Tag: Live Review

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

Steve Overland & Jim Kirkpatrick – The Acoustically Anthemic Anthology Set, Barnoldswick Arts Centre, 19.3.23

An exceptional nights entertainment at a superb venue, made for one of the best gigs of 2023 and its still only March

Before I wax lyrical about Steve and Jims gig, I wanted to say a few words about this stunning little venue in Barnoldswick (locally known as Barlick) not far from the Yorkshire Dales and the Forest of Bowland in Lancs. Visit the McCulloughs Irish Bar, and hidden away in the basement is a gorgeous venue (max 60 peeps) that has enough pictures on the wall to make any Hard Rock hotel jealous, thanks to Peter and Julie who run the place. It is absolutely brilliant, and I wish I had a local like this.

On to the gig. Apparently this is Steve’s first set of solo gigs as a performer in over 30 years and was initially advertised as a single gig. Its ended up as a mini tour with the Sunday night being the first of 2 performances at the Arts Centre

Without going into masses of detail, in a nutshell this was one of my favourite gigs in seeing ‘The Voice’ in over 34 years of seeing Wildlife, FM in their few line ups, and even SO! I don’t know how many songs the guys had rehearsed for this set of gigs, but I am guessing it was over 100 based on the list they kept pointing to. It was an opportunity to listen to songs old, and new, with everything in-between, and a shitload of stories and banter to keep everyone happy.

We were treated to the likes of songs that had not been played in some time – Don’t Stop, Tattoo Needle, Say it Like it Is, Only The Strong Survive, but fuck all from Aphrodisiac (I knew I should have shouted out for Blood and Gasoline as it was on the bloody list), and most of the songs come with an accompanying story. 

We heard stories of touring with the likes of Bon Jovi, and all the big guns from back in the day, a lot about brother Chris who can knock out a blistering set of lyrics whilst being glued to the telly watching Neighbours of all things, the story of Shot In The Dark (which got nicked by Soussan and offered to Ozzy with nothing of monetary value coming back to the Overland bros), with Steve still not having a bad word to say about it (!), writing a hit song for Radio 2, how he joined FM and the 4 demos they recorded to get the deal, and lots, lots more. 

We got to hear Jim sing a couple of songs, one of them a blues song that just blew me away, to a song that was on Jims Myspace page a few years ago (I had the downloads but lost them!), and some excellent bants when Jim stated he had toured the sates before Steve……3 times!

Steve dug out the first ever song he wrote as a 13 yr old and we were advised not to take too much notice of the lyrics, or the music. (Sunshine? I knew I should have taken notes!)

I think that this gig was on a par with my Lawrence Gowan gig at Crewe a few years back. Mostly audience requests from a pair of blokes who clearly love each others company and trade insults with wild and funny abandon. 

Theres already a gig announced for Dec that I  have missed out on, but hey, its good to give others a chance to witness this wonderful spectacle of a gig. This is one of my highlights of the year, and very little is likely to surpass it in 2023.

Paul Chesworth