Legendary and influential British singer and performer Arthur Brown will have his classic 1975 album Dance reissued in October. The remastered 2-CD package will feature 1 disc consisting of a rare 1975 BBC Radio One concert. The live show features 6 songs from the Dance album. The package will feature all original artwork reproduced, as well as added notes.
*For more info & to order, check out : https://www.cherryred.co.uk/product/arthur-brown-dance-expanded-and-remastered-cd-edition/
As a fan, I very much looking forward to this release – a 2CD compilation of John Lawton recordings. John was a great singer, and a great person. This first review of this album was posted by Richard Wagner – a fan and friend of John’s. With Richard’s permission I am sharing it here, along with a few images. Enjoy, and check out this release at the link below…
I’m a lucky guy who received a copy of the “Celebrating the Life of John Lawton” double-CD at the CD-launch party last Sunday (July 9).
And I must say I love it!
There are 33 songs on the two CDs which Iris Lawton personally selected. And don’t expect the typical Best Of. Far from that. There are songs which I never heard, some of them Iris found on old cassette tapes. All the music was beautifully mastered and sounds really good indeed.
The songs show John’s versatility, feeling and huge talent. His name really should be mentioned with the best of the best.
There are funny moments too, e.g. the Colgate toothpaste jingles sung in German or the impromptu “Mamma Lou” jam at a concert in Hamburg.
The front cover design and booklet paintings by Polish artist Damian Bydlinski are outstanding.
The booklet designed and put together by Iris has 15 pages and holds a lot of information and quite a number of photos. It is fun reading through the booklet like it was a vinyl cover in the old days 
. Iris tells where the songs originate from and also why she selected them.
I can only guess how hard and difficult it must have been for her to go through all these songs and hear John’s voice.
Thank you, Iris, you really did John proud.
A must have for those who know John and definitely a must have for those who are not so familiar with his voice and work.
To order: https://www.cherryred.co.uk/product/john-lawton-celebrating-the-life-of-john-lawton-2cd/
John Wetton’s solo catalogue is being released in box set format in November. This comes after the book An Extraordinary Life, as well as the John Wetton Tribute concert this week (August 3), which can also be live-streamed! Check out all the info below on the box set.
On 24th November the first in a series of box sets commemorating the life and music of one of the UK`s most extraordinary and prolific musicians, John Wetton, will be released.
The An Extraordinary Life box set contains 8 newly remastered CDs, featuring the six solo albums Wetton released between 1980 and 2011. Each album now includes special bonus tracks. Additionally, two further discs are included which feature a gold mine of rare, live and unreleased material from the vaults, compiled by John`s archivist, Rick Nelson.
*Check out trailer for the box set here:
Housed in a sumptuous 12” by 12” box, this set includes a 64-page book with an introduction by legendary artist, Roger Dean and contains comprehensive sleeve notes by Nick Shilton, author of Wetton’s biography, ‘An Extraordinary Life’, published earlier this year. The book also features a raft of photographs taken from the Wetton archive and has been designed by John’s long-time friend, Michael Inns.
This whole project has been lovingly crafted and compiled with the full blessing of John`s son Dylan and his wife Lisa and is endorsed by the Wetton estate.
With a career spanning more than four decades, John Wetton`s rich baritone voice and accomplished bass playing has adorned many recordings. In this ‘An Extraordinary Life’ his extensive solo career is captured for posterity all in one sumptuous box set, making this a fitting tribute to one of the UK most loved and respected artists.
An Extraordinary Life
DISC 1: Caught in The Crossfire (1980)
DISC 2: Battle Lines (1994)
DISC 3: Arkangel (1997)
DISC 4: Welcome to Heaven (2000)
DISC 5: Rock of Faith (2003)
DISC 6: Raised in Captivity (2011)
DISC 7: New Live and Unreleased Tracks
DISC 8: New Live and Unreleased Tracks
Pre-Order link:
LINKS:
Arguably Genesis finest album, Foxtrot was released in 1972. It is now being celebrated by former guitarist Steve Hackett, who’s latest tour has included performing the album with his band. Hackett in recent years has toured, performed and released a series of ‘Genesis Revisited‘ live albums celebrating the classic ’70s era of Genesis with Selling England By The Pound & Spectral Mornings: Live At Hammersmith (2020), and last year’s Seconds Out And More. Hackett’s band features singer Nad Sylvan, who does a remarkable job with the Peter Gabriel era songs. Check out the clip of “Wacther Of The Skies” below! Steve Hackett is coming to North America in the fall to perform Foxtrot at 50, looking forward to it. *See dates below. *For more on the upcoming Live release see the press info below….
Legendary guitarist Steve Hackett presents his brand-new live audio/visual extravaganza, with the release of ‘Foxtrot at Fifty + Hackett Highlights: Live in Brighton’, set for release on the 15th September 2023.
Filmed & recorded live on his 2022 UK tour, in the coastal city of Brighton, UK, this release documents Steve and his band celebrating the 50th anniversary of the much-loved Genesis album ‘Foxtrot’. Played in full, this album features fan favorites including ‘Watcher Of The Skies’ and ‘Supper’s Ready’. The show also features a set of Hackett solo material, including ‘The Devil’s Cathedral’ from his latest studio album ‘Surrender of Silence’, and the powerful ‘Ace of Wands’.
Shot by long time collaborator Paul Green, you can now watch the band perform ‘Watcher of the Skies’ –
Mixed by Chris Lord-Alge & mastered by Ted Jensen at Sterling Sound, the album is now available to pre-order on Ltd 2CD+Blu-ray & Ltd 2CD+2DVD, both including bonus behind the scenes interviews, as well as 5.1 surround sound. A Ltd Deluxe 180g 4LP edition will also be available, and you can pre-order now here: https://stevehackett.lnk.to/FoxtrotAtFiftyHackettHighlights-LiveInBrighton
Track-listing:
1. Intro / Ace of Wands
2. The Devil’s Cathedral
3. Spectral Mornings
4. Every Day
5. A Tower Struck Down
6. Basic Instincts
7. Camino Royale
8. Shadow of the Hierophant
9. Watcher of the Skies
10. Time Table
11. Get ‘Em Out by Friday
12. Can Utility and the Coastliners
13. Horizons
14. Supper’s Ready
15. Firth of Fifth
16. Los Endos
Steve Hackett & band continue their busy touring schedule with further “Foxtrot At Fifty & Hackett Highlights” dates in North America beginning in October. For the full list of dates, head to: http://hackettsongs.com/tour.html
Steve Hackett is joined live by Roger King, Rob Townsend, Nad Sylvan, Craig Blundell & Jonas Reingold, as well as on occasion special guest Amanda Lehmann.
LINKS:
www.facebook.com/pages/Steve-Hackett/123101228589
www.twitter.com/HackettOfficial
http://hackettsongs.com/tour.htm
http://www.youtube.com/InsideOutMusicTV
www.facebook.com/InsideOutMusic
The Phenomena projects albums in the ’80s (and ’90s) were created by brothers Tom and Mel Galley (Whitesnake). These albums featured numerous British players and singers (John Wetton, Glenn Hughes, Cozy Powell, Neil Murray, and Brian May (among others). Merv Spence had joined a reformed (and short-lived) Trapeze following Peter Goalby’s departure and recorded an album with the band, which remains unreleased. He then went on to replace Trevor Bolder in Wishbone Ash for 1985’s Raw To The Bone, playing bass and singing. He would be credited as Executive Producer on the third Phenomena album Innervision (1992), as well as playing bass & vocals (under the name O’Ryan); he also featured on 1997’a Project X: 1985-1996 (compilation. tracks here were later used as bonus tracks that came with reissues of the first 2 albums). So, this 13 song release features 10 tracks that Merv Spence had recorded & issued under the name O’Ryan in the mid ’90s on the CD Initiate, as well as a few brand new recordings. Hearing these recordings makes me wonder why we haven’t heard more from Spence; these recordings and vocals are excellent, and I gotta think the guy would’ve been a great vocalist in a number of classic British bands. Well worth checking out! For more info check out the press release below, as well as the links to order.
Merv Spence is an Irish musician and former member of Wishbone Ash and Trapeze, as well as an established solo artist. He will be touring to support the release and this album features all of Merv Spence’s covers of the Phenomena tracks, both previously released and newly recorded.
Phenomena is an all-star series of albums created by Tom Galley which saw its debut album sell 1.2 million copies, and its follow-up deliver a #1 hit single ‘Did It All For Love’. Merv Spence is the former rights owner of the Phenomena albums and previously recorded his own renditions of the best-known songs.
Lead singer, musician & music producer Merv Spence said of the release: “‘Phenomena Recovered’ is a very important album for me. A lot of creative blood, sweat and tears went into producing these songs and the results make me feel incredibly proud. I embraced the challenge, and gave it my own signature. I hope ‘Phenomena’ fans will also embrace this production, and I look forward to performing these great songs live, both in a band capacity and solo, acoustically”.
Phenomena Recovered is OUT NOW and available from:
Amazon CD: https://geni.us/PhenReCoCD
Apple Music: https://geni.us/PhenReCoAM
Spotify: https://geni.us/PhenReCoSP
*To order directly from Cherry Red Records – https://www.cherryred.co.uk/product/merv-spence-phenomena-recovered-cd/
MERV SPENCE LINKS:
https://www.facebook.com/Mervspencemusic
https://www.facebook.com/Phenomenaproject
British metal legends RAVEN have a brand new album out – All Hell’s Breaking Loose. If you like your rock fast and furious, check this out. There’s 3 singles/videos released so far (see below), as well as favorite cuts like “Turn Of The Screw”, “Desperate Measures”, and “Invasion”. Ten tracks that don’t let up from beginning to end. The band has also released a new single/video for the album’s title track (today). Great production, love the sound of this album. Dig the album art courtesy of Andrej Bartulović at All Things Rotten! *For more info check out the press info, videos, and links below…
Prepare yourself for a metal rampage the likes of which you haven’t enjoyed in many a year as New Wave of British Heavy Metal stalwarts RAVEN deliver the electric mayhem of All Hell’s Breaking Loose, their 15th studio album, released June 30th on Silver Lining Music.
The Newcastle pioneers, formed by the Gallagher brothers (bassist/vocalist John and guitarist Mark) and rounded out by drummer extraordinaire Mike Heller have emerged from Heller’s own Heaven And Heller Studios in Los Angeles with 10 crisp, visceral metal classics, each fused with riffs, twists, turns, chaos and more hooks than all the Hellraiser movies combined (think hyperbole, ‘turn-it-UP’ and find out for yourself)!
Among the stand-outs are lead single “Go For The Gold”, with the redline pushed hard by a cavalcade of riffs and furious, percussive madness, yet behind it all a melodic journey that makes it multi-dimensional skull-crushing.
“‘Go For The Gold’” is our first single as it really represents the new album mission statement… 100% full on RAVEN lunacy!!!!”, enthuses John Gallagher. “If you’ve got an initial great riff, you just build from it,… you try not to milk it to death. You want a good structure. You want a good verse with hooks, a good pre-chorus with hooks, a great chorus, and then you want little left turns here and there to spice it up. Otherwise it can sound boring. And if you have too many left turns then it turns into jazz fusion, so it’s a funny line you gotta dance on to have structure but also the chaos part as well.”
Title track “All Hell’s Breaking Loose” twists and turns with accents and flavours buried inside the chaos. “Lyrically the song is about the constrictions of being locked down during the pandemic and the desire and need to ‘break free’ from it all or risking going insane…” explains co-founding member and guitarist Mark Gallagher. “It’s about taking control of your freedom!” Mark exclaims. Meanwhile “Surf The Tsunami” sees Heller gatecrash your eardrums with a furious flurry of his own, before some supreme twister riffs bring on the full metal chaos; “Turn Of The Screw” bounces on the upbeats before smashing you with a thunderous chorus; “The Far Side” has as classic a metal riff as you’ll hear in 2023; “Desperate Measures” is pure ’81-saturated tales of hardship and despair, if you ever wondered what RAVEN at the Marquee were like on a sweaty metal night in ’83; “Edge of A Nightmare” is your portal to paradise, thundering as hard as the opener “Medieval”.
What RAVEN have delivered with All Hell’s Breaking Loose is permission for everyone to remember exactly what it’s like to lose yourself in the healing aural waters of supreme heavy metal music, resplendent in sweat-soaked denim and leather.
“You got three guys with very strong, passionate, opinions,” offers Mark, “and when those are brought together, it’s a case of ‘iron sharpens iron.’”
“We’re very hard on ourselves,” adds John, “it had to be ‘all killer, no filler’. Absolutely every single part of every song had to make sense, had to mean something, and had to be there for a purpose.”
And All Hell’s Breaking Loose makes it clear that RAVEN aren’t messing around in that regard.
*To order on green vinyl, CD, and Cassette(!), check out – https://raven.tmstor.es/?lf=92b7b4d1d4cd1b587d5f32f64b525256
Recommended to fans of Anvil, Lizzy Borden, Diamond Head, Saxon, Metal Church, Exciter, Armored Saint.
Links:
https://smarturl.it/AllHellsBreakingLoose
http://sl-music.net/en/60-news-silver-lining/1058-ravens-all-hells-breaking-loose-out-now
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YES, who are Steve Howe, Geoff Downes, Jon Davison, Billy Sherwood & Jay Schellen, have released their new studio album Mirror To The Sky on InsideOutMusic/Sony Music this week. “This is a very important album for the band,” says Steve Howe, Yes’ longest serving member, master guitarist, and producer of Mirror To The Sky. “We kept the continuity in the approach we established on The Quest, but we haven’t repeated ourselves. That was the main thing. As Yes did in the seventies from one album to another, we’re growing and moving forward. In later years, Yes often got going but then didn’t do the next thing. This album is demonstrative of us growing, and building again.” For Yes, that “next thing” is a collection of high energy, intricate, lush and layered new studio songs for an album which adds to the band’s much heralded legacy, while charting a path to exciting future times ahead.
To celebrate, the band are pleased to launch a video for the albums closing track ‘Circles of Time’
Mirror To The Sky is available now on several formats, all featuring artwork by long-time Yes artist & collaborator Roger Dean:
Ltd Deluxe Electric Blue 2LP+2CD+Blu-ray Artbook with poster
Ltd Deluxe 2CD+Blu-ray Artbook
Ltd 2CD Digipak
Standard CD Jewel case
Gatefold 2LP+LP-Booklet
Digital Album
The blu-ray editions include the album as Dolby Atmos, 5.1 Surround Sound, Instrumental Versions & Hi-Res Stereo Mixes.
Mirror To The Sky can be ordered – order now here: https://Yes-Band.lnk.to/MirrorToTheSky
YES ONLINE:
http://www.facebook.com/yestheband
http://www.twitter.com/yesofficial
http://www.youtube.com/user/yesofficial
Phoenix was the first of 3 studio albums from the reunited original line-up of ASIA. Released in 2008, following up the Fantasia (Live In Tokyo) release. At the time I thought Phoenix was a good album, and over time I’ve come to really appreciate those 3 albums (along with Omega and XXX), all made for a great set of follow ups to the band’s first 2 from 1982 and ’83. Standout tracks and favorites would be the opener “Never Again”, “An Extraordinary Life” – both of which would’ve been huge hit singles decades earlier, as well as “Alibis”, and ” Parallel Worlds / Vortex / Déyà”. Phoenix never came out on vinyl when originally released, so this will be a welcome addition to many Asia fans’ collections. *Check out the press release and links below…
ASIA are a multi-platinum selling, English Rock band who formed in 1981 and celebrated their 40th Anniversary in 2021. ASIA announce the release of Phoenix for the first time as a 2 vinyl LP set on 26th May. Phoenix was originally released in 2008 and was their first studio album with the original line-up in a quarter century.
In terms of sound this emotional, compelling comeback album sees Asia continue the very high standards from where they left off in 1985, as ever displaying suppleness when stretching out into multi-part suites while retaining a knack for big, arena pop hooks.
Their 1982 self-titled debut album reached number one in several countries, including 9 weeks topping the US charts, with lead single ‘Heat Of The Moment’ making the top 40 in over a dozen, including US #4.
This is the second of four critically acclaimed ‘reunion’ releases (2007-2012) featuring vocalist John Wetton ex of King Crimson, guitarist Steve Howe and keyboard player Geoff Downes from Yes and drummer Carl Palmer from Emerson, Lake & Palmer.
The sleeve comprise unique artwork by world famous rock music artist Roger Dean.
Tracklisting:
Side A
1. Never Again
2. Nothing’s Forever
3. Heroine
Side B
1. Sleeping Giant / No Way Back / Reprise
2. Alibis
3. I Will Remember You
Side C
1. Shadow Of A Doubt
2. Parallel Worlds / Vortex / Déyà
3. Wish I’d Known All Along
Side D
1. Orchard Of Mines
2. Over And Over
3. An Extraordinary Life
Buy here: https://Asia.lnk.to/PhoenixPR
LINKS:
Fans of British singer John Lawton will have a 2CD compilation celebrating John’s life in great music to be issued July 7. John, who passed away June 29, 2021, had been recording for over 50 years, and was best known as the lead singer for German progressive hard rock band Lucifer’s Friend, as well the singer for Uriah Heep in the latter half of the ’70s. He also recorded & toured with The Les Humphries Singers in the ’70s, and later recorded with such bands and projects as Rebel, Zar, Gunhill (a band he formed in the ’90s), The Lawton-Dunning Project, (his own) John Lawton Band, OTR, and The Intelligent Music Project, plus a few solo albums, and various guest appearances (notably with Uriah Heep years after he left). John’s last album was 2019’s Black Moon with Lucifer’s Friend.
Celebrating The Life Of John Lawton is a collection of 33 tracks, spanning his career from the early ’70s until 2015. And it appears to be a well thought out set, as opposed to something predictable. It is actually more about some of the rare recordings he did, singles, guest appearances, and one-off projects and albums he was a part of, including previously unreleased material . I don’t see any Lucifer’s Friend songs, or too many Uriah Heep titles, but this does touch on most of the bands and projects I mentioned above. So, this will be an essential purchase for fans of John’s career. The man put out so much great music, that this will be an excellent celebration of his work.
*Available for pre-order at: https://www.cherryred.co.uk/product/john-lawton-celebrating-the-life-of-john-lawton-2cd/
*Artist royalties donated to British Heart Foundation charity to research “Abdominal Aortic Aneurysm”.
Track Listing
DISC ONE
1 Corner Street Girl
2 Little Chalk Blue
3 Out Here
4 Is There Anybody There?
5 Eloise
6 Me And My Harley
7 Stargazer
8 Broadway Nights
9 Heart Of The Night
10 Dirty Tricks
11 Colgate Gel
12 Set The World On Fire
13 Back To The Highlands
14 Someone Sings
15 Come Together
16 Wise Man
17 I Am Alive
DISC TWO
1 Feelings
2 Tonight
3 It’s A Long Way To Go
4 Mama Loo Impromptu Jam
5 I’ll Be Here
6 Written On The Wall
7 Been Away Too Long
8 Mamonama
9 Shine
10 Ride On
11 Salvation
12 River of Dreams
13 Fairytale
14 Rain
15 Rock ‘n’ Roll Is My Thing
16 Things We Can’t Do
LINKS:
https://www.facebook.com/LucifersFriendOfficial
https://www.facebook.com/uriahheepofficial
https://www.cherryred.co.uk/product/lucifers-friend-black-moon-cd/
YES are set to release their new studio album Mirror To The Sky on InsideOutMusic/Sony Music on the May 19th. “This is a very important album for the band,” says Steve Howe, Yes’ longest serving member, master guitarist, and producer of Mirror To The Sky. “We kept the continuity in the approach we established on The Quest, but we haven’t repeated ourselves. That was the main thing. As Yes did in the seventies from one album to another, we’re growing and moving forward. In later years, Yes often got going but then didn’t do the next thing. This album is demonstrative of us growing, and building again.” For Yes, that “next thing” is a collection of high energy, intricate, lush and layered new studio songs for an album which adds to the band’s much heralded legacy, while charting a path to exciting future times ahead.
Jon Davison comments: “I, along with my Yes band mates are excited to announce that the second single from our new album, Mirror to the Sky is out now. It’s entitled, ‘All Connected’, and it’s a longer piece, clocking in at a challenging 9 minutes. Steve added a beautifully poignant instrumental steel part which starts the journey. This section emotionally builds and crescendos into a glorious lead way for the vocals to begin telling their story. Billy composed complex and compelling musical themes which I helped to arrange, and we both composed vocals and lyrics, each of us singing our respective parts, making for a rich vocal tapestry.”
Billy Sherwood adds: “The initial idea came from a musical sketch I’d created using the idea of our “connectivity” in regards to communications in the modern age. It’s very exciting to know YES are maintaining that edge and energy we all know and love, this track is firing on all cylinders. Hope you enjoy it as much as we did creating it.”
Mirror To The Sky will be available on several formats, all featuring artwork by long-time Yes artist & collaborator Roger Dean:
Ltd Deluxe Electric Blue 2LP+2CD+Blu-ray Artbook with poster
Ltd Deluxe 2CD+Blu-ray Artbook
Ltd 2CD Digipak
Standard CD Jewel case
Gatefold 2LP+LP-Booklet
Digital Album
The blu-ray editions include the album as Dolby Atmos, 5.1 Surround Sound, Instrumental Versions & Hi-Res Stereo Mixes.
YES are Steve Howe, Geoff Downes, Jon Davison, Billy Sherwood & Jay Schellen.
You can also watch the previously released video for “Cut From The Stars” here: https://youtu.be/NdEF-vMO8vc
Pre-order now here: https://Yes-Band.lnk.to/MirrorToTheSky
Tracklisting:
CD1:
1. Cut From The Stars 05:27
2. All Connected 09:02
3. Luminosity 09:04
4. Living Out Their Dream 04:45
5. Mirror to the Sky 13:53
6. Circles of Time 04:59
CD2:
1. Unknown Place 08:15
2. One Second Is Enough 04:04
3. Magic Potion 04:08
Links:
Outsider Rock 