|
|
|||
|
Welcome to our
December 2019 newsletter! |
|||
 |
 |
 |
 |
| Win Thunder CDs! | |||
|
The band play two dates pre-Christmas at Birmingham Academy (20th
Dec) and Manchester Academy (21st Dec). |
|||
|
|||
| The Best of 2019 - Vote for your favourites from 9 December | |||
|
We've published our
annual "Best of" selections UFO - celebrating their 50th anniversary - were nominated 'Top Live Act' whilst 'Breakthrough Act' of the year is Collateral who release their debut album in February. Completing the categories - which also includes the top albums in various main genres - is Top Reissue. This year several reviewers recommended Rory Gallagher 'Blues'. You can vote for your own favourites and nominate unlisted artists and albums from Monday 9 December. The poll results will be announced on Sunday 22 December in a special two-hour show on Get Ready to ROCK! Radio which will feature many of the selections. Photo: Andy Nathan |
|||
| Albums of the month (October - December 2019) | |||
 BUCK AND EVANS Write A Better Day (Departure Records) …feels like an old school album crafted with contemporary values. Given enough airplay this impressive debut album should help a truly excellent band make a big splash in the rock market. **** (Pete Feenstra)
KRIS BARRAS BAND Light It Up (Provogue) Kris Barras is that rare thing, an artist who stamps his own DNA on an album full of different styles and influences. He’s a passionate performer, a thoughtful songwriter and a ripping guitarist and all the elements combine splendidly here on a top class album. **** (Pete Feenstra)
CHASING THE MONSOON No Ordinary World …if you like highly melodic/mildly ambient rock spiced with just a soupçon of World elements, and appreciate fine female vocals, then No Ordinary World is a brilliantly produced album you’ll want to revisit time, and time again. ***** (Pete Whalley)
STEVE HACKETT Genesis Revisited Band & Orchestra (Inside Out) A totally immersive experience and an object lesson in consummate musicianship from all concerned. ***** (Alan Jones)
THE DEFIANTS Zokuscho (Frontiers) …a memorable set of songs, delivered with freshness and swagger, which it will be hard to top in the end of year melodic rock best ofs. **** 1/2 (Andy Nathan) |
|||
|
|
|||
| Albums that time forgot | |||
|
A regular weekly feature on Get Ready to ROCK! Radio showcases those albums we feel should have commanded wider attention and appraisal. Two tracks are played Monday-Friday (18:00-19:00 GMT). We mention here a couple of those albums selected in recent months. Where possible we cross-refer to an archive GRTR! review. |
|||
|
MAGNUM Sleepwalking (1992) The band rarely play tracks live but their second studio album of the 1990s is a neglected gem Magnum's first post-Polydor album was self produced by the band's Tony Clarkin and set up the band's modus operandi for future recordings. If Magnum never quite recaptured the commercial success of the late-eighties it must also be seen against the musical climate: the rise of grunge and the temporary eclipse of straight-forward melodic rockers, the more so if they sometimes harboured proggy undertones. "Sleepwalking" yielded some great tracks and is a worthy successor to their Polydor swansong "Goodnight LA" but often underrated even by fans still bewildered by their failed bid for USA recognition. The "classic" band line-up split in 1995 to reform - newly reconfigured - at the start of the millennium. Since this time they have gone from strength to strength and now with a substantially new line-up have announced their 21st studio album for January release, to be followed by a UK tour in March.
ALAN PARSONS The Time Machine (1999) Great production values allied to impeccable musicianship Released in 1999 as an Alan Parsons solo album - rather than The Alan Parsons Project - 'The Time Machine' was really business as usual. The core musicians were those APP stalwarts Ian Bairnson and Stuart Elliott joined by previous collaborators Colin Blunstone and Chris Rainbow with Tony Hadley and Beverley Craven.
With a handful of
cool instrumentals, the still relevant
'The Call Of The Wild' (sung by Clannad's Maire Brennan), and Parsons'
deft knob-twiddling make for a sumptuous
listen. |
|||
|
|
|||
 |
|||
| Photo: David Randall | |||
| A Month in ROCK! (6 December 2019 - 5 January 2020) | |||
|
|||
| What's happening? | |||
| Have you checked out our comprehensive gig and tour listings? Never miss another gig! | |||
|
|
|||
|
Our previous newsletter was October 2019. We hope you enjoy this occasional mailing but it can be cancelled at any time by following the unsubscribe link below. |
|||
|
Reviews | Radio | Privacy Policy | Copyright | Unsubscribe | Old news | © 2019 Get Ready to ROCK! All rights reserved. |
|||
