Gary Shea Publishes An Account Of His Life

March 23, 2025

Every musician is a storyteller who’s able to weave a riveting yarn not only through his performance – only the allure of such a tale varies a lot, depending on how prominent the artist’s profile is and who they worked with. When it comes to Gary Shea, there’s quite an interest in what he has to say, given the bassist’s role as a founding member not of one but of two popular collectives, NEW ENGLAND and ALCATRAZZ, and playing alongside the idiosyncratic figures like of Yngwie Malmsteen and Vinnie Vincent. No wonder the veteran decided to write a memoir, the book seeing the light of day in April.

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ROCKING HORSE MUSIC CLUB And Tony Banks Honor Kerouac

March 21, 2025

No strangers to conceptual thinking as 2022’s "Circus Of Wire Dolls" demonstrated in style, ROCKING HORSE MUSIC CLUB have never attempted straightforward use of literary sources, and that’s something the New Hampshire ensemble are set to change with their new album. Scheduled to be issued on May 9th, “The Last Pink Glow: An Interpretation of Jack Kerouac’s The Haunted Life” is a homage to the titular author’s lost-and-restored novel, written in 1944 and published only seventy years down the line, with a musical piece bearing the book’s title co-penned by GENESIS’ own Tony Banks who also plays on it.

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New Book Charts Blues Giants Grace Manchester Scene

March 21, 2025

There were several centers or music scenes in the late ’50s and early ’60s Britain, but it was mostly London happenings that were more or less extensively documented – to an extent where photographic testaments of what was going down didn’t get limited to local press at the time. This is why “Boom Boom Boom Boom: American Rhythm & Blues In England 1962-1966” – a forthcoming volume focusing primarily on Manchester as captured by lenses of one Brian Smith – feels so alluring. Published a few days ago, it’s a unique collection of rare images, finely restored and well research, which caught many a familiar face in their natural habitat.

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DIRE STRAITS Mark The “Brothers” Anniversary With Fresh Edition

March 20, 2025

To attribute the immense success of DIRE STRAITS‘ “Brothers In Arms” to the advent of MTV and the appearance of “Money For Nothing” as the channel’s inaugural video in Europe, but that would mean to diminish the significance of the British ensemble’s steady ascent in the preceding seven years. It was that gradual crystallization of their style and sound that allowed the band to arrive at the melodic and lyrical level which made the nine pieces of their fifth full-length offering so irresistible, with Mark Knopfler’s vision reaching zenith – and, unfortunately, pointing to the finish of the collective’s run. They would reunite, following the first breakup, for one more platter and subsequent tours, yet the 1985 longplay remains the group’s finest hour. Strangely, the record’s reissues didn’t do the original any justice, the cramming of the songs onto CD leading to truncated length of a few tracks – so the 40th anniversary resurfacing of this classic will feel more than welcome.

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ST JOHNS WOOD AFFAIR Front Up Sophomore Longplay

March 20, 2025

ST JOHNS WOOD AFFAIR‘s self-titled debut was one of the most perilously charming platters of 2023 – perilous because psychedelia that Keith Smart’s ensemble offer conceals an element of risk their listener, of course, is more than willing to take, which is not surprising given its alluring melodic layer. What’s also no surprising is the fact of the English band not taking a lot of their sweet time to come up with a follow-up album which will expose the players being bent on rocking raw as opposed to the combo’s usual polished sonics.

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