Category Archives: Music

Lita Ford, Living Like A Runaway. Album Review.

Originally published by L.S. Media. June 19th 2012.

L.S. Media Rating ****

No matter your point of view of Lita Ford, there is no difficulty in recognising the amount of personal turmoil she manages to get out of her system in the second of her comeback albums, Living Like A Runaway.

The ex-Runaways singer/guitarist was out of the scene for so long from 1995 and the 2009 release of Wicked Wonderland that the rock world wondered whether the first woman of heavy metal would ever pick up a guitar in anger again. With this new album, the answer is most certainly yes and reading through the lyrics the anger is so intense, so dramatic and so passionate that it gives the songs that little bit of extra spice that makes you thankful that you never get on her wrong side.

Lita Ford, Living Like A Runaway. Album Review. full post

(409 words, 1 image, estimated 1:38 mins reading time)

Slash/ Myles Kennedy And The Conspirators. Apocalyptic Love. Album Review.

Originally published on June 19th 2012.

L.S. Media Rating ****

Unlike Slash’s debut self-titled 2010 album, Apocalyptic Love has more gravitas as a collection of songs, it is cohesive and the songs seem somehow to flow better into one another. The reason perhaps is unlike Slash, the album profits from having a stable line-up all the way through. It makes the album have more appeal than believing for a minute that the debut album was an exercise in self-indulgence.

Slash/ Myles Kennedy And The Conspirators. Apocalyptic Love. Album Review. full post

(377 words, 1 image, estimated 1:30 mins reading time)

Sandi Thom, Flesh And Blood. Album Review.

Originally published on L.S. Media. June 20th 2012.

L.S. Media Rating *****

If you want something done with oodles of style, panache and that little something extra, then the best bet is get involved with Sandi Thom and watch and listen as she creates something extraordinarily beautiful.

For that is exactly what you get with her brand new release, Flesh and Blood, which is due to be released on August 27th. Not only do you a get a female musician who can put many others to shame with her incredible voice but you get the real, the raw and the playing of the recklessly abandoned and she is able to get under the belly of every music beast she wishes to with her sensational soulful voice.

Sandi Thom, Flesh And Blood. Album Review. full post

(369 words, 1 image, estimated 1:29 mins reading time)

Asia, XXX. Album Review.

Originally published by L.S Media. June 21st 2012.

L.S. Media Rating ****

The British Rock band Asia is one of the very first so called ‘supergroups’. However, unlike others before them that fell by the waysides after a couple of years or a couple of albums as they realised that even one album together was too much, Asia are celebrating 30 years together with the appropriately named album XXX.

As solo artists or key cogs in other band’s machinery, Geoff Downes, John Wetton, Steve Howe and Carl Palmer are sublime, together they bring those key elements that make them stand out and turn into one of the bands of their time.

Asia, XXX. Album Review. full post

(415 words, 1 image, estimated 1:40 mins reading time)

Brit Floyd. Gig Review. Salisbury City Hall.

. June 23rd 2012. Damian Darlington at the Salisbury City Hall. Photograph by Ian D. Hall

Originally published by L.S. Media. June 23rd 2012.

L.S. Media Rating *****

There is nothing quite like nostalgia; especially when it’s done to with an inch of perfection, a decent sized crowd have enjoyed it immensely and the songs have been as near perfect as you can imagine.

Brit Floyd arrived in Salisbury for their debut show in the city full of hope and aspirations to make some of the small Wiltshire city relive some of the best music to have come out of these islands by one of the most popular bands to ever grace a stage. It is more than fair to say that they easily beat those aims.

Brit Floyd. Gig Review. Salisbury City Hall. full post

(573 words, 1 image, estimated 2:18 mins reading time)

The Offspring, Days Go By. Album Review.

Originally published by L.S. Media. June 28th 2012.

L.S. Media Rating ***

Days Go By is the new album by American Punk Rock band The Offspring and never has an album title felt more apt in terms of how long fans of a group may have felt for its delivery.

This ninth studio album by the band has been creeping and crawling along and was in danger of becoming out of date by the time it finally hit the general public. Patience is sometimes its own reward, especially in music and the pay offs in what the audience hears can be worth every moment, every single agonising second between one album and the next.

The Offspring, Days Go By. Album Review. full post

(360 words, 1 image, estimated 1:26 mins reading time)

Levellers, Static On The Airwaves. Album Review.

Originally published by L.S. Media. June 29th 2012.

L.S. Media Rating ****

After nearly 25 years making some rather excellent music, the latest album by the Levellers, Static On The Airwaves, still manages to raise the expectations that somewhere there are groups that still connect with their core audience and create music that not only coaxes the listener to enjoy but also actively want to spread around their friends and say see, “This is what I’m talking about, this is what’s wrong”.

Levellers, Static On The Airwaves. Album Review. full post

(520 words, 1 image, estimated 2:05 mins reading time)

Linkin Park, Living Things. Album Review.

Originally published by L.S. Media June 29th 2012.

L.S. Media Rating ***

Linkin Park have a lot to be proud of as a band, for a start they broke the existing mould that was almost fused and set in stone between understated yet loud rap and good accessible rock and continued to make records that developed the idea of personal anguish without going down some doom laden ego-trip.

Linkin Park, Living Things. Album Review. full post

(376 words, 1 image, estimated 1:30 mins reading time)

Dominic Crane, Gig Review. o2 Academy, Birmingham.

Dominic Crane, Picture from Allgigs.co.uk.

Originally published by L.S. Media. July 1st 2012.

L.S. Media Rating ****

There is something to be said for the moment where you realise that a performer of glorious musical intelligence is playing his heart out in front of you. That moment is magnified when as a music lover, no matter the genre, you are sure that what you are seeing before you is one of the most unlikely best support acts you are likely to hear in any year.

Dominic Crane, Gig Review. o2 Academy, Birmingham. full post

(428 words, 1 image, estimated 1:43 mins reading time)

Mike And The Mechanics, Gig Review. o2 Academy, Birmingham.

Mike Rutherford at the o2 Academy, Birmingham. Picture by Ian D. Hall

Originally published by L.S. Media. July 1st 2012.

L.S. Media Rating *****

Mike Rutherford really needs no introduction, certainly not to the extremely fascinated and focused crowd at the o2 Academy in Birmingham who roared in vocal appreciation at the man responsible for many of Genesis’s hits over the years, and who managed to juggle his side project Mike and the Mechanics with such musical aplomb.

Mike And The Mechanics, Gig Review. o2 Academy, Birmingham. full post

(434 words, 1 image, estimated 1:44 mins reading time)