Interview with Jimmy Helms

September 23, 2025

What Jimmy Helms has been doing for many years seems nigh on impossible. His name might be familiar to a lot of listeners, yet quite a few of them can see and admire the entire roadmap of the veteran’s musical adventures. The listeners associating the worldwide-famous singer with LONDONBEAT, a band Jimmy still fronts, are hardly aware of his prog-rock-related credentials, and those who heard Helms in such projects as “The Butterfly Ball” would not be sure whether it was Jimmy or his namesake that took a soul classic “Gonna Make You An Offer” to the charts. But a sample spin of his recordings will convince everyone: there’s only one, and only, Jimmy Helms.

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John Halsey Of THE RUTLES And PATTO Puts Out Solo Debut

September 21, 2025

With all the talk about SPINAL TAP, many people tend to forget – or don’t know it in the first place – that this combo had been preceded by THE RUTLES whose onscreen line-up featured a couple bona fide musicians. One of them, cast in the role of Barry Wom, was “Admiral” John Halsey, a drummer with solid credentials as a member of TIMEBOX and PATTO and credits on Lou Reed’s “Transformer” and a few other notable records. The veteran couldn’t boast of solo releases, though – until now.

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Jimi Jamison’s 1998 Stage Shows Emerge On Disc

September 19, 2025

There have been quite a few solo concert releases during Jimi Jamison‘s lifetime – but none appeared since the American singer’s untimely passing eleven years ago, and it’s something that will be remedied on December 12th, when a CD titled “1998 Live Hits” is to see the light of day. Recorded over three nights – in Little Rock, Nashville and Bettendorf – and featuring several musicians who had worked with the warbler back in the ’70s in TARGET, this album consists mostly of SURVIVOR classics, yet a couple of rarities found their way into his setlist too.

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Lonnie Mack’s Lost Concert Ready For Release

September 19, 2025

Influential as he was in the guitar circles, it’s quite surprising that there not a lot of Lonnie Mack onstage recordings. In fact, there are only two, documenting the veteran’s performances from 1983 and 1989, with the former dating back to the American artist’s barren years, the period when he played occasionally, in small venues, in front of punters who could hardly appreciate the master’s talent. And while the late six-stringer’s fans still hope for something from the ’70s to surface one day, a report from the ’90s is about to emerge.

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THE CARS Map Out “Heartbeat City” For Deluxe Edition

September 17, 2025

When it came to their fifth album, THE CARS were seasoned hitmakers, but the band must have felt stagnant in terms of creative approach. Cue changes – slight softening of sound and the invitation sent to Mutt Lange, whose pop expertise would supplant Roy Thomas Baker’s perspective applied to the ensemble’s previous platters – which made “Heartbeat City” a firm favorite with worldwide audience. While their first four longplays came in on a yearly basis, this one appeared three years after “Shake It Up” that spawned a few memorable songs, yet those would pale in comparison to “Drive” – and there’s no better reason for choosing the group’s offering from 1984 as inaugural work for deluxe treatment of their catalogue.

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