

And then, all the day-glo flags & banners were out and lit, and the psychedelic warlords ambled onto the stage. Essentially, there are two types of Hawkwind gig, the heavier, rocking one and the more ambient one; this started off more toward the latter as they started the show presenting newer, newish and new material as the laser-beams danced over the heads of the audience.
It wasn't really until the double-whammy of Assault & Battery and Golden Void until they really dug in, and then Dave Brock's trusty amp of [only] 30 years gave out. However, we're talking masters of the lost-chord improve jam here, so any delay was covered until the guys picked up Psi Power and we were off into Spirit of The Age.

And that might have been it, a 90 minute set, until Dave B realised there was ages to go until the venue's curfew, so Steppenwolf was wheeled out, as was Urban Guerrilla. While the band huddled as to what else, and believe me, some deep-dive numbers were called out, Magnus played an impromptu 2 verses of Fog On The Tyne which awarded him a life-time supply of Greggs finest. This extended the set to a goodly 2 hours that had us all ecstatic.

Even though they didn't play it, walking home, feeling distinctly "Steppenwolf" and accompanying myself "I've got a washing machine" though there was a "Lost Johnny" feeling, using the underpass at the end of Tyne Bridge.

So, 45 years from first-to-last, and Hawkwind still have the power to amaze and beguile, whether it's eye-searing light shows or erotic dancers and long may they deliver their blend of pounding, tribal rhythms with discordant tweets and tweeks over semi-improvised Space Rock.

hanterhir - Songs We Learned In Cornish (2019)

Picked this up from the merch table on Thursday; would have picked a couple others but it was "cash only" on the night. First impressions? Well, the title reminds of The Everly Brothers, "Songs Our Daddy Taught Us". Not that this is full of close duo harmonies, rather, songs the band has performed over the years, in the kernewek, Cornish language. I'm not even going to pretend I know what the songs are about and even the titles mean hitting Google-Translate, but the melodies are infectious and the cadence of the language is compelling. Worth checking out.

"Arloedthes a'n Lydn" - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iRvkQ2aGBvM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cDtdAx52MfU

henterhir - The Saving of Cadan  2019

Now here's one for you, a folk-ish, neo-prog concept album, from Cornwall, as only a Hawkwind support band could produce.

"What's it about?" You cry...
Well, 'tis the story about a boy, Cadan, who tries to drown himself in a lake on Carn Marth and gets saved by a wicked spirit who was cursed to the lake (The Lady of the Lake or Morwenna)”.

"What does it sound like?"
Well little one, 'twas recorded over an extended period in a Methodist chapel, a llama farm, a cricket club and, just to be on the safe side, a conventional studio, the album is the first fruit of a relationship with internationally renowned and Cornwall-based Easy Action Records.

"No, who does it sound like?"
Hmm, on first listening, Jethro Tull scrapping with The Church for a recording deal with 4AD.

"Tell me more.."
Great vocal performance, but too much echo, atmospheric but I feel the sound of a recording in a cavern distracted a little bit. The saxophone element that pops up throughout also reminds be of Van der Graaf Generator, it seems to combine the best of historic progressive music and the indefinable that was called indie. In terms of instrumentation the horses have not been spared, but when translated to the recording they also go unwasted. Reminding me of Arcade Fire, with a touch of Daniel Lanois production.

"A double CD (or 5 sides of vinyl}, any stand-outs?"
As Freddie Mercury said, “If something’s worth doing, it’s worth overdoing”. However, my choices: - "The Fisherman"; "Worlds Apart"; Mowenna & The Lamb"; "Or Without You"; "Sorrow Goes".