by Kev Rowland | Jun 10, 2018 | Reviews
One of the highlight reissues for me last year was ‘The Gardening Club’ by Martin Springett. It had been released in 1983, but last year was picked up and reissued by Gonzo Media, and I was fortunate enough to get a copy. I reviewed it at the beginning of 2018 and really thought that would be the end of it, as I knew that Martin had become a well-known and sought-after artist. What I didn’t realize was that in the intervening years he had kept recording and writing songs, and he read my review on one site and tracked me down through another and got in touch. The result is I am now listening to the new album, which is now by a band named after the original release. Martin Springett still provides all vocals plus acoustic guitar, and he is joined by Sean Drabbit, Wayne Kozak, James MacPherson and Norm MacPherson.
As one would expect, the CD itself is visually very appealing with wonderful artwork throughout the booklet, tray card and even the CD itself. It fits perfectly with the music as well, which still has strong elements of ‘Breathless’ era Camel and Anthony Phillips (as did the earlier release), but here there are also strong elements of Roy Harper (particularly), Rog Patterson and the Strawbs. Nothing is rushed, and there is no feeling of constraint as the guys go where the music takes them, which is sometimes acoustic and sometimes electric, sometimes pastoral and at others more electric or driving. The result is yet another album that is full of melody and stylings that is more progressive in attitude than it is in sound. Although the version I have has been self-released, I am convinced that this will soon be picked up by a label which can provide the support it needs, as this needs to be heard by those who enjoy good music. There is a naivety within it that hearkens back to the Seventies, a fretless bass that provides warmth with the dexterity, acoustic stringed instruments that all strive to be heard while over the top are Harper-esque vocals that are so perfectly in keeping with it all. These are songs, real songs, not extended workouts and the album is a total delight throughout. The Gardening Club is already recording new songs for their next release, yet this has only just come out. Martin is certainly making up for lost time.
Welcome
9/10
by Kev Rowland
by Kev Rowland | Jun 10, 2018 | Reviews
Pell released his first album back in 1989, and here he is back with his seventeenth studio album, showing no sign at all of slowing down yet. Centre stage is Johnny Gioeli (Hardline, Crush 40), as he has been for the last twenty years, while at the back is Bobby Rondinelli (loads of bands, but for me he will always be Rainbow) while bassist Volker Krawczak has been there since the very beginning, and keyboard player Ferdy Doernberg has also been there for more than twenty years. So with only the drummer not having been in the band for the last couple of decades, it perhaps isn’t surprising that they know what they are doing. The band have built a reputation for power ballads and released various compilations of these, but what we have here is a rock album first and foremost, based solidly on classic Rainbow.
True, there is a ballad, but for the most part, this is five guys out there having fun and kicking some serious ass. Pell has built a career around his style of melodic hard rock, and he isn’t going to change now, and when he kicks into the riffs of songs like “Slaves On The Run” all the listener can do is bounce the noggin and smile. I haven’t heard that many albums by the guys, but of the ones I have I can honestly say that this is the best I have come across. It hits the charts in many countries when it was released, including Top Ten in Germany – richly deserved. If you enjoy Rainbow-style hard rock, then this is essential.
7/10
by Kev Rowland
by Kev Rowland | Jun 10, 2018 | Reviews
Arena, a band that in many ways was brought together by a running joke in an underground fanzine, which led directly to Mick Pointer realizing that there was quite a vibrant prog scene. In turn, he was introduced to Clive Nolan, and the rest, as they say, is history. The debut ‘Songs From The Lion’s Cage’ was released in 1995, and the jokes soon started about never being at far left or far right on a band photo as you would be the next to leave, but the guys have been stable now for quite sometimes, with the same line-up since 2011’s ‘The Seventh Degree of Separation’. That was the last album I heard, as for some reason I missed 2015’s ‘The Unquiet Sky’, although I have been listening to quite a lot of Clive’s other works, as well as releases featuring guitarist John Mitchell (the line-up being completed by singer Paul Manzi and bassist Kylan Amos).
Having played Clive’s ‘Alchemy’ so much that it is almost worn out (according to LastFM it is my second most played album since I joined that site in 2007, behind only Camel’s ‘The Snow Goose), plus having known him for more than quarter of a century (I feel old) and having most of his projects, I was really looking forward to this album, and I wasn’t disappointed. While Arena is first and foremost a progressive rock band, what I found fascinating with this album is the amount of theatricality within it. Paul Manzi surely has one of the most expressive and emotive voices around, and his relationship with Clive is long-standing in this and other projects, and they have an innate understanding of what is needed to take a song to the next level. There are times when I am clearly reminded of his performance on the aforementioned ‘Alchemy’, such is the power of his storytelling.
But, this is very much a band album, although it obviously has been heavily influenced by Clive who wrote or co-wrote every song and provided all the lyrics, but Mick is playing better than ever, Kylan has a great sliding style that really suits the music. Then on top of it all, there is the incomparable John Mitchell. He may not have been the original guitarist (who was Keith More, ex-Asia, for the first two albums) but he has been there for twenty years now, during which time he has built a considerable reputation as one of the finest guitarists in the scene, and I don’t think anyone was really surprised when he joined It Bites. He knows when to riff and drive the music along when to provide solos, when to use restraint and when to just let the music rock.
Here we are in 2018 and both Galahad and Arena have this year released possibly the finest albums of their careers, only time will fully be able to judge that, showing that although they were in the underground scene in the Nineties, playing all the dives that entailed due to no publicity (or internet!), they are ready and able to reap the rewards of keeping going when others have given up. This is a stunning album, one that all progheads need to discover at once if not sooner. I loved it the very first time I played it, and it has only got better the more I listen to it.
9/10
By Kev Rowland
by Kev Rowland | Jun 10, 2018 | Reviews
After touring to support their debut album ‘I’m Not Well’, frontman Mark Holley didn’t really want to settle down at home in Exeter, so instead set off for Iceland, where he would go on to write the foundations of ‘Reiði’ (which apparently is the Icelandic word for rage). The result is an indie rock album that is incredibly angular, with edges so sharp that the listener has to be careful that they don’t cut themselves. This isn’t a style of music that I really enjoy listening to, but even I can appreciate the maturity and solidity of the songs that are on offer here. I used to live in Exeter, and was born and raised in the West Country, but can’t remember any local bands ever sounding quite like this.
This is music with drama, to be played on a stage with an opening and thundering sky. This isn’t music for the summer, but rather when it is bleak and cold, and as only then will the full potential and enormity of these songs really hit home. The guitars jangle, and the bass and drums keep it all well-grounded, and no-one could ever think that there was a band out for singles success, but rather is all about the album. When Holley says that the songwriter he most admires is Neil Young it is obvious, as that influence is through everything he is doing. If I can enjoy this and it’s not my normal style of music, what does that say about the quality of the album as whole?
7/10
By Kev Rowland
by Kev Rowland | Jun 10, 2018 | Reviews
Bob Arthurs is a jazz trumpet player, vocalist, and recording artist who has been appearing in clubs and at festivals in the New York area and abroad for almost five decades. In 2013 he released ‘Jazz For Svetlana’ with guitarist Steve Lammattina, following it up in 2017 with ‘Jazz For Molly’. Their producer, Irena Portenko (who is herself Ukrainian) asked if they would consider recording an album of popular Ukrainian folk songs, and once they had agreed she provided them with a list to choose from. Although the songs were unfamiliar to both Bob and Steve they found that as they worked through them to see how they could transform them into jazz numbers they became incredibly invested. The album is subtitled ‘Ukrainian Songs For Three Dad’s, Irena’s father, her uncle, and her daughter Anastasia’s dad, and her homeland.
I must confess that most of the folk I have heard is Western, so don’t actually recognize any of the songs being played, but what I found interesting is how this album sounds with no percussion or bottom end. Steve provides guitar, Bob provides trumpet and flugelhorn (along with some vocals), and it almost feels as if we have been allowed to sit in a studio while the guys play, as opposed to playing a CD. This doesn’t have the vitality and risk that I normally associate with jazz, but rather is far more considered in its approach. It certainly feels like they are reading scores, which they probably are in fairness, as opposed to going where the music takes them. This is due to them wanting to be true to the originals, and it certainly imbibes the music with a far different feeling from normal. I found myself enjoying the album more from an intellectual standpoint than an emotional one, but it is interesting all the same. I do wonder what this might have sounded like if the guys had brought in some other musicians and loosened up somewhat, but it definitely drags you in.
7/10
by Kev Rowland
