Back catalogue: All genres

Review: Bowie is a new label that says it intends to "dig deep into the unreleased sides of pop superstars material from the past." The opening gambit is a strong one that should hook you in for more as it comes in the form of a 7" with two fine funk instrumentals, neither of which have been put out before. 'Golden Years' has lovely live drums and meandering guitar licks for some carefree listening, while 'Fame' has a deep cut groove that rises and falls in dramatic fashion with more neat and tidy riffs adding the detail next to the big licks.

Review: This newly formed and already brilliant label is back with more previously unreleased instrumentals that bring a different twist and dancefloor edge to classic sounds from the rock and indie world. First up we get a subtle edit of 'Sound and Vision' which has a nice fat and funky bassline bouncing beneath the splashy drums as nice acoustic guitar melodies ring out next to glistening retro-future pads. It's a cosmic trip that oozes soul then things slow down on the flip with 'Young Americans'. This one is a nice go-slow instrumental with funky and expressive horn work taking the lead over the fat-bottomed drums and bass. Essential.

Review: Deep Purple have been rocking long enough to have written a song in response to the infamous Montreux Casino fire, which nearly killed Frank Zappa, forever changing his vocal range, in 1971. By the time that smash hit single came out - complete with arguably rock & roll's most iconic riff - the band were already on their sixth studio album. Skip forward 51 years after the track came out, alongside the Machine Head album, and we're still writing about Ian Gillan, Roger Glove, Ian Paice, Don Airey and Simon McBride. In a lot of ways, our thoughts are still the same. That blues psychedelia at work here, and the work still sets a benchmark for heavy rock and proto-metal. Of course, both canons have evolved and developed since their inception - which Deep Purple had a big hand in - but when you're faced with the pioneers and their new single, they rarely sound this complete.

Review: Sheffield rock royalty Def Leppard build momentous hype for their upcoming tour alongside Journey with the release of their brand new single 'Just Like 73'. Written in collaboration with Rage Against The Machine axeman Tom Morello, the banger comes complete with an absurd music video of computer generated de-aged models of the band and a parachuting Morello making their way to Earl's Court to perform for a massive crowd of adoring fans. Elaborating on the experience, the guitar guru stated - "I had a blast rocking a solo on 'Just Like 73.' I played 'Rock of Ages' in my college cover band almost 40 years ago and here Def Leppard are still killing it in stadiums with a brand-new tune that's one of their best." Pressed on limited 7" wax with an alternative version on the flip, the Leppard evidently still have plenty of sugar in the petrol tank.

Review: Legendary guitarist Earl Slick is well known for his long-standing partnership with David Bowie and now he releases a remixed version of a track featuring Bowie on vocals. It comes on 7" coloured vinyl and celebrates a collaboration that produced plenty of iconic rock music that was well detailed in Slick's recent autobiography Guitar. In it, he recalls how Bowie spontaneously offered to sing on the track and that led to an unforgettable recording session. The remixed version honours their creative chemistry and brings Bowie's voice back to the forefront.

Review: In October 1977, Australian rock titans AC/DC were set to enjoy a night off in London following two successful shows at the Hammersmith Odeon, before they were tapped by The BBC at the last minute to replace The Sensational Alex Harvey Band who had cancelled their scheduled appearance on the Sight & Sound In Concert show at the Hippodrome in North London's Golders Green. While the likes of Queen, Jethro Tull, The Kinks and Roxy Music would perform at the 3,000-capacity venue over the years, no band or set has ever rocked the Hippodrome like Bon Scott and the boys did on this fateful evening. Ripping through a truncated, all bangers setlist of seven tracks in just 40 minutes, including 'Problem Child', 'Hell Ain't A Bad Place To Be', 'Whole Lotta Rosie' and 'T.N.T.', while Angus Young would run rampant whilst shredding through the balcony section, this performance has gone down as one of most iconic from this early definitive era of the band.

Review: Six years is ages for a band to go without releasing an album or doing very much. But for AC/DC, whose work rate has always been ridiculously high, it's a very, very long time. Between then and now, the band lost their lead singer, Brian Johnson, to hearing difficulties in the middle of their last tour, and saw drummer Paul Rudd arrested in New Zealand for 'attempting to procure a murder'. Talk about impetus to finally call time.

But then these are the guys responsible for one of history's greatest heavy rock triumphs, 1980s's Back In Black, released just months after formative frontman Bon Scott tragically passed. So it's no surprise Power Up, another post-traumatic release albeit an act of reunification with now (relatively) healthy Johnson and innocent Rudd returning, is among their best in the 40 years since. A comeback record that sounds exactly like AC/DC should - ballsy, bluesy, boozy riffs.

Review: Six years is ages for a band to go without releasing an album or doing very much. But for AC/DC, whose work rate has always been ridiculously high, it's a very, very long time. Between then and now, the band lost their lead singer, Brian Johnson, to hearing difficulties in the middle of their last tour, and saw drummer Paul Rudd arrested in New Zealand for 'attempting to procure a murder'. Talk about impetus to finally call time.

But then these are the guys responsible for one of history's greatest heavy rock triumphs, 1980s's Back In Black, released just months after formative frontman Bon Scott tragically passed. So it's no surprise Power Up, another post-traumatic release albeit an act of reunification with now (relatively) healthy Johnson and innocent Rudd returning, is among their best in the 40 years since. A comeback record that sounds exactly like AC/DC should - ballsy, bluesy, boozy riffs.

Review: Frampton Comes Alive? Jeff Mills Live At The Liquid Room? Pah! There is only contender in the park when it comes to the best live album of all time and that's AC/DC's 1978 classic, recorded at the Glasgow Apollo and featuring their original vocalist Bon Scott. From the deft riffing of opener 'Riff Raff' - recently covered by men of the moment Black Midi - to the 12 bar frenzy of traditional closer 'Rocker' via big hitting groovers like 'Bad Boy Boogie' and 'Problem Child' and audience participation-fests like 'The Jack' and 'Whole Lotta Rosie', this is dripping in crowd atmospherics, improvised solos and big walls of riffs. Just about as great an advert for live music as ever existed.

Review: A slice of Australian rock champs AC/DC in action in 1978 in their classic Bon Scott-led line up, on tour in the US in support of their penultimate album before Scott's death in 1980, the often underrated Powerage. Along with staple live favourites that have remained in the band's set for yonks - see 'Rocker', 'Bad Boy Boogie', 'Problem Child' and 'The Jack' - there are rare outings for the groovy but more subdued, bluesy 'Gone' Shootin' and, the final encore here, 'Dog Eat Dog' from 76's massive Let There Be Rock album. You can almost hear the collectors' salivating.

Review: Don't be confused by that title - this live album is a recording of their Monsters of Rock appearance from 1991, a bill on which even legends like Metallica and Motley Crue found themselves playing supporting roles to the Australian gods. That said, despite this being very much the domain of singer number two, Mr Brian Johnson, there are many, many moments from the Bon Scott songbook here, from album title tracks 'Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap', 'High Voltage' and 'Let Me Rock' alongside later triumphs like 'Hells Bells' and 'Heatseeeker'. The only thing that might seem odd by its omission is 'Highway To Hell' - the clue is NOT in the name, it seems - but across four sides of vinyl, there's still plenty of AC/DC at in truly electrifying mood here.

Review: Following on from 2021's Motorheart, Lowestoft 21st century hard rockers The Darkness return with their eighth full-length studio LP, the absurdly titled, very British - Dreams On Toast. While for the casual listener who remembers the band's explosive 2003 debut Permission To Land and the bevvy of major singles that record produced such as 'Growing On Me' and 'I Believe In A Thing Called Love', have likely long allowed the band to dissipate into the ether of their musical memory banks, those who still like their rock cheesy, camp and packed to the brim with Slade-style fret mangling solos, will find so much to crunch on here with bangers such as 'Rock and Roll Party Cowboy' and 'I Hate Myself' still delivering the "What year is it?!" retro-swagger that's becoming more difficult to replicate with each passing year. It also helps that frontman/primary songwriter Justin Hawkins has seemingly injected a booster shot into his own project thanks largely to his successful YouTube channel Justin Hawkins Rides Again, while for easter egg time, actor Stephen Dorff (known for is roles as the villain in the first Wesley Snipes Blade film as well as True Detective) makes a spoken-word appearance on the closer 'Weekend In Rome'.

Review: Who can forget Maneskin's triumph for rock on the Eurovision stage as they brought the win for Italy in 2021? In Damiano David, the Italian band have a natural born frontman who is now having his Harry Styles moment and stepping out on his own and forging a distinctive solo career to rival the day job. Despite being labelled a glam rock outfit, Maneskin's pop element always shone brightly and so for his debut solo album David has tapped more heavily into that side of his. David's embraced co-writes and in terms of the production he has thrown the kitchen sink at it to get a massive sound. 'The First Time' has more hooks than a fisherman's tackle box and a sweeping epic Sprinsteen-esque feel. Another highlight 'Next Summer', lets David's vocals star, but the arrangement is unexpectedly massive. Despite its sparse beginning it turns into an orchestral showstopper indicative of the seemingly vast resources the label have had to craft this beauty.

Review: Deep Purple are often mentioned in the same breath as the main innovators of heavy Metal, like Black Sabbath and Led Zeppelin, but as this collection of radio transmissions from 1968 shows, they have a much closer relation to the good old fashioned funk than either of those rivals. Ian Paice's drumming on opening track 'Speed King' makes the track much more suitable for dancing to than headbanging, and we challenge you to hear their version of Billie Joe Royal's 'Hush' without thinking of The Charlatans' 'The Only One I Know'. With a generally relaxed feel about this cover version-heavy selection - Hendrix's 'Hey Joe' and The Beatles 'Hush' also get the Purple treatment - this is a different and altogether more accessible slant on the legends that you might not have even guessed existed.

Review: This special two-part live album from rock legends Def Leopard was recorded on October 1st as part of their Euphoria tour. It saw them play across the States then head to Japan for a series of dates. Tokyo's prestigious Kokusai Forum was the venue for the show, which was recorded for live FM Broadcast across Japan, and it features plenty of the tunes from their seventh album, Euphoria, released on 8 June 1999. It saw them go back to their roots and serve up the sound that first made them famous.

Review: Times have changed dramatically since Hysteria exploded into the global album charts, hitting number one in both the US and UK. A follow up to Def Leppard's 1983 breakthrough LP, Pyromania, the record landed around 12 months later and catapulted the Sheffield band - now almost a decade young - into the Premier League of hard rock-cum-perfume-heavy metal groups via tracks like 'Pour Some Sugar On Me', 'Animal', and 'Armageddon It'. All three feature on this live album, which includes a slew of massive hits from Def Leppard's storied, decade spanning back catalogue to date, going someway to doing the outfit justice in terms of their spellbinding on stage performances. Tight enough to make you feel taught, immediately infectious and instrumentally far ahead of so many peers, 40 years after the biggest success of their legacy the sound may no longer be cutting edge, but its impact remains every bit as powerful.

Review: The special and almost 50-year-old live album captures the legendary singer-songwriter at the height of his career and performing to an ecstatic crowd in Melbourne. It's an electrifying listen full of Diamond's powerful stage presence as he blends his iconic hits with a raw, emotive delivery. The 1975 performance features fan favourites like 'Sweet Caroline,' 'Cracklin' Rosie' and 'Solitary Man,' each infused with the energy of the live setting. Diamond's voice, both tender and commanding, shines throughout the set so makes this a lovely listen for fans old or new.

Review: First released in 2012, Broken Bones would serve as the 11th full-length studio effort from glam metal-tinged Los Angeles hard rockers Dokken. The first album in the band's entire tenure to not feature drummer Mick Brown due to scheduling conflicts (replaced for the recording sessions by studio drummer Jimmy DeGrasso), as well as their only work to feature bassist Sean McNabb (Quiet Riot, XYZ, Queensryche), the album served as follow up to 2008's Lightning Strikes Again while initially perceived as a swansong due to the major decade-long gap until 2023's Heaven Comes Down. Packed to the brim with triumphant riffage and soaring choruses, it may not entirely capture the Dokken magic of old but still delivers a retro-fitted 45 minutes of classic-style cuts with its standout track easily being their unique rendition of Jefferson Airplane's 'Today'. Reissued for Record Store Day 2025 on super cool and artwork complimentary blue & black splattered wax.

Review: Multi-genre acrobats and 70s American rockers The Doobie Brothers are back with more silky smooth signature harmonies from their home base in California with Walk This Road, a ten-tracker that unites core members Patrick Simmons, Tom Johnston, John McFee and Michael McDonald. It was produced by John Shanks and does a fine job of working each member's unique songwriting style into a cohesive collection. Themes of recovery, reflection and spiritual awakening run throughout, with Simmons describing it as "waking up to see the important things you've been missing." The title track has the legendary Mavis Staples and stands out as a fine soulful anthem of unity and hope that will resonate in any era.

Review: Take a trip back in time with this exquisite live recording of The Doors back in their pomp and heyday. It was on June 5th 1970 that the legendary group fronted by Jim Morrison headed to the Seattle Center Coliseum following widespread plaudits for their recently released Morrison Hotel album in February of the same year. They were warped up in several legal issues but played out of their skin on this night for a broadcast on KUOW-FM radio. It was the fifth and last time they played in Seattle and finds them playing with power and vitality despite a hostile crowd and some sound issues.

Review: As far as debut albums go, this one from English folk hero Nick Drake is right up there with 'as good as it gets'. It was recorded between 1968 and 1969 and released later that same year. Though it got little commercial success at the time, that doesn't detract from the music which features production from Joe Boyd and appearances from Fairport Convention's Richard Thompson and bassist Danny Thompson from Pentangle. There is plenty of signature weariness in his vocals - see the yearning, string-swaddled 'River Man' and 'Day Is Done' - plus smart and subtly poetry in the lyrics and lovely strings and moody bass throughout.