Robben Ford’s Montreux Set To Be Out

October 5, 2024

If there ever was a guitarist whose genre allegiance has been impossible to define, it’s Robben Ford: and even a short list of artists he’s played with and for reveals the veteran’s stylistic unpredictability – and reliability too: Jimmy Witherspoon and STEELY DAN, Miles Davis and KISS. And of course, the American’s solo career, launched with appropriately titled “Schizophonic” back in 1976. Fast forward almost two decades, and Robben and his band THE BLUE LINE found themselves perform at the prestigious jazz festival in Montreux, their showcase focused in then-latest “Mystic Mile” album, and it’s this set that will be issued as a CD/DVD combo on November 1st.

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21st CENTURY SCHIZOID BAND To Release Catalonian Report

October 3, 2024

Last decades have seen a few KING CRIMSON tribute ensembles roaming international scene, including such notable collective as THE CRIMSON PROJEkcT which featured no less than four members of the parent group’s various line-ups. However, there used to be another formation which not only comprised four musicians from Robert Fripp’s team’s early variants but also one who would go to front the combo in their later years. Recently fans could enjoy a couple of that formation, 21st CENTURY SCHIZOID BAND‘s releases, preserved for posterity in Tokyo, Forli and New York, yet while those were reissues of the veterans’ “Official Bootleg” series, what will be out November 22nd doesn’t seem to have appeared previously.

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Ben Granfelt Rounds Up Esteemed Colleagues For Joint Effort

October 2, 2024

Mostly known by his tenures with LENINGRAD COWBOYS and WISHBONE ASH, Ben Granfelt‘s been building his solo career for two decades now, but he was never averse to an occasional collaboration with different musicians, None of those records, however, seemed to demonstrate the robustness of interface the Finnish guitarist provides in terns of trading licks with other masters of his trade as much as the veteran’s forthcoming album, laid down in the company of fellow six-stringer Thomas Blug and bassist Martin Engelien, does.

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Interview with Neil Carter

October 1, 2024

Embracing a serene way of life after spending a few decades under the banners of rock ‘n’ roll may feel difficult for many an artist, yet it was par for the course for Neil Carter who seemed quiet, if not shy, back in the days of playing the Reading Festival. He was content to be teaching music at a college and spending time with family – and then his past came calling, first with Gary Moore wanting the veteran to come back to the fold, and then, after Carter effectively retired, UFO needing him to return to action.

Given the pandemic which followed, it could have been Neil’s last hurrah, playing-wise, but that wasn’t how it all turned out.

Read the interview.
 

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Steve Hillage’s MIRROR SYSTEM Take On Cooder And Göttsching

September 29, 2024

Although Steve Hillage‘s name will forever be associated with GONG and, to a lesser extent, KHAN, it’s SYSTEM 7 and their chillout offshoot MIRROR SYSTEM that the legendary guitarist and his synth-wizard wife Miquette Giraudy have been heavily involved with for the last 35 years. But while the first of these latter ensembles release records often enough – still, a follow-up to 2020’s “Field Of Dreams” is a bit overdue – the second issued only four albums, and two of those appeared as a split platter with the parent collective. However, “Route 77” that is to be out on October 25th should pick up where 2015’s “N-Port” left off and offer ten fresh slices of ambient progressive electronica – with a twist.

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