Lately, a few members of CAMEL opened their archives to expose various aspects of the English ensemble’s creativity. The latest to join the very commendable trend is bassist Colin Bass who, on his Bandcamp page has issued what is titled “Pious” and subtitled “Jams From The Vaults Vol. 1”: three pieces, credited to HARRY’S JAM BAND, that capture the collective in free flight, rehearsing and and improvising on the spot. A great idea to be putting it all out.
How THE DARKNESS became so popular remains a mystery to this scribe who watched the British band, two weeks prior to the release of their debut, at Wembley, struggling, and failing, to deliver swagger they wanted to show when opening for LYNYRD SKYNYRD and DEEP PURPLE. Still, it’s easy to see the young group’s appeal, and there should be great interest for the 20th Anniversary Edition of their sophomore album, the Roy Thomas Baker-produced “One Way Ticket To Hell… And Back”: an expanded variant of it that takes four CDs now.
It was not his first band, but early ’90s saw Robert Kane front an incarnation of THE ANIMALS led by Hilton Valentine and John Steel, a stint to which the singer dedicated five years to in, as it turned out, preparation for another gig, one with DR. FEELGOOD. He joined the trio of instrumentalists, who had worked with Lee Brilleaux, in 1999 and stayed with the pub rock legends ever since, releasing a couple studio records and a few reports from the stage. What the warbler hasn’t done over five decades of his career was a solo album – and he corrected that lapse a couple of days ago.
Carl Perkins may have left this mortal coil 27 years ago, yet his legacy lives on, which is hardly surprising given how many of the American artist’s songs form a core of rock ‘n’ roll vocabulary. Carl’s catalogue is well-known, so it’s rather amazing that there can be something unheard in his vaults – and there is, indeed. Or was – because October 24th will see release of a follow-up to the guest-infested “Go Cat Go!” from 1996.
Gary Numan has always stood out against other electronic rock artists in terms of using real musicians and natural instruments on his platters and onstage. It’s logical, but also staggering, then, that his discography includes so many concert albums, from 1979’s “Living Ornaments” to “A Perfect Circle” which saw the light of day in July 2025. The latter documented the veteran’s performance at Wembley in 2022, yet on April 15th, 2023 Gary played his thousandth show, so again, it’s logical but also staggering to find there will be a new Numan recording, done in London, released rather soon.
