Robin Trower - Where You Are Going To 2016

Throughout a long, winding career, English blues-rock guitarist and songwriter Robin Trower has built a dedicated global fan base while being endlessly (and unfairly) compared by critics to his peer Jimi Hendrix. While Trower's phrasing and harmonic approach are his own, he readily admits that his custom-built Fender Stratocaster, fluid effects, and Marshall stack directly follow Hendrix's psych-blues example. After leaving Procol Harum, Trower's solo career began with 1973's Twice Removed from Yesterday and exploded with the following year's Top Ten Bridge of Sighs, kicking off a run of ten Top 200 outings. He and former Cream bassist Jack Bruce teamed for 1981's BLT and 1982's Truce. During the '90s, he worked with Bryan Ferry on 1993's Taxi and 1994's Mamouna. Trower formed the V-12 label, self-issuing acclaimed records including 2003's Living Out of Time. In 2007, Trower and Bruce released Seven Moons. In 2020, he collaborated with reggae singer Maxi Priest and bassist Livingstone Brown on United State of Mind. Trower returned in 2022 with No More Worlds to Conquer. AMG.

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Kevin Brown - Tin Church 2005

Growing up in Preston, England, Kevin Brown was influenced by American R&B and British blues guitarists. He was working as a teacher in 1979 when he decided to pursue a career playing slide and blues guitar. It was five years before he caught a break through Hannibal Records. The label issued his demos as Road Dreams; that album and the follow-up, Rust, were also released on Rykodisc. Thanks B. AMG.

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Fad Gadget - Gag 1984

For all intents and purposes, Frank Tovey was best known as the man behind Fad Gadget, one of the most significant cult acts of the post-punk boom. As Fad Gadget, Tovey and his revolving door of conspirators released several singles and four full-length albums that stretched the boundaries of pop music during the late '70s and early '80s. And after Tovey started making records under his own name in the mid-'80s, he continued to remain as unpredictable as ever, working within the realms of Cajun, blues, and folk, in addition to furthering his journey into experimental electronics. Humorous, dark, strange, puzzling, wild, honest, confrontational -- these adjectives exemplify Tovey's lengthy body of work and his legacy of daringly physical performances. (Tovey's stage antics included numerous acrobatic feats and a penchant for shaving his copiously foamed body.) While Fad Gadget's contemporaries included the likes of Cabaret Voltaire, the Human League, Wire, the Normal, and Soft Cell, Tovey and company's records never quite achieved the underground notoriety or the chart success enjoyed by his peers. Regardless of the level of recognition, Tovey's unique contribution to electronic music is undeniable, and so is his influence upon it. As the years go on, the recognition continues to gather steam.
As a youngster, the London, England-born Tovey became a fan of Iggy Pop, Marc Bolan, and Lou Reed. He knew from an early stage that he wanted to become involved with music and eventually earned a degree in fine arts from Leeds Polytechnic in 1975. After finishing his schooling, he returned to London and put together some songs made with an electric piano, a drum machine, and a tape recorder. Through the help of a flatmate, Tovey met up with Daniel Miller at the local Rough Trade shop and gave the man behind the Normal's "Warm Leatherette" his primitive recordings. Miller loved what he heard and signed Tovey to his Mute label, a groundbreaking pro-electronic label that was just lifting off the ground. Tovey made his first public appearance as Fad Gadget in July of 1979. Two months after that, the first Fad Gadget single, The Box, was issued. Just as funny as it was frightening, the predominantly electronic single featured two songs that remain touchstones of Tovey's lengthy career. Another key single, Ricky's Hand, was out in shops the following March. The sleeve boldly claimed that, save for an electric drill and the vocals, the two songs on it were made entirely from synthetic sources. A third single was released just prior to the first full-length, Fireside Favourites, which was released by the end of 1980. While Tovey did the lion's share of synth work on the album, percussionist John Fryer, bassist/guitarist Eric Radcliffe, drummer Nick Cash, and synthesist Miller chipped in with contributions. Incontinent, the second Fad Gadget LP, was issued almost exactly a year after the debut. Aside from the return of most of the usual suspects, Wire's Robert Gotobed played some drums, Peter Bahner played some bass and guitar, and David Simmonds provided extra synth and percussion work. Slightly darker than its predecessor, a decrease in the reliance upon electronics made for a wide-eyed, if unfocused, sophomore album.

The albums Under the Flag and Gag were released in 1982 and 1984, respectively. The move into dance and soul-influenced territories -- along with relatively traditional production values for the time -- resulted in lighter and less urgent music, but Tovey's lyrics steadfastly refused to approach anything resembling mundane or fantasy-based. Tovey was more likely to be compared to Bob Dylan than Gary Numan, as his lyrics favored the everyman over machines and aliens. Personnel-wise, Under the Flag, featured guest vocal turns and saxophone blurts from Alison Moyet (Yaz), and Gag included some guitar work from Rowland S. Howard (the Birthday Party). After Gag, Tovey decided to start recording under his own name and released six albums on Mute between 1985 and 1992. Just prior to that phase, he also paired up with Non's Boyd Rice for 1984's Easy Listening for the Hard of Hearing. These records were frequently more challenging than the ones released as Fad Gadget, and Tovey's switch in names allowed him to expand his creativity. He decided to learn how to play instruments properly, a move that was prompted by his daughter. Asked by his daughter to play one of her songs, Tovey realized he couldn't really play anything, so he took up the guitar and made a conscious decision to write and record with more traditional instrumentation. 1989's Tyranny & the Hired Hand witnessed Tovey at his most organic. The labor-inspired album featured covers of modern and traditional protest songs. And for his following two albums, 1991's Grand Union and 1992's Worried Men in Second Hand Suits, Tovey continued his folk streak with a trio of Irish musicians dubbed the Pyros. In 2001, Tovey dusted off Fad Gadget and began performing again under the name. In addition to an appearance at London's Elektrofest, Tovey opened for Depeche Mode on his labelmates' Exciter tour. Mute released The Best of Fad Gadget, a two-disc set of ace material, B-sides, and remixes. New material had been written and plans for new recordings were laid, but Tovey unexpectedly passed away in his home on April 3, 2002. AMG.
 

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Rory Gallagher - The Bullfrog Interlude 1990

Even with a career cut short by illness and a premature death, guitarist, singer, and songwriter Rory Gallagher left his mark in the blues and rock worlds. His hard-charging, intensely rhythmic playing style on his 1961 Stratocaster still casts a long shadow over rock & roll: Queen's Brian May imitated not only his playing but his gear early on; he credits Gallagher with the root of his sound. Eric Clapton said it was Gallagher who got him "back into the blues." Johnny Marr acknowledges a great debt as well: After learning how to play the guitarist's classic Deuce album track-for-track at 13, he revealed Gallagher's influence throughout his career. Marr also said that he received mentorship and advice on his conduct on-stage and off. Even U2's the Edge and Slash sing his praises and credit his influence. While Gallagher didn't tour the U.S. very often, he lived on the stages of Europe. But he was well-known on Yankee shores for his marathon-length, no-holds-barred live shows at clubs and theaters across North America. While never a major presence on radio in the United States, Gallagher nonetheless racked up a handful of semi-hit singles with "Laundromat," "I Walk on Hot Coals," "Shadow Play," and "Philby," as well as a slew of acclaimed albums from 1971's Deuce and the remarkable Irish Tour in 1974, through Calling Card in 1976 and Top Priority in 1979. Even after the hits, Gallagher continued to pump out high-quality albums including 1982's Jinx and 1990's Fresh Evidence. And following his accidental death on an operating table in 1995, Gallagher continued to win over new fans and influence artists of many stripes, including the mystery writer Ian Rankin, who created a posthumous compilation called The Continental Op in 2013 featuring the guitarist's many songs about spies and suspense. Gallagher was born in Ballyshannon, County Donegal, Irish Republic, on March 2, 1948. Shortly after his birth, his family moved to Cork City in the south, and at age nine he became fascinated with American blues and folk singers he heard on the radio. An avid record collector, he had a wide range of influences, including Leadbelly, Buddy Guy, Freddie King, Albert King, Muddy Waters, and John Lee Hooker. Gallagher would always try to mix some simple country blues songs into his recordings. He began his recording career after moving to London when he formed a trio called Taste. The group's self-titled debut album was released in 1969 in England and later picked up for U.S. distribution by Atco/Atlantic. Between 1969 and 1971, with producer Tony Colton behind the board, Gallagher recorded three albums with Taste before they split up. He began performing under his own name in 1971, releasing his 1970 debut, Rory Gallagher, for Polydor Records in the U.K. The album was picked up for U.S. distribution by Atlantic, and later that year he recorded Deuce, also released by Atlantic in the U.S. His prolific output continued, as he followed up Deuce with Live in Europe (1972) and Blueprint and Tattoo, both in 1973. Irish Tour 1974, like Live in Europe, did a good job of capturing the excitement of his live shows on tape, and he followed that with Calling Card for Chrysalis in 1976, and Photo Finish and Jinx for the same label in 1978 and 1982. By this point, Gallagher had made several world tours, and he took a few years of rest from the road. He got back into recording and performing live again with the 1987 release (in the U.K.) of Defender. His last album, Fresh Evidence, was released in 1991 on the Capo/I.R.S. label. Capo was his own record and publishing company that he set up in the hopes of eventually exposing other great blues talents.

Some of Gallagher's best work on record wasn't under his own name; it's the music he recorded with Muddy Waters on The London Sessions (Chess, 1972) and with Albert King on Live (RCA/Utopia, 1977). Gallagher made his last U.S. tours in 1985 and 1991, and admitted in interviews that he'd always been a guitarist who fed off the instant reaction and feedbacks a live audience can provide. In a 1991 interview, he said: "I try to sit down and write a Rory Gallagher song, which generally happens to be quite bluesy. I try to find different issues, different themes, and different topics that haven't been covered before...I've done songs in all the different styles...train blues, drinking blues, and economic blues. But I try to find a slightly different angle on all these things. The music can be very traditional, but you can sort of creep into the future with the lyrics." Gallagher passed away from complications after a liver transplant on June 14, 1995, at age 47. In 2019, to mark what would have been Gallagher's 50th year of recording, his estate released the four-disc anthology Blues, featuring rare and unreleased recordings from the '70s to the '90s.

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Vanish Valley - Queen of the Concert 2015

Los Angeles–based Vanish Valley has released its third album, Queen of the Concert, which differs from its previous albums. Andrew McAllister’s total-folk motives have shifted to a new semi-rock album. Queen of the Concert dabbles between rock and Americana with McAllister on the vocals, Guy Christiano on the bass, Alex Owen on the guitar and keys, and Daniel Goldblatt on the drums. They hold on to the acoustic elements on tracks like “Dinner Party” and “Drifters Eyes” but often rise and fall to subtle synthesizers and electronic spurts on tracks like “Helicopters”—but in a cool, psychedelic way. Pretty much from start to finish, Queen of the Concert reverbs and flows through good vibrations. Lizz Corrigan

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Robert Fripp - Let The Power Fall 1981

Let the Power Fall is an album of Frippertronics, which to the uninitiated can sound like an electrical hum. In reality, it's a technique developed with Brian Eno, which allows the guitarist to play against a tape loop of sustained notes. With Frippertronics as his mantra, Robert Fripp creates impressive instrumental structures by building layers of sound atop one another. This sort of ambient music is conducive to a specific frame of mind, but like Eno's Discreet Music it rewards the careful listener. Let the Power Fall can be seen as a refinement of the music explored in earlier Fripp & Eno collaborations, though with Eno out of the equation the songs take a decidedly more mathematical bent. The record begins with "1984," picking up where Under Heavy Manners/God Save the Queen left off. The song titles are better seen as successive numbers in a catalog than specific dates, as they're all of a piece. You could make a case that "1984," "1987," and "1988" are the most impressive constructs, but it's foolish to put much meaning behind that. While Fripp employs the same soothing waves of sound that Eno used on Evening Star and Discreet Music, there's only so much that can be made from Frippertronics (think Yosemite Sam and his coconuts), and the end result feels a little cold and remote when compared with Eno's warm ambient textures. Let the Power Fall may be the ideal album of Frippertronics, yet it's a technique that, while fascinating at times, has its own limitations. AMG.

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Laughing Clowns - Law of Nature 1984

Ed Kuepper's Laughing Clowns were a bit more off the beaten path than the Saints, the infamous Australian punk band Kuepper played guitar for during the '70s. Integrating jazz influences into their unique take on post-punk, the Laughing Clowns released several records between 1980 and 1985, before Kuepper began his solo career. They made their debut in 1980 with a self-titled, six-song EP on Aussie independent Missing Link. At the time of its recording, the band was Kuepper on vocals and guitar, Ben Wallace-Crabbe on bass, Dan Wallace-Crabbe on piano, Jeffrey Wegener on drums, and Bob Farrell on saxophone. In 1982, after the release of a clutch of singles and a compilation of old material, called Reign of Terror/Throne of Blood, the group relocated to London and underwent some major lineup shuffling. Only Kuepper and Wegener remained on board, with bassist Leslie Millar, saxophonist Louise Elliot, and trumpet player Peter Doyle filling out the lineup. After another single, they released their 1982 debut LP, Mr. Uddich Schmuddich Goes to Town, on the Prince Melon label. Confusingly, another self-titled release was in Australian record shop bins by the end of the year, which extended the reach of Reign of Terror. An album of new material, Everything That Flies, was also issued by the end of 1982, but it only received distribution in Germany through Rough Trade (in another perplexing move, a truncated version of the record was later released in the U.K. under the title Laughter Around the Table). The Law of Nature studio LP was released in 1984 through Australia's Hot label, followed closely by History of Rock N' Roll, Vol. 1, a best-of package. The band's final studio LP, Ghosts of an Ideal Wife, was released in 1985. After breaking up, Kuepper flew solo and also formed the Aints. In 1995, the repackaged/recycle-happy Hot label released Golden Days: When Giants Walked the Earth, a -- you guessed it -- highlights compilation of Laughing Clowns favorites. AMG.

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Catfish And The Bottlemen - The Ride 2016

For Catfish and the Bottlemen, growth is measured along the scale of refinement, not ambition. The Ride, the 2016 sophomore set that follows their debut, The Balcony, by two years, finds the band still pledging allegiance to the rock & roll of Y2K, but their increased assurance underscores their debt not to the Arctic Monkeys but the Strokes. Honing the hooks and beefing up the production wind up whittling away whatever British eccentricities that were lingering on The Balcony, but where Alex Turner's crew followed Josh Homme down a desert rabbit hole, this crew values precision. Usually, this means The Ride can pack a punch even when the guitars aren't cranked to the max: the open space of "Soundcheck" and the ringing jangle of "Postpone" sink their hooks in a way the faster, cloistered stuff doesn't. Then again, when The Ride does get loud, it never feels raucous. Catfish and the Bottlemen hit their marks dutifully, rushing through their melodies but never taking it so quickly that the singsong tunes don't stick, slowing down the tempo for needed breathers and ending the whole shebang with "Outside," an extended number designed to ratchet up expectations prior to the obligatory encore. All this means that even if Catfish and the Bottlemen don't bring much to the table, they know how to follow a blueprint without missing a beat. AMG

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A Giant Dog - Pile 2016

Following a pair of spirited self-released outings, Austin punk outfit A Giant Dog make their Merge Records debut with Pile. With Spoon producer Mike McCarthy at the helm, the band's boozy, glammy garage punk gets a subtle studio makeover, though it would be a stretch to call the overblown crunch ripping through the speakers polished. Fronted by co-singers/songwriters and Houston natives Sabrina Ellis and Andrew Cashen, A Giant Dog retains their knack for pairing relatable melodies with sweaty, full-bore intensity, avoiding the more predictable leather-panted rock swagger in favor of weirdo party-rock inclusiveness. Their targets are the freaks, geeks, and general outsiders, much like themselves. Pile's press release name-drops a host of colorful '70s characters like Slade, Sparks, Marc Bolan, and Alice Cooper, and as far as comparisons -- or more likely influences -- go, they're more or less on the money, albeit with more of a punk approach. Freewheeling standouts like lead single "Jizzney" and the especially glammy "& Rock & Roll" are equal parts sugar and grime and 100 percent fun. Likewise, the sizzling brass-adorned boogie rock of "King Queen" and the defiant punk of "Too Much Makeup" have hooks for days and the kind of energy that can only be summoned from the heart of the beer-soaked club scene. The album's only real dynamic shift comes near the end with the acoustic psych of the Tyrannosaurus Rex-esque "Get with You and Get High." It's a nice breather on an album that, in spite of its highlights, sticks around about three or four songs too long. A Giant Dog isn't necessarily offering anything that hasn't been done before, but Pile is definitely a fun listen with enough bright spots and kinetic energy to sustain it. AMG.

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Verma - Sunrunner 2014

Sunrunner seems like a curious name for the third album from Chicago prog/psych ensemble Verma since this is music that seems perfectly suited for late in the evening. The band's loving homage to vintage prog and psychedelic sounds accurate enough that one can imagine a crowd of stoned college students listening to this as they stare at a laser light show at the campus planetarium in 1974, and if there was an album of the last 20 years that really should be accompanied by clouds of colored light, this is it. This is not to sound dismissive; the insistent rhythms, the atmospheric keyboard lines, and the sheets of electric guitar thundering in the distance certainly look to the past, but the fire and imagination behind Verma's music are fresh and compelling, and Sunrunner somehow manages to sound languid and physically powerful at the same time. Verma often drifts off into electronic space, with Whitney Johnson and TJ Tambellini giving the tunes a suitably spacy tone with their keyboards, but bassist Rob Goerke and drummer Zach Corn keep this music rooted like a pulsebeat, and Johnny Caluya's guitar solos add an organic touch that fits the songs well, as do Johnson's vocals, which are often wordless sounds but feel eloquent in the context of this music. Sunrunner is more about atmosphere and sound than songs, but Verma does know how to create beautiful frameworks for their music, from the joyous drift through the spaceways of the title track to the noisy thunder of "Regolith" and the futuristic rock of "The Traveller" (well, it would have sounded futuristic at that planetarium show). As electric music for the mind and body goes, Verma is creating a rich, satisfying catalog of work, and Sunrunner is a trippy, fully formed-triumph. AMG.

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