Welcome to our June 2019 newsletter!
 

Here's your chance to win the 4-LP Box Set from BMG celebrating EMERSON, LAKE & PALMER and spanning three decades.

We have one Box Set to giveaway.

The box set features 4 discs pressed on 'galaxy effect' coloured vinyl and includes tracks from all the key original albums. A 12-page insert contains sleeve notes from Chris Welch and new photos.

The collection has been digitally mastered from HD sources and at half-speed for superior sound quality.

>> Check out our review and track listing. (Competition closes 30 June).

STOP PRESS!! Win Rewind Scotland tickets (19-21 July) More...
 

Get Ready to ROCK! has a great reputation for key summer festival coverage and the intrepid Hollie Latham packed tent and tucker to attend this year's Bearded Theory event, held in Catton Hall, Derbyshire at the end of May.  Amongst the artists appearing this year were Little Steven & the Disciplies Of Soul, The Dreadnoughts, Dreadzone and Idlewild.

Our melodic rock master Andy Nathan has headed to Malmo for the first Swedish AOR Convention and his extensive report features reviews of Scandinavian melodic rockers such as Hank Erix, Bad Habit, Coastland Ride, and many more.

Andy will also be reporting on this year's Download whilst other reviewers will be packing their macintoshes for Cornbury, Steelhouse (July) and Stonedeaf (August).

And Dave Atkinson covered this year's Camden Rocks (1/2 June).  We do edgy, too, you know!

>> More information

Photo: Hollie Latham

ERJA LYYTINEN Another World (Tuohi Records) [Release Date 26.04.19]

From the tension building intensity and a harmony guitar break of ‘Hard As Stone’ to the gently paced ‘Without You’, with its angst filled and guitar driven finale, ‘Another World’ shows you the many facets of a Finland’s polymath who derives her musical accomplishment from a willingness to experiment.

**** (Review by Pete Feenstra)
 

REBECCA DOWNES More Sinner Than Saint (Mad Hat Records) [Release date 24.05.19]

Rebecca Downes has a powerful vocal, which backed by a set of talented musicians and strong songs, should see her gain the wider recognition she deserves.

**** (Review by Jason Ritchie)

DIAMOND HEAD The Coffin Train Silver Lining Music [Release date: 24.05.19]

This album will be divisive. For die hards, it will be tough to swallow. It is not NWOBHM and it certainly is not the successor to ‘Lightning…’, but taken in its own right, albeit with enough nods to the roots, this is a fine, well crafted and powerful album. Massive respect to Tatler for sticking to his values and finding a contemporary sound to alloy with his metallic instincts.

**** (Review by Dave Atkinson)

MICHAEL THOMPSON BAND Love & Beyond (Frontiers) [Release Date 26.04.19]

If you don’t need an instant fix, are drawn to the mellower side of the melodic rock spectrum, and appreciate quality playing and singing, here is your album of the year.

****1/2 (Review by Andy Nathan)

BIG BIG TRAIN Grand Tour English Electric [Release date 17.05.19]

Big Big Train have a wonderful knack of not only creating marvellous epic songs, but equally they are masters of producing melodic rock/pop like ‘Alive’. With its train-like rhythm courtesy of a mellotron and upbeat lyrics, it makes it one of the band’s best songs to date. A real ‘pick me up’ song, complete with a 70’s prog feel...Big Big Train inform, educate and entertain on the ‘Grand Tour’, with musical and lyrical treats to be found throughout this magnificent opus. 

****1/2 (Review by Jason Ritchie)

IZZ Don't Panic (Doone Records) [Release date 21.05.19]

Izz aren’t a band who offer instant fixes, their work requiring the investment of repeated listening to get the very best out of it.  And with a modicum of perseverance, Don’t Panic – which boasts some of the most accomplished playing, and one of finest productions you’ll hear this year -slowly reveals riches that will surely merit an album of the year nomination.

***** (Review by Pete Whalley)

PRINCE Originals (Warner Bros.) [Release date 21.06.19]

Serving not only as an educational tool, highlighting Prince’s versatility, ‘Originals’ is sequenced like a genuine album and with a little imagination, the listener could almost believe this was an unheard album put together by Prince himself.

**** (Review by Philip Beamon)

>> Albums of the Month (January - March 2019)

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.

>> More information

>> Album review

EARTHPRAYER Nine Days (2011)

Earthprayer featured Heidi Jo Hines on vocals, the daughter of Wings/Moody Blues guitarist Denny Laine.  The band developed from a chance meeting in Camden Town during an open mic night at the start of the millennium.  After releasing their first album  - and in spite of positive reaction - the band split in 2014.

Pete Whalley, reviewing for Get Ready to ROCK!, described "an album packed with powerful, back to basics rock - soulful vocals, killer guitar riffs and a driving rhythm section."

>> Album review (and archive interview)

• 1968 - Pink Floyd appear with Roy Harper and Jethro Tull (pictured) at the first Hyde Park free festival.  The following year, Blind Faith headlined.  The modern equivalent might be BST Hyde Park.  This year it takes place 12-14 July with Celine Dion, Barbra Streisand and Stevie Wonder.  But it's not free...
• 1970 - Hotlegs (pre-10cc) release 'Neanderthal Man' in the UK.
• 1971 - First Glastonbury Fayre (Festival) held with highlight David Bowie.  This year's event takes place 26-30 June.
• 1975 - Ritchie Blackmore leaves Deep Purple to form Rainbow.
• 1980 - Led Zeppelin begin final European tour.
• 1981 - Robert Fripp announces King Crimson reformation after seven years (The band play Royal Albert Hall 18-20 June).

>> More information

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