By Jim Stewart Ray Thomas, The Moody Blues, ‘The Magnificent Moodies’ 50th Anniversary Deluxe 2CD Edition, Esoteric Recordings: ECLEC 22473 As the sixties turned the page for 1965 the future looked good for THE MOODY BLUES, their UK No.1 ‘Go Now’ was now repeating its success worldwide, and their follow-up had also...
read more
Originally scheduled as the second leg of 10cc’s 2014-15 Nationwide Tour the dates now have a greater significance to their fans as the band will feature the complete ‘Sheet Music’ album onstage for the very first time. They begin at Reading Hexagon on February 5th, followed by The Marlowe Theatre, Canterbury on Saturday 7th...
read more
Singer Jimmy Somerville is releasing his sixth solo album, Homage, on March 9. The record, a collection of 12 original disco tracks, is a tribute to the genre that inspired Jimmy so much during his teenage years. “A homage to disco is something I always wanted to do. I never really thought I could pull it off but I did, and it’s a...
read more
Martin Hutchinson They say the New Year is a time for new beginnings, and so it was exactly 40 years ago for Fleetwood Mac. After a number of hits between 1968 and 1970, blues-based, times were hard for the band. ‘Black Magic Woman’, ‘Albatross’, ‘Oh Well’ and ‘The Green Manalishi’ had all been successful, but they had not had a...
read more
By Katie Davis The Rag dolls, one of the top European Frankie Valli and The Four Seasons tribute acts, take you back through the Jersey Boy’s career and before their fame, playing songs such as Oh! Carol and Teenager in Love that Frankie, Tommy, Bobby and Nick would have covered in the early days. I had the pleasure of seeing them...
read more
Orchard Theatre, Dartford, September 22, 2014 When Danny And The Juniors sang ‘Rock ‘n’ Roll Is Here To Stay, It Will Never Die’ it was as much in hope as belief, music experts gave it a year, let alone seeing the 50s out, and now as the 60th Anniversary approaches it remains the most popular form of entertainment on...
read more
Orchard Theatre, Dartford, September 16 Throughout the ‘70s Mike Chapman and Nicky Chinn reigned supreme, writing huge chart hits for every year of the decade, including 5 number one’s, mainly short, catchy, infectious tunes that got inside your head and within 90 seconds you’d be singing along to them. Transferring that same...
read more
By Martin Hutchinson AFTER 42 years of touring, Joan Armatrading is undertaking her first solo world tour, and it’ll be her last major tour. “I’ve always toured with a band before, but as this will be the last major tour that I’ll be doing, I’ve decided to do it on my own.” It will be a chance for her to pay the songs as...
read more
GODSPELL THE 70s MUSICAL at the QUEENS THEATRE, HORNCHURCH By Leslie Dunn I first saw Godspell in the early 70s when a 23-year-old actor called David Essex played the part of Jesus and I loved it. I wasn’t sure if putting it on in 2014 would work but how wrong I was. It was truly amazing. Coming from the...
read more
Orchard Theatre, Dartford, August 4 As we entered the auditorium of The ORCHARD THEATRE, DARTFORD for the opening night of ‘ONE MAN, TWO GUVNORS’, we were surprised to find we were midway through a Skiffle session: new songs, authentically played and delivered in true ‘Lonnie’ style, intended to set the mood for an evening...
read more
CHURCHILL THEATRE, BROMLEY 17 June 2014 A Broadway and West End smash hit, a hugely successful movie, which I viewed with caution as the music featured is so precious to me but I thoroughly enjoyed, and now the nationwide tour of ‘ROCK OF AGES’ hits the CHURCHILL THEATRE, BROMLEY with a huge bang. The simplest of stories,...
read more
The Rolling Stones Gear by Andy Babiuk & Greg Provost. Backbeat Books: isbn: 9781617130922 If you are to devote 10 years of your life to researching and preparing a book, you need to know the final presentation is going to warrant the effort. Rolling Stones Gear by Andy Babiuk & Greg Provost with Backbeat has done...
read more
INSIDE LLEWYN DAVIS STUDIO CANAL: Blu-ray OPTBD 2542 DVD OPTD2542 The Greenwich Village folk scene of the early 60s was an extremely influential period, but it has virtually been ignored by movie makers until now. The Coen Brothers ‘INSIDE LLEWYN DAVIS’ corrects that with authentically atmospheric brilliance that captures...
read more
Solid Silver 60s Show Orchard Theatre, Dartford, May 10 When I heard Wayne Fontana was forced to pull out of this year’s Solid Silver 60s Show, my initial thoughts were to wish him well, and look forward to seeing again next year. I then hoped that Flying Music would stick to the remaining four acts and allow them to expand...
read more
Donna Loren: These Are The Good Times. Now Sounds CD: CRNOW 47 She was the perfect ‘Pop Princess’ pretty, great voice and a bubbly personality. Between 1963-68 she, possibly, made more TV and live appearances than any other teenage girl. Her face was known across America and yet, despite all of the promotional opportunities,...
read more
On Friday evening, April 11, P J Proby was in Mapperley Plains, Nottingham to perform for the East Midlands Labrador Charity. The organisation, founded in 1981 by Harry Cook MBE, in the past 33 years has re-homed more than 6,000 Labradors. P J has had many pets in the past 50 years, plenty of cats and even more dogs. He, in...
read more
Geno Washington and The Ram Jam Band, The Foundations, featuring Alan Warner and Jaki Graham, got off to a cracking start on their Superstars of Soul Tour at Birmingham’s Jam House on April 30.
read more
Wonderful musical evening I recently attended at the Gainsborough Hotel, Kidderminster, Worcestershire. I have always been a great admirer of Terry Rice Milton. His songs with Cupid’s Inspiration in 1968, “Yesterday Has Gone” and “My World” are, in my opinion, two of the most powerful & memorable songs ever recorded....
read more
SEE HOW THEY RUN CHURCHILL THEATRE, BROMLEY FEBRUARY 20 When Warwick Davies decided to form The Reduced Height Theatre Company, he must have thought long and hard about which play would be best for them. He decided on ‘See How They Run’, a classic wartime farce from 1945 and, judging by the performance of the nine-member...
read more
