(36:05; Trip Lava) Multi-instrumentalist Joel Lee may not be the most prolific artist out there, as it has taken him seven years to release the follow-up to ‘Ounds’, but given that took eight years from ‘Octaroid’ possibly that means he is getting faster? When one then realises his debut album was called ‘Oddball in the Corner Pocket’ one understands Lee has a somewhat unhealthy fascination with the letter ‘O’ (every song on the last album also started with that letter) – maybe I should introduce him to Matt Deacon of The Bob Lazar Story as he has an unhealthy fascination with foodstools, and they could write some wonderful odes together. This album is all Joel, and as there are elements of krautrock, Canterbury scene, psychedelia, space rock, RIO, avant garde and eclectic material all combined with various sound clips, one can understand why it takes so long to pull recordings together as if his brain is anything like this music then it is chaos, and all happening at the same time. Ye...

(39:13; Fosfor Creation) Swedish band Bakelit are back with their second album, only a year after their debut, and given how much I enjoyed that one I was definitely looking forward to this one as well. Led by multi-instrumentalist Carl Westholm, who here provides vocals, bass, electric piano, organ, synthesizers and Theremin, I  always think of him for his albums with Carptree and Jupiter Society, although others will probably think of Avatarium and Candlemass – not many prog musicians can also claim fame within doom! He is again joined by  singers Öivin Tronstad and Cia Backman and guitarist Ulf Edelönn but there is a new drummer in the form of Jonas Källsbäck, best known from The Night Flight Orchestra and Gathering of Kings. There is a real darkness behind this, with Carl often happily playing dramatic deep and threatening chords as opposed to lightness and light. For the debut I said there were times when I was reminded of Clive Nolan, and that definitely comes through he...

(55:26; Nuclear Blast) Right after completing Nightwish’s 2024 album ‘Yesterwynde’, the songwriting for the third chapter in Auri’s musical adventures started, with Troy Donockley writing in Yorkshire and Tuomas Holopainen and his wife, singer Johanna Kurkela, working their creative magic in Kitee, Finland. As soon as I started playing this the name of one band came straight to mind, and it stuck there the more I listened to this, and while many people will be coming to this album due to the Nightwish links, to fully understand this one needs to go back more than 40 years to when a young Troy was a key member of the incredible folk rock band Iona. They never gained the huge commercial acclaim they so richly deserved, but they left behind a rich legacy, and there is no doubt that Auri have taken huge swathes of that and combined it with some Nightwish tendencies to create something which is hauntingly beautiful and atmospheric, although at times it has a backbone of solid iron. Troy and...

(39:12; Talking Elephant [2025 Edition] ) On 4th August 1979, Fairport Convention played what was supposed to be their final gig, after which Dave Pegg was invited to stand in for John Glascock on Jethro Tull’s ‘Stormwatch’ tour, joining the band after Glascock died. He was an integral part of Tull for the next fifteen years, but he also managed to put aside some time to record his first solo album, which was released in 1983. I first saw Peggy when he played with Tull on the ‘Under Wraps’ tour before catching him in the reformed Fairport on their ‘Gladys’ Leap’ soiree, which is where I first purchased this (and still have o this day). Of course, this was back in the day of cassettes, so I put ‘Gladys’ Leap’ on one side, and this on the other, and consequently was an album I played a great deal. Mostly instrumental, with Peggy showing off his wonderful mandolin playing, it does also feature vocals, most notably on “Jack Frost and the Hooded Crow”. This was originally recorded by Tull d...