Coming Soon…

Coming Soon…Ruthless & also, Deep Purple ~ Whoosh

Todd Rundgren’s Utopia ~ Benefit For Moogy Kingman Boxset

This wonderful produced box set features the music of Utopia for a benefit for founding member of Utopia, Moogy “Mark” Kingman. This 4 CD/2 DVD box set features 2 performances. One at the Highline Ballroom in New York, NY on January 29th, 2011. The other performance was at the Peekskill Performing Arts Center on November 18, 2011. Some songs do repeat themselves, but, most do not, and those that do, sound different than previous versions. These performances were done as a fundraiser for Moogy for covering medical expenses. The music is good. The band seems to be having a lot of fun. I didn’t get a chance to see the DVD’s but I’m sure they were done just as good as the audio CDs. I give this 4 out of 5 Music Guru stars. Give this a listen. I think you’ll like it.

Gosta Berlings Saga ~ Konkret Musik

This instrumental Swedish band is putting out a new album. This one is very laid back. I would almost call it New Age music, except it is a little heavier than that…but not by much. If you’re a fan of New Age music, you may like this. I like New Age music, but, wasn’t a big fan of this album. It’s not bad, it just didn’t want me to keep playing it. I give this 3 out of 5 Music Guru stars. Gosta Berlings Saga are Rasmus Booberg on guitars, David Lundberg on keyboards, Gabriel Tapper on bass guitar & Moog pedals, and, Alexander Skepp on drums and percussion, of which there is more of than on previous albums. I may need to listen to this a few more times to see if it grows on me more.

Tokyo Motor Fist

This band has got it. They really have what it takes to be the next big thing. Some hard rock mixed with pop & what more do you need? This album is fantastic through & through. Music is great, vocals are great. If you’re a fan of Bon Jovi, this band could be the next one. As Stan Lee would say ” ‘Nuff said.” I give this 5 out of 5 Music Guru stars. I don’t know if this album is self titled, as I didn’t get the name of the album.

Junior Wells ~ Blues Brothers

Although Junior Wells, the great blues vocalist & harmonica player, passed away in 1998, This new album comes forth featuring some of the great blues players of our time. Including in this line-up is Colin James, Pat Travers, Tyler Bryant, Albert Castiglia, Mike Zito, James Montgomery, Harvey Mendel, Eric Gales, Kirk Fletcher, Guitar Shorty, Joe Louis Walker, Popa Chubby, & Bernard Allison. This is old fashioned blues at it’s finest. If you’re a fan of blues, you WILL like this. I give this 5 Out of 5 Music Guru stars.

Pure Reason Revolution ~ The Dark Third

As you start off this album from Pure Reason Revolution, it has a beautiful instrumental song called “Aeropause” starting off the album, then merges into “Goshen Remains”. The album continues to merge from song to song, similar to Pink Floyd’s “Dark Side Of The Moon”. The vocals, to me are back & forth, whether I like them or not. Jon Courtney’s or Jamie Wilcox’s vocals are sometimes good, sometimes not to my taste. Chloe Alper’s vocals are the better of the 2 vocals that you hear on the album. The band, from England, plays progressive rock, which, of course, works very well for me. The band members are Jon Courtney on vocals, guitars & keyboards, Chloe Alper on vocals, bass, & keyboards, Jamie Wilcox on vocals & guitars, Paul Glover on drums, Jim Dobson on keyboards, bass, violin, guitar & vocals, Andrew Courtney on drums, & Greg Jong on vocals & guitar. All in all, I would give this 4 Music Guru stars out of 5. If you’re a fan of prog, give this one a try. This is a 2 CD set that was re-issued.

Dead Hippies ~ Resistor

Before I start this review, I must admit, I am not a fan of rap, electro, or anything similar to this. The music that I did hear, wasn’t bad. There wasn’t enough music & no singing. Rapping? Yes. Again, I’m not a fan. This album was not for me. If you’re a fan of rap, electro & sometimes just sounds, you may like this album. Me, I give this 2 out of 5 Music Guru stars.

Darwin 2 ~ A Frozen War

How can you go wrong when you put together great musicians like Simon Phillips (The Who, Toto), Greg Howe (Michael Jackson, Justin Timberlake), Billy Sheehan (Mr. Big, Winery Dogs), Guthrie Goven (Asia, Steven Wilson), Matt Bissonette (Elton John, Ringo Starr), Derek Sherinian (Dream Theater, Alice Cooper) & more to this 2nd album featuring Darwin. This album has a nice sound to it. You can hear Simon Phillips & Billy Sheehan working well together to keep the rhythm section loud & proud. While the other members bring forth their strength. Derek Sherinian really shines on this album. Give this a listen & tell me what you think. I give this 4 out of 5 Music Guru stars.

Don Dokken ~ Solitary

I’ve always liked Dokken as a band, but, I would never say that they were my favorite. Now, Don Dokken puts out an album, which, I could say would be right up there with my favorites. Since I’ve last heard Dokken (which was a long time ago), the man has musically matured. The music was beautiful, the lyrics were real good & the singing sounded better than ever. I would try to give you my favorite song, but, I really liked them all. This album originally came out in the 2000s. This 2020 version gives you a couple of extra songs that are covers. I give this 5 out of 5 Music Guru stars.

Dirty Shirley

This album took me by surprise. I knew almost nothing of this band. I can tell you that George Lynch is in this band, which, I believe is the reason that I took to it so quickly, but, perhaps it was Dino Jelusick, the other part of Dirty Shirley, who made this album, with it’s “classic” sound. I really enjoyed this. The music was hard, but smooth. The vocals were right on the spot. All I can really say is give this one a try. I think you’ll like it. I give this 5 out 5 Music Guru stars.