SpideWriter

Steven Wilson The Overview / ST5V5N W9LS15N – TH5 OV5RV95W Out Now on Fiction Records Album Review Oh! How we needed Punk Rock! The turgidity and suffocation of the hippy dominated long-haired Prog Rock amblings suffocated like a winter duvet on a warm spring morning.  The singles market was thriving with cut and paste emotions, smash and grab lyrics and the briefest of brief guitar solos and breaks. Everything under three minutes for a quid, with a quirky B-side thrown in, (sometimes a proper gem).   Survivors from this edgy, musical tidal shift hold onto the mantra “Don’t bore us, get us to the chorus!” Elder siblings, or the long-hairs of the upper school were boring.  Parties full of dope smoking lay-abouts listening to albums were tedious. The older kids could get about in fifth-hand motors bought for £50, carrying a prized album to play, when we were looking for the punch of Glam Rock.  I recall a house party where an elder brother of the party g...

Ross Stewart Steps Up Sold Out Show Worth The Wait  Voodoo Daddy's Showroom. Tuesday, 28th January, 2025 Ross Stewart at Voodoo Daddy's  It took him a while, but at last a headline set from Ross Stewart for which the audience had to pay to get in.  I first saw Stewart playing in the Walnut Tree Grapes when the Norfolk Blues Society returned to action after the pandemic.  The Walnut Tree in Old Post Office Court was a godsend to fans of quality live music.  My life in the city was transformed by the place, introducing me to the local music scene, in which Ross was just becoming established because of his truly outstanding ability to rock a guitar, make it weep, make it sing.  Astonishingly, the young Scot's talent with the guitar is matched by a voice that he has managed to nurture and develop in tandem with his playing.  Ross has played at The Champion, The Lamb, The Reindeer, The Brickmakers, (amongst other pubs) as well as being an opening act at Nor...

Album Review:   Gus Eaglehorn, The Hornbook Beautifully Bonkers This is a remarkable album.  My gut response to it was to seek out where this guy and his band are playing.  With an album title that suggests witchy spells for aphrodisiacal purposes, Gus Eaglehorn has produced a collection of songs that promise a theatrical event, an American rock musical for the age of The Great Pushback on Humanity we are living through.  With its quirky drama and humour, Eaglehorn demonstrates vital aspects of American art as old as the travelling freak shows of the Wild West and Victorian Britain.  Released on 31 st  January, 2025 ,   The Hornbook wraps up all that is to be loved about the indie American music scene in a candy-coloured bag that invites you to pick out what we fancy, but I reckon, you’ll not want to share and just swallow it all in one go.  It’s witty and weird enough to be played repeatedly – and it rocks where it has ...

...and there were tears! Nancy Dunnell at Last Pub Standing, Norwich Sunday 15th December, 2024 Nancy Dunnell  opened for Aphra this Sunday past at The Last Pub Standing , King Street, Norwich.  Nancy hasn’t been on stage singing solo since before the Pandemic and a lot of water has flowed under the Novi Sad Friendship Bridge since then, for us all.  Nancy brought along couple of new songs, some well-loved oldies and a beautiful interpretation of of  I Want To Make It With You,  the  David Gates  song made famous with  Bread  in 1970. While not singing her own material, Nancy Dunnell has been doing sterling work providing backing vocals for the quixotic  Vieira & The Silvers , (who are now London-based retaining only slivers of the Silvers known to Norwich fans).  In that backing role, Nancy displayed a tremendous facility to add harmony and a sweet counter-point to dirty blues rock, whether solo, or in partnersh...

Rock'n'Soul Extraordinary, Terry Reid “Superlungs” plays Norwich Arts Centre Thursday 19 th  September, 2024   One of the most remarkable and revered rock musicians of all time is coming to the Norwich Arts Centre on Thursday, 19 th  September.  Make sure you catch  Terry Reid, who is a living testament to the University of Life, the embodiment of making a living from what you love. Terry Reid - Superlungs with guitar    Reid left school in St Ives, Cambridgeshire aged 15 years, way back in 1966 and to all intents and purposes just wanted to perform in a local band, Peter Jay and The Jaywalkers .  As seemed to happen in those heady 60s days, something magical occurred and this group of lads from The Fens became a support act for The Rolling Stones on a twenty-three concert tour of the UK. The young Reid later on that tour befriended  Graham Nash , then of The Hollies , when they met at The Royal Albert Hall gig of that Stones’ to...

Phew! Sultry Stuff - In The Desert You’ll Find Me The Molee Shakes - Debut Album - Review Released this morning, with the launch gig at Norwich Puppet Theatre tonight, we at last get a full draft of The Molee Shakes – and it tastes good.  It is like a long, slow, cold beer on an oppressively humid day.  The duo of Mowenna Farrell and Lee Dickerson bring welcome chills to heat of summer. This is a great album for a go-with-the-flow, tell me a story, laid-back mood, in a let’s not rush about, (it’s too hot for rushing), let’s just rock gently to the swaying rhythms of a lived-in voice telling slow, wild tales, accompanied by the echoing lap-steel guitar laments. The album is beautifully put together.  It sets a distinctive tone and maintains that mood throughout.  This is sustained by sparingly-used percussion.  Drums are lightly deployed, with the delicate touch of Jack Gascoigne bringing music of his own to the melodic scenery. The rhyth...