If there ever was a British – well, Welsh – artist who carried on flying a flag for rock ‘n’ roll when the genre seemed to be in decline, particularly in the ’60s, it would be Shakin’ Stevens. Although many may see him as one of a commercial stripe, the veteran has always been true to what made him tick and jive, successfully so, and he’s been making an impressive comeback lately, which will result in the release of a new album on April 28th.
Probably, not a lot of people knew him as a doyen of the Manchester music scene, yet every classic rock connoisseur – and many millions of listeners who don’t pretend to be aficionados – heard the voice of Victor Brox, that profound vocals intoning “Ah gentlemen, you know why we are here” in the original version of “Jesus Christ Superstar” where the Englishman sang the part of the High Priest Caiaphas. Brox, who passed away on February 20th at the age of 81, could also be called the High Priest of British blues for he indeed always knew why he was here, in this world.
Once upon a long ago, there was a glam-rock ensemble in London called MERLIN – comprising such now-known musicians as keyboardist Robert Webb and guitarist Jamie Moses – whose sole album, released in 1974, was produced by Roger Greenaway and engineered by Geoff Emerick, which means they had a bright future… only they had not. And in the spring of the following year Moses and Webb joined forces with three players from Southend-on-Sea, one of those being singer Nigel Benjamin, and named this outfit ROYCE.
Even if it wasn’t so strong, with classics such as “Dirty Linen” and “Sloth” among its tracks, 1970’s “Full House” would stand out in FAIRPORT CONVENTION‘s canon, because this platter was their first to not feature female lead – as Sandy Denny followed Judy Dyble in leaving the ensemble to seek fuller realization in other music ventures – and first with Dave Pegg in the ranks, and it would be their last with Richard Thompson in the line-up. But it was strong, ringing down the years to such an extent that 2022 Cropredy festival saw the band perform the album in its entirety.
AYREON, STAR ONE, AMBEON, THE GENTLE STORM, GUILT MACHINE: the long list of Arjen Anthony Lucassen‘s projects always keeps on growing, and while not every one of these can lent itself to such on-stage extravaganza as "Ayreon Universe" where many musicians join forces to deliver the Dutch artist’s vision, each concept of his is extremely interesting. That’s why the upcoming first album from SUPERSONIC REVOLUTION, Lucassen’s latest endeavor is bound to find a lot of followers.
