Another week rolls by and we head towards Christmas but there are no mince pies or sherry being overindulged round here when there are records to review and Shows to see and last week was no exception as RPM brought you a diverse bunch on the live front as well as on the death decks.

 

Sadly the last seven days saw another rock n roller pass on to the next life and we said goodbye to Peter Blast.  I had the pleasure of reviewing several of his albums and spoke to him in the last twelve months.  On behalf of everyone here at RPM I’d like to offer our condolences to his family and friends and raise a glass to his memory.

 

We also brought you an interview with Phil Privilege from the  awesome kings of power punk n pop Cyanide Pills with an amazing trail of singles and albums as part of their repertoire Phil told us they were on the way to deliver the next long player as well as answer a few of our questions about the band, Catch up with it here

 

We also had some pretty diverse live reviews from the likes of hard rockin’ Junkyard Cowboy Junkies and a doubleheader from He Who Cannot Be Named and the Awesome Hip Priests. But our bread and butter has to be our album reviews and with Black Friday RSD releases in thin supply some of our favourite labels did manage to put out some quality must have records in the shape of MC5. UK Subs ‘Sub Mission’ got its first pressing on record  and we again scoured the four corners of the globe to bring you the likes of Civic from Australia, X Darlings from Switzerland, Paris’ Youth Avoiders and Californias Smash Fashion to name a few.

As for the coming week, we continue with Bens California Dreaming road trip where he visits some pretty amazing places as he skips across the USA. we also caught a few amazing live shows and bring you some fantastic records by some well-known people as well as some of the finest new performers current kicking up a storm on record players and concert halls around the planet. Remember to stick with RPM for all your alternative news and reviews. As Lux used to say “Stay Sick” www.rpmonline.co.uk its a rock n roll revolution!

 

 

 

Nev Brooks

Sunday afternoon in the big smoke followed by an evening in a venue that I have to say was a new one on me, but the chance to drift along and listen to some rarities and slow sad waltzes, that you knew were going to be delivered perfectly by Margo Timmins and family just couldn’t be missed.

 

I caught the cowboy junkies first live with a certain Ryan Adams guesting back in the Royal Albert Hall and they absolutely stunned me, and since then I’ve been an avid follower of their brand of Blues/Folk/country/Americana, truth be told its music that hooks into an emotional space and just holds you there.

 

On arrival at the theatre I couldn’t help but notice the cast list for a new play being show from Martin McDonagh (Three Billboards outside Ebbing Missouri) called a Very Very Very dark matter what caught my eye was Tom Waits, the ongoing Narrator and a certain Phil Daniels in an extended role, if you fancy checking out some reviews, which I did it might appeal, the premise is suitably dark and almost certainly insane.

 

With a ban on photos, (they were very protective of the said plays set) all I can say is that it provided a macabre backdrop to the nights proceedings.

 

No support act and two sets with an intermission, meant we got straight into the proceedings with the opening set focusing in on the new LP “All that Reckoning” opening up with the title track “All that reckoning” you were instantly caught up lets lay it out there Margo Timmins is probably one of the best female vocalists currently touring across any genre, watching her entranced in the music, feeling every note it was a really special performance, I have to at this point comment on the sound tonight it was incredible, you could hear a pin drop we could hear the vocalist draw breath, it was unreal. Tracks that stood out in this set for me probably the opening number, “Southern Rain,” “The things we do to each other” and the only nod to the past in this section “cause cheap is how I feel”.

 

The second set was simply sublime, heavy raw blues at times, acoustic Americana at others, while dipping in and out of an alternative country base.

Picking out tracks two of the covers, “Powderfinger”(Neil Young) and “Sweet Jane”,(from the velvet underground!!!) it nailed you to the seat with its intensity, while “Misguided Angel” that closed the set left you drifting wanting much more, the solitary song from the new LP, “shining teeth” deserves a special mention it sat so well in this set.

 

Then before you know it the band are gone, or almost gone coming back to cover Bowie’s “Five Years” which was jaw dropping and Patsy Cline’s ‘Walking after midnight” both given the Cowboy Junkies treatment.

 

 

Playing just under an hour set one and an hour and thirty minutes (almost) set two, it genuinely felt like 5 minutes each, I love nights where you just end up lost in the music!!

 

You can buy “All that reckoning” here

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Seven days in Rock and Roll can be a long time or if you like us then it’ll fly by.  With some exclusive interviews and a whole lot of records reviewed we hope we’ve at least shone a little light into a corner of the entertainment world we think houses the best of the best and having the likes of Rich Jones give an interview with some snippets about the new Michael Monroe album revealed ‘One Man Gang’ is now out of the bag and having the likes of Nasty Suicide and Captain Sensible playing on the record 2019 is shaping up nicely or as someone here at HQ said “that’s album of the year sorted for 2019”.

We also brought you Paul Collins interview who is the self declared king of power pop although I did get a call in to HQ saying that wasn’t quite true as Rags now holds that title but I’m not getting involved in that debate but we did announce that Rich Ragany is holding an album launch in London Town in January and the line up is a very impressive set of bands that shouldn’t be missed details can be found on RPM online News section.

There were live reviews from Japanese Garage legends King Brothers as well as acoustic platinum seller Eric Martin and on Friday we brought you a review of The Feelgood Band playing in London which rounded up a pretty diverse bunch from around the globe I’m sure you’ll agree?

For our bread and butter album reviews, we had some old new um very old and one turkey so a festive collection of records were covered by a crack team of scribes.  We previewed Black Friday RSD must own – Johnny Thunders and the Heartbreakers ‘DTK’ as well as newcomers Estrons that went down extremely well here.  We took a trip to New York for Palmyra Delran and her doppelgangers and whilst we were there Beechwood were heading out the door to Europe for a tour but left us their new long player which is also an impressive second album this year from the three-piece.  The Turkey well we couldn’t sit Idol let Billy off without mentioning his revisited best-of collection that has been given the dance remix treatment which could have worked but cutting edge it isn’t.  90’s dated Ibiza dance off it might have been but disappointing is what it is and we can only bring you the truth here at RPM even though we love William Broad we’re excited for Generation Sex but not his new collection of remixes. There were the likes of the excellent Bitterlicks and Dave Kusworth records reviewed before they hit the shops as well as Thomas Silvers much anticipated solo album.

 

Not wanting to finish on a downer we look forward to the coming week where you have to keep it RPM online because we’re bringing you The Hip Priests and He Who Cannot Be Named live and where else are you getting that and Junkyard bookending Cowboy Junkies?  Nowhere that’s where. Also, we have albums from Honest John Plain, Australians Civic, New York Sick OF It All and Europeans like Youth Avoiders and Fertile Hump.  So remember to keep it RPM online and as Lux would say Stay Sick.