Celebrating Tony Hicks on his 80th birthday. —Ed.

When it comes to scrumptious English pop confections, it’s hard to top the fluff produced by The Hollies on the Epic and Imperial labels during the mid-sixties. While their contemporaries were producing big psychedelic statements, these Mancunian lads were whipping up irresistible little ditties that were pure froth. “Carrie Anne” is one of the most innocent and loving slices of pure popcraft ever recorded.

And 1973’s The Hollies’ Greatest Hits offers a wonderful–if inherently limited–overview of the Hollies’ not-so-grand ambitions. These proud lightweights adhered like superglue to the format of the 3-minute pop song–“He Ain’t Heavy, He’s My Brother” is a serious outlier at 4 minutes, 19 seconds–but they knew how to make those 3 minutes count. A whole hell of lot happens in “Dear Eloise,” and the deliriously dizzy-making “On a Carousel” contains gorgeous multitudes. When it comes to great songwriting teams, the names of Allan Clarke, Tony Hicks, and Graham Nash should never be forgotten.

It goes without saying that this compilation will not appeal to existentialists, hard rockers, or people who recoil at the word “cute.” That said, the LP doesn’t play up the cute as much as it might have. I can certainly understand why such post-Nash compositions as 1969’s heavy-on-the-soul “He Ain’t Heavy,” 1972’s lovely but lugubrious “Long Dark Road,” and that same year’s surprisingly hard rocking “Long Cool Woman in a Black Dress” are included herein, but they don’t feel much at home; a comp that focused solely on the Nash-era Hollies would sound more of a piece, and would provide more pure pop pleasure to people looking for frothy pop thrills.

I also wish this greatest hits didn’t jump back and forth in time in a craven effort to put the more recognizable hits up front; side two starts with a song from 1969 followed by three songs from 1967, then fast forwards to two songs from 1972. But hey, that’s show business, and I can only presume that the folks who put the comp together–and omitted some great U.K.-only hits in the process–knew best.

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VIA PRESS RELEASE | Back in 1980, Twisted Sister were still a few years from superstardom. They’d already been around since 1972, growing out of a band called Silver Star, who styled themselves as New Jersey’s New York Dolls. A year later, though, they changed their name and shifted their direction as well.

Constantly gigging, forever sharpening their sound, and undergoing a veritable plethora of line-up changes, Twisted Sister as we know them best would not emerge until 1982. But already they’d made appearances on major label comps, and they’d recorded, too, the first couple of live shows featured on 2016’s so-aptly titled box set Rock ‘N’ Roll Saviors – The Early Years. Now the most ferocious of those performances, from West Islip NY in1980, makes its stand-alone debut as Hammerheads—and what a show it is.

Opening with a positively roof-raising rampage through “What You Don’t Know (Sure Can Hurt You),” the 12 song concert sees these legends of crazed, cross-dressing hard rock mayhem absolutely slaying on stage, with—among so many more—future smash “Rock’n’Roll Saviors,” a fiery “Johnny B Goode,” and one of the all-time greats, “Born To Be Wild.”

It’s a devastating concert—the sound of a band that, still awaiting their first major break, has already put all the pieces in place. Now all they need do is wait for the world to catch up with them.

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There are voices in rock history that don’t just age; they gather texture, like a well-worn leather jacket that only gets cooler with time. Graham Bonnet possesses one of those voices.

When you think of the sheer power required to front bands like Rainbow, MSG, and Alcatrazz, you realize it takes a special kind of fortitude to keep that engine running decades later. With the release of Lost In Hollywood Again, recorded live at the legendary Whisky a Go Go on the Sunset Strip, the Graham Bonnet Band doesn’t just revisit history—they grab it by the collar and shake the dust off. And this isn’t a nostalgia trip; it’s a testament to the enduring vitality of hard rock when it’s delivered with Bonnet’s level of conviction.

From the moment the band launched into their set, I could feel the raw energy of the Whisky beginning to hum. The album opens with “Eyes of the World,” a 1979 Rainbow classic that immediately sets the stakes high. It’s a bold choice, demanding vocal dexterity right out of the gate, and Bonnet delivers. But the true centerpiece of the evening—and perhaps the emotional anchor of the entire record—is “Since You’ve Been Gone.”

Bonnet himself notes that this track “put Rainbow on the map,” and hearing it live in 2025 feels like a victory lap. The audience connection is electric; you can almost hear the crowd sweating along with the band as they belt out that iconic chorus. It captures the essence of a great live performance: the shared passion between artist and fan.

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Celebrating Dave Clark on his 86th birthday. —Ed.

The Dave Clark Five were one of the most successful and acclaimed bands of the British Invasion of the 1960s. Unlike The Beatles and many others of that time and place, however, they were not from Liverpool. The group was from Tottenham, in north London. Their big, booming, stomping, brassy and infectious sound propelled them to seven top-ten UK singles and eight top-ten US singles.

The DC5’s unique sound centered around Clark’s pounding drums, Mike Smith’s full-throated voice and wide-ranging keyboard styles, and Denis Payton’s honking sax. The group was rounded out by guitarist Lenny Davidson and bassist Rick Huxley. Huxley also played harmonica and all four members, other than Smith, supplied bracing backing vocals. Unlike most of the groups of the British Invasion, their sound did not center around guitars. They were the first British group after The Beatles to appear on The Ed Sullivan Show and they were inducted into the Rock ‘n’ Roll Hall of Fame in 2008.

The group disbanded in 1970, but Dave Clark, who was the group’s manager and producer, has always curated the group’s legacy with aplomb. Among his many other activities through the years are acquiring the rights to the seminal British music television show Ready Steady Go! and, in the 1980s, he wrote and produced the 1986 theatrical musical Time.

There have been excellent collections of the group’s music on CD and vinyl, but the latest reissue is the best yet. The group’s debut U.S. album Glad All Over, originally released in 1964 and one of four albums released by the group in the U.S. that year, has been reissued on white vinyl in glorious mono, from the original master tapes from BMG.

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Here I spent decades, hell, most of my life, thinking Eddy Grant’s synth-fueled, hard-rocking, reggae-flavored, let’s dance dawn-of-the-eighties MTV anthem “Electric Avenue” was about having a good time. I guess it would have helped to listen to the lyrics.

Because, and you probably know this, my lyrics-conscious brothers and sisters, it’s actually about a riot, the Brixton Riot of 1981 to be specific, and Eddy isn’t heading on down to Electric Avenue to have a good time, as I spent decades believing. He’s going to light shit up, and I’m not talking electricity. And it wasn’t the first protest song by the Guyanese-British musician–he’d been on the front lines since the mid-sixties as guitarist of the Equals, the UK’s first major interracial rock group, for whom he wrote the incendiary tracks “Police on My Back” (which the Clash culturally appropriated!) and “Black Skinned Blue Eyed Boys.”

The Equals were a top-notch rock/soul/reggae/pop act, and their most popular songs were apolitical, from their first (and biggest) hit “Baby Come Back” (1967) to “Viva Bobby Joe” (sample lines: “Bobby Joe and his funk machine, yeah, yeah/Everybody’s gonna see a sensation, a sensation”).

They had some bubblegum in them too; “Michael and the Slipper Tree” must have resonated with the kiddie crowd, ditto “Rub a Dub Dub” (the Equals Jamaican-born lead vocalist Dervan “Derv” Gordon wants to smell like a rose for his baby). And “Laurel and Hardy” is kiddie novelty rock at its most blatant. “Honey Gum” isn’t as chewy chewy as you’d expect, but it still has bubble-blowing appeal. Why, they even recorded a cover of The Music Machine’s bubblegum standard “Little Bit of Soul.”

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VIA PRESS RELEASE | Rhino High Fidelity (Rhino Hi-Fi) expands its acclaimed series of limited-edition, audiophile vinyl reissues today with two pivotal albums: T. Rex’s Electric Warrior and Devo’s Q: Are We Not Men? A: We Are Devo!.

Each album was cut from the original analog master tapes by Kevin Gray and pressed on 180-gram black vinyl at Optimal in Germany. Both releases are limited to 5,000 individually numbered copies and available exclusively at Rhino.com and select Warner Music Group stores internationally. As a bonus, Electric Warrior has two 7-inch singles, “Hot Love” and “Bang A Gong (Get It On),” available to bundle. Order HERE.

Recently released as part of Rhino’s High Fidelity Reel-to-Reel line, Electric Warrior crystallized Marc Bolan’s transformation from cult folk hero to the godfather of glam with its release in 1971. The album topped the charts in the UK and was certified gold in the US, powered by hits like “Bang A Gong (Get It On)” and “Jeepster.” Working with producer Tony Visconti, the band built a sleek, groove-driven sound—equal parts grit and glitter—that came to define glam’s golden age.

In the new liner notes, Visconti recalls how sessions for the album gained momentum when the band moved from London to Los Angeles, and finally New York, where they cut three songs in a day, including “Lean Woman Blues” and “Jeepster.” “I could tell this was one of the best times of Marc’s life from how great these tracks turned out—they fully complemented the tracks we had just recorded in LA. He was so happy,” he writes. “We knew we had a hit album.”

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VIA PRESS RELEASE | Think of Melanie and, once past “Brand New Key” and “Lay Down,” the most immediate image is probably a shy, nervous 22 year old stepping out alone onto the Woodstock stage, knowing that hardly anyone in that vast sea of humanity had even heard of her before.

A few had. The previous year, her debut album Born To Be caught some radio play around New York (and spawned a couple of hits in Europe); earlier in ’69, her sophomore set, Melanie, was built around songs she recorded on a much-acclaimed visit to the UK. Still America regarded her as a total newcomer and, while she was happy to discuss her folk club past, she was equally willing to let people hold onto that preconception. How wrong, however, it was. And if history had taken a slightly different turn around 1964, the whole world would already have known exactly who Melanie was.

Dropping on January 2, There Should Have Been A Rainbow is, effectively, Melanie’s true debut album and, as such, it readily stands alongside Bob Dylan’s recently released Bootleg Series examination of this same period, an unerring portrait of a young artist heading for fame. Indeed, while the CD includes 19 songs from throughout this period, the 11 song vinyl is a direct approximation of how that first LP might have lined up.

Recorded in a New York apartment across four sessions between 1963–1965, There Should Have Been A Rainbow captures the teenager already in full control of the voice and guitar style that would so single her out for attention (and adoration) at the end of the decade—only the songwriting has still to fully develop, but even the handful of her own songs that are included here pack plenty of pointers for the future.

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It’s been a busy year for Paul McCartney, and he capped off 2025 with the conclusion of another tour and a retrospective of the music of his band Wings. This will make the third Wings/McCartney best-of, after the single Wings Greatest album, double Wingspan, and double All The Best. All of these sets include both Wings and solo McCartney tracks. This is truly the first all Wings set and the best of the sets in every way.

The Wings 3 LP Limited Edition Color Collection, available exclusively through Paul McCartney’s website, is a three-album set of 180-gram color vinyl, featuring clear, green, and pink colors, respectively, housed in a die-cut hardback slipcase box. Sometimes, reissue projects can appear rushed, make questionable choices, and prompt fans and critics to debate format and approach. By contrast, it’s evident that great care and thought went into the packaging of this set.

McCartney has again recruited Hipgnosis legend Aubrey “Po” Powell as the Creative Director. His involvement here is a key factor in how well-conceived this box is and what a welcome addition it is to McCartney’s extensive reissues and archival projects over the years. Powell had previously worked with McCartney on projects such as Venus and Mars, Wings Greatest, video projects, and tours.

Along with two posters, an art print litho, and a sheet of stickers, the booklet in this package is beautifully designed. This is a textbook case in how to create an information-rich yet aesthetically pleasing booklet. Each Wings album, presented in chronological order, is given a two-page spread featuring photos and artwork for the sleeve, album, and single jackets. Also included are sidebars that tell the story of Wings in a way that is neither dry nor the typical factual history, and that include a summary of releases, tour dates, and session notes.

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VIA PRESS RELEASE | First Real Gone Music put out all of Fanny’s Reprise albums on CD—now they’re doing the same on LP!

Yes, that’s right, Fanny fans—we’re finally giving the band’s 1973 album Mothers Pride its first vinyl reissue. All four Reprise albums have their champions among Fanny followers, but Mothers Pride is definitely the most controversial entry in the band’s catalog, as Todd Rundgren agreed to produce the album on the condition that he and he alone oversee the album mix. The result was a record that cemented Fanny’s popularity in the UK but failed to make a dent in the charts here in the States despite such classics as “Summer Song.”

The two-page insert includes not just the lyric sheet but the rare promo flyer that accompanied some copies, and they’ve had the album remastered for its baby pink vinyl release. Another seminal ‘70s rock record from everybody’s favorite “forgotten” all-female rock band!

It’s true, the old saying—give 50 monkeys electric guitars and sooner or later they’ll write “Louie Louie.” And the proof lies in one of the greatest unsung bands of the bubblegum music era, Lancelot Link and the Evolution Revolution.

How unsung? They don’t even merit a chapter in the 2001 Feral House Bubblegum Bible Bubblegum Music Is the Naked Truth. Or a mention even. And this despite the fact that Lancelot Link and the Evolution Revolution were real live chimpanzees! Who played cool kiddie punk songs like “Sha-La Love You” and “Magic Feeling”! And looked even cooler playing them!

Could it be because playing rock and roll wasn’t Lancelot Link’s day job? Link spent the bulk of his time foiling the evil plots of C.H.U.M.P.’s nemesis, such as Baron von Butcher, Creto (his chauffeur), and Ali Assa. Seen on ABC Television’s Saturday morning all-live-chimp Lancelot Link, Secret Chimp. Being a secret agent is a time-consuming gig, which could be the reason why Lancelot Link and band only released one LP, 1970’s Lancelot Link and the Evolution Revolution. That or the TV show got cancelled after one season.

Here’s a fun fact—the chimpanzee actors on Lancelot Link, Secret Chimp, were given chewing gum to get them to move their mouths so that human voices could be dubbed over them. You can’t get any more bubblegum than that! You didn’t have to give the guys in the 1910 Fruitgum Company chewing gum to get them to sing “1,2,3 Red Light”! The poor bastards were working for peanuts!

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