(44:18; Heritage) There was a discussion taking place on ProgArchives recently as to whether John should be included on the site (the inclusion of artists have to be passed by committee, believe it or not), but someone said it was difficult to find any of his albums to be able to make a decision, so I said I would drop John a line and see if I could get a couple as we know each other. The first time I saw John play was back in 1991 when he was part of The Law who played at Milton Keynes Bowl supporting Bryan Adams and ZZ Top, but he was a collaborator with John Wetton for years, played with Greenslade, has been a session keyboard player for many top acts, and of course he is now well-known for the wonderful Lifesigns. But what about his purely solo material? This album is from 2000, and I surmise it contains the demos for a planned album, but looking at his discography that does not appear to have ever been released, so it could possibly contain demos he had recorded for other purposes...

(7xCD + 2xBlu-ray Box Set, Esoteric Recordings [2025 Edition] )  When a band has been prolific as Hawkwind, still touring and releasing albums more than 50 years on from their inception, it is likely there will always be some debate among fans about what is the best studio release. When it comes to the ‘Wind then my personal view will probably always be ‘Quark, Strangeness and Charm’, just because that was the first album of theirs I heard, not long after it was released in 1977, but there is no doubt that 1974’s ‘Hall of the Mountain Grill’ is viewed by many as the classic album to have, and now Esoteric have gone full throttle with this newly released nine-disc limited edition boxed set which contains the original album newly remastered from the original master tapes, along with new mixes from the original 16-track master tapes by Stephen W. Tayler of previously unreleased full concerts at Edmonton, January 1974 and the 1999 Party at Cleveland in March 1974 plus a new mix of the ...

(66:00; Desert Comb Music) What we have here is the debut album from Australian trio Ambient Den, who are Ben Craven (guitars, bass, programming, vocals), Tim Bennetts (piano, keyboards, vocals) and  Dean Povey (drums, vocals). Even before playing this I noticed something strange about this release, as while it is not unusual to have a “single edit” as a bonus cut, here we have four. Given the rest of the album is only six tracks in length, and the first one is a short introduction, this does seem a little bit like overkill but only the cynic would suggest this is a way of extending a six-track to a 10-track album lasting 67 minutes, even if 19 minutes of that is “bonus material”. It's a shame as I would definitely have liked to have heard more, as what we have here are a band who have been very influenced by classic Pink Floyd, but with more crossover and commercial elements. Again we have a very modern production, so it feels like we are being hit by a wall of sound as opposed to...

(44:35; Independent Artist Records) Here we have the second album from Italian trio Aerostation, who comprise Alex Carpani (vocals, keytar), Gigi Cavalli Cocchi (drums, electronic pads) and Jacopo Rossi (bass). I have not heard the debut album, which came out seven years ago, but last year I reviewed Alex’s album ‘The Good Man’, while I actually interviewed Gigi all the way back in 2006 (along with Bernardo Lanzetti) after Mangala Vallis released the excellent ‘Lyncanthrope’. As one can see from the line-up, there are no guitars on this album, with the layering coming mostly from Alex’s custom keytar (an instrument I do wish we saw more of in concert). This is a very modern-sounding album, with a very strong focus on the production, and while that is obviously deliberate, it has made it quite difficult for me to listen to. I prefer my music to have more space within the layers, and this is much more of a wall of sound approach. There is nothing wrong with that, but it is not a style I ...

(24:44; Iapetus) It has been way too long since we have had brand-new material from Tony Levin (stick, bowed stick), Pat Mastelotto (acoustic and electronic drums & percussion) and Markus Reuter (Touch Guitars® U8 Deluxe, vocals), but this five-song EP is a prelude to a new album which will be coming out later this year. There is no doubt that Stick Men are one of the most exciting bands around, taking King Crimson as a base, and given that Tony has been involved for four decades and Pat for more than three, perhaps that is no surprise at all. They are all very well-known for their improvisation, but here they have worked together to create something which still contains that excitement and energy but is obviously rehearsed and is somehow both dark and muscular at the same time. It is dramatic, always shifting, with the use of repeated melodies which bring us deep inside the riff, which is so very different indeed to much of the music I hear from Markus where he is composing live a...

(58:50; Half Past Four) During the five years since the debut there had been a minor line-up change, with Kyree Vibrant (vocals), Constantin Necrasov (guitars), Dmitry Lesov (bass and Chapman stick) and Igor Kurtzman (keyboards) joined now by drummer Marcello Ciurleo for this their 2013 second album. Ciurleo is more dramatic than previous incumbent Pisanski and is more focussed on a standard drumkit although he happily bashes his way around it with abandon. Given that the debut is truly eclectic and all over the place, with the new album much the same in many ways, it would be a surprise if the one in the middle was too different from either and I am glad to say that yet again we have plenty of Zappa, Todd Rundgren, King Crimson, Cardiacs, Poisoned Electrick Head, Kate Bush, Jethro Tull, Gentle Giant, Toyah and others, while I have seen some mention District 97 as well. This is a band who definitely follow their own style and refuse to be pigeonholed, so if that means changing tempo du...

(63:00; Half Past Four) Earlier this year I reviewed the excellent new album by Canadian band Half Past Four, bemoaning the fact that so few people seem to know anything about them, and also that I had only ever reviewed their mini album from 2016 and not the first two, which is why I am now playing their debut, 2008’s ‘Rabbit In The Vestibule’. Even before playing it I was intrigued as even though it has been 17 years since it came out, three of the band, Kyree Vibrant (vocals), Igor Kurtzman (keyboards, sounds, effects) and Dmitry Lesov (bass, acoustic guitar, vocals) are still there with the others in this line-up being Constantin Necrasov (electric guitar, acoustic guitar, mandolin, vocals) and Art Pisanski (drums, percussion) plus a few guests. I described their latest release as a beautiful mess, and in many ways, this is just the same with influences being taken from artists as diverse as Zappa, Todd Rundgren, King Crimson, Cardiacs, Poisoned Electrick Head, Kate Bush, Jethro Tu...