Category: rock


The new Gillan 7-CD box set offers a comprehensive collection of the band’s work during the years from 1978 to 1982, when they rose to prominence in the New Wave of British Heavy Metal (NWOBHM) scene.
The set includes seven albums from this era, featuring studio recordings, a live album, and a wealth of B-sides and bonus material. The albums featured in this set are as follows: Gillan (The Japanese Album) – Originally released in September 1978, this was the debut of the band formed by Ian Gillan after leaving the Ian Gillan Band. It marked a shift away from jazz fusion to a heavier rock sound. Mr. Universe – Released in 1979, this was a key album that solidified their success, featuring a mix of hard rock and NWOBHM influences.

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Instrumental album from 1983! Having endured no less than three long-players and a brace of singles featuring the caterwauling of Messrs Hampshire and Childish, the Milkshakes’ audience figured it might be time for an instrumental outing. In response the group gave them just that.
But this was to be no run-of-the-mill effort – no Dick Dale-esque surf marathons or Shadowsy twangers are apparent here. These tunes are more rhythm and mood based compositions; occasionally leaning more towards the Link Wray end of the spectrum – as you would probably expect. This IVth album (hence the name) was recorded in 1983 at Oakwood Studios – as were all previous releases – but this was the first in their new facilities in a converted church near Canterbury…

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It’s right there in the name: Thee Reps are passionate about repetition. They hammered the point home on their debut cassette, Minimal Surface. A half-decade later, substantial compositional growth has enabled the NYC-based five-piece to deepen and broaden their approach to music-making.
With Cryptocartography, repetition is now in service to the structure of Thee Reps’ songcraft. They’ve plunged deeper into the sea of iteration and have searched out new waters to explore. Improvisation and chamber music are even more prevalent than before, and the minimalist nests of repetition are even more elaborate. The album’s title alludes to mapping locations that are only rumored to exist; on Cryptocartography Thee Reps’…

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On Back to Hermetics and Martial Arts Vol. 1, Belgrade-based collective The Cyclist Conspiracy take the listener on an extraordinary world tour of sound, blending the music of three continents and countless cultures into an engrossing cinematic dreamworld. Previous albums have showcased the troupe’s inspiration from Greek rebetiko, Balkan music and North African beats. Those influences are still very much present on Back to Hermetics, but the Conspiracy’s palette has broadened, and they show mastery of every style they tackle.
The Cyclist Conspiracy is named for a book by fellow Serb Svetislav Basara, in which a clandestine Brotherhood meets in dreams and meditates on the bicycle in order to gain secret knowledge. Members of the band refer to…

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The new live album from MC50, capturing the unrelenting energy of the 2018 world tour that reignited the spirit of MC5 – one of rock’s most radical and influential bands.
10 MORE extends MC5’s legacy with a high-voltage document of the MC50 lineup led by MC5 founding member Wayne Kramer and featuring an all‑star ensemble of rock innovators: Kim Thayil (Soundgarden), Brendan Canty (Fugazi), Billy Gould (Faith No More), Matt Cameron (Pearl Jam) and Marcus Durant (Zen Guerrilla).
Recorded live in Seattle, WA, Cincinnati, OH, and Hamburg, Germany, 10 MORE roars through MC5’s most iconic songs — including ‘The American Ruse,’ ‘Call Me Animal,’ ‘Rocket Reducer No. 62 (Rama Lama Fa‑Fa‑Fa),’ ‘Looking at You’…

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The 2012-2013 Wrecking Ball tour marked the start of the current incarnation of Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band. It was the first without late, great founding members Danny Federici and Clarence Clemons, and the tour served in part as a eulogy to those fallen heroes.
The passing of Phantom Dan and the Big Man also triggered major changes on stage: Wrecking Ball featured an exponential expansion of the E Street Band, ushering in a horn section, backing singers, and a percussionist — a blueprint still in use when Springsteen returned to the road in 2023 and retained through the last concert in Milan this past July.
Given how many new musicians were involved, it’s remarkable that the 2012-13 tour…

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From a very early source tape, “Apparition” has been given the sonic overload it desperately deserved and even boasts a couple of bonus tracks from the time.
The Legendary Pink Dots are an influential, staggeringly prolific group led by enigmatic frontman Edward Ka-Spel. Emerging from the early-’80s post-punk underground and sometimes categorized as industrial due to associations with bands like Skinny Puppy, the group’s music is nearly impossible to pin down, drawing from Krautrock, ambient, folk, synth pop, and numerous other styles.
Apparition originally came out in 1982, the same year as their album Brighter Now. The first edition was a cassette only on the band’s own…

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“An integral factor behind the production of Abacab was Hugh Padgham, an engineer responsible for the ‘gated reverb’ drum sound that defined the 1980s. As a result, Phil Collins’ drums have incredible definition across this entire pressing. Tony Banks’ keyboards often reside upfront in the mix, occasionally creeping in and out three-dimensionally during the title track or lush chords filling up the soundstage on ‘Keep It Dark.’ A massive highlight is ‘Dodo/Lurker,’ where Mike Rutherford’s bass is at its deepest, and the varying tonality of Collins’ vocals gives the different parts of the track a distinguishable characterization.”
Certified multi-platinum-selling in several countries, including the United States and the United Kingdom, Genesis’ album Abacab…

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“Nothng but manna from analog heaven can be found within the balance of Analogue Productions’ year-long-plus Atlantic 75 anniversary reissue series … but to my ears, the crème de la crème of the lot are all the reissuances culled from the prime, more progressive-leaning ’70s era of the Genesis catalog. … A few highlights to whet your aural whistle: 1) Mike Rutherford’s high-pitched, 12-string acoustic guitarwork and the overall rise/fall drama of “The Musical Box” (LP1, Side 1, Track 1, November 1971’s Nursery Cryme). 2) The full majesty of Tony Banks’ lengthy piano intro (and outro!) and Steve Hackett’s career-defining guitar solo on “Firth of Fifth” (LP1, Side 2, Track 1, September 1973’s Selling England by the Pound). 3) Peter Gabriel’s pleading lead vocals…

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The ongoing retrospective of the late John Wetton’s live recordings lands in the 1990s, during the time he was plying his trade as a solo artist. This 10-disc set, which presents eight shows from that decade in either remastered or revised form, is a treasure trove of material recorded in Japan, Italy, Poland and the Netherlands.
While there are inevitably repeated songs across such a wide-ranging set of shows – especially the most crucial pieces from his work with Asia, King Crimson and UK – there are plenty of variations in performance and arrangement, and Wetton is in fine voice throughout.
Asia’s ‘Heat of the Moment’ pops up in every show, of course; but often in rearranged form, while Crimson’s ‘Easy Money’ regularly…

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This time, the performances took place during 2024-2025 and recorded at venues across Europe, United States, Canada and on Cruise To The Edge, which explains the post-fixed ‘Live Around The World‘ part on the new album, Are We Nearly There Yet?. BBT aficionados will recognise the title as it is a line from the song Last Eleven, which also gave its name to the band’s latest successful studio album, The Likes of Us – the first with the new line-up, featuring vocalist Alberto Bravin (PFM) and keyboardist Oskar Holldorff (Dim Gray). The resultant series of shows included the Zoetermeer Boerderij, with the two shows scheduled featuring: on Saturday, the band played almost the entire new studio album, while on Sunday, they played iconic songs from the band’s rich history.

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Thomas Raggi, the razor-sharp guitarist powering Italian rock firestarter Måneskin, is fully ablaze on his explosive debut album Masquerade. The eight-track collection packs seven riotous originals, rounded out by a high-voltage take on Dead or Alive’s ‘You Spin Me Round (Like a Record)’.
Brimming with rock ’n’ roll swagger and magnetic musical alchemy, Thomas has pulled together an all-star cast – Tom Morello (who was at the helm of production and the album’s creative course), Beck, Nic Cester, Alex Kapranos, Kasabian‘s Serge Pizzorno, former Guns N’ Roses member Matt Sorum, The Struts frontman Luke Spiller and more to join him for a riotous celebration of pure guitar heroism.
The album’s genesis springs purely from…

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…two audio CDs of “This Is What You Wanted” Live In Mexico City & bonus track edition of the studio album “Never Let Me Go” with “Shout”.
An intimate exploration of Placebo’s evolution, charting their journey through lyrics and songs that delve into the human experience.
Placebo’s second feature-length documentary called This Search for Meaning. This intimate and enlightening film explores the ideas that inhabit the lyrics and subject matter of Placebo’s songs, whilst charting their evolution as a group and as human beings. It is a fearless, truthful and forthright exploration of the creative process and the rock ‘n’ roll lifestyle, along with its inevitable consequences.
Since emerging from obscurity in the 1990s with provocative songs such as “Nancy Boy” and “Bruise Pristine”, Placebo forged a decidedly unfashionable path through the brazenly macho ‘Britpop’ scene to explore subjects such as the body politic and the continued erosion of our human rights…

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Featuring 25 B-sides & 2 bonus tracks from the period 1972 – 1977. Tracks include ‘Born To Boogie (single mix)’, ‘Cadilac’, ‘Life’s An Elevator’, ‘Tame My Tiger’ and ‘Thunderwing’.
Following the Q4 2024 ‘Bolan Boogie’ definitive hits package, Demon Records are thrilled to present a companion piece in the form of ‘Bolan B-Sides’, a brand-new collection of B-sides and bonus tracks from T. Rex’s hit-packed 1972-1977 period.
Before Marc Bolan’s untimely passing in 1977, T. Rex were a cultural phenomenon that defined a generation. The fervour even earned its own name: “Trextasy,” a frenzy not seen since the height of Beatlemania. Hidden away on the flips to some of the band’s era-defining singles, were some of Bolan’s most captivating musical moments.

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After an eight-year lay-off from the recording studio, the Smithereens released two albums in 2007. However, it doesn’t bode well for their creative process that the first of those albums was comprised entirely of Beatles covers, and the second was a Christmas disc.
However, Christmas with the Smithereens at least features three original tunes (which is three more than Meet the Smithereens!), and as rock & roll Christmas albums go, this is good fun and admirably eclectic. The Smithereens are pretty broad-minded when it comes to what constitutes a Yuletide melody, given the presence of “Christmas,” a not especially seasonal tune from the Who’s Tommy, and they dig up the Beatles rarity “Christmas Time Is Here Again,” as well as…

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‘Springsteen: Deliver Me from Nowhere’ (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) features 12 new recordings by Jeremy Allen White and the cast of the critically acclaimed film.
…Springsteen: Deliver Me from Nowhere centers on the making of Bruce Springsteen’s Nebraska, so the soundtrack finds White playing tracks from the iconic 1982 album. He does not, however, cover the full album, missing out on “Johnny 99,” “Used Cars,” and “Open All Night.” Instead, the soundtrack album includes two hits from Springsteen’s Nebraska successor, Born in the U.S.A.: the title song and and “I’m on Fire.” It also closes with covers of two songs that Springsteen and the E Street Band are known to favor — Little Richard’s “Lucille” and John Lee Hooker’s…

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