Tag: dirty honey

Top 10 Albums of 2023 (and some more!)

My personal Top 10 albums of 2023. Enjoy the list and you will hopefully find something new to listen to

Well dear reader its that time of year again. I appreciate the number of visits to this site that you made. It’s much appreciated for a one man band of a site. It’s been a bit of a restricted year, with not many albums reviewed at all, so the Top 10 in this list are all albums I have purchased in 2023 and all come highly recommended.

1. Rival Sons – Darkfighter/Lightbringer

Darkfighter just shaded it for me out of the 2 offerings in 2023. Rival Sons has seen each album getting better than the last. I’m not 100% sure that Darkfighter is better than Feral Roots (yet), but I would have also preferred this to be a double album. To quote the Fuzzlord, Darkfighter is ‘cinematic’ which is a perfect description, and Lightbringer ‘watching the same film’. I have been watching these guys since 2011 and few bands can match them. 

Hot Track – Nobody Wants To Die / Mosaic

2. Romeos Daughter – Slipstream

Romeos Daughter’s first release in 8 years since Spin make Guns ’n’ Roses look prolific in their output. But….give me time over prolific any day of the week. You see, RD have never made a duff album and with Craig Joiner pulling the strings together with Leigh Mattys sultry and velvety vocals enveloping you like a warm blanket – it (Slipstream) really is Heaven In the Back Seat

Hot Track – Over You 

3. Dirty Honey – Cant Find The Brakes

Dirty Honey have been conquering the UK and Europe for the last two years. Similar to Rival Sons, Alter Bridge and now Dirty Honey, these bands are more appreciated on this side of the pond than their homeland. Their sophomore album carries on where the EP and debut album left off. In Mark LaBelle and John Notto they have one of the best rock pairings since Jon Bon and Ritchie. Catch ’em live in the UK in Feb

Hot Track – Won’t Take Me Alive

4. Steven Wilson – The Harmony Codex

Whilst SWs ‘The Future Bites’ didn’t light much of a fire for me personally, its what makes Steven Wilson one of music’s great artists. He doesn’t stand still. All albums sound different, he is always pushing the envelope and rightly so. Just when you think you have the measure of him, he releases something completely different. Impossible Tightrope sounds like it’s from a 70s soundtrack to a Dirty Harry movie and then just adds more sublime layers – a choir, true prog rhythms, and seagulls. Yes seagulls. Its 10 mins of pure unadulterated joy. Its YYZ for the twenties.

Hot Track –  Impossible Tightrope 

5. Chris Stapleton – Higher

Higher is CS’s fifth album, and bugger me its a great one. He started off in a rock band and did what is now known as a Michael Bolton, switching sides and became a songwriter and then performer. His top 5 songs on Spotify have a total (as of time of writing) of 1.8 Billion listens. No wonder his UK tour next year sold out quicker than….well, Chris Stapleton tour tickets

Hot Track – White Horse

6. Crown Lands – Fearless

Got a Rush sized hole in your life? Look no further than fellow Canadians, Crown Lands. Only in this instance they are only two. Drummer Bowles has a range every bit as high as Geddy Lee, and in Comeau multi talented doesn’t do the guy enough justice. Starlifter:Fearless Pt.II has its roots firmly planted in Hemispheres and 2112 . It won’t be long before they are mentioned in the same sentence as Rush and Duke Kaboom.

Hot Track – Starlifter:Fearless Pt II

7. WVH – Mammoth II

As talented as Comeau is, Wolfgang Van Halen takes it up a notch. The Van Halen name means that he will always be compared to his dad. With Mammoth II WVH has levelled any such comparison. II is more accomplished than the debut and shows he isn’t a flash in the pan and living off the name. He has even inherited the knack of making a stand out video to accompany his songs in a time when bands aren’t doing this anymore. Check out the 8 minute ‘Another Celebration At The End of The World’. If this doesn’t bring a smile to your face, nothing will.

Hot Track – Another Celebration At The End Of The World

8. Ayron Jones – Chronicles Of The Kid

Thanks to my mate in the US, Gene, I might never have come across AJ. Only been a fan for 2 months and his 2020s output has blown me away. He really deserves to be massive, and not in an obese way. He is probably the best solo artist you have never heard of…yet…. after Steven Wilson. I think 2024 is going to change that. ’Chronicles….’ is just peppered with great songs. 

Hot Track – Blood In The Water

9. Those Damn Crows – Inhale/ Exhale

In late ’22 TDC supported Monster Truck. It was my first time seeing and hearing TDC and completely became a fan as they levelled The Ritz in Manchester. I/E is clearly their best album yet and are a band quickly going places. TDC dip into Alter Bridge territory with This Time Im ready, a song about the loss of Greenhall’s father that resonates to everybody who has lost a loved one. Adderchog.

Hot Track – Takedown

10. The Answer – Sundowners

I saw The Answer early on in their career supporting Alter Bridge and they blew me away. They petered away with a flicker, but returned seven years later with all guns blazing. Neeson is one of rocks finest vocalists. They deserve to be mentioned in the same breath as Rival Sons, just give it time and they will hopefully.

Hot Track – California Rust

And whilst I am at it, here’s a few more lists…..

Top 5 AOR

1.Romeos Daughter – Slipstream

2.Nitrate – Feel The Heat

3.Steve Overland – Six

4.Streetlight – Ignition

5.The Defiants – Drive

Best Gig(s) – Rammstein, Overland Kirkpatrick, Romeos Daughter, Marcus King, Larkin Poe, Dirty Honey

Best Support Band – Ida Mae, The Sheepdogs, The Damn Truth 

Best Reissue/Box Set – Thin Lizzy Live and Dangerous

Needle In The Groove’s Top 10 Albums of 2021

My top 10 albums of 2021.

Well grapple fans (an up to date reference for the kids!), here we are at the dying embers of 2021 and thinking at the same time last year we were all predicting we would all be back to normal, everyone fully vaccinated and living like to the full. Well thanks to Covid-19 mutating like, well Covid-19, here we are a year down the line, all pretty much locked up as we were last Christmas. Gigs opened up for a couple of months and I snuck in 3 before the UK government made it pretty much impossible to go see a gig from Boxing Day onwards.


Thankfully bands didn’t let this affect them and it was a very strong year for releases. Most of the bands on this list were albums purchased in 2021, so there will not be a review on the site for further details. Where there is a review I will attach a link. It’s far from me to criticise, so if you have brought an album out in 2021, well done to you all.


It was also good to hear only yesterday that vinyl sales were up in the UK, with them making up 23% of all sales, which is 14 years of continuous growth, and CDs seeing the lowest number of sales since 1984, just one year after they were introduced to the UK. This increase is probably down to two factors – Adele and Abba. I don’t think my haul of over 200 albums bought in 2021 made a dent in the numbers.


I’m sure vinyl sales would be a lot higher were it not for manufacturing issues, PVC shortages and the fact that demand is outstripping supply by 2:1. If you have a spare couple of million lying down the back of the sofa, build a vinyl pressing plant. You can’t fail. For some reason, probably because they were part of a ‘bundle’, over 190,000 tapes were sold in 2021, their biggest selling year since 2003. When compared to the streaming monsters however, its bugger all as the likes of Spotify, Amazon, Deezer etc etc had an 81% share of the market.

Anyway onto my top 10 albums of 2021……

10. Lifesigns – Altitude

I was new to the Lifesigns party in 2021 but even from the first listen I was hooked. Its a really great album, and John Young is now a firmly established name in the Chesworth household.

9. The Dead Daisies – Holy Ground

The Dead Daisies were good, then they became excellent. Why? Well Glenn bloody Hughes only went and joined them. The ‘voice of rock’ added his Glenn Hughes-ness to TDD and the result is the fab. The man is the Tinkerbell of rock, adding a drop of fairydust to take TDD up a notch above anything they had done before this point

8. Thunder – All the Right Noises

Considering I was at their last ever gig a few years back, Thunder’s return and resurgence has been a great one, with ATRN sitting nicely near the summit of Thunders best works. It’s that good.

7. Dirty Honey – ST

Dirty Honey hit the ground running with their cracking EP. Their debut album picks up where the EP left off. Self produced and financed, they want to take care of their own destiny. In Mark LaBelle they have a singer who can challenge some of the greats. 70s rock is alive and well. (Fun fact – their single from the EP ‘When. I’m Gone’ was the first ever single from an unsigned band to top the Billboard Rock Chart). My only gripe is the album is too short! I’ve had longer shits.

6. The Night Flight Orchestra – Aeromantic II

If your idea of melodic rock heaven is parpy keyboards and songs that sound like they were written and performed in the 1980s, then look no further. TNFO make every song sound like it was written for the Rocky film franchise and 80s B movies when the likes of Paul Sabu, Lion and Stan Bush were regular contributors.

5. Myles Kennedy – The Ides Of March

This is the album I waited 11 years for. Myles’s debut was good and all, but with TIOM he came out of the blocks like a stabbed rat. More power and welly, and in the title track, he has a song that is a close second to ABs Blackbird. ‘The Ides Of March’ track is completely all over the place. No wonder he hardly plays it live, but when he does…..its a thing to behold.

4. Leprous – Aphelion

Leprous is another bands that I came to the party late with. Having heard ‘Pitfalls’ first, I was smitten. With ‘Aphelion’, the feeling was identical. I can see why fans are not too hot when comparing the 5 albums before ‘Pitfalls’ to the latter two new ones, but for me ‘Aphelion’ is a brilliant album. OK its all about Einar Solberg and he clearly holds the keys to the castle, but the performances of all the guys is something to behold. They are brilliant, and they bloody well know it.

3. Plush – ST

I’ve been a fan of Moriah Formica’s ever since she appeared on a Michael Sweet album back in 2016. She is a very talented singer/songwriter and when someone of her age can tackle Ann Wilson songs with ease, you know they are special. She is surrounded with some amazing talent in Plush – Brook Colucci, Ashley Suppa, and Bella Perron. Considering they were all under 21 when the album dropped in October, the results are stunning. A band so young shouldn’t be this good with their first album.

2. Iron Maiden – Senjutsu

OK its another dinosaur of a band up at the sharp end of the poll for the second year running. After a 6 year gap Iron Maiden didn’t need to ever make an album again. But they did, and its a belter. OK, its no ‘Powerslave’ or ‘Piece Of Mind’. Its about as diverse as Steve Harris and Iron Maiden get, and that is a good thing indeed

  1. Nestor – Kids In A Ghost Town

This album simply ticked all the boxes for me – great gongs, great vocals, set in the 80s and some of the best videos this side of Van Halen and David Lee Roth. A lot of bands try to recreate the 80s heydays but few succeed. Lets face it, some of the lyrics are corny, but they are delivered in a style and knowing nod to the past that you are just swept along for the ride. The sign of a good album is one you can’t stop playing, and with KIAGT its hardly been off rotation. They even roped in Sam Fox for the best ballad I’ve heard in a number of years, ’Tomorrow’. I can’t wait for album No.2