THRESHOLD Release Report From Rock Hard Festival

August 3, 2026

There’s no shortage of THRESHOLD concert recordings – in fact, their live-to-studio albums ratio is 7:12 and is about to become 2:3 with the issue of “Live At Rock Hard 2025” on September 4th, which will nevertheless be a special one. When the British band hit the stage of Amphitheatre in Gelsenkirchen, Germany on June 7th of the titular year, it was their third appearance there – and their first with singer Glynn Morgan; the prog-metal ensemble planned to play there in 2024 but had to postpone their performance, so fans greeted the guests with a lot of warmth.

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Geoff Downes And Chris Braide Break The Trend

August 2, 2026

Geoff Downes and Chris Braide, collectively known as DOWNES-BRAIDE ASSOCIATION love to play with their listener’s mind, so at least three of the duo’s albums – "Skyscraper Souls" from 2017, 2021’s "Halcyon Hymns" and "Celestial Songs" from 2023 – had at least one thing in common, apart from music: phonetical, if not strictly visual, alliteration of the titles. Or two things, if you add Roger Dean’s artwork, which is also a feature on the friends’ forthcoming offering, set to be issued in CD and vinyl form on September 25th under the title of “Trauma” that breaks this first-letter trend.

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Pat Boone Leads Peers On Homage To Holly, Big Bopper And Valens

August 1, 2026

Known universally as the Day the Music Died, February 3rd, 1959 saw Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and The Big Bopper enter immortality. Not fading away as they might if not for the fatal plane crash, the rock ‘n’ roll upstarts became an influence not only on the future generation of artists but also on their peers. And now some of these – led by Pat Boone and including such luminaries as Frankie Avalon and Chris Montez – covered 31 one of the fallen heroes classics.

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THE BLUES BAND Celebrate Anniversary With (Mostly) Live Box Set

July 31, 2026

It takes a lot of talent – and panache – to turn a group’s description into their name, but then THE BLUES BAND had it all from the off. When erstwhile Manfred Mann‘s sidekicks – or, rather, front men – Paul Jones and Tom McGuinness decided to join forces again in 1979 and called on Dave Kelly, Gary Fletcher and Hughie Flint to round off the collective, they immediately became a great attraction, especially on-stage. Which was why the ensemble’s debut, “Official Blues Band Bootleg Album” from 1980, featured a mix of studio and live cuts – and which is why a forthcoming box set titled “Boom Boom”, not after a John Lee Hooker staple yet rather after a Little Walter one, focuses on the veterans’ concerts as well.

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Richard Thompson Feeds On Fantasies On Fresh Album

July 30, 2026

Sixty years is a great span for one’s career, especially when said career is as steady as Richard Thompson has been, and though his records can hardly surprise any listener now, they remain solid works which never fail to impress. Sometimes the veteran seems to stop and think about next steps, and Richard’s last album, "Ship To Shore" was about seven years in the making, its successor will appear a little more than two years after that, on October 16th – and “Hippies, Thugs And Heroes” may harbor quite a few unexpected things.

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