Steve Harley & COCKNEY REBEL’s “Best Years” Gets Upgraded

April 22, 2025

It’s a matter of taste whether to consider 1975’s “The Best Years Of Our Lives” the best Steve Harley & COCKNEY REBEL album, yet there’s no denying this platter’s popularity – for no other reason than the presence among the record’s tracks of the British ensemble’s signature single “Make Me Smile (Come Up And See Me)” that topped the UK charts back in the day and spawned a plethora of covers. The band’s first longplay to separate their singer’s name from the rest of musicians, whose number included the fantastic guitarist Jim Cregan and stellar drummer Stuart Elliott, has seen quite a few reissues, but the one to be out on June 20th must become the ultimate re-release.

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WAR Drill Into The Making Of “Why Can’t We Be Friends?”

April 22, 2025

While “You Can’t Have Too Much Of War” may sound militaristic, it’s certainly true when WAR is a name of one of the greatest soul-funk ensembles. Last two years saw a sort of start for their reissue programme, which, in addition of regular rereleases packaged into box sets, captivated fans first with a slightly belated 50th anniversary edition of “The World Is A Ghetto” and “Live In Japan 1974” tapes, and will now offer a jubilee variant of the fantastic “Why Can’t We Be Friends?” album.

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Ken Boothe Pairs Up With Jah Wobble For Platter Of Perennials

April 20, 2025

Jah Wobble‘s been a Jamaican music aficionado for most of his life, the Englishman love for reggae apparent as early on as the first PiL record, so it’s rather thrilling to see the bassist team up with one of the genre’s veterans, Ken Boothe for an album of cover songs. Titled “Old Fashioned Ways” after the latter’s 1969 classic whose reimagining is included here alongside other perennials, it will be issued on June 27th.

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ALICE COOPER: The Band Return With A Vengeance On New Album

April 19, 2025

The band called ALICE COOPER might have ceased to exist fifty years ago, but the last quarter-century saw regular reunions of the surviving old friends – not only on stage but also in the studio, most notably on three tracks of the former Vincent Furnier’s “Welcome 2 My Nightmare” from 2011 – with “Live from the Astroturf” from 2022 showing the undying creative telepathy between Alice, guitarist Michael Bruce, drummer Neal Smith and bassist Dennis Dunaway. However, an entirely new record from this ensemble wasn’t something their fans ever counted on, and yet July 25th will see the appearance of “The Revenge Of Alice Cooper” whose tracks include archival parts from the late Glen Buxton.

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Tony Patterson And Doug Melbourne Pay Their Ultimate Tribute To Peter Gabriel

April 18, 2025

There’s nothing wrong in expressing one’s love for certain artists via performing their music, but while most of those who play covers outgrow it and become musicians in their own right, some entertainers, in addition to original material, find fresh ways to interpret their heroes’ oeuvre. That’s what happened with two former members of ReGENESIS, Tony Patterson and Doug Melbourne, who, over the last six years, recorded a triplet of remarkable albums, yet still return, over and over again, to the collection of Peter Gabriel‘s solo songs they first laid down almost two decades ago. Out in 2007, “Excellent Words” saw a remastered and expanded reissue in 2018, and will reappear as a definitive version, subtitled “Peter Gabriel Reimagined” – with extra tracks, although without “Here Comes The Flood” – on May 9th.

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