LIVE ALBUMS OF THE YEAR 2018
1. The Darkness – Live at Hammersmith
“If ever there was a band that deserved a big fat live album it’s The Darkness, as anyone who’s seen them live will testify: and as a veteran of their shows on three continents I can attest that they put on a mighty fine night out. And while we’re at it, if ever there was a name to conjure up the glory days of live Rock to countless fans of a certain age it’s simply one word – the mighty Hammersmith.”
2. Thunder – Stage
“For those of you 150 or so lucky punters to catch British rockers Thunder at The Capitol in Perth on 11th March 2017 would know the boys know how to put on a live show. The band have never exactly been overjoyed with studio rehearsals, so the Australian Tour was a perfect warm-up to practice the new material from latest offering “Rip It Up” and blow out the cobwebs for the much anticipated UK & European tour. And this has now been followed by a live double album (and Blu-ray) entitled Stage, recorded a mere 13 days after the Perth show, at Cardiff’s Motorpoint Arena, in front of a crowd of 5000, highlighting the bands excellent back catalogue of tunes.”
3. John Corabi – Live ’94 (One Night in Nashville)
“As live albums go this one is a keeper, and as someone who has seen the show live it’s a damned fine representation of what John and his band do onstage. For those of you who were there when Motley toured this back in the day musically this is both tighter and more muscular – ‘One Night in Nashville’ beats vintage Crue hands down.”
4. Dokken – Return To The East Live 2016
“I well remember the very day that I purchased ‘Beast From the East’ on vinyl from my local record store in 1988 and spinning it relentlessly till I wore it out. The band had just come off the run of their lives with 1984’s ‘Tooth and Nail’ expanding on the promise of ‘Breaking the Chains’ and 1985’s classic ‘Under Lock and Key’ eclipsing even that, before the 1987 opus ‘Back For the Attack’ completed their run of platinum albums before the band went their separate ways largely due to due to “creative and personal differences between Don Dokken and George Lynch”.
5. L.A. Guns – Live in Milan
“There’s a showiness and jauntiness to the lead guitar on opening track ‘No Mercy’ that clearly says we’re not in 1988 anymore. The thrust is still there, that wonderfully spiky riff, that raw aggression but the clarity of production here and the volume of the ‘lead’ in the mix is very much not what these guys sounded like in 1988 when I first saw them. The more things change though the more they stay the same: 30 years on L.A. Guns still have that aura about them and whilst other Sunset Strip bands will quite rightly fall into the footnotes of history these guys were always just that little bit more.”
RE-RELEASES OF THE YEAR 2018
1. Jimi Hendrix Experience – Electric Ladyland 50th Anniversary Edition
“It would be churlish to try and review the actual album here, after all there are hundreds of great reviews out there, the best though in my opinion are the ones written contemporaneously, without the benefit of hindsight or context, they are the reviews that show the excitement of the moment, the feeling that anything was possible.”
2. The Quireboys – Homewreckers and Heartbreakers (10th Anniversary release)
“‘Homewreckers and Heartbreakers’ originally came out the year before The Rockpit came into being ten years ago, but I imagine all fans of the band would be rather familiar with the album that saw their real resurgence after their initial reformation releases ‘This is Rock ‘N’ Roll’ (2001) and ‘Well Oiled’ (2004) which started 8 years after the band’s initial split. ‘Homewreckers…’ in truth put those two decent releases in the shade – it was just more ‘Rock and Roll’…” INTERVIEW WITH GUY GRIFFIN – HERE
3. Dare – Out of the Silence II
“If you love AOR then this is one of the real benchmarks of the genre: great melodies, huge harmonies, clear and passionate vocals, and most importantly of all catchy and memorable songs. There are rockers like ‘Abandon’; ‘Runaway’ and ‘Heartbreaker’ and lighter-waving anthems like ‘Return The Heart’ and ‘Don’t Let Go’. Add to that the sumptuous piano-led ‘Nothing Is Stronger Than Love’ and the tribute to Phil Lynott ‘King of Spades’ and you have the core of an album that has to be one of the all-time greats.”
4. Hungryheart – Hungryheart (ten years anniversary deluxe edition)
“Now if you missed out the first time around I’ve got good news Italy’s finest Melodic Rockers Hungryheart are in the studio working on their fourth album as we speak. Even better is that their 2008 self-titled debut is being re-released with a couple of bonus tracks. As The Rockpit formed in late 2018 it’s an album that made our inaugural TOP 10 of the year list.”
5. Rose Tattoo – Blood Brothers (Re-Issue)
“If ever there was an Australian Band who never lost it over the years, then Rose Tattoo are that band, and the proof is in a release like ‘Blood Brothers’ now with all the balls and whistles, but it’s far from a swansong, it’s a statement of continued intent.”
EP’S OF THE YEAR 2018
1. Tom Harte – Life, Love and Everything in Between E.P
“One of my favourite Northern Irish bands of the last few years has been Trucker Diablo, and this year vocalist Tom Harte has put out his first solo EP. It still of course sports his distinctive vocal, but as you’ll find covers rather different ground to the Truckers…”
2. Canibales – Rocanrol
“When I hit play I didn’t know anything about this EP except I liked it, I liked it very much.”
3. The Erotics – Stuck Between Venus and Mars
“It’s always great when the new release by a band you love hits the inbox and over the years The Erotics have been one of those bands that has never disappointed me. Their new EP ‘Stuck between Venus and Mars’ is no exception – it’s six tracks of the Sleaziest most raucous Rock N Roll you could imagine.”
4. Rose Carleo Band – Battle Scars
“Whenever you hear an Australian Rock band in the international press there are always the inevitable home-grown comparisons and whenever you hear of a new female-fronted Rock Band again those comparisons always come. It’s understandable in a way as we all need a reference point to hang our hat on but in reality it often dashes expectations. Rose Carleo might be a familiar name to some though if you go all the way back her first couple of solo albums did tread a far more country path than rock and it wasn’t until album number three ‘Time is Now’ that she really let loose.”
5. Flickertail – Hurry Up and Wait EP
“Golden Robot records are a label that seems to have set the quality control very high, and along with their classic established signings like Little Caesar and Rose Tattoo seem to have a real eye for great new talent too. Along with the new breed like The Lockhearts from Melbourne come the young Sydney upstarts Flickertail whose new EP promises so much in its five songs.”
And there you go the votes are in for 2018 – check out our best of LIVE SHOWS, Interviews and Blues and Metal album releases of 2018 coming soon!
