Kip Winger is no stranger to classical music – he studied composition before shooting to fame as a writer, performer and leader of WINGER and continued to do so after attaining a star status. This artist’s symphonic debut was 2008’s “Ghost” – a suite, which would become a ballet – that “Conversations With Nijinsky” followed up on in 2016. Ten years forward, and there’s another orchestral work is ready for release on April 10th.
It’s been a little more than three years since Kim Simmonds left this mortal coil, leaving a stunning number of recordings, with and without SAVOY BROWN, and a lot of untold stories – the tales he was planning to share with the world in a book yet didn’t have time to finish the tome, which will finally be published on January 21st.
A few years ago an interesting project emerged from Germany – masterminded by sound engineer Tom Morgenstern and dedicated to honoring the music of the great Anthony Phillips, it was, and is named, THE ANT BAND. There were fan favorites and rarities on the collective’s debut, “A Light On The Hill” from 2021 – which even saw Steve Hackett chime in – and 2022’s “Bonus Bits & Blunders” provided a companion piece to that album. Given those were done in pandemic conditions, not a lot of people would bet the Deutsch band would continue – yet they did.
After decades of enchanting fans, RENAISSANCE bade goodbye to their fans at the end of 2024, and even though the ensemble unexpectedly returned to the stage last year, when Annie Haslam and Jim McCarty faced the audience with spellbinding talk and musical performances – one of of those appearances was filmed and will be released, accompanied with audio discs, this summer, – it’s officially over. Of course, given that the veterans’ endeavors during the last road treks used to be documented, there’s no surprise in the upcoming release of the “In Gratitude: Farewell Tour” set, which preserves for posterity, on two CDs, their show in Collingswood, New Jersey, from October 26th, 2024.
The ’80s weren’t too kind to Donovan Leitch, and he retired from studio projects after “Lady Of The Stars” was out in 1984. It would take the veteran another twelve years to come up with “Sutras” – the the Rick Rubin-produced album that demonstrated public respect for the singer-songwriter, even though the platter didn’t find any commercial success – but 1990 saw the artist try and get back on track with a record which PolyGram passed up on and which his manager attempted to release as a bootleg. Titled “One Night In Time” and originally issued on cassette to accompany a fanzine, that artifact has seen the light of day now, as part of the great Scot’s celebration of his six decades in the business.
