Julie Tippetts And Kevin Figes Offer “Happy Apples”

September 24, 2024

There are only a few chanteuses who exist in a class of their own, and Julie Tippetts, née Driscoll, is one of those unique performers, from her stint with Brian Auger to the present day, with each new platter from this singer uncovering another aspect of her talent. And if some of the projects Julie’s been involved in seemed to carve a separate niche for her music, such as collaborations with Martin Archer, Ms Tippets always finds fresh ways to shine – and that’s what she does embarking on another endeavor, with another reeds and ivories player, Kevin Figes.

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NEW ENGLAND Join Hirsh Gardner On Solo Album Number Three

September 23, 2024

Solo career has never seemed to be one of Hirsh Gardner‘s priorities. The American drummer best known for his work with NEW ENGLAND, in which he emerged as a top-notch songwriter and singer, and WARRIOR, in which Vinnie Vincent shot to fame, might have spent a few decades in producer’s chair, manning the board for the likes of Willie Nile, yet this millennium saw the veteran return to the fray and deliver a couple of records under his own name. 2002’s “Wasteland For Broken Hearts” and “My Brain Needs A Holiday” from 2017 didn’t make too much of a splash, though, despite critical acclaim that only confirmed what everybody knew anyway: Hirsh has one hell of a talent – and Gardner obviously was not in a hurry to quickly follow his debut – but the venerated performer believes the fortune can be on his side now, seven years further down the line.

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THE GATEKEEPERS Get Back To The Gates Of Time

September 22, 2024

Appearing in 2022, THE GATEKEEPERS‘ eponymous album didn’t feel like a debut at all – not because of the veteran guests’ presence but because it seemed to be an art-rock thing-in-itself, dealing with artists’ struggle, rather than a start of a musical series. Still, masterminded by American multi-instrumentalist and filmmaker Alex Wroten, the original idea could not get contained within a single piece of work and just had to develop into something all-encompassing, which is why November 15th will see the project’s second platter emerge to aim social critique at digital space.

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Danny Peyronel Dares Not Look Away On Second Solo Album

September 21, 2024

Best remembered for his contributions to the first two platters by HEAVY METAL KIDS – the band he would be fronting on 2003’s "Hit The Right Button" – and, even more so, to "No Heavy Petting" by UFO, vocalist and ivories master Danny Peyronel has done much, much more over his career than simply play. For the last-mentioned record, he penned “Highway Lady” and co-wrote “Can You Roll Her” with Phil Mogg and Andy Parker; for “Profiles” by Nick Mason and Rick Fenn, he composed, with the two main men, “Israel” that he voiced and “Lie For A Lie” that David Gilmour and Maggie Reilly sang; he created the title track for “Midnight At The Lost And Found” by Meat Loaf. Those are but a few of the veteran’s achievements that, surprisingly, include only one solo album, "Make The Monkey Dance" from 2004, and it took him two decades to deliver a follow-up.

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Peter Hammill Increases “Incoherence”

September 20, 2024

A score years ago, when Peter Hammill issued “Incoherence” to critical acclaim, it seemed like his usual pun, because the pieces on that language-focused album were linked together to flow rather coherently – quite fittingly for a CD-only release. The artist wasn’t too happy with how it sounded, yet a heart attack prevented him from exploring further possibilities – and those possibilities became necessary when Peter began pondering a vinyl variant of the record, which would require at least one split and, thus, a bit of remixing. Then, remixing became an idea onto itself because Hammill felt he could improve the original sonic template; more so, he also decided to try and turn the platter into a collection of individual songs.

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